Jax:

I didn't go back to my dorm, I didn't actually have a paper to write. I waited around the corner of the hall for Troy to come out. When he had acted weird on the phone he hung up on me, in a hurry to get rid of me, like he had to tell someone what I had just told him. I knew he'd need to go back to whoever this was, so I was going to follow him. Yea, I know, Troy had asked me to trust him and here I was doing the exact opposite. I ask you though to go through everything I went through and your best friend is obviously holding information back and see if you won't do the same.

I observed the other guys running back and forth down the halls, going to the gym or to practice sports while talking about supplements and maxing out. I suppressed the urge to yawn. Some of them were talking about a party that was happening tonight in the courtyard, one I had never heard of and wouldn't have wanted to go to even if I did. I was leaning against the wall trying my best to be inconspicuous so nobody would notice me just standing here for no reason. Then I realized how easy this was. At least fifty guys had passed me and they didn't even turn their heads to look at me. I know I was skinny and looked nothing like any of them, but shouldn't that make me stand out? Now that I started thinking about it, I realized I didn't remember speaking to any of my fellow students, or one even looking my way, or showing any signs of noticing my existence.

What are the odds of that?

About as low as the odds of you not getting seen on this stupid spy mission.

UHG! Just shut up already-

Troy's dorm door opened. I zipped behind the corner of the hall and heard Troy close his door behind him. I peaked around the corner to see Troy walking in the opposite direction I thought he was going to go. He walked further down the hall instead of towards the stairs, which also happened to be towards the hallway I had ducked into. Panic shot through my whole body and I dove for the nearest classroom door, threw it open, and rushed inside. As I breathed hard trying to get my heart rate to decrease I slowly raised my head to peak out the window in the door.

Troy walked past and I had to stop myself from gasping when I saw his face. He looked extremely worried, concerned, his forehead creased, his eyebrows lowered, and his mouth made a straight line that curved down at the ends. I wasn't looking at my best friend, there was no boyish grin, no joyful smile. His blue eyes were heavy and they made him look so much older than he actually was. The sight startled me, I watched him walk all the way past and I was determined to keep following him, not for my sake anymore, but I had to know what was making my bro look that way. I know it had to do with me, and blondy. If I could find out what it was, maybe I could do something about it, so then Troy wouldn't have that secret on his shoulders anymore.

I opened the door slowly and peeked around the hall just in time to see Troy walk through another door at the very end of the hall, one I didn't even know existed. I made my way to this secret door on my tiptoes, I had to look at it really hard.

Why the heck have I never noticed this before?

I reached for the handle slowly, I had to put all my focus on the door, like my brain forgot it existed if I stopped thinking about it. Finally my fingers wrapped around the metal handle and my mind became sure that the door was real. I opened it quickly and hastened my pace through the short hall to another door. I opened the door at the other side just a crack and looked through. What greeted my eyes was a hallway identical to the one I just came from.

This must be the girls side!

My stomach leapt up in my chest and a hundred thoughts filled my head at once.

How long did Troy know about this? Why was it so easy to get here? Why was the door invisible till I saw him go through it? Why would Troy need a way to the girls side? Gee, it's a lot cleaner than our side.

Yea, my ADHD likes to kick in near the end of my thought trains. After my brain finally got back on the right track I noticed Troy standing at one of the doors in the hall, he knocked once and then peeked his head through and walked in. My body went on autopilot, I opened the hallway door all the way and stepped silently up to the door. My brain started to think about how many rules I was breaking but I pushed the thought from my mind.

What if I'm seen by one of the girls? That thought slipped through before I could put it all the way out. What if it's blondy?

I shook my head violently like the thought was a bug clinging to my brain that I had to shake loose. She had ruined too many of my thought trains today, right now I needed to focus on what was happening on the other side of this door.

"-is happening, I don't like it." I heard Troy say.

"You say he asked about her again?" A voice said, it was deeper and definitely came from an older man.

"Yes sir, I can't keep dodging his questions, he knows me too well and…..I don't like lying to him."

"I see…" There was an awkward silence that hung in the air before the older man spoke again, "I know you two have grown close this past year, but you know this is for their own good. There has to be a reason they were put here and protected for this long, they should have found their way to camp years ago but here they are…" He paused again, then made a deep, thoughtful sound in his throat, "But you are right, something /is/ happening here and I sense it's not good."

"He was able to get on the wall…" Troy said, "You said there was a barrer…"

"There is, but it's weakening, I can feel it, and I'm not the only one. They're both showing signs now, growing restless, he has finally started dreaming."

They? Both? Is he talking about blondy too? And what camp?

I shifted my weight but that caused me to brush against the door. I froze and apparently so did the rooms occupants. I felt the adrenaline rush into my bloodstream and straight to my legs, I didn't question my instincts, I ran. I didn't look back. I ran all the way back to my dorm and leaned against the door breathing heavily.

