CHAPTER 34
The world was black. Daphne opened her eyes, but everything was still black. In panic, she cried out, but no sound escaped her throat. She felt a damp cloth on her head and someone was stroking her hair.
'Fred?' she croaked. Her throat was on fire.
'It's only me,' Fred said. 'You need to drink some water.'
He held a bowl of water to Daphne's lips, which she swallowed rapidly despite the pain it was causing her.
'It's night by the way,' Fred said as if he could read her mind. 'I can't see anything either.'
She rolled over, listening to the steady stream of rain pattering down on the tin roof. It wasn't threatening like the night they slogged through the rain; now it was almost relaxing.
'My hair,' she said, running a hand through her matted and tangled hair.
'Don't worry about it,' Fred said, a hint of amusement in his voice. 'You've had a bad fever.'
'How… long?' she rasped.
'How long have you been sick? Hmm, three days now,' Fred replied gently.
'What?'
Daphne tried to sit up, but was immediately hit by a wave of nausea. As she lay back down, she felt a sweat break out all over her body.
She assumed she lost consciousness because the next time she woke up, it was broad daylight. She rolled over and spied Fred out of the corner of her eye. He was sitting beside Velma, who was lying on the hay wrapped up securely in a blanket. Daphne sat up, taking it slowly this time so her nausea didn't knock her unconscious again. She was relieved that she could still see, even if she was slightly bleary-eyed.
'You're going to need to go, Fred. He's not doing well,' Velma was saying.
'I know. But I have to be here for Daphne,' Fred answered.
'Then send Scooby.'
'He wouldn't know where to go,' he sighed.
'Hey,' Velma nudged Fred's arm and nodded her head in Daphne's direction.
Fred spun around, his eyes lighting up at the sight of Daphne. He scrambled up and ran over to her, pausing abruptly just as he reached her.
'Um, how are you feeling?'
'I'm feeling much better,' Daphne said honestly. It was true – her fever had gone down and instead of feeling nauseous, she felt hungry.
'You look much better. I mean – you always look good but you look like you're feeling a lot better,' Fred stammered.
'Oh god,' Velma laughed. 'You're dating her, remember Fred? You're not in that awkward stage of "I want to date her" anymore.'
'I love my awkward Freddie,' Daphne smiled.
Satisfied that she was well enough, Fred lay down on her and wrapped his arms around her back.
'I'm so relieved you're okay,' he said, tears shimmering in his eyes.
Daphne realised at that moment just how much he cared. But as he leant in for a kiss, she stopped him.
'You don't want to get what I had,' Daphne said.
'I already had it,' Fred said. 'Just not quite as bad as you, Velma and Shaggy. Scooby was the real hero.'
'Lies,' Velma called out. 'Scooby and Fred were the heroes.'
'Wait,' Daphne said, coming to her senses. She quickly made the connection between the "he's not doing well" that Velma was saying when she had first woken up. 'Is Shaggy alright?'
Fred and Velma exchanged a glance.
'What,' Daphne said, her panic rising. 'Tell me, Fred Jones.'
'He's not in a good way, Daph. He's got a bad fever and Velma reckons he got an infection in his arm from the river. Velma and I were talking and well, he needs medicine. We all do, but he really does…'
'I don't know if he's going to make it if he doesn't get some,' Velma finished flatly.
'I'll go get some. Fred and I will get some,' Daphne said.
'Not you,' Fred said. 'You need to rest.'
'But I'm better now!'
'You've been lying there for five days.'
'You said it was three days.'
'Yeah, it was when you last asked me. And the time before that, it was two days.'
Daphne fell silent. She hadn't even remembered the apparent first time she'd woken.
'You're too weak, Daphne,' Fred said gently. 'You haven't eaten. I need to get us all some more food too.'
'Since Daphne and I are better, maybe you should take Scooby with you,' Velma suggested.
'I'll go talk to him,' Fred said, leaving the room.
It was only at that moment that Daphne bothered to discover where she and Velma were. They were in a small barn, and based on its bareness, Daphne suspected it was barely used. It mostly contained hay and some old rusty machinery. Fred had gone out to a small sectioned off room down the back of the barn that smelt strongly of sawdust. It seemed they were in a small sawmill.
