CHAPTER 38

The air chilled as March swept over into April. For a solid week, each morning began with a thin layer of mist that seemed to coat every rock, tree and bush, and made everything damp. Sleeping bags became little use as blankets as they absorbed much of the dampness, leaving them with nothing to sleep on but dirt. Some nights, Fred was forced to dig beneath the frosted layer of dirt to find them a somewhat dry place to sleep. Other nights they used the fire to dry their sleeping bags before bedtime.

The rift between the two sets of mountains had been consistently impenetrable, so they had ventured right up in the midst of the mountains in the hope of being able to cross more safely once they passed the peaks. Though they covered dozens of kilometres everyday, the windy paths and thick bush made them all feel like they were getting nowhere. It felt hopeless, which sent the already low morale plummeting lower than the depth of the valley.

Almost a week into their hike, just when they thought things couldn't get any worse, it started raining. Scooby thought it was like something out of a cartoon where the optimistic characters say, "At least it isn't raining!" and it starts to rain.

Scooby was leading the group, giving him a perfect view of the ominous grey storm clouds looming over the mountains. Essentially, they were walking right into a storm, and there was nothing they could do about it. It was that same heavy, persistent rain they had encountered when they first moved into the area. People were slipping over and Scooby heard a lot of swearing going on behind him (excluding Shaggy of course), which Scooby tried not to let bother him.

No one had said a word about the rain. It was just like the past seven days had been, Scooby thought. They'd hardly exchanged a word with each other unless they were deciding on a path to take. They were more fragmented than ever before.

As Scooby sloshed through the mud and waited for the others to catch up, he turned over his paw and examined his paw pads. They were worn out; his feet were sore and his muscles were arching. Velma had waterproofed all the packs, but there was only so much rain the feeble plastic coating could keep out. Scooby decided he would keep an eye out for a good resting spot. Fortunately, they were moving up into the mountains, and they were cavernous, so the limestone caves were highly abundant. He dumped his pack down on what he hoped wasn't a puddle of mud and pulled out his torch. Tentatively, he stepped into a small cave just off the path and flashed the torch around. Aside from a few bats that flew out when exposed to the light, it was deserted. It was only the size of a small room, but it would provide good protection from the elements. The cave entrance was small, which would minimise the amount of light escaping and give them a bit of extra sleeping space.

Within a couple of minutes, the others filed into the cave, dripping and shivering. Scooby desperately hoped this wouldn't be a repeat of the flu incident in the sawmill. But this time, Velma had a good supply of medication just in case.

Scooby fumbled around in his pack and retrieved the firewood he had collected and dried earlier and started a small fire in the middle of the cave. The others shed their packs and outermost layers and circled around the fire. Fred helped clear some of the dust away and expanded the fire to keep it going for longer.

As night closed in, Daphne said, 'I'll take sentry. You can all sleep.'

'No Daphne,' Fred said. 'I'll do it with you.'

Daphne and Fred bundled themselves up in their sleeping bags and sat in the doorway of the cave with the only gun laying across their laps.

'You don't have to, Freddie,' she said.

'I know. But I want to,' he said, drawing his arms around her.

Daphne flinched slightly at the gesture. To anyone watching, it was hardly noticeable, but Fred and Daphne both saw it so very clearly. Fred felt tears immediately spring to his eyes as a cold sweat broke out over his body. He withdrew his arms quickly and wrapped them around his knees.

Of course he knew what the problem was. Daphne had watched him kill with those hands. It would make sense that she didn't want to be touched by them.

'What? No, Freddie, I'm so sorry, please…'

'It's okay. I understand.'

'No you don't!' She grabbed his hands and brought them back around her.

'You don't have to do this. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable.'

'Shut up! Fred, I love you so much. I thought you'd know that by now,' Daphne said wearily.

'But I've killed…'

'And I know you'd never hurt me. I'm sorry, I was just thinking of that whole incident.'

Fred's jaw clenched.

She draped her arms around his shoulders and pressed herself closer to him. 'Please Fred?'

'Daphne, I just don't know if…'

'Listen to me. You're the one thing that's keeping me going at the moment. Life totally sucks,' she smiled, hoping to evoke the same response out of Fred. When that didn't work, she continued, 'When the hikes are getting tough, I can always rely on you to say something cute or funny to pick me up and keep me going. You'll never leave me behind. And when we go to sleep every night, I know I'm going to spend most of my time shivering in my wet sleeping bag. But when you're right beside me, you keep me warm. Not just physically warm. You make me happy inside.'

'I do?'

'Yes! Freddie, we've been far away from the crux of this war for a long time. Sure, we've had isolated encounters with soldiers and made some spectacular explosions, but when was the last time we actually had contact with our people? When was the last time we had contact with the reason we're fighting? For me, not since Nancy Chang.

'Don't you see, Fred? I don't know about you or anyone else, but for me, this war is becoming meaningless. We're isolated and we're loosing heart. And if I can't have you…' she shrugged. 'What's the point of continuing to resist?'

'What are you saying?' Fred whispered to her, his eyes sparkling with tears.

