Part 4

Daphne pulled her car into Fred's driveway and her and Velma quickly got out of the car running to go stand next to Fred. He was standing in the middle of his lawn, staring at the Mystery Machine, his eyes wider than the full moon.

"Fred, what's wr-," Daphne's eyes widened in shock when she found the same image Fred was staring at.

"Oh my god…" Velma's mouth was dropped and her brown eyes wide beneath her glasses like her two friends. Written on the side of Mystery Machine was what seemed like a warning, a rhymed warning showing itself in a glossy red paint. It was like a scene out of a horror movie.

"Poor Shaggy and Scooby are dead," Velma began reading, "Now you better watch your head before you end up like-."

"Fred…" Fred finished the statement, whispering his name as though it were a sin to be spoken. He was shocked, speechless, and scared. He didn't know what to make off this message that was very obviously directed towards him personally.

"Freddie…" Daphne looked over at him, worry clear in her face.

"It's alright Daph, I'm sure it's nothing," he was trying to himself that more than her.

"Nothing?! NOTHING?! Of course it's something! Whoever wrote this is obviously the person who killed Shaggy and Scooby and wants you dead next! You can't just put this away like it's nothing!" Daphne yelled hysterically at Fred, tears wallowing up in her dark blue eyes.

"Don't you think I know that?! Don't you think that I know this message is from Shag and Scoob's murderer and that I am next?! I'm not blind to that Daphne! And I'm not just putting it off, I'm trying to figure out what to do!" Fred yelled not even thinking about his tone or what he was doing as he was talking.

"Freddie…you're hurting me," Daphne said painfully. Fred looked down at his hands, realizing that he was tightly gripping her forearms. He doesn't even remember grabbing onto her…he wouldn't have tried to hurt her on purpose.

"Sorry," Fred released his grip and Daphne grabbed her forearms rubbing them softly. "I'm just really shocked, and I really don't know what to make of this…"

Velma looked from Fred to Daphne then over at Daphne's car that holds her phone safely tucked inside. Her mind kept going back to the photo that she has on her phone of Shaggy's arm. She had been saving the picture to look over it later, not wanting to show her friends before she was for sure of what it was, though now her thoughts were quickly swaying. She hates seeing Fred all confused and lost like this. He always knows what to do and now he doesn't and the one clue that could change that lies in Velma's phone.

Velma dashed off towards Daphne's car, ignoring her friends calling out to her, asking what she was doing. She opened the car door seeing her phone sitting nicely in the passenger's seat holding the horrid photo in its memory. Hesitantly, she picked up the phone and shut the white car's door. Velma's pace slowed down when she was walking back to where Fred and Daphne were standing.

"Velma, what was that all about?" Daphne asked.

"I…I have to show you two something. It's about Shaggy…"

"What about Shaggy?" Fred asked.

"I found something on Shaggy that might be a huge clue in this mystery," Velma turned her phone screen so that Fred and Daphne could see the picture she has been hiding from them.

"Oh my…" Daphne's eyes widened.

"What…what does it mean?" Fred looked perplexed by the picture he was looking at. It was close-up picture of Shaggy's arm and what really disturbed the teens the most was the bloody numbers that looked to be carved in the lanky boy's skin. It was something none of them wanted to see on their departed friend.

"114?" Daphne said the numbers as if they were foreign words.

"I don't think the middle one is a number Daphne," Velma studied the picture carefully.

"What do you think it is then?"

"I think the one you think is a number 1 is actually not a number at all but a slash as in '1 out of 4'."

Fred stood there listening to Velma explain the picture to Daphne. He himself could not believe what he was looking at and more so why Velma didn't bother to show them this when she first found it. This was extremely important and needed to be brought to attention immediately, not after the fact. Their best friend and fellow Mystery Inc. member was just killed and Velma wanted to hide this from them? It doesn't make any sense in his mind.

"Why didn't you show us this earlier?!" Fred snapped at Velma.

"Because it really scares me and I wanted to look at it and try to figure it out before I showed you just so we wouldn't be looking at it without any clue as to what it is!" Velma yelled back, eyes staring intensely at the blonde boy.

"Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were just murdered, there is a threatening message written on the mystery machine, and you just thought that hiding this picture from us would be a good idea? It holds very vital information and you of all people I would think would share something like this!"
"Well I'm sorry that I was just thinking about what would be best! And for your information, I had no idea about the Mystery Machine when I found this, no of us did!" Velma began to tear up at Fred's attacks towards her.

"It doesn't matter! You should have showed us! You aren't doing any good by keeping this secret!" Fred glared at her full of fury.

"Well if you haven't no-."

"Will you two please stop!" Daphne screamed and Fred and Velma fell silent. She was tired of hearing them argue. "All of this pointless arguing is going to get us nowhere! Fred, yes you have point, she probably should have showed us but at least she has now so it doesn't matter what her reason for not showing it is, it's out in the open now."

"Daph is right, I guess it is better to have seen it now then never to have seen it at all," Fred calmed down after the statement.

"Exactly, and this arguing is going to get us nowhere. We really need to figure out what this means and what we need to do next," Velma admitted wiping a lone tear from her eye.

"Yes, now Velma said that the carving is a 1 out of 4, so what does that mean? 1 out of 4 what?" Daphne said.

"Well, since the killer marked it on Shaggy and he is the first to be dead and the message on the van seems to talk to me next, I'm guessing that it has something to do with the four of us," Fred hypothesized sounding more like himself.

"Exactly what I was going at Fred," Velma agreed. "As crazy as this sounds, I think that it is a count the killer is using, meaning that I think he is going to be coming after all of us one at a time killing us off."

"I hate to say it, but what you're saying makes sense and it looks like I'm going to be second," Fred's nerves began to build in his body.

"No, we can't let him get you," Daphne clutched onto Fred's arm almost protectively.

"Nothing is going to happen to me Daphne, I mean come on, I'm Fred Jones, leader of Mystery Inc., nothing can take me down," Fred winked at the girl sounding for confident than he actually was. Inside he was shaking with fear.

"I wish you wouldn't be so cocky," Daphne bit her lip meaning what she said.

"It's just how I am," Fred shrugged. "Now, I think what we need to do is go back to the place where it all started."

"You mean…" Daphne started not liking the idea forming in his head.

"Oh yes I do, we need to go back to Shaggy's house," Fred smiled at her, making her shake.

"But Fred, you said earlier that we couldn't go back because his house is a crime scene now, you are right, we have to leave this up to the police," Velma brought up the comment from before.

"Forget what I said Velma. Since when has that ever stopped us before? I shouldn't have said that, and besides, this is no ordinary man in a mask, this is someone who has just killed our friends and now wants to kill us as well. We can't just leave this to the law this time," Fred was completely serious in what he was saying. No way would he let him and his friend's lives be put in the hands of the police.

"Even if we did take matters into our own hands, like you said Fred, this is no ordinary man in a mask. Whoever is out there is a killer and if we don't be careful, we can closely be behind Shaggy and Scooby," Velma stated, though she understood completely where he was coming from. Shaggy was her best friend and of course she wants to find out who killed him, but that doesn't mean she is completely blind to the danger that lies ahead.

"I realize that Velma, but I don't care. This is our best friend we are talking about and I won't rest until I find out who did this to him," Fred said his face saying he had already made his mind up. "Now I really don't want to do this alone, but that doesn't mean I won't."

Daphne looked at him, he was pleading her with his dark blue eyes. She bit her lip thinking about what she wanted to do. On one hand, she really wanted to help him, not let him go by himself, but on the other hand, it was very dangerous for them to go after a murderer all alone with no way to protect themselves. Fred was looking at her so desperately and Daphne knows very well that she can't ever resist that face…

"I hope you know what you are doing Fred…" she sighed giving in.

A smile appeared on his face, "Thanks, Daph. Velms?" he looked at the girl in orange.

"I don't know Fred…"

"Come on Velms, we really need you for this. I know you want to, you could never pass up a mystery. Please Velma, for us…for Shaggy…" He was right, she really could never pass up a good mystery like this one and she knows Fred and Daphne could never do this on their own. They need her…guess the choice is clear.

"Alright, I'm in," Velma smiled when she saw Fred's face light up.

"Great! Now the police should be gone back to the office to go through evidence so if we go we need to go tonight."

"Tonight?" Daphne's voice squeaked. "As in right now?"

"Exactly Daphne," Fred smiled at her and she felt herself swallow down a huge gulp.