A cool wind moved through his dorm room window screen. Papers fluttered across his desk, and he slapped his hand down to keep them from blowing off. The sound echoed in his room. Beyond his window, a female student holding a duffel bag lingered near the Tizona Sword statue at the edge of the Grand Lawn. He exhaled.
Another dropout.
In a few minutes, Javin Sharkey pulled up in the golf cart. He hurled her bag onto the cart, and the two of them drove into the dense swamp on their way back to the welcome center.
After the initial round of cheaters were caught, other students disappeared in the middle of the night. Some of his classes dwindled to less than ten students. Six students attended calculus. Two had left on their own last week.
He laced his shoes and walked toward Terminus. He zi
