CHAPTER 31

The voice was eerily reminiscent of the initial invasion. Rather than panic at the immediate danger they were in, Velma's first instinct was to groan: an utter reflection of how much they had been through lately. They all knew surrendering was not an option.

'Like, we need to hide!' For once, Shaggy's suggestion was taken on board.

'Where?' Daphne whispered.

'We need to split up and hide. That's our best chance,' Velma said logically.

She turned on her heels to avoid the panicked looks of the rest of the gang. She didn't like the idea of splitting up either, especially in a life and death situation, but the simple fact was: one or two people were easier to hide than five.

Unsure of how long it would be before the soldiers stormed the warehouse, Velma sprinted as quietly as she could away from the loading dock entrance. A swift glance behind told her the others were dispersing too. Fred and Daphne were running up the travelator to the second floor, and Shaggy and Scooby were running in the opposite direction to Velma, towards the indoor plant section and… the café. Velma grinned in spite of herself. How predictable they were. It was just lucky the soldiers didn't know them as well as she did.

Velma found herself in a random aisle in the furniture section. She did a three-sixty, squinting through the blackness at the dark shapes before her. Either side of the aisle was a stark contrast of the other: on one side were stacks of chairs, barbeques and lamps, and on the other were smaller items like hand tools, nails, drills and brooms.

Suddenly glass smashed from the other side of the store, followed by a stampede of military boots entering the warehouse. Velma swore under her breath, and in blind panic ran down the whole length of the aisle before crashing into a box of hose parts. She knew she couldn't evade them in the aisles – she had to hide.

After the soldier's initial entrance, all had been very quiet. Velma peered through the gap in the displays. She thought she could just make out a couple of figures skulking in her direction. Her heart caught in her throat – they were frighteningly efficient. There was a bang to her left and the flash of a torch. The soldiers had unearthed a box of screws that had scattered into every direction possible. A couple rolled under the aisle beside Velma's feet. She had the alarming realisation that these soldiers must only be a couple of aisles away.

Taking advantage of the smashing and thumping, Velma jumped on top of the box containing the hose parts. She stood up straight, quickly ducking down to avoid a torch's beam that panned across her aisle. Then she took off her backpack and used its momentum to propel herself onto the next shelf. It was messy, but Velma managed to scramble up and shuffle behind a boxed barbeque. She was just in time too – the soldiers who were smashing the furniture had just come into Velma's aisle. They began their haphazard process of pulling everything in their reach out and madly beaming their torch behind the boxes. To Velma's horror, she noticed they were also pulling down boxes from the third shelf – her shelf. She shuffled in between two boxes and gripped the shelf above her. Then in one swift movement, she hauled herself onto the next highest shelf. This shelf was jam packed with boxed lawnmowers, leaving her no room to hide without making a scene. While the soldiers were distracted, just for good measure, she leapt up to the very top shelf. Bunnings Warehouse's high ceiling was serving its purpose. She had never felt more athletic in her life. Clutching her backpack for dear life, Velma slid behind the lawnmowers on display. She watched the soldiers mindlessly trash the lower shelves before moving on to the next aisle.

Velma remembered her conversation with Daphne about the different kinds of soldiers she'd noticed so far – the brutal, violent conscripts and the methodical professionals. It was no question which category these ones fell under. Velma desperately hoped the others had been lucky enough to outwit the soldiers. The thrashing sounds had faded away, but she knew the others could be in danger now.

Just when they thought they were safe! Velma sighed; she knew at the back of her mind that there was something strange about everything going so well tonight. Fred had voiced his concern, but she had stubbornly rejected it because of her arrogance. Huddled in the dark, her mind decided to replay every suspicious moment that had happened that night. Running into no patrols, helicopters or soldiers. The way Bunnings was conveniently unlocked and they had no difficulty getting in. It was no coincidence. They had obviously been tailed from the school. The thought made Velma's blood run cold. A tornado of questions was swimming around, but Velma grabbed at the most important ones and pondered over them while she hid –

How did they know where we were and where we were going? And why didn't they shoot us while they had the chance?

She wished they had taken more precautions. She wished they had arranged a meeting place after this. She wished they had a strategy. She wished, she wished, she wished. What if she never saw them again? Tears threatened to sting her eyes, but she furiously blinked them away.

A barrage of shots rang out from the opposite side of the store. Heart aching for her friends, Velma whimpered and pressed her head hard against the lawnmower. But the shots were getting closer. Velma knew in that moment that these were undeniably the professionals. They were shooting at the top two shelves, filling in the gaps that the conscripts had missed earlier. The two soldiers had entered her aisle and were now standing right below her: a menacing but powerful presence as they held their rifles to either side of the aisle.

