CHAPTER 29
Hand in hand, Fred and Daphne continued down the stairs until they reached a door. They were in the oldest part of the school now. Even though the door had been repainted, Daphne knew for a fact that it had not been replaced since the school was built in 1907. The knob was about the size of a baby's fist. Daphne felt around in the area she thought the handle would be in until her fingers clasped around the tiny knob. She pushed gently at first, but harder when the door refused to budge. Then with a mournful creak, the door slipped open.
'I hope that didn't alert the others,' Fred said, cringing at the noise.
'Or soldiers nearby,' Daphne whispered.
'Don't say that!'
They entered the art rooms. Fred and Daphne weren't artists by any means, but they frequented the art rooms often when they were at school. After all, it was Shaggy's favourite place to be. He had discovered he had quite a knack for making food into art – just as long as he got some sort of meal out of it. Even the strictest art teacher at school was impressed with Shaggy's watercolour painting of a greasy Hungry Jacks meal. But he hadn't just stopped there. Shaggy worked on a project last year where he sculpted a massive ice cream sundae with almost every piece of fruit imaginable, complete with gummy bears, marshmallows and chocolate. He had even made the bowl out of recycled chocolate wrappers. Much to his teacher's disappointment, Shaggy refused to move beyond food for his artworks.
The familiar scent of old paint and some woody smell brought back such a specific range of memories for Fred. It might've been a normal Tuesday afternoon where the gang were gathered around the middle art table discussing their current case. Fred could see it perfectly – Shaggy and Scooby were scoffing down Lindt chocolates while Shaggy frantically struggled to collect the wrappers out of Scooby's slobbery mouth. Velma would have her eyes on her computer, probably with a few books scattered around her, and Fred and Daphne would be pitching in every so often, but mostly just making small talk between themselves.
The thought of it made Fred's eyes tear up. He missed his old life desperately. But the war had brought one good thing to him – Daphne. Fred gave her hand a grateful squeeze as she continued to guide him around the maze of tables and chairs. He briefly wondered – would he prefer to get his old life back or continue to live in this apocalyptic world with the love of his life by his side? To his surprise, Fred couldn't even choose. He thought the decision was obvious, but now…
'Locked,' Daphne groaned.
They had gone through all the art rooms and were standing at one of the doors that led outside.
'If you wanted to go outside, why couldn't we just go back through the window and walk around to here?'
'Art rooms were faster.'
'…Right.'
'Plus, we like never get to go down those "forbidden" stairs. Abuse the privileges while you can, honey.'
Fred couldn't help but admire her attitude at a stressful time like this. Daphne's hand had slipped from his grip as she walked into the next room to try the outside door. To her utter surprise, it swung open.
'Freddie!'
'Someone's slack with locking the doors,' Fred laughed. 'Daph, I don't know about going outside right now. There's helicopters…'
'But there aren't.'
Fred paused and listened. She was right. 'What… when did they go away?'
'While we were sleeping I think. This is all thanks to you, Fred! It was your idea to stay at the scene of the crime. The search parties are probably miles away from here!'
A thrill of adrenaline rushed through Fred. It seemed they had gotten away with it – again. Fred couldn't help but wonder just how long this luck would last.
'Okay. I believe you. So, where did you want to go?'
Daphne giggled and grabbed his hand. Still checking each direction multiple times, she led him out into the grounds until they were just outside the school hall. Daphne stepped back from him and eyed him curiously, her hands on her hips.
'Well?' she pressed. 'Do you know why we're here?'
Fred lost his words for a moment before replying, 'Of course.' He glanced around. 'This is where we first kissed.'
Daphne closed the gap between them and placed a hand on his chest.
'It was the night of the school dance.'
'A year ago. You were still dating Red Herring.'
Daphne made a disgusted face. 'Worst decision of my life.'
'Why did you kiss me?' he whispered.
'I was with Red but then he went off somewhere to flirt with some other girls. He left me alone by the snack table. In that moment, I felt hurt and… well that was the moment when I knew I wanted the relationship to end. You came over, Freddie. You saw me alone. Something changed in me then. I knew it was you who I wanted.'
'That was when you knew? Over a year ago?'
'Being the innocent person you are, you refused to take the hint all that time,' Daphne smiled sadly. 'I'm just glad I've got you now.'
Then it was almost as if the following scene from the school dance was replayed. Daphne's hand was wrapped around Fred's wrist and she dragged him over to the exact place beside the lockers where it first happened.
Engulfed by a crazy burst of passion and excitement, Fred pushed her into the nook between the lockers, making them hidden to anyone passing by, just like they had done last year. He lifted her up, forcing her to straddle him and he pushed her against the wall. She smiled at him, and before long, his mouth was filled with her taste.
In that moment, Fred knew the answer to the question he had wondered about earlier. He wouldn't trade this for anything. Not even the pre-war world.
~oO*Oo~
Scooby was wandering down the dark corridor of the main building. He had heard Fred and Daphne leave, and he wasn't worried about him, but he wanted some soothing fresh air. He didn't dare go back out the window they came in, so he decided to go upstairs to visit Velma instead. Maybe she would have a window open. On the way, Scooby passed the window they had broken to enter. Thinking of covering their escape, Scooby made a mental note to suggest picking the remaining glass shards out of the window to the others. Just in case. Because, as Scooby now knew, you could never be too careful.