'You're worth fighting for.'

'I love you too,' Fred whispered against her mouth.

Daphne smiled in relief as she realised she had cracked Fred's apprehensive attitude towards her. She licked his lips before enveloping him in a warm kiss which he reciprocated.

'Besides,' Fred continued when they pulled apart. 'Things could be worse.'

They continued to watch the peaceful nightlife together, warmed against the chilly night air by the other's embrace. A light flared up behind them as Velma added more fuel to the fire.

'Like thanks Velm. I thought I was going to freeze!'

'Re roo!'

'All good,' Velma replied.

Fred and Daphne turned around and faced three figures silhouetted against the outline of the weak fire.

'Like, Fred man, can I ask you something?' Shaggy ventured.

'Shoot.'

'Just letting you know, that's a bad pun to use in a war zone.'

'Right. Yeah.'

'Anyway, you said to Daph that things could be worse. Please elaborate.'

'What do you mean?'

'Like, we're in the middle of a warzone and we're probably number one, two, three, four and five on the most wanted list, we're surrounded by soldiers, we're lost in the middle of the bush with like, depleting food supplies, and we can't even get back to the one safe place left on this planet.'

'Things could be worse, Shaggy,' Fred said. 'We're all still together.'

This didn't seem to improve anyone's spirits, and Fred suspected it was because it was, in a way, completely untrue. Physically, they were together, but mentally, they were fragmented and fraying at the fringes.

What everyone desperately needed was some alone time. But that was impossible in their current situation, where they had to rely heavily on each other for something as simple as living to see the next day.

'I think the disunity within us is my fault,' Daphne said quietly. 'One changing relationship in a group inadvertently affects the entire group. I forced a relationship on Fred.'

'But I wanted it too!' Fred protested.

'I know you do now, but I don't think you were ready back then. And I forced it on you.'

'You can't blame yourself for my obliviousness.'

'And look at me tonight. I'm still doing it.'

'That's because I'm impulsive and too damn stupid to realise what I'm throwing away,' Fred protested. 'But anyway, we've talked it out. We're cool.'

Daphne waved him away in a gesture that clearly said 'case closed.'

'Velma, I've been going at you nonstop and I'm sorry. Scooby, I'm sorry I swore at you, but I promise it had nothing to do with you. I was just in a bad state.'

'Rhank rou.'

'Shaggy, you and I are the ones cracking under the pressure. And I'm sorry for the effect it's having on the rest of you. We're dead weight.'

'Like, yeah,' Shaggy said sadly. 'I was like, so scared when that soldier was running after Fred and Daph. You two,' he pointed at Velma and Scooby, 'you guys channelled your fear into like, heroism. I freaked out as soon as we attacked that soldier and like, when I got up, he got away and punched Velma in the face. It was just so lucky Scooby was there to save the day.'

'Shaggy, Daphne, thanks for saying that,' Velma said. 'But I think I'm most at fault. I've been so stressed lately. You all say that you're the ones cracking under pressure, but I think it's me. The way I handle pressure is by yelling at people. I suppose it's a way of hiding my own insecurities.

'When we first killed those soldiers in the bush on our way to attack the depot, I noticed the effect it had on Shaggy and Daphne. I saw the way you two were huddled together and the way you were able to calm each other down. You became even more dependent on each other back at the sawmill.'

Everyone nodded along with her in agreement.

'And I don't know…' Velma finished. 'I think I've been annoyed at you for that.'

Fred and Shaggy looked confused, but they nodded anyway. But as for Daphne, a light bulb exploded in her head. Of course! It made so much sense. Daphne knew Velma had the hots for Shaggy. And there she was, cuddled up to him in a position Velma wanted to be in. Velma was jealous. Velma and Daphne were watching each other, and in that moment, a lot of meaning and understanding was passed between them.

But then Daphne couldn't help but wonder about Velma's apparent embarrassment about the "coming out" joke from the previous week.

'Call me if the prisoners are coming out!'

'Sure, I'll be waiting with my rainbow flags to congratulate them all.'

Velma had gone bright red then and Velma never got embarrassed. So was she into Shaggy or not? The likely solution, Daphne thought, was that Velma might be bi.

Daphne was shocked at herself for having not noticed that earlier. She always considered herself to be a very understanding person, and in tune to other people's feelings, but this had gone completely over her head. At school, Daphne's gay-dar had been excellent. Daphne had always thought Velma's awkwardness with relationships was due to her attraction to Shaggy. She had been so invested in the Velma and Shaggy relationship that she'd missed the fundamental change in her best friend.

And that, Daphne thought, wrapping up the TedTalk that was going on in her head, was why Velma had been so touchy lately. She was insecure. Despite denying it and scorning Fred and Daphne for getting into a relationship during the war, Velma had clearly been thinking about love too.

This sudden revelation made Daphne realise how much the war had desensitised her. One of her defining traits before the war was being empathetic, and being able to understand other people's feelings so deeply. Just how much had she missed since they became preoccupied with survival?