In terms of location, Daphne had a rough idea of where they were. The gang had solved a handful of mysteries in this part of town, mostly involving farmhouses haunted by scarecrows or old abandoned airfields. The urban sections of Crystal Cove always recovered better from the disruptive monsters (people in masks) compared to the smaller rural areas. Just a couple of ghosts in this area had managed to drive most of the population away, leaving much of the suburb deserted.
'We're in a sawmill?' Daphne asked Velma.
Velma wrapped her blanket tighter around her. 'Sort of. Shaggy's in the actual sawmill part and we're just in the barn.'
'Why isn't he with us?'
'According to Fred, we were screaming, crying and yelling in our sleep.'
'Oh. And Shaggy wasn't?'
'No.'
Daphne's stomach churned.
'He hasn't been conscious,' Velma explained.
'Will he be okay?' Daphne cried.
'He needs medicine.'
'Velma, tell me what happened. Give me a cohesive timeline,' Daphne pressed.
'Sure. I'll tell you what I have gathered so far. When we got to the barn, Fred said that you and I virtually collapsed in the hay. I don't think Fred was in a good way himself, but he somehow got himself to the closest farmhouse and brought back blankets, food and hot water bottles. He lit a fire in the barn and boiled some water and used it the filled the hot water bottles. In the morning, I heard that Scooby went to the nearest veggie patch and made some soup. Fred's been running around like a headless chicken looking after us.'
Daphne felt a gush of admiration towards Fred and Scooby. Would they have survived without them?
'Marry him Daphne,' Velma grinned.
'Velma!'
'He's a good egg. He has a heart of gold.'
'I know that already,' Daphne smiled.
'Anyway, after your future husband went out into the rain and sludge, Scooby lay the three of us out and tried to keep us warm and hydrated. I was half conscious, and let me tell you, he was fantastic. I saw a completely different side of Scooby. He was methodical and in control. When Fred came back, he took off our wet jackets and… that's all I remember. I blacked out for a few days. I was down for three days, and from the looks of Scooby and Fred, they've spent the last few days doing nothing but tending to us. Wiping our foreheads, trying to bring our fevers down, giving us water and talking to us.'
'Wow,' Daphne breathed.
'Yeah. They really need sleep. Both of them.'
'Roup?' Scooby said, bursting into the barn with a tray of steaming soup held in his mouth.
'Scooby,' Daphne said warmly.
Scooby put the tray down and turned around in surprise. 'Raphne! Rou're awake!'
'I love you Scooby,' she said, hugging him tightly as he came over and licked her face.
'Your face ris not as hot. Your rever has rone rown a lot.'
Daphne looked at Scooby in astonishment. She understood what Velma meant about seeing a completely different side to Scooby.
'Roup?' Scooby asked again.
'Please Scooby,' Velma said. 'What is it?'
'Rweet rotato,' Scooby said proudly. 'Yummy!'
'How is Shaggy? Did Fred talk to you?' Daphne asked.
'Res. I'm roing to go.'
Daphne noticed that Scooby didn't answer the first part of the question. She didn't press it.
'If it's alright Scoob, I think we should leave as soon as possible,' Fred suggested as he entered the room.
'Ronight?'
Fred sighed. 'I know going tonight would be safer, but I think we have to leave now. We'll be okay if we stick in the shadows. This area is essentially abandoned anyway, so I'll be surprised if we run into trouble.'
'Rokay. I'm going to get ready.'
'And I'm going to check on Shaggy,' Velma said. She got up slowly and waddled into the sawmill with Scooby, still wrapped up in her blanket.
'Why is she in that blanket? Is she cold?' Daphne asked Fred.
'Her clothes are still drying,' he said, but he sounded distracted. 'All our clothes are wet because it's rained nonstop for the entire time we've been here. So she's just in her um, err, underwear…'
'I understand,' Daphne said, saving Fred from the obvious embarrassment it was causing him. She noticed that she too was in her underwear, but she had a big baggy shirt on instead of a bra.
Fred leant down beside Daphne. 'There's something I've got to tell you.'
Daphne sensed the urgency and took his hand. 'Shaggy?' she whispered.
'No, it's not about him.'
'Phew. What is it?'
'Um…' Fred could barely get a word out before he went red.
Daphne sat back on her haunches. 'I'm so confused, Fred.'
