Chapter 9

The clock was ticking down to the final minutes of the exam and not a single person finished early. The scrambles to finish problems that had previously been skipped began, erasers flying, nervous eyes wandering the room. Jason was almost finished with the last problem when his professor yelled out, "One minute, everyone." Jason began writing faster, as did most of the class, and he even thought he could hear someone crying behind him.

As he put his pencil down on the table, he looked up and sighed, feeling as if he held his breathe the entire exam. "Alright everyone, pencils down." He finished with seconds to spare, although he doubted his classmates were quite as lucky.

"Pencils down, Jamie. Now." A kid in the front row was still fervently writing on the exam, "One second!" The professor walked over to Jamie and snatched the pencil from his hand. "When I say pencils down, I mean it." Jamie slumped over knowing he was in the final seconds of his exam, only to be thwarted by the professor. A few people in the classroom laughed.

Jason looked over to Jenna, sitting clear across the room. She was already looking his way. He gave her a thumbs up and shrugged his shoulders, asking how she did. She laughed and stuck her thumb out sideways, wiggled it, and then turned her thumb down toward the table. Jason laughed and nodded, mimicking a gun to the side of his head. She smiled.

I've never felt this good after doing so poorly on an exam.

Jason and Jenna had talked a few times in the engineering building since their date a few weeks back, but they hadn't been on a date since then. A little flirtation here and there between the two, but nothing more. Jason had a plan to get closer to her, and he was nervous about going forward with it. Now or never, I guess.

Everyone stood up with their exams and began making their way to the front, handing in their exams to the professor, laughing at how difficult it was. Jason and his friends never truly worried about the exams because if they are ever as hard as this one, a curve was almost guaranteed. Jason handed in his exam and made his way out of the classroom to wait for Jenna.

She came out a few seconds later shaking her head and laughing, "I'm pretty sure I missed half of the questions on that exam."

"Only half? You did better than me."

Jenna snickered. "I doubt it."

They made their way down the hallway discussing their answers on the exam, the typical routine after any engineering exam. They switched topics from the exam itself to the fact that a professor would schedule one on a Friday night. It was already ten o'clock, doubtless other students had already started their weekends hours earlier. Tonight was Dan's birthday party at his house, and he wanted to make it back to celebrate with his friends. More importantly, he wanted to invite Jenna to come join him, as nervous as it made him. I have to get over these nerves sooner or later.

"So," Jason began, trying his hardest to act smooth, "do you have any fun plans tonight?"

"No," she responded, "I was just thinking of going to bed early tonight."

"Well if you change your mind, we're having a party for Dan's birthday tonight. You should stop by."

Jenna gave him a look of confusion that terrified him. Oh no, she doesn't want to come over at all.

"Who's Dan?"

"Oh!" She just doesn't know who he is. Thank God, "Dan is my housemate. I'm not sure if you've met him before."

"I...don't think I have. Yeah, I can stop by for a little bit." She smiled at Jason. Right at that moment, Jason's insides melted. It had seemed like ages since their date at Paesano's, and Jason had been waiting for the moment to ask her to the party, playing every worst case scenario in his head. The outcome that he wanted the most turned out to be the outcome that he feared the most. "I'll see you tonight, then." She turned and walked away, leaving Jason standing glued to the floor. As he watched her turn the corner at the end of the hallway, she glanced back and smiled at him and then disappeared. Tonight will either be absolutely incredible...or a complete failure.

Jason left the building and started walking back to his house, scenarios playing through his head of every way tonight could go poorly. Even though his date with Jenna had gone pretty well, he still couldn't get over the fact that he would probably say something that would make him incredibly unappealing. He tried to push these thoughts out of his head and look forward to Dan's party, to all of his friends being at his house and having a great time.

He could hear the party a block before he reached his house, the music echoing off the neighboring houses. He got to the front porch, beer cans littering the front yard. Friends standing on the porch started belting his name, loudly inquiring about his performance on the exam. One person even asked him, "Didn't your professor know you were having a party? What an a*s!"

"No, I definitely should have said something though," he laughed, "he definitely would have let me skip the exam." His friend chuckled, nodding his head, "Yeah, I'm sure."

