Shaggy had wrapped himself up burrito-style in the Broken Spine's old paisley rug. But it was more akin to a straight jacket than a cozy blanket. By some miracle Shaggy had managed to find sleep, but it was not at all restful. He thrashed around in his makeshift covers, his face constantly flinching and twitching. For a moment he seemed to be full convulsing. And then he shot up, awake, sputtering for air as his lungs felt like they were imploding.
Shaggy sat in the darkness, panting desperately for a second. Then he stopped, and took one long breath in, and a quiet shakier breath out. Then another, and another. Soon his heart rate had returned to normal and the pounding in his head had subsided. While he still felt the static twinges of tension in his chest and at the back of his neck, he also felt as if he were back on solid ground.
Shaggy ran his fingers through his hair as he stood up and stretched. He felt better sure, but he wasn't quite up for sleeping anymore. So instead he idly ran his hand across the spines of books on the shelves. What was his dream about? All he remembered from it was his parents, the hospital and—
He knew what his dream had been. He swallowed a lump in his throat and pull a book of the shelf at random. Poltergeists and Possessions was the title. He flipped through it, making no real attempt at reading.
Instead he couldn't stop thinking about it... that night. Shaggy's whole frame drooped. He leaned against the bookcase, and reluctantly let his mind wander.
—
It was early September. Shaggy and Velma walked along the sidewalk together. Scooby trailed behind them. They were there admiring the bright amber and deep scarlet leaves the had blanketed their path, but mostly just in an attempt to forget everything that had happened to them. Daphne had left mid August. She didn't even say goodbye, she just stopped answering the phone and then suddenly the Blake mansion was abandoned. She'd written to them a few times since, but neither Shaggy nor Velma could really bear to open the letters yet.
The cases had gotten worse too, towns all over the state had begun to report hoards of zombies. So far, nobody had survived, or even began to recover from zombification. To be infected was to be sentenced to death.
So when Velma, Shaggy and Scooby turned the corner, only to see three ambulances parked outside of the Rodger's home, Shaggy almost collapsed in shock. There was a team about twenty people, all in hazmat suits, escorting Shaggy's parents each into their own ambulance.
He looked at Velma for reassurance, but she was no help. Her eyes were wide and brimming with fear. A few of the workers in hazmat suits noticed Shaggy and Velma there on the sidewalk. One of them marched over to the trio, a clipboard in hand. He pointed to Shaggy.
"Are you Norville Rodgers?" The man asked curtly.
"Like, yeah uh that's me," Shaggy somehow managed to stammer, "uh, like, what's going on here?"
"This household is suspected of having been infected, we must take you all in for a screening." The man swung open the door to the third ambulance, "in this way, Norville."
Shaggy looked over at Velma once again. His face was drained of any color, "I haven't been bit!" He whispered so only Velma could hear, "what do I do?"
"If you haven't been bit than you should be fine" Velma's voice was even but her fingers tapped rapidly against her leg, "just go, I'll take Scooby and meet you at the hospital."
"Mr. Rodgers?" The hazmat worker called, this time more with urgency.
"Yeah, I'm coming," Shaggy responded, turning his back on Scooby and Velma as he stepped into the ambulance. Three workers all followed after him, and slammed the door.
Shaggy hated hospitals in the best of times, but as he was escorted into an empty room by the hazmat workers, their steps echoing and mixing with the horrific wails of zombie patients. The stench of rotten flesh wafting through the hallways. Well, he would have taken a vegan steakhouse over being there.
Then, they slammed the door behind them, and left Shaggy all alone with his thoughts. Thoughts which immediately turned to his parents. Were they ok? What would happen if they'd been infected? What would he do? Fend for himself? Or worse, would they ship him off to one of the displacement camps that has sprung up a few miles out of Crystal Cove? Shaggy placed a steadying hand on the wall besides him as his head began to spin.
He looked around the room, there were a few chairs in one corner and a hospital bed in the other. He opted for a chair, sitting in it stiffly as his fingers tore wildly through his hair. His left knee bounced constantly, faster than a speeding jet.