'Like, Daph and I clearly have issues handling, you know, the killing and all that,' Shaggy admitted. 'I guess we've been helping each other get over it.'

Daphne nodded. If Velma was feeling jealous about this new connection with Shaggy, what about Fred and Scooby? Fred was her boyfriend; how did he feel? Based on Fred's previous obliviousness, Daphne knew that he probably hadn't looked into it too much, but surely it must still hurt him.

And then there was Scooby. At least that explained why he had been so distant with her lately, and Shaggy too for that matter. Shaggy and Scooby were best friends and she'd put a wedge between them; and she felt terrible for it.

Daphne didn't love Shaggy in the same way she loved Fred, and she knew Shaggy felt the same. They loved each other as friends. But perhaps that wasn't the way it appeared to the others. She was going to have to talk to Shaggy about it. They would just have to dial it back a bit.

Apologising was the critical first step and they were already doing it.

She turned to say something to Velma, but she just shook her head and gave Daphne a small smile. Daphne got the distinct feeling that Velma had understood her entire thought process.

'Ri'm ror – '

'Scooby, what do you have to apologise about?' Daphne smiled.

'Raggy.'

'Like, no, you don't need to apologise. I do. To you,' Shaggy said.

Shaggy and Scooby embraced in a chaotic hug, nearly rolling into the fire before Velma shoved them in the other direction.

Fred cleared his throat.

'You don't have anything to apologise about either, Fred,' Velma said. 'You and Scooby, you've been perfect. The rest of us…'

'Have issues,' Daphne finished.

'Hey, I have issues too!' Fred said indignantly, which made them all laugh.

'Yes, after this war, we're all going to have issues,' Velma said. 'And Fred, that's not something to be proud of.'

'Ri rave rissues,' Scooby giggled.

'Like boy, do we know what.'

'Reeheehee! Rands in?'

Scooby held a paw above the fire.

'Like, I'm always with you, Scooby Doo!' Shaggy smacked a hand down on top.

'We wouldn't be a team without you guys,' Fred smiled, joining them. 'Girls?'

'Aw this is so cute. Why not?'

'For old time's sake. But let's do it quietly!'

'Velma,' Shaggy sighed. 'Ever the voice of reason.'

'Mystery Incorporated!' they whispered, even softer than the volume they had been talking at before, which made them all crack up again.

'Roup rug?'

'Oh come on, isn't that enough affection for today…' Velma began before she was smothered by four bodies circling around her.

'You guys all stink,' Daphne said good-naturedly.

'Hey, like, what can we say? Three weeks without a bath or shower! As soon as we get back to Headquarters, I am like, plunging into that river!'

'It's going to be freezing.'

'It was cold even in the summer,' Shaggy shrugged.

'Ugh. There's no shampoo or conditioner down in Headquarters either!' Daphne said.

'Roh no! Rhat are we roing to ro?' Scooby said in alarm.

'Ha ha.'

'This is all well and good, but might I remind you that we're lost and we're miles away from Headquarters,' Velma said.

'That's right. I've been thinking,' Fred said. 'We've been doing this for a week. We're still ascending into the mountains, so it's probably going to be another week at least before we get to the ground level. Then we've still got to go down into the other valley into and then into Headquarters.'

'That's a hell of a hike,' Daphne groaned.

'And like, our food supplies won't last that long.'

'Quiet simply, yes,' Velma sighed. 'The safest option is to go back the way we came. I greatly underestimated how big the bush is. Even with a compass I'm getting disorientated, and if we don't turn back soon, we're going to get badly lost.'

'What we need is a vehicle,' Daphne suggested. 'If we get back to the industrial or farming area, we can drive back into the centre of Crystal Cove and head bush that way.'

'Rand get some food ralong the ray.'

'Like, duh.'

'Risky, but everything's a risk nowadays. I'm in.' Velma said.

'We're still going to have to walk a long way to get a vehicle,' Fred said. 'Especially if we have to pass two labour camps now to get back into the area.'

'Hard, but not impossible. It's our best shot at surviving and above all, being productive. What we're doing now is pointless. Question is, where are we going to get a vehicle from?' Velma wondered.

'Rit just so rappens that Ri know,' Scooby said proudly.

'You do?'

'Reah! Ri saw a Rand Rover in the shed at the rarmhouse!'

'Oh Scooby, that's brilliant!' Daphne exclaimed.

'Brilliant until you realise that farmhouse has been turned into a labour camp,' Velma sighed.

'Look,' Fred began, 'Let's just go and have a squiz. Then we'll decide.'

'At least when we're out of the bush we should have some more food.'

As dawn broke, they realised they'd lost their rare snatches of sleep to an all-night conversation. It was like the sleepovers they used to have when they were younger. But instead of being tired and agitated, the conversation had refuelled them in a way that sleep could never achieve. They put out the fire and did their best to remove evidence that there had been a fire there, as they had with all the other places they'd camped in.

'Did you say it was a Land Rover, Scooby?' Fred asked as they started walking back in the direction they had come.

'Reah. Rhy?'

'I like Land Rovers.'

'Same.'