9. Chapter 8: The Pursuit (1/2)

chapter 8: the pursuit

as the mystery machine pulled into sherry's dairy and diner, velma spoke.

"all right everyone, remember, we need to find out who is the vendor for this particular ice cream. and for now, i think we should refrain from telling sherry about the microchip. if daphne is correct about sherry being involved, we can't tip her off and let her know we found a major clue!"

we all nodded as the van was filled with sounds of seat belts unclicking and doors opening. silently, we walked as a group towards the entrance of the diner. there was a noticeable tension hanging overhead as we walked, as if the weight of velma's recent discovery was boring down on our shoulders. as we drove here, we had asked each other many questions: who would want to create a microchip like this? for what purpose? why did they choose sherry's ice cream as a means of infesting coolsville's citizens? and most important of all, how could we save the people who had already been converted? we hoped that visiting the ice cream factory would give us some answers, and fast.

when fred pushed open the door, the bell chimed to signal our entry. sherry was sitting behind the cash wrap, her face creased with worry and stress lines etched under her eyes, much like we had last seen her. my heart sunk at the sight of sherry: how could i have ever thought that she was the one behind all of this?

sherry lifted her head and beamed at us as we walked towards her. "hey kids, i am so glad to see you guys! do you have any leads or clues so far? did you have a chance to test that ice cream sample that i gave you?"

i flinched at the reminder of withholding our newest discovery from sherry, in spite of how i had felt sympathetic for her only moments ago. luckily, velma didn't miss a beat, saying, "unfortunately, we have nothing further to report for you at this time. we actually came by to inquire as to who is the vendor of that particular ice cream flavor. we would like to visit the manufacturer to ask him or her some questions, and perhaps that will give us some leads."

if sherry was nervous due to any sort of complicity in the mystery, her facial expression never betrayed herself. instead, she seemed a bit discouraged: her smile disappeared, and her face looked as though it literally deflated at the sound of velma's news. "oh, well, the vendor is actually here right now, unloading some product in my stock room. if you would like, you kids can speak to the employees after they are finished working. i'm not sure if that will tell you much, though: i've been using their products for years, and i've never had a problem before now."

"that could be true, sherry," fred began carefully. "but we have to cover all of our bases and make sure that we leave no stone unturned. truth be told, we aren't sure what we are looking for either, but we figured that examining the way the ice cream is being produced is a start."

sherry smiled, but it was more out of sadness than hope. "okay, sure, no problem kids. let me know if you need anything else."

as we exited sherry's diner and walked through the parking lot, i could see that sherry was right. there was a giant truck parked behind the diner. two men would emerge from the truck carrying boxes and enter the back of the diner, and would re-emerge from the diner to retrieve more boxes. i turned to velma and asked, "so, are we really interviewing those two workers? i'm not sure that will tell us anything. what would they know about how the ice cream is being produced?"

velma shook her head. "no daphne, of course they won't tell us anything even if they do know how it is produced. remember, i don't want sherry following us too closely. i think a better plan is to wait for the men to finish unloading as we watch from the mystery machine, and then to inconspicuously follow the truck back to the factory. from there, we can

eak into the factory, and hopefully, we'll find some answers."

shaggy gulped. "like, zoinks!

eaking and enterin' into an ice cream factory sure sounds fun, but not when it's to see what's goin' on with these coolsville zombies!"

"rah rah!" scooby nodded his head in vigorous agreement.

"come on, shaggy," fred said, as he climbed into the mystery machine. "i thought you would be all over the idea of

eaking into an ice cream factory."

"like, normally i would, but not if it means the possibility of seeing a coolsville zombie!" shaggy yelped. "and besides fredster, we have all of this yummy ice cream waiting safely inside sherry's nice and empty diner, right scoob?!"

"rah rah!" scooby nodded again in vigorous agreement.

velma rolled her eyes and dug into the backseat of the mystery machine, emerging with a box of scooby snacks. shaggy and scooby were lined up in front of her in a matter of two seconds, their mouths salivating and their smiles wide. "okay you two, if we're going to do this, we need to put on a

ave face! here are some scooby snacks to hold you over for now!" she tossed them two pieces each, and both shaggy and scooby caught them in mid-air, gulping down the treats greedily.

i was smiling at the sight of shaggy and scooby enjoying their snack when i felt as though i were being watched. out of the corner of my eye, i saw fred staring at me silently. i shifted uncomfortably in my seat. fred and i had yet to speak to each other, so that naturally meant we had yet to discuss what had occurred between us. so far, he had also failed to acknowledge the text he had sent me earlier, too, but with the way this mystery was starting to unravel, i wasn't sure when we would have an opportunity to speak in private.

i debated whether or not i should say anything to fred to

eak the awkward silence between us when velma spoke from the backseat, saying, "okay gang, it looks like those two workers are done unloading! let's follow them!"

sure enough, velma was right: the men had climbed into their truck and were starting up the engine as she spoke.

fred started the mystery machine and kept his eyes trained on the truck. "we better keep a safe distance from them as we follow," fred said. "i don't want them to realize they're being followed, just in case something is going on. plus, i think we would have an advantage of noticing things that aren't meant to be seen at that factory if we aren't caught."

fred waited for the truck to pull out of the parking lot before guiding the van onto the main road. true to his word, he kept several feet away from the van, and maintained a nonchalant facial expression in case the employees were to notice and feel suspicious.

"so, just like, what are we expectin' to see at this factory, anyway? zombies?" shaggy asked with a shudder.

"that's the thing, shaggy – we really don't know what we are even looking for," velma lamented. "my hope is that we may see exactly where the microchips are being embedded within the ice cream. i think that if we can witness the factory altering the ice cream, we will at the very least have proof that sherry is innocent, and perhaps we can ask coolsville police to assist us in busting the ice cream vendors."

"it really is interesting that we haven't seen any 'zombie citizens' so far," i remarked. "usually when we have a mystery, we've been chased all over haunted mansions or abandoned towns by now. we've been lucky."

"like, and let's hope it stays that way!" shaggy declared. "all i know is that if i see one of those zombies, i'm gonna, like, lose it!"

"rah rah, lose it!" scooby agreed. he began shivering and whimpering with fear at the thought of meeting a zombie.

"well, as long as we put a stop to whoever is controlling coolsville with these microchips, you guys should get your wish," fred said, his eyes still trained on the truck several feet ahead of us. outside, houses and business buildings were replaced by trees: we were leaving coolsville's city limits, and entering the less suburban areas nearby. "can you guys just imagine if we actually solve this mystery without having to run into any creepy monsters or bad guys in masks?"

"that would indeed be a wonderful thing," velma mused. "however, i am still skeptical. and let's not forget that even if we do somehow evade these zombies, whoever is implanting microchips into citizens and transforming them into zombies is a seriously sick and twisted person. i think we are dealing with someone who is seriously deranged, gang. the question now remains as to who that person is."

"like, they really are sick and cruel if they want to make people into zombies by usin' ice cream!" shaggy agreed. "the thought of misusing ice cream that way just makes me sick!"