David Li simply wanted to create a name for himself, to paint a brighter future. He never imagined that a chance encounter would propel him down a much darker path, one that would entangle him in a game of life and death broadcasting over generation...
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"H... h... holy hell." Tess watched as Alex scrunched up his nose, cupping his hand under it as if he could somehow block out the stench.
With a quick pull, she finished tying a bandana over the lower half of her face, her own attempt to block out that thick scent of spoiled food and molasses; the same scent that had triggered her flight from the rear of the station when she had first stumbled upon it; on the day that she'd lost Ricky.
Pushing that thought aside she pulled a second bandana from her backpack and tossed it over to Ricky.
"W... w... what's th... th... —"
"—This?" Tess finished for him. He nodded. "Just put it on. For the smell."
Alex eyed the bright pink bandana, and raised a magnified eyebrow at his friend. "A... an... an... and i... i... it helps?"
Tess had rarely seen Alex's stutter this bad, which said much for how he was feeling. Clearly she was pushing him a little too far; but even so, she needed to find Ricky and she didn't want to be alone. Should she push him further, or turn back for his sake? This was what her dad called a dilemma.
"Kind of," she shrugged. "You want to head back?"
She watched as Alex studied her behind his monstrous glasses, his eyes impossibly giant beneath those lenses. She had offered him an escape, but she hadn't really, had she? She'd put the decision on him, and since when had Alex made the calls? He always followed her on all of her adventures, no matter how much they terrified him.
Echoing her thoughts, Alex straightened up, tying the bandana around his face as he did. "N... n... no," he said and waved her on with a slight turn of his head.
"Okay." Tess smiled at her friend, although he couldn't see the smile beneath her bandana of course. With that, she threw on her backpack and pushed on.
On that first day - that stupid day when they should have just gone home, but instead they had decided to keep on playing just a few more rounds of hide and seek - on that day, Tess had never made it past the first awful slap in the face by that horrible smell. It had sent her reeling, then; but today she had to keep going.
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