Olympia, Washington;
Evergreen State College
Red Square
Friday, 11PM PST

"Zombie Fight"...

A young woman peeked around the south corner of the CAB(College Activities Building), nerf gun at the ready. She was sweating, nervous.
This time was a particularly tense playthrough- she wasn't sure if any were left. She just had to make it to midnight, than it was game over. "Sole Survivor". The one's playing "zombies" really stepped up their game, this week!
She'd lost track of her teammates- they got ambushed, and scattered. The Square was completely empty, lit up by the full moon.
Man, they just had to schedule for the Horror Story Ace of Spades? It was wide open, no cover, but plenty of space to make an escape if something went wrong. Just as she was working up the nerve to make a break for Purce Hall, something cold and clammy touched her shoulder! It even felt slimy! She jumped, turning and backing up, taking aim and firing a dart, right at their forehead!
It stopped, like it'd hit something soft, and plopped to the ground, some kind of wet stuff on it, steaming off quickly. And it didn't stop the target.
She was backing up, "Hey, hey! I got you, you're out! That's cheating! You-" The words got caught in her throat when she realized she didn't know who this was- this wasn't a student. She gasped, and turned to run from it's outstretched claw, as it's eyes began to glow red, letting out a raspy, loud moan!
She got to about the middle of the Square when she froze, looking around- pairs of red motes were appearing in every shadow, between every building- She was completely surrounded! "G-guys, whoever you are- th-this isn't funny!" She fired some more darts, but they were similarly ignored as the moaning grew louder, and they were closing in!
She threw her pathetic facsimile of a weapon at one, and it similarly stopped like it'd hit something soft and sticky, before clattering, steaming to the ground, and getting lost in the horde as they closed in. Without thinking she ran for the Clock Tower, unsure what else to do; she was acting on instinct, now, trying to find cover, high ground, something to put a barrier between herself and these... Things.
She gave a squeal as more rounded a corner, cutting her off! She tried to shove them back, but there were too many, and they'd closed in tight, backing her against the base of the clock tower! Still, she tried to fight, panicking, screaming as their eyes glowed brighter, and they seemed to surge with energy, like electricity!
"Ungh- Stop! No! No! No! AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH-"



The Next Day...

Red Square was taped off, with campus security and local law enforcement trying to be as discreet as possible. Students and faculty moved about the campus, trying to go about their days as usual.
One example of this being Professor Abraham, beginning his lessons for the day with a half empty classroom. A record turn out! He'd thought to himself at the start of the quarter.
The projector had been cutting through a series of images; idols, cave paintings, and sketches of various supernatural beings, but predominately focusing on those best described as "Ghosts".
"-so, as you can see through this course summary, not only do the mythologies of the world consistently serve the purpose of teaching lessons on the workings of the world around them, but these lessons looked behind, as well as all around." He was pacing, pushing the button in order progress through the images. "Be it ancestral spirits, guiding their people to stability, and survival, or lost loved ones, warning of the dangers of folly. Even in Haitian Voodoo, the zombie was not merely a threat meant to frighten people into doing the will of a sorcerer, but a manifestation of the horrors of slavery; a warning of the fate that awaits those who are not cautious, who do not see the dangers around them.
"Slipping back to North America, we see a trend in 'modern mythologies'; those who've crossed the barrier often trying to warn others away from threats they, themselves, failed to see, or tormenting the one's who wronged them- That one, especially, is relevant, the theme of guilt, of punishment, of retribution, especially if it is righteous! That is why some characterize a peculiar interest in ghosts as a preoccupation with the past, often depicted with a sense of guilt, or regret-"
He held up a hand as though to prevent someone from seeing what he said, and mock-whispered, "Don't tell the History Majors!" A pause for a chuckle from the students, and he moved on.

The young college student, Chase, always went for a jog in the morning before class. He always tried to traverse the entire campus, getting his blood flowing before he had to sit in class for the rest of the day. This particular morning he really needed the rush of oxygen as he gone to bed early the previous night with a bad headache. The painkillers he took had really left him lethargic, not wanting to get out of bed when the alarm on his phone went off.