'The night we arrived here, we were soaking wet.' He was speaking so quickly that his sentences were falling over each other. 'And we were freezing, so we had to get the wet clothes off. You were unconscious, so I um… I had to – Velma blacked out after taking her own off otherwise I would've got her to do it…'
'So you took my clothes off,' Daphne said.
'Well not all of them, but err, yes.'
Daphne felt a funny combination of emotions and found herself wishing more than anything that she had at least been conscious.
'I'm so sorry, I didn't mean…'
Daphne was still confused until it all clicked for her. Just before they went to attack the fuel depot, she stopped wearing a bra. She had never really needed one if she was being honest with herself (that was something that had always made her self-conscious), and she'd decided if they were just going to be wearing jumpers and black t-shirts, there was no need to wear one. Plus, in the summer heat, it was far too uncomfortable. She stifled a laugh at the thought of Fred's face as he pulled up her sopping wet shirt not expecting to see anything underneath…
She looked at him closely; there was something in his eyes – yes, he was sincerely sorry, but did he look almost longingly at her? Above all, he had taken off her shirt anyway – that explained the strange khaki t-shirt she was wearing at the moment. She couldn't help but wonder: what was Fred thinking as he changed her?
Daphne felt Fred's gaze flicker up at her. She knew in that instant that her reaction right now would guide his future actions towards her. She took his hands again and pierced his eyes with her own, forcing him to begrudgingly look up at her. Her face broke out into a smile.
'Good,' she said simply.
Fred dropped her gaze.
'I'm glad you did, Fred. I'm glad it was you.'
After dating Red Herring for so long who had absolutely no respect for women, Daphne was always surprised at Fred's reaction to things like this. His level of respect for her, while humbling, could at times be frustrating. So Daphne decided to make things clear.
She grabbed his ascot (how he still managed to wear it she didn't know) and pulled him down onto the hay beside her.
'I thought I told you to stop apologising for things like this. Don't you get it? I love you too.' She enunciated each word of the last sentence with a kiss on his nose. 'And I'm over all this beating around the bush.'
Fred was still staring at her, but it was in a different way this time.
'And I don't want to have regrets,' Daphne said vehemently. Then her tone changed as she smiled at him and got up. 'I've been lying here for five days. You have no idea how badly I need to take a whiz. I'll be back in time to see you and Scooby off,' she said, patting his cheek affectionately.
Fred rearranged his ascot just in time as Velma and Scooby came back into the room.
'Are you okay Fred?' Velma asked, seeing him sprawled out in amongst the hay.
'Y…yisno um manarble I err,' Fred babbled, straightening himself up and picking the hay out of his hair.
Velma raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
'Rokay, Mr Manarble,' Scooby giggled.
'Um, any movement from Shaggy?' Fred said, trying to recover as best as he could.
'He's muttering in his sleep, so I guess that's a good sign. But he's very hot. By which I mean, his temperature is very hot. His forehead is sweaty,' Velma said, slightly flustered.
In typical Fred fashion, he didn't notice anything strange about the way Velma said that. He leant over to fill a large pack with essentials like water and a couple of snacks for himself and Scooby. Then he fitted the other pack to Scooby, ready to load up with first aid, medicine, food and anything else useful.
It was sprinkling lightly when met Daphne outside the barn. Her hair and face were soaking wet, but she had a fresher look about her, suggesting she had probably dunked her entire head in the Janna River to get rid of the sweat. Fred couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful she looked with the water running through her hair, and the way the tiny droplets dangled from her eyelashes. As she blinked, one rolled down her face to her lips and she did a subtle lip bite to stop it. Fred's heart fluttered.
Throwing caution to the wind, he took her chin in his hand and kissed her on the lips, hard. She shifted back in shock at first, but then she had her arms entangled in his hair and around his neck, pressing herself against him. He inhaled the scent of her as if his life depended on it. Before the war, she smelt like her apricot shampoo, but now she had the aroma of the gum trees and campfire smoke.
That was Fred's new favourite smell in the world.
When he finally pulled away, Fred said, 'I don't want to have regrets either.'
Daphne glowed with pleasure. 'Be safe, you two.'
She leant down and kissed Scooby on the nose.
'Re rill.'
