Chapter 09
Shaggy and Velma stood frozen, staring at Scooby Doo. He was not wearing his collar or his 'SD' tag. The hair around his face had greyed markedly and his fur had lost its youthful sheen. Otherwise, he was thin and appeared fit. After the initial greeting, he remained silent as he turned and walked away from them, following the path along the broken concrete walk. They followed.
The intense background noise of the jungle made Scooby's movements down the path silent as he expertly wound his way over the various trip hazards and small detours. He kept a steady pace seemingly designed to allow the neophytes to keep up. He didn't look back as he walked.
The nightclub façade was crumbling off the side of the prefabricated metal building which itself was showing extensive rust at all of the visible metal edges. The baked-on paint was flaking off and the doorway through which they passed was now only an open hole. The door and frame were nowhere to be seen. The sandwiched insulation in the outer wall was full of holes where small rodents had burrowed in for protection against the elements.
The interior walls which had separated the dining and public area from the kitchen had collapsed and their wreckage remained strewn about the floor. Only one of the several windows bringing light into the interior still held glass and glass shards were scattered on the floor underneath the others. Scooby wound his way through this debris to the windowless back corner.
When he got into the shadows, he turned and looked back at them for the first time, "Welcome to my home."
Shaggy's eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness. Scooby was seated on a pile of old mattresses which appeared to be his bed. In a pile next to the bed were the remains of several of the island rats which, based on the blood, had been eaten raw. They were all fresh and there were no signs of older carcasses.
Scooby followed Shaggy's gaze, "I didn't have a chance to tidy up. I wasn't expecting company." Scooby's voice was gravelly and hoarse.
But there was something else. Shaggy spoke to his old friend for the first time, "Scoob, you talk different. A lot different."
Scooby nodded, "I am the Demosthenes of the canine world. There is a lot that one can accomplish in… how long has it been?"
"Thirty-five years."
The number didn't seem to faze him, "There is a lot that one can accomplish in 35 years alone. Improving elocution is just one."
"It's impressive. Your speech impediment is completely gone."
"Thank you. With no one to hear me speak, I was never quite sure."
Velma stepped forward, "Fred and Daphne? Are they here?"
Scooby's countenance dropped, "They came. But they are no longer with me."
Velma didn't understand exactly what that meant but needed to summon up more courage to press further.
Shaggy took over, "Scooby Doo, we know why you left. But why didn't you ever come back? Or call? Or just find a way to let us know that you were okay?"
"That was impossible."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted it to be impossible. I made it impossible. The boat that brought me here from Hawaii towed another small motor boat. They left me off out of sight of land and I took the smaller boat to here. I then destroyed it along with my back-up phone and computer. Everything I might use to get in contact with my former life."
"But, damnit WHY?! Amanda just wasn't worth that!"
"It wasn't just about Amanda. It was about you… and me."
The words hit Shaggy like a battering ram, "How do you mean?"
"I had to choose a side. I was either going to be human or I was going to be dog. I started out as a dog – your dog. And I was happy. But then, when I realized that I could talk, I started becoming more and more human. And I was less and less happy. To stay with you meant to always have to be more human than dog. I had to live in your world. Officially a human but never accepted as a human. I needed to lose all of the pressure to be a human and to become wholly and entirely a dog. I needed to run and to hunt and to kill with my teeth. There are no pizza parlors on the island. I eat what I can catch and kill. This is who I am. This is what I came here to be."
Velma's logical mind pressed, "Then why practice your diction?"
"Why not?"
Shaggy waited for Scooby's patented giggle. It didn't come.
Shaggy was disconsolate, "But haven't you been lonely?"
"Of course. But with each passing day, the pain of loneliness pushes my human side farther and farther down. My dog side takes over and thinks of nothing but finding food and shelter. I go for days now without having a truly coherent thought."
Velma tilted her head slightly, "But when you do think, what do you think about?"
A distant look overcame Scooby's eyes, "I think about… the horror."
"The horror?"
"Who I am. Why I was created. What I've done. Who I've hurt and who has hurt me. I think about who I've loved and…: He looked woefully at Shaggy, "and who I still love and will love forever. I think about how I fit into the world and the human race. I think about eyes filled with hatred. I think about the fact that I am a hated pawn in a multi-dimensional chess game – forfeited in the first few moves for the unknown goals of the unseen masters of my fate. The horror."
Shaggy's eyes were brimming with tears, "Scooby, I want to hug you right now."
Scooby shuffled back further on his bed, "Don't! My human side can't maintain control as it once could. And while my human side sees you as my friend, my dog side sees you as… food."
Velma's voice came in a whisper, "That's not spooky or anything."