So Chase threw on a pair of track pants and a sweater, and left his apartment which was only a few minutes away from campus. So Chase began to jog down the sidewalk, the crisp morning air clearing the pain that had been in his head during the night. As Chase jogged, he passed a lot of the common haunts of his fellow students. The local coffee shop used for studying, the bar frequented by those of age, and a small vape shop.

It was only a minute or two after that that Chase was in front of the campus. Surprisingly, even though it was still early in the morning, there seemed to be a lot of people about, rushing around the campus. Chase ignored this though as he started to make his way around the college grounds. But as he neared the Red Square, he was forced to come to a stop.

The whole area had been taped off with police tape, with both campus security and the local police force present. There were quite a few students gathered outside the tape, snapping pictures and taking videos with their phones. Curiosity got the better of Chase as he also pulled out his phone and also took pictures. As he did so he decided that he could say that it was for story ideas for his writing. But a picture would be a lot better if it had a story along with it. So Chase walked up to one of his fellow students.

“So what happened here?” asked Chase.

The female student turned to him, “Don’t know. No one’s saying anything. But apparently they’ve been here since before dawn.”

“Huh,” Chase muttered, before taking a photo of the police.

Chase would spend several more minutes hanging around the cordoned off area, hoping to get some hint as to what happened. But nothing would be revealed, as many of the other students left the area and went about their day. Chase figured that he should probably get going as well. Upon looking at the time on his phone, Chase realized that he had to speed back to his apartment if he was to be ready in time for class.

The sprint back home made Chase work up a sweat. Thankfully his very small apartment did include a shower. So Chase had a quick shower, once again glad that he had is own apartment, as he would’ve hated to share a shower with an entire dorm. Once he cleaned himself off, Chase threw on a shirt, jeans, and a jacket. He then grabbed his book bag and left his apartment again.

This time he didn’t sprint, instead power walking back to campus. As Chase made his way to the lecture hall where he had his first class, he saw that the Red Square was still sectioned off. But Chase didn’t have time to lallygag around the area, as his first class was in a few minutes.

Chase entered the lecture hall just as the Professor did. While Chase had been cutting it close in time to the start of class, he still had ample seating to choose from as a lot of people tended to skip the class. This mythology course that Chase was attending had a reputation as being a crackpot, easy course. So some people didn’t feel the need to attend the class regularly, or semi-regularly, or ever.

Chase found his favorite seat, the very middle, the same seat he liked at movie theaters, was open, so he claimed it. From this point Chase could see the projector screen very easily and he could hear Professor Abraham clearly. Granted what he did hear was largely incoherent, but Chase still enjoyed the lectures as fodder for his writing. The crazy creatures and magics talked about in this course worked really well in fantasy novels.

Professor Abraham waited the customary few minutes to allow for stragglers to get in before the lecture, but Chase didn’t see a point. Even with the class half full, Chase did note that this was a very large turnout of students. So like most days, Professor Abraham began his lecture, most of the students clearly on their phones or otherwise not paying attention.

Chase felt bad for the mythology professor, so he made it a thing to pay attention. The professor went into a discussion on ghosts and undead in various cultures, Chase noting that it was more coherent then some of his other lectures. As the professor spoke of guilt and retribution in relation to spirits, Chase decided to save that idea for a possible story, typing it into his notes app. Chase even smiled a little as Professor Abraham made a joke about history majors. This was turning out to be a decent class for a change in relation to other classes Chase was taking.

-BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!-

Joe's eyes shot open at the sound of the alarm. He was up late last night working on this month's comics, and knew he hadn't gotten any more than 4 hours of sleep last night. Barely awake, he grabbed his phone and checked the time. He had 10 minutes to get to class. Not having the energy to get off the couch he had passed out onto, he rolled onto the floor and stood up.

"Eh, I'm late every other week and the professor hasn't commented on it yet." He thought to himself. He grabbed a nearby hoodie off the floor. It passed the sniff test. He threw it over the t-shirt and jeans he slept in, brushed his teeth and left the house as quickly as his lethargic body would allow him to.