She and Velma stayed outside watching until Fred and Scooby were nothing but tiny dots on the horizon. In an unusual display of affection, Velma placed a comforting hand on Daphne's shoulder.
Daphne gave her a watery smile in return. 'How does soup and a chat sound?'
'Wonderful.'
~oO*Oo~
They took their sweet potato soup and sat by Shaggy in the sawmill. He was very pale and sweaty, but otherwise he looked just like he would as if he were sleeping. The girls took it in turns to wipe down his face with a damp cloth. Daphne leant up against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest and Velma lay opposite her, still wrapped in her blanket.
'Where did we go so wrong,' Daphne groaned. 'Going to Bunnings was a bloody death trap.'
'It was the radio,' Velma explained.
'How do you mean?'
'It wouldn't have taken them long to figure out we were the ones who killed those soldiers in the bush. If they got no answer from their men, they would've sent out more patrols searching for them. Then they probably discovered the bodies and the missing gun and radio. And… I'm pretty sure they used the radio to track us.'
'Right.' Daphne sighed in defeat. 'Makes sense. But if they were tracking us, how did they know we were going to Bunnings? We could've been going anywhere in the industrial area.'
'The radios are much more effective than we gave them credit for. I think they were listening in on us.'
Daphne reacted with open-mouthed horror. 'Those bastards!'
'Indeed. It was a really stupid, amateur error. It's honestly a miracle we all survived, relatively unscathed.'
Daphne raised her eyebrows at Velma, challenging her last remark.
'We'll all get over our fevers. Shaggy will, but it will just take longer. And he's very lucky his bullet wound will heal easily with adequate medical care.'
'What about the mental scars Velma,' she said.
'Point taken. I'm never going to forget that, for as long as I live.'
'I wish Shaggy was awake,' Daphne said for the hundredth time. 'He could always lighten the mood and make us laugh.'
They sat in a depressing silence for a long time, each lost in their own array of dark thoughts. The rain began to get heavy again. Velma watched as slabs of water hammered against the frail glass window. The noise blocked out almost everything else in the world. And the sawmill wasn't completely leak proof either; rusty water dribbled at random from the roof, making the room damper and colder than ever. As it darkened, she got increasingly worried about Fred and Scooby. The smart thing for them to do would be to wait it out, but she knew for a fact that neither of them would do that. The ground would turn to sludge and the river would break its banks, but Fred and Scooby would soldier on.
'Pathetic fallacy,' Velma commented about the weather.
'You're pathetic fallacy,' Daphne smirked.
'Okay sure.'
Velma assumed Daphne had no idea what pathetic fallacy meant. Such a stimulating conversation, Velma thought. Her already non-existent social skills had really taken a battering over the course of the last couple of months.
Velma hauled some sticks out of the pile Scooby had gathered beside the sawmill. She had no idea how Scooby managed to find such dry firewood, but she was grateful for it. She lit a small fire in the middle of the shed and spread her hands out in a feeble effort to warm herself. Daphne got up and snuggled in beside Shaggy, spreading her blanket over both of them. She fell into a heavy, dreamless sleep beside him, only waking when Velma's sarcastic voice announced,
'Your local drug dealers have paid us a visit.'
Daphne stirred, but she still felt sluggish and her eyelids were as heavy as anvils. Fred lay down on the other side of her.
'Take some Nurofen, Daph,' he smiled.
'Thank you, Freddie,' Daphne replied, appalled to realise that her throat was sore again and her voice was still husky. 'Has Shaggy had some?'
'Yes. We also got him some ointment and proper bandages. That's… that's the best thing we can do for him now.'
Daphne propped herself up on her elbows. 'Oh, and thank you to you too Scooby.'
Scooby gave a thumbs up, but the dog looked absolutely exhausted. He flopped down on the other side of Shaggy.
'Have we essentially given up on sentry duty?' Daphne asked.
'Only for this location. And quite simply because there aren't enough people to do it. We need all hands on deck at the moment,' Velma said.
'Mm fair enough.'
'We should discuss what we're going to do next,' Velma suggested. Her brown eyes were glittering with the reflection of the weak flame dancing in the darkness.
Daphne shrugged helplessly and Fred said, 'I don't know. What do you suggest, Velm?'
'For once, I have no idea.'
