A/N: Warning - There is some fluff in this chapter, not much, but some. Also for those who think this had been going to slowly, wait no longer; things will begin to accelerate next chapter.

I edited chapter 7 as well.

Chapter 8: The Radio - Part 1
(May 3rd --- 28 day after Outbreak)

"Next!" Jacen called as he sat at his desk. A girl with long blond hair walked in and took a seat in front of him. "Hello, Mrs.… Benson," he began after looking at the final name on the list. "Umm, what makes you think you would be qualified for the position of being my assistant?"

She flipped her hair back and gave Jacen a disgustingly fake smile. Great! Another power hungry floozy, he thought, letting out a near inaudible groan. "Well," she began, acting like the job was already hers and that the interview was just a formality. "I was the head cheerleader, and I had straight A's, and I was the vice president of the student council and …"

To Jacen's horror she just kept droning on and on. I can' take it, he concluded, im going to go insane. "That's enough Mrs. Benson; I will let you know if you got the job," he said tersely, on the verge of loosing his cool. Well that was the last one, Jacen noted as he glanced at the list, no assistant for me.

Jacen picked up a glass of water from the table and took a swig, wishing with every fiber of his being that it was a beer. That was unlikely to happen though since this had been a school and the small amount of alcohol that might have been floating around at the time of the outbreak would either have been consumed or jealously hidden by now.

Leaning back in his chair, Jacen let out a troubled sigh; he had been interviewing people for two and a half hours, and before that he stopped by the cafeteria to check on the food stocks; which he had done after his visit to the twins in the forge. All in all Jacen was exhausted. "Um, excuse me," a soft voice called from the hallway. "May I come in?"

"Yes. Yes, come in," Jacen replied weakly as he began to rummage through his desk. "Please have a seat; I will be with you in a moment."

Jacen heard the sound of footsteps as the figure got closer and took a seat. There you are you stupid pencil, he thought triumphantly as he closed the drawer and sat up. "So what can I do for…you…" he began and then slowly trailed off; pleasantly shocked to find Olivia sitting in front of him.

"My God Jacen, what happened? You look terrible," She blurted out after getting her first good look at his face.

"So ive heard."

Realizing what she had just said, Olivia covered her mouth instinctively as if that would make the words go away. "I--Im so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, its ok; your not the only one to notice. It's just been a long month," Jacen added wearily. "Anyways, how can I help you?"

Olivia held up one of the flyers that Jacen had put up on the jobs board. "I wanted to apply to be your assistant," she answered nervously, sounding as if she had been practicing the line.

Jacen smiled, happy that someone had thrown him a bone. Well I wanted beer, but a cute assistant is just as good. Caught up in his own thoughts, Jacen forgot to answer.

"Am I too late?" Olivia asked sadly, misinterpreting Jacen's silence.

"No-no, not at all," Jacen began frantically. "In fact you are by far the most capable person to ask for the job; if you want it, it's yours."

"I--It's mine?" Olivia asked in disbelief; she had spent the last hour practicing for the interview in the mirror, making sure everything was just right. "Don't you need to… you know; interview me first?"

Jacen shrugged dismissively. "Why would I? We where lab partners for three months and in that time you always did what was needed fast and well."

Olivia's disappointment about the interview was quickly replaced by pride from being praised by … What is he to me? She asked herself, is he my friend, my hero, or... is it something else? "Thank you," Olivia replied happily, putting her thoughts away for later. "I will do my best to be of help to you."

"Olivia, please there is no need to be so formal, I want you to be able to be comfortable around me," Jacen added, with a hint of sadness. It must be hard to be a hero of the people, Olivia decided; he is constantly surrounded by people who look up to him, but do any ever get past the admiration and become real friends.

She nodded, her mind now set on a course of action. "OK then, so I am now your assistant, correct?" Jacen nodded. "Well then, as my first act as your assistant I am requiring you to go get something to eat," Olivia finished, trying with moderate success to copy Melissa's forceful attitude.

"Come again?" Jacen asked, bewildered by Olivia's change in personality.

Olivia stood up. Think like Melissa; you where always good at acting. You can do this, she told herself. "Part of my job as your assistant is to make sure you don't die of exhaustion," she said with authority as she walked around the desk and pulled him by the arm. "Now let's go." Every instinct Olivia had gotten over the years screamed at her to let go and turn red like a tomato, enticing her with thoughts of going back to her comfort zone.

It didn't work because as she pulled Jacen out of the room Olivia felt truly happy; happy because in her heart Olivia knew that she had just taken the next giant leap towards overcoming her near paralyzing shyness towards boys.