Some genius had decided not to put a clock in the room. So when Shaggy finally heard the doorknob turn, he may have been waiting for weeks for,
all he knew. A slender woman in a long white coat stepped in. She checked her clip board.
"Norville Rodgers?" She asked.
"Uh yeah," Shaggy chuckled rubbing his palms together nervously, "but like, call me Shaggy, everyone does."
"Ok," she breathed an exhausted sigh, "we'll start with a physical examination and then from their we'll decide if you need and blood tests."
"Sure," Shaggy's whole body was tense, "but like, before we start, do you know anything about my parents?"
She flipped a few pages over on her clipboard, "Same last name?"
"Yeah"
The woman scanned her pages until her eyes locked on something. She took a sharp breath, looked up at Shaggy back at her notes and then to Shaggy again, "they both had blood samples sent for testing, should have results by the end of the day."
Shaggy's intestines filled with pins and needles. What did it mean that they had to get their blood tested? Where they going to be ok? Shaggy gnawed at his lip and waited for the doctor to say more, she didn't.
"Well, then" she hooked her clipboard to the inside of the door, "let's get started."
The examination was oddly normal. Reflexes, temperature, hight, weight. A few questions about mood, appetite, what have you, and then it was over.
"Alright Norville," the doctor proclaimed, holding the door open for him, "you're good to go."
"Like, what about my parents?" Shaggy asked, this time a little more despite.
"They should still be getting tests. " the doctor noted something down on her clipboard, "you can wait in the lobby or leave a phone number for the front desk to reach you."
As Shaggy walked into the lobby, he looked around for Velma and Scooby. A search that would prove successful as he spotted them, snug in a corner chair. Velma was asleep, her hands folded between her head and the wall. Scooby was curled up in the chair besides her, snoring softly.
Wringing his hands, Shaggy plodded over to Velma and shook her lightly.
"Velma?" He whispered urgently, "Velma!"
The girl began to stir with a groan, she slid her glasses back into place and stretched sleepily.
"Hey Shaggy," she yawned, "how'd it go?"
"Like I'm fine, but I'm worried about my mom and dad." Shaggy sighed, combining through his hair with nervous twitchy fingers.
Velma noticed Shaggy's tense demeanor, and reached up to take his hand off of his head and hold it in hers. She squeezed it tight.
"Hey," She smiled warmly, "we're gonna get through this ok?"
"Like, Whatever happens?"
"Whatever happens."
"Like thanks Velma," Shaggy smiled wryly, "this is weird, like, you're not normally all feel-y."
"Tell anyone and I'll smite you, Shaggy Rodgers."
"Like, whatever you say Dinkley."
The two waited together for the better part of an hour, until finally the same doctor who had examined Shaggy came into view and was headed right for them. Any calm that Velma's presence had brought immediately evaporated. Shaggy's leg again began to bounce wildly. As the doctor came up to them, Shaggy could tell that there was something very wrong.
"Hi again," the Doctor sighed, sitting down across from Velma and Shaggy, "how have you been?"
"Like, forget that!" Shaggy squeaked, "how are my parents?"
The doctor clutched her clipboard so tight that her knuckles turned white.
"Well sir, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but both your mother and father have been bitten."
Shaggy felt as if every nerve in his body was being stabbed by a million daggers. The world went out of focus and everything suddenly sounded as if he was floating underwater. Then he saw something: Velma's hand outstretched to him. He took it and managed to clear his head just enough to ask one thing.
"Can I... like... see them?"
The doctor shook her head no, plunging Shaggy back down into shock before he could listen to her explanation. Everything was indistinguishable. There was somebody calling his name but he couldn't quite make it out.
The next thing he remembered, he was wrapped in a thick fleece blanket on the Dinkley's family-room couch. There was a sandwich stacked seven inches thick on a white porcelain plate on the table in front of him. Along with it was an orange post-it note that read: Take whatever you want from the kitchen. Wake me up if you need ANYTHING. -Velma.
Anything huh? Shaggy looked over at Scooby who was sleeping restlessly in a leather recliner to his left. Somebody to talk to would be nice. That fell under the "anything" category, right?
Shaggy crept up the stairs of the Dinkley house and quietly swung open Velma's door, expecting her to be asleep. Instead he found her typing in a fury. Her face washed in the blue light of her computer screen. She was muttering to herself, just loudly enough that Shaggy could hear it.