Neither Shaggy nor Scooby heard her words. Their eyes were locked on each other. They were frozen in this position until Shaggy said, "Bullshit." And dropped to his knees in front of Scooby Doo, his dog. He wrapped his arms around Scooby's neck and held on.
The internal battle for control within Scooby Doo was intense. He could smell the blood pulsing through Shaggy's veins and that registered as prey. But, his memories of Shaggy were deep, and those registered him as the alpha of Scooby's pack. And finally, in one small but growing corner of Scooby's mind, a voice called out that this was his brother.
Scooby began to whimper and broke free from Shaggy's hug to bow down to the ground and then he rolled over and opened his neck to Shaggy. The whimpering continued. The compromise between his dog side and human side settled on Shaggy as alpha and the dog lay on his back, whimpering in submission.
Shaggy yelled, "Scooby Doo! Stop it!"
The dog rolled back over to his stomach and let out a tight growl. Shaggy dropped down now to all fours and stuck his face right in front of Scooby's nose.
Velma's whisper was now tiny, "Shaggy, what are you doing?"
Scooby continued to growl, and his face began to contort into a visage of primal rage.
Shaggy's voice was calm, "Scooby Doo. I love you."
The growling and menace went on for another few seconds and then Scooby's face settled down. His tongue came out and he licked Shaggy's face. In between licks, Scooby spoke, "You are one dumb motherfucker." And then he began to laugh.
Shaggy joined in the laughter and sat down on the edge of Scooby's bed, "The bad news about fixing your speech impediment is that now everyone will know what a foul mouth you've got." The laughter continued until Shaggy began to feel tiny things crawling on his skin, "Scoob, what is living in these mattresses?"
Scooby looked around, "All sorts of nasty little things. I itch most of the time."
"Zoinks!" Shaggy jumped up to his feet and began reaching inside his clothes and scratching animatedly.
Scooby looked at Velma, "I'm glad some things have remained the same."
Velma had remained silent through the laughter. Both Shaggy and Scooby knew that her joining in would have been fake, so it wasn't worth the effort. But, more than that, she was focused on asking her next question.
"Scooby, tell us about Fred and Daphne."
The laughter died instantly. Scooby looked to Velma, "I would rather not."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not the good guy in that story."
Velma's voice was shaky, "Please Scooby, anything is better than not knowing."
Another long silence ensued before Scooby gave a slight nod and started talking, "They showed up about three weeks after I first got here. Pulling up to the pier in that gawdy yacht with its purple and green flags flying all over. I never actually knew that Daphne had her own yacht but, as soon as I saw it come over the horizon, I knew it could be no one else.
"Fred was already off the boat and tying of to the pier when I got there…"
"Rye told roo rot to follow ree."
Fred looked up with his usual dumb expression when he was at a loss for words, but Daphne came trotting down the gangplank with a big smile on her face, "Scooby Doo! I'm so glad we found you!"
The smiled pissed me off, "Rou're respassing."
"Trespassing, we all own this island together."
"Rot any more. Rye swapped stock. Rye own it now. So, prease reave and do ree the favor of relling no one where Rye am. Ever."
"Scooby, you know we can't do that. There are people who love you and who miss you."
"Rwhy did roo come?"
This seemed to confuse her, "I… I just told you…"
I was really angry now and I wanted to make her hurt, "Roo're a mother with a raby. Rwho's raking care of Ran?"
Fred stepped forward, "Don't go there, buddy."
I was already there, "Rwhat is Ran losing by hearing her rother's voice on a cold, staticky ratellite phone?"
This crossed a line and Daphne's voice brimmed with fire, "How about not at all?! How about the fact that she hasn't heard her mother's voice at all!" Daphne turned her back and walked down the pier.
Fred was now angry, "No one has taken the yacht out in years. We left in such a rush we didn't have the systems properly checked. The electrical system and the radios and phones quit working right after we left. Coming here was just a hunch so we didn't want to get anybody's hopes up until we were sure, but we would have liked to be able to call in. Daphne has been nearly hysterical with not being able to talk to Nan. And you're a real dick for rubbing her nose in it!"
I wanted to feel sorry, but I was too busy being mad, "Rye told roo rot to follow me!"
"We love you, dumbass! There was no way that we were going to let you just crawl off to die."
"Rye'm not dying. Prease reave now. And ron't tell anyrone where I am."
"No can do, buddy. I know that, as soon as they can, Shaggy and Velma are going to want to come here and talk with you. We all want you back."
"Rye ron't go back."
"It's not that easy, Scooby. There are too many people who care about you. We'll never let you do this."
Scooby's narrative continued in the present, "I knew that Fred was right. If he and Daphne went back and told everyone where I was, then I would be pressured to come back. I would never get the opportunity to find my own path and to try live a life without the sadness that humanity brings. To let them return to civilization would be tantamount to signing my own dead warrant. I would not survive going back.