All these years of spooky mysteries and terrifying monsters should've prepared him for the horrors of war. Sure, he was still scared of the ghosts and ghouls, but his life had never actually been in danger. Scooby would never forget the faces of those two men they had killed.
Being a monster is so much worse than chasing after a monster.
He felt uneasy as he padded down the corridor. He had been at this school every day since Shaggy started high school. He knew every turn, bend and scent of this corridor. But it still felt so unfamiliar. At least the carpet felt nice on his worn paw pads. He turned left and trotted up the stairs.
'Relma?'
'Hi Scooby.' She sounded exhausted.
'Rou want me to do rentry ruty?' Scooby asked quickly, trying to supress a sudden feeling of guilt.
'That would be wonderful, thanks Scooby.'
Velma stepped away from the window and flopped down on the floor at the back of the classroom.
'Ro you want to ro rown to the raffroom?' Scooby asked in concern.
'At this rate, I'll sleep anywhere,' Velma mumbled.
The school was locked up tighter than a drum, and the air was stale. Scooby opened the window a fraction and stuck his nose out, relishing in the taste of fresh air. But there was something else too. The scent of fresh ash lingered.
~oO*Oo~
The next morning, at the crack of dawn, Shaggy and Fred did a very important job. While Fred kept watch, Shaggy grabbed absolutely everything out of the fridge and freezer and stuffed it into the small packs they had. Then the five of them gathered in B14 while Velma kept one eye on the window just in case.
'Food. I'm completely starving. What's the situation?' Velma demanded.
'Like by your standards, it's not great,' Shaggy admitted.
'Rand our rtandards!'
'What do you mean by that, Scoob?' Fred asked.
'Well, like for a start, there were only three zooper doopers. And two of them were orange and one was yellow. Not a single green one,' Shaggy sighed.
'Raggy's favourite!'
Velma and Daphne rolled their eyes.
'You boys can have them,' Velma groaned. 'I want actual sustenance.'
'Well, all you're getting is a box of chocolates, milk, tea and champagne.'
'Oh my god.'
'We're going to die,' Daphne whimpered.
'No we're not,' Fred corrected.
'WE CAN RAID THE CANTEEN!' Shaggy exclaimed.
'Shaggy, you're a legend!' Daphne cried.
'Re're saved!' Scooby said. He ripped the top off an orange zooper dooper and downed it in one gulp.
'But we can't go during the day. The canteen is on the other side of the school. We can't use the cover of the buildings. We'd be totally exposed,' Fred said.
'So we're just going to have to survive on chocolates for today,' Velma said sullenly.
They hadn't eaten properly for two days. Everyone was hungry and grumpy. It was a very, very long day, filled with several cups of tea and the occasional chocolate. The only problem was whenever they ate one chocolate, it reactivated their hunger in an even more intense way. Even Daphne, who was usually very wary of what she ate, was ploughing into the chocolates.
They mostly occupied the day by doing their sentry duties, roaming around the school, lost in their own thoughts and avoiding each other. Fred and Daphne had a quick make out session on the principal's desk "just to say we did it", but even they needed time apart. The passion that was there last night just wasn't there that morning. Shaggy discovered another abandoned box of chocolates in the history staffroom. This time, they were Favourites, so they went within moments. The only productive thing they did that day was picking the glass shards out of the window frame. Fred's theory was that if the glass were completely gone, a passer by would just see it as glass. No one would ever know it had been broken.
Finally, it was dark enough to go for a raid. Velma was confident the canteen would be well stocked with food. It wasn't just a school canteen, but also a mini (cheap) cafe and snack shop. So even though it was school holidays, it would've been open just as the invasion happened.
Too hungry to wait, all five of them made the journey to the canteen. Scooby almost cried when he saw Mrs Mac's Meat Pies and Giant Sausage Rolls sitting in the mini oven at the counter. Sure, the pies would be cold (hopefully not off), but food was food. Despite their craving for food, Velma forced everyone to stop eating the pies and rolls so they'd have food in the morning. But they couldn't stop themselves with the muesli bars and protein balls. All were gone. There were also more chocolates, but for once, Shaggy and Scooby had had enough of chocolates. Velma stashed their backpacks with the various snacky foods from the canteen – chips, shapes, ovaltinees, monster noodles and redskins. They ate what they couldn't fit. What made Shaggy's night was him finding a green zooper dooper in the depths of the freezer. It was a bit icy, just like all the other zooper doopers and rainbow paddlepops in the freezer, but he did not care.
It had seemed like a lot of food when they first saw it, but Velma knew that between the five of them, it would only be a matter of days before it all ran out. They had to get back to Headquarters where their food supply was more reliable.
'We need to leave here,' Velma said.
'Like yeah, maybe in a couple of days,' Shaggy shrugged.
'No! Tonight!'
Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby cast her death stares.
'Velma,' Daphne said, narrowing her eyes at her. 'Remember what's just happened? We can't leave tonight.'
