Author's note: Hey y'all just wanted to pop in before the chapter to let you know that this one has mentions of violence and slight gore. Nothing horribly graphic but if that will effect you please proceed with caution
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The sun had begun to dip below the horizon as they three of them saw the rest stop come into view. It was a squat, narrow, awkwardly shaped concrete building with almost no windows. On the front of it were dead neon signs advertising clean bathrooms and free wifi inside.
"Finally!" Daphne groaned, "we've been walking forever!"
"Please don't tell me we're still in Ohio," Fred grumbled towards Velma.
"Eeyup, we're still in Ohio," Velma said as she grabbed the door handle of the rest stop.
Velma took one step into the building, and immediately retreated back outside, slamming the door and looking to Fred with wild eyes.
"Give me a bat."
Fred slid his bag off of his shoulders, "why?" He gasped, "what is it?"
"What do you think Fred?" Velma snapped.
Fred handed the heavier of the two bats to Velma, who slung it over her shoulder. She was still squinting into the dark interior of the stop.
"I'm going to go in, you two stay out here, but be ready to back me up."
Daphne and Fred nodded affirmatively. Velma swung open the steel doors, they groaned on their hinges. Stepping tentatively with her bat held high above her head, Velma peered into the dark of the room before her, the only light being the small sliver cast through the half open door.
Suddenly, an odd figure lunged towards Velma, hissing at her. She screamed and brought the bat down on it's head with a sickening crunch.
Daphne and Fred, hearing the commotion, rushed in.
"Velma?" Fred called, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah!" She called back, as she rummaged around in her backpack, "I killed— whatever it was, come here."
"Where are you?"
"I'm here!" Finally, Velma's hand landed on what she was looking for, "give me one second."
Velma held her small lighter in her hand, and sent a few dim sparks into the air before she'd managed to keep a flame on the tip of the it. The flame sent a dim glow into their surroundings, she saw the hazy outline of a light switch against the wall and lunged for it. Luckily, the room flooded with bright LED glow as Velma flicked on the lights.
Suddenly blinded by the LEDs Fred and Daphne blinked a few times, squinting as they made their way over to Velma.
"Where's the zombie?" Daphne asked, "We thought we heard you scream."
Velma looked back over to where she'd attacked some unknown creature and couldn't help but chuckle at what she saw.
"Something did lunge at me," she pointed towards where she'd been standing, "but look! It was just a goose."
The three of them peered over at the dead goose. Velma prodded it with the knob end of the bat she'd been carrying.
"Great," Fred sighed, "all that excitement for nothing."
Velma scoffed, completely done with Fred's sour attitude, "not for nothing," she chided, "that's a perfectly good dinner right in front of us!"
Daphne cringed, "a goose? Are you sure Velm?"
"Positive!" Velma exclaimed as she hoisted the bird into her arms, "it might be a little greasy, but food it food. Daphne, start collecting firewood! Fred? Help me get the feathers off the beast!"
Daphne darted back outside, closing the door behind her. Fred took goose in his arms, and followed Velma into the corner farthest from the front door. They both sat down and Fred handed the goose back to her as she worked a knot out of her back.
"Y'know Velm... I normally go with Daph for these kinda—"
"That was mystery solving. This is bird cooking." Velma snarked as she began to yank feathers of of the bird with no real rhyme or reason, "besides I wanted to talk to you."
"Ok, well first of all... give me that goose, you're going to tear the skin just pulling the feathers like that!" Fred took the bird from Velma and started to pluck delicately at the tail feathers, "and, uh, sure, what do you want to talk about?"
Velma pressed her back against the rough concrete wall, looking up at the tiled ceiling above her. "You've been kind of a dick to me every since we met up in that forest." Velma sighed, taking her glasses off and rubbing her tired eyes. "I guess I just want to know why is all... especially with how nice you were to me back in Sanctuary 3"
Fred looked up at Velma, "it's nothing personal I just..." he trailed off and looked around him, "We had about as perfect a life as you can get. Zombies or no... beautiful house, Daphne loved her job, mine payed a small fortune... who would ever want anything more? Right?"
Velma nodded, drumming her fingers idly on the cold floor besides her.
Fred leaned back, bracing himself with his arms as he yawned, "I was gonna propose to her." He laughed shyly, "It's her favorite time of year, I had a custom ring ordered... I had this whole big thing planned. And then we got that email from you, and you showed up talking about leaving the sanctuaries..."
"You didn't want to leave your life behind?" Velma prompted.
"Something like that," Fred shrugged, "but even after you left Daphne wouldn't stop talking about Crystal Cove, and leaving... eventually she decided to go, and of course I went with her."
"Jinkies." Velma muttered, she stared blankly at Fred for a moment, absorbing everything he had said. "I'd be annoyed too. You were going to propose?"
"Yeah"
"Did she know?"
"I don't think so."
The two sat in silence for a moment. The only noise was a quiet rustle as a Fred plucked away at feathers. He squirmed uncomfortably. Velma could tell her was looking for something to fill the silence.
"What about you Velma?" Fred eventually piped up. "How has your life been?"