"It was them or me."
Velma's heart was pounding, and she was having trouble catching her breath. She leaned against Shaggy, wrapped her arms around him, and held on.
Scooby waited a moment before continuing, "This place was still in pretty good shape back then. All of the doors worked and most of the windows were still there. The ones that weren't, I had filled in with scraps of wood and metal that I had found around. I came here with lots of duct tape. I invited them to spend the night on dry land before we all headed back to the mainland.
"Then, when they were asleep…"
Velma's hands pressed against her ears, "My God! Don't say it!"
Shaggy's voice was quavering, "No. We have to hear it. We have to hear it all."
Scooby's eyes were sad as only the eyes of Great Dane could be, "When they were asleep, their boat engine turned on and it made its way out to the open sea. When they woke up in the morning, it was gone over the horizon."
Velma felt immediate relief that Scooby had not cold-bloodedly killed Fred and Daphne but then her emotions reared up again, "What do you mean 'their boat engine turned on'! Did you strand them here? Away from Nan! Do you know what that girl has gone through?! Do you understand what you did to an innocent child?!"
"I told you all not to follow me."
Shaggy remained on point, "What happened next?"
"When they got up the next morning and realized what had happened, Fred hit me. He hit me over and over until my dog-side took over and I fought back. I bit him hard and deep. I tasted his blood. Then I guess Daphne hit me with a rock because I was suddenly down on the ground and couldn't think before blacking out. When I woke back up, I was really sick for a while and forgot what had happened. When I could think and remember everything, I looked around. Fred and Daphne were gone."
"Gone where?"
"The other side of the island. After a few days, I went looking for them to apologize. I met Fred and he told me to go away and never try and see them again. I've honored that request as I wish they would have honored mine. There were a few times when my hunting would take me up the mountain, and I would smell their scent or even catch a glimpse. But the last time that happened was years ago."
Shaggy's voice held a glimmer of hope, "But you don't know they're dead."
Scooby shook his head, "Nor do I know that they are alive. I haven't seen, heard, or smelled them in a very long time."
Velma looked up at Shaggy, "We're going to look for them."
Shaggy nodded, "As soon as I get in the ocean to get these bugs off of me and change clothes."
Scooby's voice was aged, "I'll stay here. If you find them alive, I won't be welcome."
"You're probably right." Velma looked down at his sagging head, "But you have some thinking to do while we're gone. If you wish, we will return without you and tell no one where you are. But, if you have spent enough time alone, then there is a seat for you on the plane."
Scooby nodded without speaking.
Velma and Shaggy walked out to the plane. While Velma told Charles and Marlo to never leave the plane unguarded, Shaggy bolted to the end of the pier.
Shaggy had never been overly shy. But nor would anyone have ever considered him an exhibitionist. But that did not stop him from getting to the end pf the pier, taking off all of his clothes in plain sight of Charles and Marlo, and jumping in. He then proceeded to scratch and wash himself all over. The whole time saying over and over, "I hate creepy crawly bugs. Especially… OUCH! Ones that… OUCH! Bite!"
Velma just shook her head at the display by her husband until she felt the first bite. At which point she realized that moments ago, she had been hugging this man. The second bite confirmed her suspicions. As calmly as possible, she walked back to the plane and approached Marlo.
"Can I get our suitcases please?"
She felt that she was waiting patiently but both Marlo and Charles noted the occasional jump she would make every few seconds. When the suitcases were finally out, she looked at the brother and sister, "Would you mind facing away from the end of the pier until told otherwise?"
The two pilots held straight faces, "No problem." And turned dutifully toward the island.
Velma rolled the two suitcases down to the end of the pier, laid out a change of clothes for both Shaggy and herself, pulled out a bar of soap and a can of insect repellant (she should have thought of that one earlier), and followed Shaggy's lead into the water. Of course, she reversed his order by jumping into the water first and undressing second. It seemed more ladylike.
The bites were already turning into itchy welts when they returned to the plane. They were in fresh clothes. Their previous clothes had been thoroughly soaked and were laid out on the pier to dry in the sun. If there was any possibility that a single one of those awful bitey insects remained in the clothes, then the clothes would never leave the island. Neither Shaggy nor Velma wanted to bring such an infestation back to civilization with them.
"You can turn back around now." Velma's command allowed Charles and Marlo to turn away from the island. "We'll be going around to the other side of the island. From the map, it shouldn't be more than an hour walk to get there and get back. That will give us some time to look around before we have to come back. We'll be back by sunset. If we have found our friends, then we may leave tonight. If we haven't, then we will try again in the morning and leave out tomorrow afternoon."
