Dax was a tall, slimly built 17-year-old, who had been confined for beating a man to death for stealing from him. He was also one of the guys who had removed his wristband early in the day. Dax found a place near the edge of camp to sleep for the night, under a tree that gave some shelter from the cold wind that had picked up, and settled down with one of the blankets from the drop ship that he'd wrestled from some other kid, practically knocking the kid's tooth out.
Dax looked up when he heard someone coming, thinking it might be one of the people he'd roughed up come looking for payback, but it was only that little girl with the blond ponytail. Earlier in the day he'd seen some guys giving her a hard time, trying to make her take off her wristband. She had shouted at them to stop and leave her alone, but they ignored her. Dax had walked up and punched one of them in the face. That guy went down with a bloody nose and the others backed off.
The little girl had been following him around since then, and now she came and lay down beside him, clutching her stuffed toy that looked like it was supposed to be a turtle. He considered pushing her away, telling her to go bug someone else.
"Thanks for helping me," her small voice said. It was the first thing she'd said to him all day.
"Whatever kid," said Dax, laying his head back again.
"My name's Bo," she said.
"Just go to sleep," Dax grumbled. Bo didn't say anything else. A little while later Dax looked down at her and saw that she was shivering. The kid looked too small and frail to stand up to the cold wind that was blowing. He sighed, and spread the blanket over her; she curled closer to him. Bo Adams, 10 years old, was the youngest one here, and lying next to Dax Stanton she looked like a kitten curled up next to a pit-bull.
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Author's note: Please leave a comment if you want more about these characters.