Joe started his Saturday morning like always does, tuning into the latest installment of his favorite live podcast, Craig's Comic Chat Hour. He always enjoyed the host's turbulent interactions with guest callers. He always kept up with the latest releases, and hearing people discuss them live always made waking up early for Mythology class on a weekend morning a little easier. He always only saw the first few minutes of it live as he walked to class, but he always listened to the rest immediately after. Next on his Saturday morning routine was to pass through the red square and grab a cup of coffee on his way to class. His head was down, focused on his phone, and before he knew it, he had been served a fresh facefull of pavement.

Embarrassed, he stood up, put his phone and earbuds in his pocket, He adjusted his now cracked glasses and noticed the mess he had made. Joe had tripped over and knocked down a whole line of police tape right in front of a gawking crowd. He noticed some police officers giving some serious stink-eye. "Sorry!", he yelled out at them as he jogged away from the scene. Great. Not only did he make a fool of himself in front of a large crowd of people, he won't even be able to grab some coffee. He took an alternate route to class, making him even more late than he was before.

He entered the class and groggily made his way to a seat neat the back and pulled out his notebook. His notebook consisted more of sketches of the various creatures discussed in the class than notes on the actual stories about them. He looked at the projector. "So it's ghosts today, cool." he thought to himself as he begun to sketch little floating sheets with eye holes.

Today started like a normal day for Felix. Starting the day by waking up in his apartment and doing his normal routine before heading to school early. Not because he liked to be early to classes or anything like that. That would not be enough to warrant getting up this early. But because it was a chance to hang out with some of his friends before class started for him. Lucky for him his friends attended the same college as him, so that is a plus for him. Always meeting them by the Red Square, and it was the first place he headed to once he reached the college.

So when he can close to Red Square that he saw the area tapped off with campus security and police in it. Along with a group of students taking pictures and everything. That is odd, he thought and was halfway to walking up to a group of students to see what is happening when he heard a familiar voice.

"Felix, over here!"

Felix turned around to the voice and found that one of his friends was waving at him and so, putting his curiosity aside and went over to them. Performing his friends' customary handshake and the first thing he asked. "Hey, and you guys know what is happening over there?" Felix pointing back at Red Square.

James, his blond friend with glasses, spoke first, "not really. Apparently, the cops have been here since dawn."

"Since dawn?" Felix turned around and gazed at Red Square and wondered. "Anyone know what happened or why the cops are involved?"

James spoke again, "no idea, no one is saying anything, and I am guessing it is bad if the cops are here."

"Yeah, still, it is weird. I mean, what could happen here?" Felix shrugged it off, and he started talking more with his friends about other topics for a time before he had a look at his watch. "Shoot, I got in five, and I see you guys later." Saying goodbye to his friends and headed straight to class.

Which one of the perks of his first class was that there were usually plenty of chairs to pick from. Not because of the time of day of the class, but, unfortunately, due to the reputation of his mythology professor, half the class tends to skip. Either way, he got to class just as it started and found his usual seat in the upper middle section free. Ready to learn and take notes.

Even if he might be the one of the few that actually paid attention during his class. While others were busy looking at their phones and not paying attention. It felt weird to him, but, not much he can do about it, really. At least more people seemed to be here than normal, which is a good thing. Felix smiled a bit as the professor made a joke about history majors and continued to pay attention and take notes. Someone has to in this class.

As the professor continued, he was interrupted by the doors opening, flooding the room with light and ruining the projector image. Professor Abraham shielded his eyes from the light, complaining loudly, "Ah, this must be Mr. Rivera, gracing us with your presence-"

"Actually, Professor, we're with the City of Olympia Police Department." The lights flicked back on, revealing two officers; one in uniform, the other a plain-clothes detective.