Neither of the pilots had a problem with this and Charles reached in and pulled two packed lunches out of the plane along with several bottles of water. Velma and Shaggy donned backpacks (which now included insect repellant) and headed off along the beach, circling the island in a clockwise direction.
It was not a stroll on the beach. Well… it was literally but it wasn't figuratively. There were stretches where the sand beach was wide and easy to traverse and other places where waterways – ranging from small rills over which they could step or jump to larger creeks which required them to move inland to find a narrower point over which to make their crossing. There were still other places where large, ragged rocks rose up out of the water, blocking their way and making them backtrack to a point where they could make their way to the top of a bluff and bypass these crags. Lunches were eaten almost immediately and they were already carefully rationing their water before they had made it over to the western side.
Once they had passed the mid-island highpoint, sweat began to pour off of their bodies as the afternoon sun bore directly down on them. They now walked closer to the edge of the jungle looking for worn pathways or any other sign of recent habitation.
Velma pulled out her A-Eye, "Call Marlo Laudermilch."
The A-Eye queried, "Is that the Marlo Laudermilch who is located about one mile northeast of you?"
Velma couldn't help but wonder how many Marlo Laudermilchs there were in the world, "Yes."
In a few seconds, Marlo's face appeared in the air above the A-Eye, "Is everything okay, Ms. Dinkley?"
"Yes. No problem. I just wanted to confirm that we had good communications."
Marlo smiled the smile of the younger generations who had grown up in a world where the combination of tower and satellite communications created good communications everywhere, "Yes. We have a good signal."
Velma hid her mild annoyance at the arrogance of the young, "Thank you."
After thirty minutes of walking along the beach, they had gotten past the halfway point along the western shore and stopped to take a break on a large rock under the shade of a cluster of palm trees. Shaggy had two bottles of water remaining and Velma had two and a half. Shaggy took three careful sips to ease his throat.
"Why are we being so quiet?"
Velma thought for a moment, "I don't know. We are used to pursuing people who don't want to be found."
"The more reasonable assumption here is that they do want to be found."
Velma nodded, "I agree."
Shaggy stood up, "FRED! DAPHNE! ITS SHAGGY AND VELMA. WE'RE HERE TO TAKE YOU HOME!"
They waited and listened. Nothing.
Shaggy called out again. Nothing again.
They kept walking. They hit another larger craggy rock blocking their path, but this time Velma stopped at the edge of the forest, "Shaggy! Look at this."
"What've you got?" He walked over behind her."
"It's a path."
"It is. And it appears to be regularly used."
"There's a lot of wildlife on the island and anything could make a path."
He nodded, "But it doesn't hurt to follow it."
"No, it doesn't hurt to follow it."
They left the beach and followed the trail into the jungle. The kangaroo rats scuttled away as they passed. The path headed straight toward the center of the island and got steeper after they were about 100 feet in. It caught a small rill with flowing water and followed it up the hill to a point where the water came out of a hole in the stone. The hole was about 3 feet in diameter and the water was rippling out at a depth of about two inches.
Shaggy and Velma looked at each other. Shaggy climbed up to the mouth of the hole and looked in. It was pitch black and he couldn't see the back.
"Fred? Daphne?"
Shaggy saw something coming out of the darkness directly at his right eye, he lurched backwards (which his back was going to remind him about for several days) and was just missed by a sharpened stick passing inches over his face.
"Damnit! It's me! Shaggy!"
The stick pulled back into the hole. There was silence for a moment and then an almost unrecognizable male voice, "Shaggy?"
"Yeah buddy, it's me. And Velma's with me."
"Shaggy? Velma?" And then the blessed sound of whispering inside the cave.
Fred's head stuck out. Wary. Alert. He had a rough-cut beard with an average length of about 1 inch. He was bald on top and the hair around the side and back of his head was thin and also rough-cut at about an inch length. A metal knife had clearly not been used to cut the hair and beard. Probably a sharpened rock. His hair was all completely grey.
"Shaggy? You don't look like Shaggy."
"You don't look much like the Fred I remember, either. We got old, man."
"Velma? You're still short."
"Like I was going to grow?"
Fred smiled for the first time revealing yellowed teeth with several missing, "And you're still sarcastic. It is you. Please tell me I'm not hallucinating."
Shaggy was grinning now, "No, buddy, it's us. In the flesh."
Velma climbed up to the hole, "Daphne!" She waited a moment, "Daphne!" Suddenly, Velma's anxieties and fears began to bubble to the surface. The whispering they had heard could just as easily have been Fred muttering to himself. Her emotional level reached a panic, "DAPHNE!"
A cracking version of Daphne's voice arose from the darkness of the cave, "Give me a second, Vel. I'm trying to make myself presentable."