"Now you wait here," Olivia said and trotted off to get Jacen something to eat. Jacen did as he was told, and sat there looking at the table trying to pretend that every person the room was not looking at him; which was really not that many people. It was five in the afternoon, so people would just beginning to leave their shift, and it was still an hour until dinner was served, so the only people here where those who had nothing else to do.

Nevertheless, he thought, this is embarrassing! When Olivia had dragged him through the cafeteria doors, everyone looked at him; all clearly amused that the head of Intrepid was being pushed around by a girl smaller than he was. Oddly enough though, Jacen also felt relieved in a way; he couldn't place exactly what he felt relieved about or why it was so intense but he was glad it was there

Olivia returned a couple minutes later, placing two trays on the table. "They didn't have much ready for dinner just yet, but Martha was able to snag a cheeseburger for each of us," Olivia said triumphantly and sat down opposite to Jacen; again he was reminded that this had been a school before the outbreak, so food was generally of this type, although the portions had been drastically reduced. Yet another problem I should be able to fix…

As he swallowed the initial bite of his burger Jacen realized that he was indeed hungry and finished his before Olivia had finished her second bite. "When was the last time you ate?" she asked with concern after watching Jacen inhales his food.

"Two days ago… at breakfast," Jacen conceded.

"Jacen; you can't do that to yourself!" Olivia exclaimed in a high pitched voice full of worry. She split her burger in two and handed the larger piece to Jacen. "Have part of mine… and don't even think about saying I need it more, because I don't. I actually had breakfast this morning."

"Thanks," he said meekly before graciously eating the food. Her company is nice, Jacen admitted, I haven't really sat and talked with anyone like this in a while.

They both stayed and talked for a while after that, catching up on what the other had been up to. Throughout the conversation Jacen felt at least partially revitalized, though he didn't know whether to attribute that to the food or something else. He also told her about the communal bath and, after explaining that the boys and girls would be out of sight of each other, Olivia agreed to come, her embarrassed blush back in all its glory. Then they parted ways, but not before Jacen assured her that he would take a nap prior to going to the 'test run' later that evening.


Ahh, home sweet home, Tom thought to himself as he unlocked the door to his room. "Hello Steve."

Steve looked up from the book he that he had been reading intently. "Oh; good afternoon Tom."

"So what are you reading today?" Tom asked as he took a seat on his bed to untie his shoes. This type of thing had become a type of ritual for the two since the outbreak. It didn't really make much sense to Tom but somehow repetition was comforting to him.

"I checked out a biography on Teddy Roosevelt," Steve replied; since the outbreak reading had become much more popular and as a result the library was a great deal more active than it had been before the outbreak. This was highly encouraged by George Havel, who worked to keep up the overall morale of Intrepid from his office in the guidance department. It was a rather important job, George had to keep people entertained and distracted from the constant, collective moans of the undead wandering around outside.

With his shoes now resting at the foot of his bed, Tom stood up and walked over to his desk, where an old looking box connected to a much newer headset sat waiting for him. "Is that so," Tom said inattentively as he took a seat and put the headphones on; careful to place the microphone just right so that he could talk if he found anyone to talk to.

This was Tom's ritual; every day after work he would gat back to the dorm and exchanged pleasantries with Steve before he would sit down at his desk for and continue to systematically search through all broadcast frequencies the radio could tune into. The radio had belonged to his grandfather, who had operated it during World War Two. Tom inherited the radio when his grandfather had died two years ago, and forgot until about a week ago when everyone had been allowed back to their dorms. He had found the radio as he searched through the closet looking for anything useful.

With the turn of a knob the radio came to life, hissing with static. Tom continued the search from where he left off. Nothing, he noted with irritation as he rotated the analogue dial, slowly going from one channel to the next; giving each one just enough time to make sure that there was nothing.

Why do I even do this, he asked himself, I wont ever find anythi- Toms subconscious brought all thoughts to a halt, registering a distinctly non-static noise that his headphones had played. For the first time ever he turned the dial backwards while actively listening for the new noise.

"There!" Tom exclaimed, making his roommate jump.

"What the hell?" Steve asked, rather annoyed that his reading time had been interrupted. "Did you hear something?"

Tom didn't answer; he was too focused on the person talking on his radio. "Oh shit," he said eventually in hushed voice, more to himself than anyone else.

Placing his headphones the table, Tom stood up and ran out the door. I have to get to lord Jacen, he thought as he frantically dashed down the hall.