He made his way in the front door, unable to hear anything but the screaming of people trying to hear each other over the music. He looked around to see if he could find Dan and wish him a happy birthday, and it didn't take too long. On the couch in the living room with people dancing nearby, Dan was passed out, permanent marker drawn all over his face. It looks like he enjoyed himself a little too much, Jason thought. He figured Dan wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon and decided to go look for Kyle.

The dried, spilled beer on the floor stuck to Jason's shoes as he made his way into the kitchen where he found a couple of his engineering friends that had made their way straight here after the exam. One of them handed him a beer as they discussed the structural stress of a thin-walled cylindrical vessel. Not too long into the conversation, Jason felt a hand slap his shoulder and squeeze painfully hard. "Where have you been?" yelled Kyle.

"I decided to take my sweet time with my exam." He grabbed Kyle's hand and threw it off, turning around to see him with a massive spill across the front of his shirt. "I can see you've been having some fun."

"Yeah, not as much as Dan though." Kyle snickered, knowing Dan had passed out before Jason returned home. “Have you seen Paul?”

“Not yet, why?” Jason turned around to find Paul’s door shut with a group of girls chatting and drinking right outside his door. “I can guess where he is though with all these people around.” They both began laughing knowing full well he was in his room and would most likely remain there until the end of the party or the morning, whichever one came first. Kyle looked around and then leaned in toward Jason, "You have a visitor waiting in your room for you,” he leaned away and winked at Jason, “better not leave them waiting.”

Jenna? How did she get here already? His stomach began to flip. Jenna was in his room waiting for him? Kyle walked away to talk to a group of girls before Jason could ask who it was, to reassure that it was Jenna waiting for him.

He made his way through the crowd toward his bedroom, sweat forming on his brow. He reached his room and grabbed the doorknob, taking in one more breath before he went in.

He opened the door and to his surprise, it wasn't Jenna. It was someone whom he hadn't seen in years, and quite possibly the last person he'd imagine would be there. "Chris?"

"How's it going, little bro?" Chris was sitting in his desk chair, his sloppy brown hair longer than Jason had ever seen it. He was wearing a black shirt with Deadmau5 written across the front and a pair of jeans with holes in each leg. "Holy s**t man, what are you doing here?" Chris stood up as Jason came near and opened his arms, giving him a hug. Chris was only a couple inches taller than him, but being his little brother, Jason always felt like Chris towered over him.

"I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd stop by. I didn't know you'd be throwing such a huge party." Chris let go of him and sat back down in the chair, leaving Jason standing.

"Yeah, it's Dan's birthday tonight. I doubt he'll be awake for it though." Chris started to laugh. He met Dan when Jason first started going to college, and knowing he was already passed out didn't surprise him at all. "So tell me what's going on, Chris. First that weird call, now you show up out of nowhere? Is everything alright?"

Chris quietly looked down at the ground for a couple of seconds, and then back up at Jason.

"Jay, I think I know how to save Dad."

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Thomas sat on the side of the fountain for hours, waiting for Garfield to leave Walker's residence. The crowd had been heavy after the man lay dead in the square hours before, but people left after the drama subsided. Right about when Thomas started dozing off, Walker's front door opened and out stepped Garfield with a bag strapped to his shoulder. He shut the door and immediately turned and started to walk away. Thomas stood up and started to follow him.

Before long, Thomas had followed Garfield long enough that he had left the limits of Dawn. Only the hunters and gatherers came out this far to find food; Thomas had never been out this far as Walker punished those who did, claiming it was too dangerous. Thomas was thankful it was dark outside, otherwise he would have a much more difficult time following Garfield without being seen.

For what seemed like hours, Thomas followed him over hills of grass, the blades coming up to his knees. He began to worry a long time ago that he would get lost, but he had been following Garfield for so long that it was too late to turn around.

Soon after he seriously contemplated going back to Dawn and returning to Sam he saw something strange. Garfield was walking toward something glowing, something bright red. It was blinking, unlike anything Thomas had ever seen before. He took his time, sure that the blinking red dot was what Garfield was heading toward. As Thomas knelt to rest his legs, he heard something move from behind him. He turned to see where the noise was coming from, and standing above him was Walker.

"You really shouldn't be out here, Thomas. You know that." Walker lifted his arm above his head, holding a long object visible through the moonlight. He swung the object toward Thomas, hitting him squarely on the side of his head.

Thomas fell over after the impact, his head rolling toward the blinking red dot. His vision began to fade as the seconds passed, and before long he saw nothing but black.