Professor Abraham raised his eyebrows, shaken from his annoyance with an apparently habitually tardy student. "Oh, uh, well, might we make an appointment, officers? I'm in the middle of a lecture-"

The detective stepped forward, flashing his badge, "Actually, Professor, with all due respect, this is a matter we're taking just a little too seriously to be brushed off." The detective's tone was aggressive, but they became more diplomatic when they addressed the class, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask all of you to cooperate with an ongoing investigation regarding one of your classmates. You too, professor. The dean has given us permission to interrupt normal classes, as this relates to the public safety, so if you would all please form an orderly line-"

Zadok interrupted again, "Now hold on just a moment! I haven't consented to you absconding with my students! What gives you the right to storm in here like the gestapo and-"

The detective held up a hand and cut him off, speaking in a hushed tone, "Sir, perhaps you didn't here me: We need you to come with us, as well, and since this is investigating an assault on one of your students, I'm sure you'll be happy to aid this investigation however you can."

He hesitated, shocked to hear one of his students had apparently been attacked?

Stunned, all he could do was nod and mutter, "Y-yes, of course..." He turned to the students, "Class, uh, is dismissed... I hope you all took good notes, but, the, uh, Detective here needs to speak with all of us, and I've assured them of our cooperation. Come now, let's go..."

As the lecture continued, Chase did take some basic notes on his laptop, just enough to help him pass his exam for the class. But what he was really writing a lot of was story ideas in a separate tab. Chase felt that this discussion of ghosts would be gold for a modern fantasy story or even horror, a genre that Chase didn’t really write.

But it was just as Chase was coming up with a story hook about a spirit with unfinished business on Earth, that the doors to the lecture hall swung open. The light from the hallway bugged out Chase’s eyes as the room had been dark for the projector to work. As Chase’s eyes adjusted to the newly lit room, he was surprised to see that the people who had entered the lecture hall was a pair of police officers.

Professor Abraham then asked them if they could talk later as he was in the middle of a lecture, only for the cops to state that this was a very important situation. Chase wondered what possibly could have brought the police here to this mythology course. The young writer thought that it might be drug related, as he knew there were quite a few dealers here on campus. But it didn’t make sense for them to interrupt the whole class just to nab one person. If it was drug related, the cops would of probably just waited until after class and nab them in the hall.

But then Chase remembered his morning jog past the Red Square. It seemed that whatever had happened there was much more terrible than Chase had initially thought. As Chase wondered about what exactly happened, one of the officers stated that they had been given the OK by the dean to interrupt classes and speak to all the students.

Professor Abraham immediately disagreed with this, comparing the police to the gestapo, a comparison that Chase didn’t think was fair. But then the officer revealed that this was about a student being assaulted. Chase’s heart immediately sank at the thought of someone being attacked here on campus. He had thought that Evergreen was a safe place, but apparently that wasn’t so.

The Professor also seemed to flinch at the notion of a student attacked. He muttered something about class being dismissed and that they should talk with the police officers. Chase had never seen Professor Abraham like this before, but then nothing like this had happened since Chase had started attending this school.

Packing away his laptop back into his bag, Chase stood up from the middle section of the seating, and then made his way down to where the police officers were standing. Like requested, Chase formed a line with him at the front.

“Is this about that taped off area near Red Square?” Chase asked one of the officers, “I had seen it a little bit before class. But everyone I asked about it had no clue what happened. And the student who was assaulted, are they okay?”

It was evident on Chase’s face that he was a little shocked over this assault. But he intended to cooperate fully with the police. Even though he was pretty sure he knew nothing of note, Chase thought that maybe some detail he had seen would be relevant.

Joe Bronson

As the class continued, the sketches of ghosts in his notebook became more detailed. He started making specific characters and giving them rudimentary backstories. An old west snake-oil salesman here, a Civil War era Union Soldier there. "Maybe I could use some of these characters for next month's newspaper strips" he thought to himself. "Oh, what if I did one about the ghost of one of the founders of this college! The squares at the newspaper club might shut it down eventually, but I could probably get away with a few issues of some really hilarious stuff."

The sound of the door opening and the sudden influx of light into the dark room startled him. His glasses were still cracked, and he struggled to make out who had entered the classroom at first. His heart skipped another beat when he realized he was making direct eye contact again with the same cops who gave him nasty looks earlier that morning. He quickly buried his head into his notebook and pretended to not notice them, despite locking eyes a moment ago.

