The Girl on the Road

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Scooby Doo and all related characters are the property of Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros., and /or Cartoon Network. Names characters, locations, and events are fabricated from the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, locations or events is entirely coincidental.

Chapter One: Lonely Roads

…He shivered. What was the matter with him? Ever since leaving the highway he had felt a growing uneasiness. Had he not traveled hundreds of lonely roads before this?
Louis L'Amour, Haunted Mesa, 1987

Route 66 was a black ribbon that cut a path through desolation.

She didn't know how long or how far she had walked. She only knew that it was mid-morning and already warm; the cool night air was only a memory. 'Tucumcari Tonight' the sign read; Tucumcari wasn't her destination but the shade offered by the sign was inviting. She stepped off the road into the shade; it was still warm in the shade but at least she was out of the blazing sun. She didn't put her black back pack down, only hitching it up on her shoulders. She heard no caw of crows far in the distance. It was a world of silence. She wouldn't be staying long.

She felt the trickle of perspiration down her back, turning her black blouse a darker black. She always wore black; black was her color and she had picked out this particular outfit special for this trip. Comfortable calf high boots because she knew she would be walking a lot and would need the support; A short skirt with gold threads woven throughout the material encompassed her trim waist, and the black blouse (now stiff from the drying perspiration) with its matching gold strands that complimented the curvature of her breasts completed her wardrobe. She had chosen this outfit for the way the gold embellishments caught the sun and brought out the golden flecks in her green eyes.

It was time to go; she stepped out into the dazzling sunlight and began walking. Coming toward her was a battered, rusted out old pickup with the muffler tied up with wire; the Navajo family didn't see her.

---------Xxxxxx

They had left Albuquerque behind after stopping for gas and eats (naturally).
"Hey Scooby…want to take old historic Route 66? We can see something more that the interstate?"
"Rhy Rot" Scooby was already rummaging for something to eat. On the radio, a guy sang about being five hundred miles from home. Shaggy wished he was that close. He made the turnoff onto the loneliest road he would ever travel.

He had traveled for what seemed like hours. All he had seen was a Navajo family in a battered old pickup headed back the way he had come. They hadn't waved.

He saw the hitchhiker as just a black dot ahead. He also saw the most disturbing thunderhead clouds he had ever seen. Dark and foreboding, they seemed to be heading straight for the hitchhiker. He sped up, hoping to reach him (her?) before the storm did.
He slowed then stopped when he reached the hitchhiker. She hadn't put out her thumb like a normal hitchhiker, completely ignoring him and the brightly painted van. He got out, opening the side door, "Don't know about you, but I don't like the looks of those thunderheads ahead. How far you going? I could use some company."

"As far as you'll take me" she answered simply, throwing her backpack into the van. He closed the side door, opening the passenger door for her to get in; she stopped in her tracks when she saw Scooby munching on a Scooby Snack.
"Don't worry about Scooby; give him something to eat and you'll have a friend for life" he told her. She gave him an 'I doubt that' look but climbed into the van.

This was against everything he had learned about picking up hitchhikers! Especially in the middle of nowhere which was exactly where they were. He couldn't just pass her by with that weird storm approaching could he?

The detective part of his brain worked as he walked around the van to get behind the wheel. She was a girl, late teens, early twenties, that was for sure; five-four or five, one hundred twenty, no, twenty five pounds, shapely legs from the view her short black skirt had offered as it rode up when she stepped into the van. Hair the color of walnut shells and deep aqua marine green eyes, the color of the ocean. At sunset, he added.

'And don't forget those calf high black boots' his detective mind reminded him. No, he wouldn't be forgetting those boots; or the hilt of the knife he had gotten a glimpse of. No, he wouldn't forget those boots.

She had done her own appraisal as she watched him walk around the van. She guessed six feet give or take an inch; one-sixty, give or take a few pounds depending on when he had eaten last. Handsome in an 'I don't care what you think so think whatever you want' sort of way. Brown eyes that had a faraway look; his eyes hadn't been 'faraway' when he had checked out her legs; and hair that looked like it hadn't seen a barber in a while. A long while. 'well, as long as you only look' she thought. She pushed the hilt of the knife deeper into its boot.

"My name's Shaggy" he volunteered when he settled behind the wheel, 'That's Scooby Doo doing his 'I'm so mistreated, got anything to eat?' imitation. Don't believe a word he says." He smiled.

'Got to give him some name' she thought. "Kathie" she said aloud.

"I let the back seat down for a bed if you want to take a nap; I'll try to find a place to ride out this storm. I'll take the middle seat, Scooby can sleep anywhere, believe me. There is a privacy curtain I put in for the…" he almost said 'for the girls' but said "occasional nap." instead.

She caught the pause; however slight, and wondered what he was about to say.
"It'll be fine I'm sure" she made her way back to the bed. "I feel like I've been walking for hours." She fell asleep with the knife under the pillow.

The wind hit the van first; followed by rain, and sleet. Shaggy had found a pull out with a slight rise and parked as far back into the pullout as possible. He thought of the girl hitchhiker, lying in the backseat bed with the deepest, most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen.
Eventually, he too succumbed to slumber.

The privacy curtain moved, pulled back by an unseen hand; a face appeared, smiled then disappeared back behind the curtain. The curtain fell back into place, and everything was quiet except for Shaggy and Scooby's soft snoring.