- 5:00 PM: 6 DAYS EARLIER -

Velma and Fred stood frozen. The chapel wasn't supposed to be there. It should have burned with the rest of the town long ago.

Velma tightened her grip on her flashlight and took a deep breath. She stepped forward.

But Fred didn't follow. Instead, he moved towards a leafless tree a little way away and crouched.

"Fred, what are you –

"Velma, don't look."

His voice was tense, but Velma wasn't one to turn away from a clue. Ignoring his warning, she approached, her pulse quickening.

And what she saw made her heart drop. She gasped, the sound catching in her throat.

A deer lay beneath the tree, motionless and covered in dried blood.

"Oh – Oh, my God."

Fred pointed to a large gash between the deer's antlers. "It was ramming its head against that tree."

Velma winced. "Do you think –

"I think Scooby was doing the same thing."

She swallowed hard. "But Scooby stopped. He came back. He didn't –

"I don't know," Fred said shortly. "But we're going to check inside that chapel really quick and get the hell out of here."

Velma nodded swiftly. "Whoever's behind this is seriously messed up."

Fred looked at her. He could tell she was having difficulties with coming to terms with the idea of a curse.

Velma caught his gaze. "What?" she snapped.

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"WHAT!"

"Okay! Okay!" Fred raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying you should be more open-minded about this. That bird we saw – I thought you were finally considering the possibility that –

"That what? That my father lied to me again? That I'm still supposed to blindly believe Celia's spirit is behind this? That there's a church from a hundred years ago still standing after its supposed destruction?"

"We don't know that it's –

"It's obviously St. Augustus," Velma cut in. "What else could it be?"

Fred exhaled. "I don't know, but this is really strange, okay? We need to be open-minded if we're going to solve this."

Velma was already headed towards the chapel.

"Velma, wait!"

By the time Fred caught up to her, Velma was standing on the crumbling steps and staring at the wooden front door. A symbol was carved into the wood: a cross with an eye at its center.

Velma's brow furrowed. "This looks familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."

Fred scratched his chin. "Maybe this is vandalism or something."

She shook her head. "No. It's too precise. I think this was carved when the church was built."

Fred sighed.

They stood there for a moment. Fred exhaled. "Alright. Who's going in first?"

Velma smirked. "I think you really are turning into Shaggy and Scooby."

Fred gave her a look. "No, I'm not! I just hate abandoned churches, you know that!"

"Whatever. I'll go in first."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The inside of the chapel was much smaller than it appeared from the outside.

Rows of broken pews were scattered about the room. The altar had collapsed, its wooden frame rotting from years of water damage. The ceiling was high, reaching up to a never-ending dark void. Although it was a church, Velma felt far from at peace.

"You okay?"

Fred's flashlight beam went right into her face.

"Yes, Fred," she muttered, shielding her eyes.

He shrugged. "Just making sure. This place is creepy. I have a bad feeling . . ."

"Me, too," Velma admitted. "But like you said, we'll be fast . . . Plus, we have the bat, remember?"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

It was very dark. Velma could barely see three feet ahead of her.

Just as she was cursing her terrible eyesight, she felt her foot catch onto something. She fell to the floor.

"Ow . . ."

She expected Fred to hear her, but she had stumbled into another room.

It was small, from what Velma gathered. And empty. There was no telling at what kind of room it had once been.

She slowly brought herself to her feet, rubbing her throbbing ankle. She looked down at what she tripped on and realized it was a round, silver latch.

A wave of excitement coursed through her.

It was some kind of trapdoor.

She immediately knelt and grabbed the handle, pulling hard.

But it wouldn't budge.

Velma turned and called through the doorway. "Fred, come over here!"

But he didn't answer.

"Fred?"

Still nothing.

She felt a chill run down her spine. Turning to leave, she realized the door had shut.

Velma whirled around.

The shadow.

The same one from a few nights ago. It spread along the walls, its extremities creating a void of black against the darkness of the room.

A gasp escaped her as she lunged for the door, dropping her flashlight. She yanked at the handle, but it refused to open.

The shadow crept closer, closing in around her.

Velma screamed.

A surge of exhaustion hit her body like a ton of bricks. Her legs gave out as she collapsed to the floor.

The room became ice cold.

Then, there was the feeling of hopelessness. A crushing sense that nothing else mattered . . .

Suddenly, there was a rush of warm air.

The door burst open.

A strong hand grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet.

Velma realized it was Fred.

"Velma, come on! RUN!"

She forced her still-wobbly legs to propel herself forward behind him. His grip was still tight on her arm; her circulation was beginning to cut off.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins, all fatigue and helplessness gone.

The journey to the exit was quite simple – There were no other present dangers.

The shadow appeared to have stayed behind in that horrid room.

Outside, Fred doubled over, his hands on his knees.

"What – What the hell was that?" he panted.

Velma still had the urge to run. "We need to keep going!"

Fred caught his breath. "Yeah. Just give me a second."

"Fred, what's wrong? You're usually not this tired!"

"I – I don't know," Fred panted. "But I'm okay. Let's go!"

They started back towards the forest.

But then they saw something else.

It was another dark figure.

But it looked more human – like someone dressed in a full-body suit with no face.

They stopped dead in their tracks.

The figure was standing in front of the forest's tree line, watching them without eyes.

"What do we do?" Velma squeaked. She looked over to see Fred reaching for the bat. "No. You are not doing this."

"What are we supposed to do?" Fred hissed. "We can't show weakness right now."

Velma let out a shaky breath.

Fred cleared his throat and called out to the figure. "Who are you?"

No response. The figure stood there, unmoving.

Velma grabbed Fred's sleeve and pulled. "Stop being a hero! We need to go. Right. Now."

But Fred was already starting towards the figure. "Come on! I just want to talk . . ."

The figure still didn't move nor speak.

Velma's grip on Fred's arm tightened. "Fred . . ."

And then the figure began slowly moving towards them, its arms outstretched.

Fred dropped the bat. "Alright. I guess we'll run now."

And they did.