Just as he was starting to calm down, his anxiety flared right back up when he hear them mention wanting to speak with all the students about some kind of assault that happened last night. "Damnit, I was really hoping to never see those people ever again for the rest of my waking moments, and now I gotta talk to them" He though to himself. "Who the hell assaults somebody at a nerf war anyway? Shouldn't that relieve aggression?" Not wanting to be the first to talk to the cops who earlier had their investigation rudely interrupted by his clumsiness, he decided to wait for somebody else to start the line. Only then would he stand up and walk as slowly as he reasonably could with the intention of getting a place near the back of the line. He watched as the dude with brown hair who always sat in the middle seat started the line, and he immediately got up.

As he made his way over to the line, he noticed nobody had gotten up in front of him. It was too late to sit back down, and at this pace, he was gonna be second up to talk to the police. "Crap." he thought. He kept his head down as the sulked his way over to the line. Trying to brighten the mood, he decided to crack an on the fly and admittedly off-color joke to the dude with brown hair in front of him:

"Geez, did somebody bring a Glock to a nerf fight last night or something?"

Felix was just about done with taking notes when the police arrived in the classroom. Looking up from his notes and watching the cops as they were talking to the professor. Confused as to why the cops would even be in here in the first place. Did something happen, or why on earth are cops here? Felix thought, and unfortunately, it turns out that one of their classmates was assaulted and that they needed to talk to everyone.

Assaulted? Who and how? This college is supposed to be safe, and he has not heard of anyone being attacked at this college. Something must have changed for some reason. But why? Nothing like this happens at this college.

Thinking back to earlier, Felix realized why the Red Square was off-limits now. Red Square, that was where it must have gone down, and Felix started to think about who could be the unfortunate soul. It does not help that half the class is awol today, so it would be hard to pin down who it would be.

Either way, Felix made his way down to the line and stood third in line. Apparently, the other students were slow to get in line and heard a joke that the guy in front of him made. Felix did not laugh as he did not think it was appropriate but stayed silent nonetheless. So waiting his turn and getting this over with. Felix has not had the best experience with cops, but he did nothing and is not involved with this, so this should be fine. Though he not really sure how he can help the cops with this but, plans on cooperating regardless.

The rest of the class fell in line shortly after the first three, with a lot of murmuring.

They were led to some cubicles that had rapidly been set up in the gymnasium. The detective sat everyone down on the one side of the gym, gesturing to the far side where they'd set up. "Alright, we're going to be interviewing you all one at a time, and we expect complete honesty from you. I'm sure you all want to help your classmate, and get out of here as quickly as possible, so by all means: full cooperation is in your best interest. Does anyone have any questions before we get started?"

One student in the class slowly raised his hand, "Yes?"

"I-is this gonna be on the final?" The detective simply went wide eyed, as Professor Abraham heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

@Martian
"So, how well would you say you know your classmate, Kylie Griffin?"

@DrDistasteful
"Would you say you have a positive or negative relationship with her?"

@Theyra
"Do you know if Ms. Griffin had any enemies?"

The detective and others go through several more questions like this, in various combinations, as they work through all the interviews.

As Chase stood at the front of the line, the two police officers seemed to ignore his initial barrage of questions, stating that he should wait till the interview proper started. As Chase closed his mouth, the guy behind him in line made a joke about someone bringing a glock to a nerf fight. While Chase glanced back at him, he didn’t find the joke very funny and as such did not chuckle. This was probably the first time this student had ever talked to Chase, all the young writer knowing about him was that he seemed to attend class more often than a lot of other students.

But before Chase could muse too much on the bad joke, the police began to lead the mythology students out of the lecture hall. The line of students would follow the officers to the gymnasium, where cubicles seemed to have been put up in the last couple minutes. The officers then announced that they would be interviewing everyone one at a time. When asked if anyone had a question, one of the students asked if this was going to be on the final. This did make Chase chuckle as he recognized the student, a guy who sometimes came to class, but when he did he was visibly high.

