Continue on your way

You realize there isn’t much you can do at this point about your carelessness. As much as you would like to develop a friendship with Kim, you have to be realistic. I mean, really.... if he were to show up on campus when this is all over, what are you going to say to him? “Hi, Kim.... Yeah, remember how I was tall, muscular and black when we blew each other? Well, I’m really this scrawny white guy, but it’s ok, I still want to get to know you....” No one is going to believe that! No doubt you will get a call from Kim on your phone, and you will have to try to convince him that you never heard of him before. He’s going to think someone scammed him out of a tank of gas and a blowjob.

You feel like a creep but try to get over it as you drive the remaining miles to Central City. The traffic is light, and you get there before the sun has started to rise. Realizing you can’t very well knock on Dr. Hotstetter’s door at this hour — not to mention the fact that you don’t even know what his address is — you decide to take advantage of a couple of hour’s sleep. You find a spot in a Wal-Mart parking lot, crawl in the back seat, and close your eyes.

You dream. In your dream you see a confused jumble of images from the past day. You keep morphing from one person to another until you have lost track of who you really are. Throughout all of this, you are aware of a disembodied white lab coat pursuing you, calling your name.

When you wake up, sunlight is pouring into the car, and the sun is fairly high in the sky. You slept much longer than you had planned. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you hop back in the front seat and proceed with the next stage of your plan.

You drive around, searching out a public library. As you do, you reflect again on last night and how your attempt to use your powers failed. Was it because you were so tired, or is there something else going on?

At the library you find a phone book and locate an address for Abraham Hotstetter. It is just a few blocks away. Your heart is pounding as you realize you are nearing your goal.

You step out of the library and are about to return to your car when you notice a police car near it. The squad car’s driver appears to be looking at your car and speaking into a microphone. You quickly turn a corner to make sure he doesn’t see you.

Perhaps this is nothing. A police officer noticed a car that wasn’t from around here and is just checking up on it. Nothing at all unusual about that.... Unless, of course, the cheerleader back at the cabin grew suspicious and possibly reported TC as missing, or even....

Suspicion grows inside you that it is something even more sinister. Perhaps Dr. Burbank has found a way to track you. Perhaps even now there are armed SWAT teams descending on you. Perhaps they have been watching you all along!

No! You shake your head and try to get a grip. How could anyone have followed your movements? TC’s license plate is probably expired or something, and you are just being paranoid again. Probably the best thing to do is return to the car as if nothing is wrong and if the officer has any questions, you can deal with it then.