Dawson Donahue is a character in the novel Final Destination: Death of the Senses. The representative of smell; a young upstart entrepreneur, he controls the city's garbage pickup, but handles it rather poorly.
The day after the death of the John Doe, a man named Jack Curtis was outside his office building, asking if he can speak with Dawson in private. He tries to convince Dawson that he is in danger. After kicking Jack out, Dawson leaves and drives to a gas station. While there Dawson was about to answer a phone call when Jack suddenly shows up, slapping his phone out of his hand, shoving him to the ground, and breaking the car's filler cup. Angered by the situation, Dawson drives to his home. After unknowingly causing a gas leak, he tries to relax but the doorbell suddenly rings. Annoyed, he opens the door to find Jack and a police officer named Amy Tom at his doorstep. After explaining to him that he was on a death list, Amy smells a gas leak inside of the house. After being forced to wait outside, Dawson calls the gas company. Then, he asks Amy if it is safe for him to drive his car out of his house so he can spend the night at a nearby hotel. After Amy give him the thumbs up, he travels downstairs through the kitchen, not realizing the gas has reached the garage.
Dawson is the second survivor of the John Doe Murder Spree to die.
Death
After Dawson enters the garage, Jack and Amy run downstairs, warning him about the gas. Surprised, Dawson accidentally unlocks his car on impulse, with the small spark produced igniting the gas. Luckily, the resulting explosion only surrounds Dawson before dying out. But at the same time, the explosion manages to reach the car's filler cup, igniting the gas tank. The explosion launches the car towards Dawson, snapping through his ribs and spine, slamming him into a garbage bin, and crushing him against the wall.
Signs/Clues
- In Jack's premonition, Dawson would have his nose sliced out.
- After encountering the John Doe, Jack passes a garbage truck with emblemed with the "Donahue" logo.
- After talking to Jack, Dawson jokily says to his receptionist that he won't be back at work tomorrow unless he has "some kind of accident..."
- While calling Amy Tom on a payphone, Jack notices the reflection on Dawson's car seems darker than before.
- Jack experiences a hallucination of Dawson's car exploding, foreshadowing the explosion that would occur later that day.
- Dawson smells something strange while using his oven.
- Dawson's address, 1329 Prescott, contains the number 13.
- Dawson was nearly died twice. He nearly set himself on fire when using his oven burner and was nearly incinerated in a gas explosion.