However, the police didn’t seem to find him funny, instead waving over Chase to begin the interview. As he sat down on an uncomfortable plastic chair, the police immediately began asking him questions.

When they asked how well he knew the victim, Chase replied, “Kylie Griffin? I don’t recognize the name. Do you have a picture of her?”

The officer nodded and pulled up a photo on his phone, showing the girl in what looked like a Facebook photo, “Oh, her. I don’t think I’ve ever actually talked to her. But she was one of the few students who actually seemed to take this course seriously.”

The cops then asked if Chase had a positive or negative relationship with her, to which he replied, “I mean, I don’t really have a relationship. I thought she was cute and considered asking her out, but I’ve been too busy with studies to focus on dating.”

The officer seemed to take some notes at Chase’s answer. The young writer hoped that he didn’t just make himself a suspect by saying he had an attraction to the victim, but the police had said they wanted full cooperation and honesty. Chase thought that it would be better that he told the police directly, rather than them finding out some other way and make him look suspicious.

The officer then asked if Kylie had any enemies, Chase taking a moment before replying, “I don’t think so. Like I said I didn’t really know her. But she seemed nice enough and I couldn’t see anyone having a problem with her.”

The officer took a few more notes, before asking Chase some more questions. It was mostly routine stuff like where he was last night, to which he replied at home with a massive headache. They then took his contact information, before dismissing him from the cubicle. Chase made his way across the gymnasium to where Professor Abraham was.

As Chase stood next to his Professor, he asked him, “How are you holding up Professor? Did you know Kylie at all? I didn’t personally.”

Chase continued to look at the pair of officers as they talked to more of his classmates. They still hadn’t revealed what happened to Kylie last night. Chase’s mind immediately jumped to the worst scenario that she was dead, but he hoped that it wasn’t that serious.

Joe's wisecrack received no answer, but it served its purpose of making the situation a little bit less awkward, he thought at least. His legs grew tired as he stood in line for his turn, but at least he would still make it out of class before schedule. He put his podcast back on and waited patiently for his turn.

After a few minutes that felt like hours, he saw the brown-haired dude exit the gymnasium. He slowly made his way in behind him and sat down at the cubicle. "Sorry about earlier" he immediately said in a quiet voice. "I was uhhhh, studying! Yeah! I was studying mythology on my phone!" This wasn't entirely incorrect, as he was reading a graphic novel adaptation of Homer's Iliad, so he went with that.

The police officer interviewing him, seemingly not wanting to deal with Joe any further, ignored this. He simply showed him a picture of his classmate and asked if he had a positive or negative relationship.

"Kylie Griffin? I'd say neutral. I didn't really know her that well. She borrowed a bit of kneaded eraser from me once and never gave it back, but I would never assault somebody over that. Besides that, we never really interacted much"

The officer's face remained blank at this quip and simply dismissed him. He made his way over to where the brown-haired dude and the professor were standing, both to hear what they make of this situation, and also to ask what the next class assignment would be.

When it was his turn to be asked questions by the police. Which felt like forever, he was calm and ready to get this over with. So after sitting down and the detective started asking his questions with a deadpan face. "So, how well would you say you know your classmate, Kylie Griffin?

"Not well, I did not really talk to her, so I do not know much about her."

"Would you say you have a positive or negative relationship with her?"

"I would say neither, more of a neutral relationship since I did not talk to her, really."

"Do you know if Ms. Griffin had any enemies?"

"I have no idea if she has any, or at least I think no one in the class had problems with her."

The detective would ask more questions, and the more Felix felt that he is not really helping with this investigation. But, what should he guess, he does not know anything about Kylie. Other than she seemed to take the course seriously like he did. A rarity, it seems, in this class but something he should not complain about.

When the detective was done asking his questions, he waved Felix off and dismissed him. Felix got up, and one did he did note about the interview was that the detective did not tell him what happened to Kylie. Like is she okay, or what happened at the Red Square? It had to be serious enough to warrant the cops showing up and them interviewing her classmates. Hopefully, she is okay and not worse like... being dead. That would be an eye-opener for him if something like that happened at this college.