"Well…" I managed to say between gasps, "That was interesting…"

My head was spinning with thoughts again, questions multiplying into more questions which then mated and gave birth to little crying baby questions. I soon had enough question families to populate a small country and it would be called "Clueless-topia" because none of them had answers.

I groaned and slid down my door into a sitting position. This was too much to take in. My best friend keeping secrets from me, reporting to some mysterious deep voiced man who knows a lot about me and blondy.

Blondy.

What was it about her? Why couldn't I keep her out of my head? I knew she had to be important, she was the key to what was happening around here, but how? Why? And why the heck did I care so much?

I banged my fist on the floor, this was way too frustrating. I had too many questions and every single thing that I tried to get answers just bred a new family for Clueless-topia. I hated being clueless.

I stood up and did my best to push everything out of my head. I tried playing some video games and that almost worked for a few hours, but then the thoughts and all the inhabitants of Clueless-topia came flooding back into my head. I sighed, turned my game off, plopped on my bed, and stared at the ceiling.

I heard the sounds of the guys partying in the courtyard. I thought I'd never say this, but for a second I wished I could be like them, carefree with only the next bench press to worry about. I had this nagging feeling I'd never be like them, and that my life was about to get even more complicated.

I closed my eyes and let my thoughts go free. I pulled the covers over me and rolled onto my side. The citizens of my question country all kept me company until I was finally able to tune them out and drift slowly to sleep.

I was dreaming again. This one started with me waking up in my dorm in the middle of the night, which was surprising normal, until I heard what had woken me up.

Yelling and screaming.

At first I thought the party outside had gotten really crazy, or maybe a fight had broken out. I looked at my clock, 2:00 AM, seriously? How long does it take to mingle, dance to overrated music, and play stupid party games?

I went to my window to see what it was all about and gasped. The first thing I noticed were the massive holes in the ground, the groundskeeper was not going to be happy about that. Then I saw what was coming out of the holes.

Men, well, they mostly looked like men. They had grey, translucent skin, cuts and gashes were clearly visible, their faces were horrifying, missing teeth and lifeless eyes. All of this was a little hard to spot under their viking armor, they wore breastplates with animal hides draped over them. Most of them were wearing those helmets with the horns on top.

"Oooook, Viking zombies, this is gonna be an interesting dream."

I flinched and did a double take when I noticed what the zombies were doing, they were grabbing all my classmates and dragging them into the holes they had made kicking and screaming. They were taking them back to where they came from, judging from the blood curdling screaming, I didn't want to find out where exactly that is.

My very first thought was, Ha, look what good all those muscles and working out did for you.

I immediately regretted it, I may not like jocks but nobody here deserves to die, especially not like that. I noticed more holes being made, and even more zombies coming out. The reinforcements were making their way to the doors of the school, and I realized they were coming inside to look for more victims.

My heart jumped from zero to sixty in a split second. I grabbed my beating baton from my drawer and strapped it to my belt. If this was going to be a zombie movie dream I wanted to at least try to be the one that survives.

I burst into the hall, no zombies, yet. They must not have gotten in the school yet.

CRACK!

I heard the sound of the doors breaking open downstairs. Perfect timing. I rushed down the stairs, they had come in through the front doors, so if I could make it out a window or side door I'd be good.

What about Troy?

I grimaced, I had forgotten, he's such a sound sleeper he might still be up in his room. Right as I was about to turn back up the stairs I heard something that stopped me in my tracks.

"HHHRRRAAAA!"

The battle cry rolled through the empty halls and I turned and saw Troy burling down the hall with a sword almost as long as he is and about as wide as my jaw had dropped when I saw him.

I regained my cool and said, "Of course you'd have a sword bigger than Texas."

He smiled the biggest smile I'd ever seen on him, "They make everything bigger there. I was just about to come and get you after I showed these undead freaks who's boss."

I smile, at least I had Troy in this dream and it didn't make it nearly as scary, "So...Attack of the Viking Zombies?"

Troy's smile got wider, which didn't seem possible, "Attack of the Viking Zombies 2 bro. The sequels are always better."

I laugh and extend my night stick as I see a horde of zombies cascade down the hall like tsunami, "Well, if we die at least we die together."

"That's the spirit! I thought you were gonna be a chicken…"

"No way," The ocean of undead flesh got closer, "Besides I'll probably wake up soon."

"What?" Troy's upbeat tone turned to one of utter confusion.

"Oh come on, it's obvious. Viking zombies, you with a giant sword, you won't get it though, you're part of the dream."

"Oh gods." Troy took his free hand and grabbed me by the shoulder, pushing me against the wall, "Bro…" His voice was dead serious, "This isn't a dream."