Velma was quaking – the only way she'd live would be dumb luck. As a woman of science, Velma hated relying on luck; she much preferred to have everything under her own control. This situation seemed uncontrollable, yet…

Her hand had slipped into her backpack and she was fingering the gun. She wasn't going to do it.

But two shots rang out, and she was surprised to discover it was from her own hands. The soldiers lay bleeding on the floor, in amongst the splintered wood and smashed metal. Velma pushed her head back against the lawnmower, eyes wide in terror. Her hands were badly shaking as she returned the gun to her backpack. It dropped in, clanking against something else down the bottom of her bag.

The radio.

Velma gasped. How could she have been so stupid? So that was how the soldiers were tracking them. And who knew how long they were listening? From the moment she took it from the soldiers they slaughtered in the bush, they could have been followed. Lucky for them, the enemy probably didn't realise it was them until a few days into their stay at the school when they realised their comrades were dead in the bushes. Then they would've listened in on their conversation in the art rooms… and lulled them into a false sense of security until they entered the warehouse. Velma figured all that out, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why they didn't just kill them on the way.

Velma yanked the blasted radio from her bag and smashed it down hard from the top shelf. She took great delight in watching the stupid contraption shatter into a million pieces.

She had to stop drawing attention to herself and get out of that spot now before other soldiers noticed the two she'd killed. But then a brilliant idea struck Velma. It was going to be brutal – it would make her no better than the soldiers, but it would protect her. For the second time that night, she thought back to that conversation her and Daphne had just after the attack on City Hall. Daphne had said something that resonated her to this very moment. What sets Mystery Inc. apart from the enemy is their ability to question the morality of their actions.

Well Velma certainly ticked that box. She knew it was a selfish action, but she did it anyway. She brought two lawnmowers down on their bodies, making it look like a plausible accident. She looked away to avoid the nausea it would undoubtedly give her.

Unless they studied the bodies for bullet wounds, she was safe; she could just stay here until the soldiers left. But there was no way Velma Dinkley would sit around doing nothing while her friends were in danger. She took the gun out and discarded her backpack, shoving it under one of the lawnmowers. She clambered down from the top shelf, a lot less gracefully than the way she came up because of her trembling limbs. Of all the things they had done in the war, Velma was surprised to discover that being so obviously armed was the most frightening for her.

Above all, Velma wanted to reach the café area where she was certain Shaggy and Scooby had gone. Keeping to the shadows, she ran along the aisles until she reached the other side of the store. When she next looked up, a dark shape shifted out of the aisle in front of her. She stopped herself just in time, leaping to the side and squeezing in between some large welcome mats. Velma frantically tried to control her breathing, but it was difficult when she realised she'd almost collided headfirst into the back of a soldier. They were unleashing the same destruction she'd seen on her side of the store – ripping items off shelves and kicking random boxes.

She let out a silent scream as one box was hurtled towards her. She was trapped, she tried to shield it, but it knocked her clean off her feet and sent her crashing into the wall behind her. She lay on the floor, winded and crushed by the box. She desperately tried to free herself, but then she was smothered by a roll of chicken wire that had probably fallen down when the hit the back wall. Velma did the worst thing she could've done in that situation: she panicked, rolling around trying to free herself of the chicken wire and the box that still crushed her foot.

But then the noise from the soldiers she was using as a cover for her own noise stopped abruptly, forcing Velma to freeze in terror. She wildly felt around for her gun, before standing up, hissing through clenched teeth as the chicken wire cut every inch of her exposed skin. She snatched the rest of the wire away from her clothes, not caring if it ripped the fabric. There was only one reason why the soldiers would stop so suddenly. Velma was well hidden behind the carpets, so she knew it couldn't be her. Her fears for Shaggy and Scooby intensified. Clutching her chest, she ran through the carpets just in time to see two slender figures scuttle from the plant display before diving behind the café counter. Almost unconsciously, Velma crept forward, gun at the ready just as four soldiers closed in towards the café from four different directions. She paused just before gate of the kid's playground beside the café and lined up her shot.

She knew she couldn't shoot four at long range. And it was so dark over this side that she could barely see them. But as the events unfolded themselves, Velma watched in fascination as pot plant after pot plant was thrusted up from behind the counter just as easily as if they were snowballs. Velma had to admit she was impressed. It seemed Shaggy and Scooby had used their time in hiding to build up some defence. It wasn't going to be much good against four guns, but it did slow the soldiers down. One of the terracotta pots hit a soldier on the head, knocking him out cold. This forced the others to back away slightly, but to Velma's dismay, they started moving again once the pot plant attack ceased.