'They're not searching around here! We need to get out while we can.'
'It's not that. We're… we're all too exhausted.'
'We've been sitting around all day resting.'
'Not physically!' Daphne hissed. 'Mentally exhausted. We need a little longer to recover. We all do.'
'I don't want to be here anymore,' Velma growled. 'You're all mad. Oh, by the way, Daphne, it's your turn for sentry.'
Daphne groaned. She knew everyone had to take their turn, but there were some days when she could not care less about sentry duty.
'Come on, let's go back to the main building,' Fred said gently, putting an arm over both Daphne and Velma.
Velma made a point of shrugging Fred's arm off her and striding ahead of them. Daphne had recognised a noticeable change in Velma's behaviour. A couple of months ago, she would've fully confronted the rest of them if she didn't get her way. But now, she was far less verbal and passionate, and she often gave up instead of arguing further. In some ways, Daphne found this behaviour more concerning than her attitude before.
Velma went to the sick bay beds, but the others were fairly certain she didn't go to sleep. Daphne went up to B14 and the boys went to the staffroom. Scooby went to sleep straight away because he had to do his duty after Daphne, but Shaggy had another idea.
'Like Fredster, do you want some?' Shaggy asked. He went over to the cupboard and grabbed a couple of glasses out.
'No thanks, I've had enough tea to last me a lifetime,' Fred said.
'Like, I mean,' Shaggy held up a bottle of champagne.
'Oh! Well, okay. Just a glass,' he said reluctantly.
They did a cheers and downed their first glass. Fred wasn't usually a lightweight, but tonight, the effect of the alcohol was instantaneous.
'Cheers to numbing our problems!' Fred chimed in more enthusiastically.
'Like, should we offer the girls some?'
'Velma? No. Daphne's on duty. She needs to be totally sober for that.'
~oO*Oo~
Midnight struck. With drooping eyelids, Daphne gazed blankly out the window, scanning for any sign of movement. She honestly believed they had nothing to worry about while they were in the school. She was certain no one suspected they were in there, otherwise they would've had some unfriendly visits from the soldiers. She suspected that even Velma was sure they were safe, yet she still persisted with the sentry duties. Daphne definitely saw the sense in it… but she was just so tired. Twice she thought she saw movement outside, which reinforced the importance of her duty, but both times it was only a possum. She drifted in and out of her thoughts, occasionally succumbing to sleep. She was cross with herself for her distractedness. Had the events of the past few days not taught her a lesson?
She was well and truly jolted out her thoughts when she heard what sounded like elephants clambering up the stairs. Daphne's blood ran cold. They had to be soldiers. Mystery Inc. didn't walk around boldly making noises like that. She cursed her distractedness, then dove under a table at the back of the room.
'DAPHNEEE!' Fred burst through the door.
'Like Fred, man, quiet it!'
'Quiet it?' Fred laughed.
'What the hell is going on?' Daphne asked in exasperation, crawling out from under the table.
But when Fred enveloped her in a bear hug and Daphne felt the bubbliness of his breath on her cheek, Daphne knew exactly what was going on.
'I missed you!'
'Shaggy,' Daphne looked at him desperately. 'What happened?'
'I tried to stop him. He tried to drink his emotions,' Shaggy slurred.
Daphne could tell he was drunk, but not quite as wasted as Fred.
'You better not let Velma know about this,' Daphne warned.
'Velma! We should go visit her!' Fred cried happily.
'No we shouldn't,' Daphne said. 'Shaggy, take him and lock him in the bloody staffroom. This is dangerous. What if a soldier came right now?'
'BED TIME!' Fred hollered.
'Oh my god, shut up! On second thoughts Shag, stay in here. That way I can keep an eye on both of you.'
As mad as Daphne was about the boys, she couldn't blame them. She would've done the same thing. She was slightly annoyed they hadn't left anything for her, but Fred was so intoxicated that she could get high off his breath if she really wanted to. Fred and Shaggy had drunk two and a half bottles by themselves. A small part of Daphne was impressed and intrigued. She had never, ever seen Fred get completely wasted. It would've been enjoyable in different circumstances, but right now, she was too tense.
Currently, Fred was lying across five chairs with his head on her lap. Shaggy had gone back downstairs to keep Scooby company.
Another hour passed. One hour to go, then Scooby would come up to do his duty.
As she stroked Fred's cheek, she wondered how far she and him could go. So far, they had only kissed. No clothes had been shed. Daphne so badly wanted the clothes to go. But she knew Fred wouldn't want to take the relationship too quickly.
But something else inside Daphne reminded her about the precarious situation they were in. In a war zone, life is unpredictable. She didn't want to have regrets. She looked down at Fred's drunk sleeping face. She could just do it right now… no. She wanted it to be something special for both of them to remember.
She was really getting ahead of herself. She was only sixteen! But as this strange new world kept reminding her, things were very different now. She decided to take it one day at a time. Her moods and emotions could fluctuate wildly. She had always been that way. But now, the others were emotionally all over the place too. Even Fred – who had not always been her lover, but had always been her rock – even he was loosing his cool. The past night had proved that more than anything.
