SCOOBY APOCALYPSE: Mystery Never Changes
Scooby-Doo, DC Comics, and all related characters are property of Warner Bros.
Chapter 1: Law Dogs
A red six-wheeled van made its way along a stretch of highway in the American Southwest. Contained within its body were four young men and women, a Great Dane, and a fairly impressive communications suite (well, fairly impressive for the world left behind after the bombs). Before the world had been engulfed in atomic fire, they had been known as Mystery Incorporated- traveling private detectives with a reputation for investigating and exposing criminals who had concealed their activities under the guise of paranormal activity.
Even after the apocalypse, that was still the case- all that had changed was the nature of the crimes, coupled with a newfound reputation as bastions of law and order in a world gone mad. It was this reputation that kept them in business as they wandered from town to town across the wasteland, either answering calls for their help or stumbling upon cases themselves.
Blackwater, Texas- a few days earlier
"Now, let's see who this so-called revenant really is!" a blond-haired man dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans with an orange bandana around his neck said, his hands gripping onto the head of an undead figure.
The blond-haired man yanked on the head, and a surprisingly-intact rubber mask flew off, exposing the fat-faced head of a balding middle-aged man.
"Doc Larsen- I should've known." a black woman with short-cropped hair said.
"Blow me, Kathy! At least I was keeping those raider creeps at bay!"
"At the cost of nearly starving us by directing them to those convoys from the Ag Center. And for the record, you'll address me as Mayor Lawson from here on out." Kathy replied, a tranquil fury in her voice.
Mayor Lawson turned around to face the blond-haired man.
"Mister Jones, you and your friends have my eternal thanks. If there's anything me or my town can do you for, just let me know."
"Please, call me Fred. And now that I think of it, is there anywhere that we can find a good mechanic? We've been running on low-grade ethanol for the past several days, and I think it's given us engine trouble."
Lawson bit her lip.
"Well, there's a settlement about two or three days' drive west of here- place called Mockingbird. Never been there myself, but we trade with 'em."
"What sort of trade?" a redheaded woman wearing what looked like purple tactical gear and a green bandana around her neck asked.
"We give them water and ethanol, they send us things like spare parts, various and sundry knickknacks, and the occasional luxury foodstuff- I swear on my mother's grave, they make the best damn crabapple jelly this side of Dallas."
A nearby bearded man in a green shirt perked up.
"Like, we've got to go there! Who knows when we'll get the chance to eat something that isn't another MRE?" he exclaimed.
"Reah- romething rother than MRES!" the team's Great Dane added.
"Well, Daphne- the gourmands have spoken!" Fred jokingly proclaimed to the redhead.
Daphne rolled her eyes.
"I'll go get Velma."
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
In case you're wondering, no, this isn't in canon with "In Blackest Day", "Marie, Reine du Sang", and "Shipping Up to Gotham". This is a good old-fashioned Elseworlds story based on the recently-ended Scooby Apocalypse comic from DC, except instead of a nanotech-based apocalypse, it's a more conventional post-nuclear one in the vein of the Mad Max films, the Wasteland series of video game RPGs, and the pen-and-paper RPG Deadlands: Hell On Earth (look those last two up when you get the chance). Also, no, this doesn't mean that "Shipping Up to Gotham" has come to a premature death- this is just a little side project to keep things going while I work on the current main entry in the Earth-55 continuity.
As for the DC elements that'll be showing up, the only one I'm willing to confirm right now is Jonah Hex. If you're wondering how he's still alive despite having lived in the days of the Wild West, just assume he fell into a Lazarus Pit on one of his adventures back in the day