She couldn't move; instead she watched as they approached the counter, one on either side and one over the top of the counter. They didn't shoot. Instead, they reeled back in surprise. Velma almost sank to her knees in relief. Apparently, Shaggy and Scooby had managed to escape, without her even noticing. One of the soldiers exclaimed something and pointed towards the playground. Velma ducked behind the gate and held her breath, but instead they actually entered the playground. She was so sure Shaggy and Scooby hadn't gone in there because someone would've noticed the gate open and close. She was in doubt until she saw Shaggy's terrified face pop out of the top of the slide. Against all the odds, they had managed to get in there.

It was like some awful déjà vu from the night she, Fred and Daphne had hidden in the slide in the park. One soldier clambered up the ladder and shoved the barrel of his gun into the slide and – Velma could've laughed out loud if the circumstances weren't so dire – he got a cream pie right in the face. Shaggy and Scooby took advantage of the distraction and burst out of the bottom of the slide, taking a run up and leaping over the tall fence in one movement. They ran straight past a very stunned Velma. At least that explained how they got in so quickly. The less athletic soldiers scrambled down the ladder and went out the gate, but Shaggy and Scooby were nowhere in sight. They tried to appear in control with their guns at the ready, but they were obviously dumbfounded.

They stood in a line like sitting ducks; they weren't bothered by offensive attacks, and why should they be? To them, Shaggy and Scooby would've used weapons in that precarious situation if they had them.

Bang, bang, bang. They were so close to Velma that they were impossible to miss.

She whispered into the darkness – 'Shaggy?' No answer. 'Scooby?'

'Velma?'

'Fred?'

Velma followed the voices over to the plant display.

'Velma, that was amazing,' Daphne said.

'Daph! What are you guys doing here? I thought you went upstairs!'

'We did,' Fred explained. 'But we came back down when things cooled down up there.'

'Where did Shaggy and Scooby go?' Velma asked suddenly.

'Back to the outdoor plant section I think.'

They found Shaggy and Scooby huddled in amongst the cow manure. 'Like, who'd want to look here, right,' Shaggy joked.

Velma saw something on them she had failed to notice before. Both of them were carrying packs that were almost bursting. But she didn't have time to dwell on that because they emerged from the manure pile spluttering –

'Relma,' Scooby coughed. 'Rou saved rus!'

'At first we thought we were being shot at! Like man Velm, you really came to the rescue.'

'You guys did that by yourselves,' Velma replied generously. 'I only got them when they were stumped after you ditched them.'

'Err guys?' Fred whispered. 'I think we have problems.'

Three new soldiers stalked past the plant section just as Fred ushered the five of them behind some tall palms.

With the adrenaline slowly draining out of her body, Velma noticed how sore the foot that had been crushed under the box was. She gave it a quick once-over and concluded that it was very swollen and that she had probably sprained or twisted her ankle or something like that. But it seemed that wasn't the only injury in the group.

'Like I'm fine, I'm fine!' Shaggy was saying to a very distressed Daphne.

'Shaggy, you've been shot,' Daphne whispered, on the verge of tears.

Velma zipped over to Shaggy's arm and examined his wound. Scooby was whimpering quietly with his head resting on Shaggy's knee.

'What's the verdict Velma?' Fred asked gravely.

'Upper arm. It's just missed the bone. It's gone in and out.'

That was all good news, but the bad news was that it was bleeding profusely. Shaggy had loosely wrapped his jacket around it, but it was already soaked with blood. She took off her own jacket and tied it tightly like a sling.

'That should put a bit of pressure on it to stop the bleeding,' Velma reasoned.

Shaggy was beyond grateful.

'Re need to ro back to Readquarters,' Scooby said. 'Rhere's first aid and redicine down rhere,' Scooby said.

'You're right Scooby,' Fred said. 'Listen everyone, we were looking out of the window on the second floor and they have this place surrounded.'

'Like, really surrounded,' Daphne emphasised.

'There are hoards of them out there and they just keep sending them in. There's going to be more coming soon,' Fred said.

'We need to get out of here. We don't stand a chance,' Velma said. 'We have one gun against…'

'Hundreds.'

'Hundreds?'

'Hundreds.'

'Oh.'

'I've been thinking and I have a plan.'

The others raised their eyebrows at Fred to continue.

'You're not going to like it. But as I told you, they have the entire perimeter surrounded. Of course, it's pretty hard to patrol the bush. Especially if you've never been here before.'

'Make a dash for it?' Shaggy asked sadly.

'Not in a stupid way. But they wouldn't expect it.'

Velma nodded, but she turned away and ran her hands anxiously through her messy hair. Would they?