Velma slid down, slumping against the wall, "not nearly as picturesque as yours." Velma registered a twinge of guilt in Fred's eyes and immediately backpedaled from her melodramatic tone, "I mean, I'm fine." She laughed nervously, "I have a job as a lab assistant in a medical research center. A nice apartment in Sanct. 18... " Velma stopped and sighed. She slouched in on herself and let her bangs cover her face.
"Can I be honest Fred?"
Fred waved his hand in a welcoming gesture, "by all means."
"I hate my job, I never finished high school, and if there's anything left for me in those sanctuaries, it's misery."
Fred let out a low whistle, "that bad huh?"
"Worse." Velma groaned as she toyed with stray bits of gravel on the ground, "so call me selfish... but I'm really glad you're here. If nothing else we can have one last adventure before I resign my life to an awful slog of busywork and TV reruns."
Fred looked up at her, a strange array of emotions playing across his face. His mouth gaped open. Then closed when Fred had nothing to say. Apparently at a loss for words, He offered Velma his hand. It was covered in geese blood so she didn't take it, but she smiled her appreciation to Fred.
"Velma, If you were having a hard time you could have called us." Fred looked at her with earnest concern, "I'm sure we could have set something up for you... I mean... gosh, you're too smart to feel like you're wasting your life away."
"Ah, well, smart won't do you any good when the whole institution of academia has crumbled." Velma looked away, her cheeks flushed, and a tear leaving a trail of moisture down her face. She sniffed, wiping it away before her friend could see. "Thanks Fred... for saying that... " She nearly whispered. "I'm glad you came out here, even if it got in the way of your plans."
"Y'know... me too Velma." Fred chuckled.
The two spent another half hour together. Fred sitting in a growing pile of goose down, Velma collecting scattered travel brochures for kindling. As they chatted, the tension between them fizzled away. Until finally Fred got up the nerve to ask one last thing of his old friend.
"Hey, could you promise me something?"
Velma stood up straight and strode over to where Fred was sitting, she added a few new magazines to her pile, "sure Fred." She replied.
"I just— whatever happens, I need to know that Daphne's going to be safe." Fred finally picked the last of the fluff and let it fall to the floor, "I know that you're here to go back to Crystal Cove... so I guess that comes first. But— just for my own sanity— could you promise me you'll look out for her?"
Velma looked at Fred softly, about to assure him that of course she would, but there was a scream outside. A scream that they both knew all to well to be Daphne's.
Fred and Velma shot up and darted out of the building in the direction of he noise. Velma gripped her revolver tightly. As the burst through the door, the interior lights of the rest stop cast enough light for the two of them to make out Daphne, surrounded by five zombies. They were closing in quickly.
Velma looked to Fred, who was stood stock still, his eyes wide with terror. She shrugged, and lunged forward. In the back of her head, she registered that she had six shots to take out five zombies, and those were abysmal odds. But, as she sprinted forward her instincts overrode statistics.
"Daphne, duck!" She shouted. The zombies turned wildly to face her, as Daphne fell to the ground.
Velma made a hail-Mary attempt at aiming, and pulled the trigger. One of the zombies wailed, but she hadn't hit its head. So now, she had an angry hoard of zombies after her, and to take each one of them out she needed 100% accuracy. That wasn't happening. But at least now their attention was off Daphne.
"Daphne! Fred! Get back inside!" Velma bellowed as she ran in the opposite direction of the door. Velma was vaguely aware of her friends scrambling to do as she told them. For a brief moment she felt relieved.
As she backed away from the zombies saw a clear opening to run back inside. But before she could take it, her heel landed on something— a bit of firewood Daphne had dropped.
Velma shrieked as the wood rolled out from under her, setting her off balance as she tumbled to the floor. In those few moments, the zombies managed to close the gap between them and her.
Velma could smell the horrible rot, and see their grayed decaying skin hanging off of frail skeletons. Her heart raced. The world seems to go silent as she aimed her gun. It was a clear shot.
She fired just as the lunged, sending the bullet between the eyes of one. Fragments of skull and brain rained down onto Velma, but she didn't have time to register it. She stood and took her chance, booking it to the metal door.
As she grasped the metal doorknob, it stuck. Either locked or jammed. Velma neither knew nor cared which. She pounded desperately on the steel.
"Fred! The doors not opening!" She panted, "FRED!"
She head muffled shouting inside, the door began to swing open. But before she could escape inside, Velma felt a white-hot pain, like iron spikes digging into the flesh of her back.
She screamed and whirled around, firing wildly at the zombies behind her until she didn't have any shots left. At which point she finally stumbled inside.
She looked from Daphne to Fred. Gasping for air as she felt blood trickling down her leg, she made an attempt to smirk playfully, but it looked rather deranged."does that answer your question Fred?" She just barely whispered as her eyes began to lose focus.
Fred didn't respond. Instead he offered his shoulder to Velma which she gratefully grabbed, bracing herself as the room began to spin. She shook her head vigorously trying to ward off the encroaching sleepy sensation.
"Stay awake," she muttered aloud to herself. "Stay awake stay awake stay awake."
"That's it Velma," Fred said, his placating tone tinted with panic, "nice and easy... Daphne's getting the med kit... just hang in there."
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Author's note: Whoo! It's felt like a long week since I posted a chapter. So happy to be back! If you enjoyed this chapter (or if you didn't) please let me know with a review. It really helps me improve. Can't wait to see y'all next week!