"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.

    She had to keep looking for another way inside.

    Searching through the thick shadows stretching out behind the station (all the way back through the chainlink to that newest mystery, that concrete wall that had appeared just as mysteriously as the station's first shift into existence), Tess knew that finding anything would be difficult. With each step the world seemed to grow dimmer, and the darkness became almost a solid thing; its own impenetrable wall.

    "One second," she said, pausing and ruffling through her bag once more.

    Alex didn't seem to mind the delay, waiting in silence behind her, and casting furtive glances to the distant patches of light shining across the dirt around the side of the building.

    Tess considered telling him to turn back then, but as she did a deep chill shivered through her, piercing through the protective warmth of her jacket. She needed him with her. She wanted her mom, or her dad, or even her Oma Flora, but as no one seemed to believe her, Alex seemed her best option.

    "Here," she said, pulling out her flashlight and clicking it on. Its thin beam shot through the shadows ahead, illuminating the rear yard of the station one tiny sliver of light at a time. "Nothing to worry about."

    "Y... y... yeah, r... r... right."

    Alex edged closer to her, taking her free hand as he did. His hand felt so warm in hers, and she was thankful as that warmth pushed back against the chill inside of her; yet she also felt nervous, a deep worry setting in. She could feel each tremble through the palm of his hand and the twitching of his fingers.

    As she glanced his way, it appeared Alex understood her concern as he quickly withdrew his hand. "I'm f... f... fine, r... r... re... shit!"

    She hated to see him so riled up. She grabbed his hand again, making sure that he kept at her side. "I'm not," she said, and held his hand tighter.

    Neither spoke for a few minutes after that, pushing through the fog of shadow behind the station still hand-in-hand. As her light cast upon the crumbling sill of yet another boarded-up window, Tess felt certain that Alex's was no longer the only hand trembling.

    It didn't help that the smell hadn't diminished either. As Tess drew closer to that window, she gagged. The bandana proved a weak protection from the smell, that overwhelming rot proving more and more nauseating with each step. She'd have to come better prepared next time.

    Suddenly, Alex squeezed her hand, the pressure pinching sharply around her palm.

    "Ow. That hurt." She glared at him, but he said nothing; he just stood still, as if frozen to the spot.

    "What is it?" she asked, but he said nothing. He simply raised his free hand and pointed into the dark.

    Tess cast her light in the direction that he was pointing, revealing the frame of a rusted, metal chair.

    "There's nothing there," she said.

    Alex pushed her flashlight to the ground, returning the chair to shadow, and continued staring straight at it.

    "What?" she asked.

    "Don't you see it?"

    "No," she started, then stopped. Alex hadn't stuttered. Not even slightly. Between the shadows and that smell and the deep chill freezing her through, Tess had plenty of which to be afraid, but she was fairly certain that the firmness with which Alex had just spoken scared her the most of all. "Don't I see what?"

    "There's someone there. I saw them. I sw... sw... swear."

    As his stutter returned, Tess tried to tell herself that it had all been in Alex's head, that there had been nothing there. No matter how hard she tried, she saw no sign of anyone else there behind the station, and yet, he had been so certain. Plus, the shadows clung unnaturally to the building, thicker and near impenetrable as if night had settled here and only here.

    They should turn back. She knew it.

    "There's nothing there," she said instead. "Just a little further, okay?"

    "O... o... okay," he said and squeezed her hand once more.

    At that, she returned her light to the rusted chair, revealing an ancient patio set complete with decaying cushions drowned in dust and mold. Beyond them, her flashlight's beam caught upon an exterior shelf littered with discarded boxes and what appeared to be various pieces of abandoned electronics.

    Pulling Alex along with her, Tess slowly approached the station. She hadn't made it this far last time, and she couldn't help but to hope that somewhere on those shelves was some hint, some clue, that could reveal the truth of this place - or perhaps even to help her get inside.

    "A key would be nice," she muttered.

    "W... wh... what?"

    "Nothing," she said. "Talking to myself."

    Alex nodded and let himself be pulled forward inch-by-inch, as slowly Tess pushed further towards the hidden secrets of the station. She could feel her whole body trembling with a mix of cold and fear and anticipation, and she knew Alex could feel it, too, his hand this time squeezing lightly against hers, as if offering her some small reassurance that it would all be okay.

    A moment more and she stood before the shelf casting her light across box after box, uncertain where to begin. Behind her she could see Alex glancing back into the shadows, presumably still looking for his mysterious someone hiding in the dark.

    "Here," she said, handing him the flashlight and pulling her other hand free. As she slid her hand away from his, Tess could feel the warmth drain from her fingers, only it wasn't so much draining away, as the cold was filling them. It slid down her arm, easing over her wrist and pooling down until it topped off her fingers and flooded over, pouring out and dripping along her exposed, goosepimpled skin.

    "Wh... what?" Alex asked.

    "Just shine it here, on this box," she said, picking one at random.

    Alex nodded and pointed the light down upon the chosen box, its beam wavering with the shaking of his hand. Slowly, Tess teased it open, then lifted Alex's arm just so, until the light flooded inside the container. As Tess opened it, the smell erupted out, as if it had been held in check within the box, and now had at last been set free, and as it rushed over her, Tess caught a glimpse inside and fell to her knees, ripping down her bandana and retching into the dirt.

    Try as she might she couldn't block out the image. So many worms, writhing and rotting and splitting open, and from within pouring forth more worms, all dying and drying, split by invisible hooks.

    She gagged and retched once more, coughing and sputtering and heaving until nothing more would come forth.

    "T... T... Tess?" Alex held his hand down for her, and she took it letting him pull her to her feet. "What's the m... m... matter?"

    "It's the worms," she said, her mind drawn once more back to that jetty and the afternoon with her father by the lake.

    "Wh... wh... what worms?" Alex asked, shining the light into the box.

    Inside Tess saw only a loose assortment of discarded scrap: screws, bolts, and the odd sheet of junk metal, but nothing of significance, and definitely no seething mass of worms.

    "A... a... are you o... o... okay?"

    "No," she said. "I guess not. Come on, let's -"

    Tess stopped mid-sentence, Alex gaping at her.

    "What?" she asked.

    Alex simply stared, tilting his head as if confused, while he studied her face.

    "Come on, already. What is it?"

    "Y... y... your breath," he said, pointing at the puffs of cold crystallizing before her with each exhale, now free from the confines of her bandana.

    "So," she said, not seeing the big deal. That's what happened in the cold, your breath froze into little clouds of mist. Tess always found it amusing, but not all that surprising, and definitely not something worth the shock she saw in Alex's giant eyes.

    "S... s... so, this," Alex said, pointing at himself. Then he removed his own bandana, sucked in a deep breath, exaggerating the whole affair, and slowly exhaled.

    No accompanying puff of air formed - no frozen cloud wisping out with his exhale.

    Tess shivered, rubbing her hands together as she did, another puff shivering out between her iced lips.

    And just like that, she accepted this new fact as quickly as she had the shifting existence of the radio station. Here her breath froze, but not Alex's. Here the cold affected her, but not him; and that was the way of things.

    He grabbed her shivering hands, the warmth of his skin burning against her frozen flesh.

    "We sh... sh... should go," he said.

    Tess nodded, although she wasn't ready yet. "Soon," she said and returned her gaze to the station.