"I can't believe them! Honestly one goddamn time they oughtta— oh, hey Shaggy!" Velma hastily closed her laptop and stood up to greet her friend, still standing nervously in the doorway, "couldn't sleep?"
Shaggy shrugged, "I dunno man, I like, don't wanna be alone right now is all."
"Gotcha," Velma nodded as the two plodded down the stairs.
When the two had gotten down there Scooby had woken up.
"Rere rou raare Raggy!" He panted, "I rwas retting rorried."
"Like, morning Scoob," Shaggy waved as he flopped onto the couch. Velma settled in on the other side of the sofa, crossing her legs and reaching for the remote control.
"We could check the horror channel to see if there's any Vincent Van Ghoul movies on," Velma suggested in a half whisper.
"Like, actually Velma, do you think we could just talk?"
"Sure, what about?"
They both sat in silence for a moment, Shaggy swinging his legs limply and Velma drumming her fingers on the armrest of the couch.
"Man, do you think things are gonna go back to normal? Shaggy sighed after a second.
Velma hummed pensively, "do you want my honest answer?"
"Uh, yeah, like I guess so."
"Then no." Velma slouched, "things might better, they might get worse, but I don't think they'll go back to normal."
"Like, I was afraid of that."
"But who knows?" Velma asked with a shaker breath, "maybe I'll be wrong."
"Yeah, man, maybe."
Shaggy leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. He ran his fingers through his hair. He looked over at Scooby who was happily snacking away at the sandwich Velma had left him.
"Man, it feels like everything changed so quickly," Shaggy sighed, "First Freddy and Daph just up and leave Crystal Cove. And then my parents just—" The words caught his throat. He turned to look at Velma, smiling sadly, "at least I still have you."
Velma tensed. She bunched her sweater into her fists and looked away, "yeah..." she whispered, "yeah... you still have me."
Shaggy raised an eyebrow, "like, Velma, what's wrong dude?"
Velma rubbed her temples, her posture collapsing in on itself, "I wanted to wait a bit to tell you..."
Shaggy practically deflated, "dude, just say it. This day can't get any worse."
"My parents decided to leave Crystal Cove."
Shaggy had been wrong, that day had very much gotten worse.
"Like, why?"
Velma shook her head, her eyes shone as tears loomed dangerously close to spilling onto her face, "They said something about... your parents... how it was a wake-up call." She sniffed, trying to regain their composure, "I tried to change their minds but they're not going to listen."
Shaggy's hands shook, total system overload. He didn't say anything, didn't move. Tears poured from his face. In few days time, Velma — the last remaining shred of normalcy— would be leaving. And he and Scooby would be all alone to fend for themselves in the rapidly decaying Crystal Cove.
Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was shock, but as the wave of reality washed over him, Shaggy began to feel lightheaded. Daphne, Fred, His Parents and Velma, all gone. Shaggy took a few uneven gasps for air, before his vision went out of focus and he passed out.
—
Shaggy pushed himself away from the bookshelf he'd been leaning on. Wiping tears from his face with on rough gesture. He looked around the Broken Spine and sighed. He'd been stupid to come here. All of the memories were too much for him to deal with. But he always came back again and again, like a moth to a flame.
He could still hear the zombies wailing outside. He could still smell their stench too. But it didn't matter to Shaggy. He was too overwhelmed, he just needed to get out of there, He carefully slid three books on zombies from their places on the shelves. Silently promising to return them as soon as possible.
He had what he came for. He cringed at the thought of taking the book as he made his way towards the stairwell, he would scout a route from the roof of the Broken Spine, and with luck make it back to his hideout before night fell once again.
As he reached the door to the stair way, he turned back. For one last goodbye. It wasn't goodbye. He'd be back, but just like every other time he went into town, he managed to delude himself into thinking he was finally done with Crystal Cove.
But how could he be? The town was all he had left.
—
Authors note: Whoa! Long chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it. If you did leave a review and let me know. Also, be sure to tune in next Tuesday. I have a surprise planned! :-) but until then, hope you have a great week.