Either way, instead of collecting his things and leaving the classroom. Felix noticed the two of his classmates were around the professor. Maybe asking what he thinks about this or something, he should ask if there would be an assignment despite the cops showing up. So he walked over to the group and waited for the right time to ask his question.

Professor Abraham seemed a bit shaken. "Well, uh, this is a very troubling development, isn't it?" He was even wringing his hands! "As soon as we can find out where they've taken her, I hope to visit and make sure she's alright! I would encourage you all to... I don't know, collect signatures on a 'well wishes' card or something, it doesn't feel right to go on as if nothing happened!"

He slapped his forehead, "Oy, and I've forgotten; I've got to clear some space in the adjoining storage space to my lecture room! Gentleman, since you've some extra time, today, perhaps I could enlist your aid in this endeavor? There's some extra credit in it for you!"

Professor Abraham was clearly shaken as Chase walked over to him. He made mention of visiting Kylie once he learned where she was. But Chase knew that assumed that she was still alive. However Chase respected the Professor’s positive thinking, as the police still hadn’t revealed what exactly happened to his classmate. The Professor then floated the idea of making a well wishes card.

“Sure Professor Abraham. She would probably appreciate it,” replied Chase.

Truthfully Chase was still unsure if she was even still alive. But part of sending well wishes would be to believe that she was well. So Chase decided to go with believing that she was alive, and that he would get the chance to ask her out. As Chase thought this over, two more of his classmates walked over to him and the Professor.

The Professor then mentioned a job of clearing out some storage space. While Chase was already going to agree, as it was something to get his mind off the whole situation with Kylie, the deal was sweetened even more by the mention of extra credit. While Chase was pretty sure that he was doing well in the class, it never hurt to bump up his grade a little bit.

“I have time today available,” responded Chase, “Would we be going now or later?”

Chase hoped it was now. He really wanted to get out of the gymnasium and away from the police officers. Chase glanced at the two other students, really wishing that they were alright with leaving immediately.

So the professor seemed shaken about the whole thing. Which is understandable and if he was in the professor's shoes. He would be concerned if one of his students was assaulted out of the blue. And the idea of getting a get well soon card for Kylie was not a bad one. At least one way to show that her classmates showed some support for her wherever she is. Hopefully, she is okay and recovering from whatever happened to her. Even though the police have yet to say what happened to her but, Felix remains hopeful that she is okay.

When the professor brought up needing to clear out a storage room and asking if the three of them would not mind helping him. Felix did not mind, he's got time before his next class, and the mention of extra credit is a good motivation point. Plus, a good way to get this police business out of his head. At least for some time.

"Sure, professor, I got the time, though, like what the guy said." Motioning to Chase, "is it now or later?"

Joe could tell that the professor was troubled by this whole ordeal. He was a little shaken himself as well. He was anticipating going to the nerf war himself but wasn't able to go because he procrastinated on this month's newspaper strips. He really liked the idea of making a card, this was right up his alley. "I could put together something and print it out for us all to sign" he suggested.

The professor then asked if he could help clearing out some space in his classroom's storage space. With class ending early Joe had some free time on his hands, and considering that he's late almost every day, some extra credit wouldn't go amiss. "I'm free as well. Let's get this done, I could use the credit" He stated.

He sighed, "Oh, thank you... Let's go, uh, get our minds off of all this, for now..."

The storage space was more or less what one might expect: Poorly lit, dusty, cluttered and in this case, surprisingly crowded. If one took the time to look more thoroughly, they'd find a wide variety of individual objects, as well as everything from mailing envelopes all the way up to various large wooden crates.

As Mr. Abraham finished shoving a crate into a corner, he wiped his brow and said, "Hagh, this get's harder every year, I swear! Just remember, my boys, we don't have to sweat organizing this mess (not this time, anyway...), just open up some floor space. And try not to break anything, please!"

At the mention of being called guy, Chase realized that he had never really introduced himself to any other student in Professor Abraham’s mythology class. He kind of regretted that, thinking about Kylie and how he had never even learned her name before this incident.

“My name’s Chase,” he said to the other two students, “I’m a creative writing major.”

One of the other students mentioned something about making a card for Kylie. Chase then remembered that he had often seen this student drawing in a notebook which meant he was probably an art student. However Chase still could only really draw stick figures, instead focusing his creativity on the written word.

After all three students had agreed to helping move stuff, Professor Abraham led them to a storage space. The single light bulb at the top of the room was dim and tended to flicker every so often. What was also prevalent was the smell of dust, almost similar to opening a long lost tomb. Chase was really glad that he didn’t have asthma as he entered the storage room.

“When was the last time anyone was in here?” asked Chase as he wiped a thick layer of dust off a box.

Chase then picked up a stack of envelopes, seeing that some dated back all the way to 1967. He was pretty sure that meant it was as old as the college. Chase shoved the letters into a desk in the corner of the room, as he decided that he should focus on the boxes.

The Professor then said that they didn’t really need to sort, but rather just clear up some floor space. Chase was glad to hear that as it meant he wouldn’t be stuck in this room for too long. Professor Abraham also made sure to say not to break anything, which prompted Chase to slow down just a little bit.

As Chase was pushing a particularly heavy box, he accidentally knocked it into an even bigger box, knocking off its lid. This unleashed a cloud of dust, causing Chase to immediately start coughing. After a few seconds Chase regained his breath.

Picking up the lid to put back onto the box, Chase wondered what was so heavy so he peered inside. Expecting to find old outdated textbooks or faulty lab equipment, Chase instead found a giant backpack of some kind.

“What do we have here?” wondered Chase as he brushed some dust off of it, “It says proton pack. Anyone know what that is?”

Chase attempted to pick it up, only to find that it was very heavy. Whatever this was, if it was meant to be worn on someone’s back it would cause instant back issues.

"Felix," he said instinctively as Chase said his name. "History major," and when all three boys agreed to help the professor with moving boxes. He joined them and entered the dimly lit room with plenty of boxes and other junk. All coated with a nice healthy layer of dust. At least he is getting extra credit for this and started to move things.

Starting with a section in the middle and found an old filing cabinet. Curiosity got to him as to what files could be in the thing and opened it. A small cloud of dust erupted from the cabinet and caused Felix to swat the air in his face. "How old is this stuff, and how long has it been in here?" Good thing they are just moving stuff to clear some floor space, he thought. After the dust cloud dissipated, he went looking through the files and found nothing really interesting. Just some old school files, and after some time, he closed the cabinet and moved it towards the back.

As Felix was about to move a large box, it was then that Chase accidentally broke a box and spoke about a proton pack. "Proton Pack?" Felix asked, sounding confused, and went over to the broken box. "What the heck is a proton pack?" Felix started to examine the thing, and it looked heavy and nothing that he as seen before. What use could the university had for this thing, he wondered. Looking over to the professor and motioned for him to come over. "Professor, you have any idea what this thing is?"

"Joe Bronson, Graphic Design Major" Joe said, in his standard deadpan tone. "World famous artist of Gary the Geoduck."

Joe always greeted people this way on campus. most of the time it generated confusion, but it was worth it for those rare occasions when he meets somebody who reads the college paper's comics section. Gary the Geoduck was his latest creation. His last series, The Ominous Olympiad, was canceled prematurely. If you were to ask Joe the reason, he would tell you it was too "high concept" and the staff just didn't understand his metafictional creative vision. If you were to ask any other member of the staff, they'll tell you it was canned because it made absolutely no goddamn sense.

The storage room was a network of dust. It felt like every 30 seconds Joe would move a box or wipe off some old apparatus and be sent into a coughing fit. "Jeez, It's like the Sahara Desert in here." He quipped. "You think we're gonna make it out of here alive?"

His fellow students came across some weird backpack-looking things. As his peers speculated on what it might be, Joe wiped his watering eyes and went to take a closer look. He noticed a sort of nozzle attachment on them. He picked one up and took a closer look at it. "What, is this some sort of nuclear powered leaf blower or something?"