Cause and Effect
Part 2
by Crystalquirt
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Sid could only see the leech as a dark splotch on his face, that was moving. The leech crawled down his cheek, forced it's way between his lips at the corner of his mouth and then pried his jaw apart by squeezing in-between his teeth. Sid tried to bite it in half, but unharmed, the leech, that smelled and tasted like 'death' only bit his tongue and continued exploring his mouth, like it was looking for something.
Sid's eyes were huge and he kept trying to spit the leech out, but that made it agitated and it went under his tongue to bite him again. When Sid yelled it poked the roof of his mouth like it was trying to get away by going through, but turned and after finding the opening it was looking for it started slowly slithering down his throat.
Kong Li watched Sid suffering with a smile on his face, and when he was sure the leech was inside far enough that Sid couldn't spit it out, he released him and he fell to his knees gagging.
"Sid, relax, even if you manage to throw up now, the leech has already attached itself to the lining in your stomach and can't be removed."
When he couldn't feel it wiggling and biting him anymore, Sid composed himself a little, still pressing his fingers to his neck like he could still feel the slimy thing moving. He wiped his face off before he looked up at Kong Li and argued, "Tobey still won't help you! He knows I would rather die than see you succeed at anything!"
"Brave words, but letting you die would be kinder than letting you go through what that leech will do to you, if he disobeys me. I think when he hears your screams of pure anguish, as you are torn apart inside, he will change his mind."
Tobey kicked and struggled, trying to get up the whole time Kong Li tormented Sid. He couldn't see for sure what was happening, but knew it wasn't good from the sounds that Sid was making. Tobey hoped Sid was just getting sick because he had to look at Kong Li, but knew that probably wasn't it. By the time Kong Li came over to him and said, "Your turn, son," he was so frustrated that he had tears running down his cheeks and into his hair.
"What is this? My son is crying? Poor thing . . . but you ain't seen nothin' yet! Mwahahaha! . . . I'm going to release you now, come on – try to attack me, I dare you, son." Kong Li waved his hand, sprinkling a potion at Tobey, and the green wad of lugey-like goo hardened and cracked harmlessly off of Tobey's clothes and skin. Tobey jumped up and screamed angrily as he charged, ready to fight, but Kong Li looked at Sid, squeezing the leech in his pocket. Sid immediately cried out in pain and fell to the ground, thrashing uncontrollably.
Sid was totally caught off guard by the pain that the creature in his stomach was causing him, and even though Kong Li wasn't squeezing the leech's mate anymore, the one in his stomach was still chewing.
Tobey stood frozen, watching Sid for a moment before he ran to him, he touched his shoulder, wishing he could help him, but then glared at Kong Li, his mind racing trying to think of some way to make Kong Li stop whatever he was doing, "What's happening to him?"
Kong Li just smiled; Sid kept screaming, Tobey panicked, "STOP HURTING HIM!" Kong Li smiled evilly and the leech finally stopped thrashing and chewing. Sid stopped screaming, but lie on his side, panting and holding his belly with both hands, unable to speak.
"See, I stopped son. I'm not all bad you know, now come over here to me and hold still. If you make any move I don't tell you to make, Sid will suffer more, and the madder that leech gets, the more damage it will do. At some point, if you keep trying to defy me, it will find his heart and he will die, if he doesn't die of internal bleeding first."
"You cant! You can't do this to him!"
"I've already done my part, what happens to him from here on is completely up to you. I have explained to you what will happen if you fight me. If you can't control yourself, he will die – and it will be all your fault."
"None of this is my fault, Kong Li!"
"Of course it is. Once you have been told the rules, if you choose not to follow them, the consequences to you or Sid, are entirely up to you."
"Your reasoning is warped, daddy."
Tobey reluctantly walked over to Kong Li and kneeled before him just like Kong Li had instructed. He held his breath and closed his eyes, forcing himself to hold still for whatever Kong Li was going to do to him. Sid recovered enough to speak and begged Tobey to fight back no matter what, but Tobey wouldn't, because it meant that Sid would be hurt again. That proved Kong Li's theory that one boy won't cause the other pain, and he thought that made them weak. He had a small jar of water and with Tobey surrendered and kneeling, he grabbed a handful of his hair to make him tilt his head to the side. Tobey whined through his teeth, but held still, allowing him to tilt his head to the side, with his right ear up.
He felt so exposed and helpless and worried that Kong Li would do something to his neck, he forgot all the other vial things his dad could do to him while he was in that position. When he felt water drip down his neck, he bravely opened one eye to peek at what was happening.
Kong Li poured the water like he was trying to pour it in his ear. Tobey whimpered a little louder and squeezed his his eyes shut again. The water was not what Kong Li was putting in his ear, it was the small eel that was swimming in the water that he was trying to get to go in Tobey's ear; and once the eel found his ear canal, it did swim right inside! The sudden pressure caused pain that made Tobey gasp, but when the eel's nose got in far enough to break Tobey's eardrum, he cried louder, covered his ear with both hands and doubled over, resting on his elbows. Inside his ear, the strange eel's fins spread out, and the spines sunk into the sides of his ear canal holding the eel firmly in place.
Sid cried, "Kong Li! What did you do to him?" Sid couldn't see the creature, and couldn't figure out why the water hurt Tobey so badly. Kong Li wouldn't say, he only offered, "My son should recover enough to tell you himself soon."
"Aaaannnn-h!" Tobey wailed.
"I'm only sorry Sue wasn't here. I had something really painful planned for her too. Well, she may join us later, right boys?" Kong Li pulled both boys to their feet by the backs of their shirts and shoved them toward the bars, which disappeared when they got close enough. Tobey was barely aware of being forced to get up and when he finally took his hands away from his ear, Sid saw blood had welled up in his ear canal, hiding whatever else might be in there.
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Back at Wu's garden, Sue anxiously waited for Nana to call, which she did, almost a half-hour later. "I found Sid's phone lying in an alley. That's why his signal wasn't moving; he must have dropped it. Tobey's bike is here too, so they probably found each other. The rain has washed away any footprints, but I found a large hole in a strange place. I'm calling you first because once I go underground, I may not get reception."
"Nana, do you think Kong Li got them?"
"I don't think anything yet; I've seen no sign of Kong Li. Maybe the boys just found the hole and decided to explore."
"But they wouldn't have been gone so long without calling."
"Tobey probably got Sid lost down there. I'll find them."
"Okay Nana, be careful." Sue hung up, frowning. She didn't believe Nana and thought she heard tension in her voice that only meant she was worried that Kong Li was involved.
Afraid for her brother and best friend, Sue got up, put her pants on over her pajamas and stuffed two large wads of toilet paper in her pants pockets to blow her nose on. She put put her red biking shirt on and a coat and stuffed more toilet paper in her coat pockets just to be sure, and went to the hall closet. She put on a woolen cap and one of Nana's scarves hoping to stay warm enough to not get even sicker and knowing Mr. Wu and Barney wouldn't miss her, wouldn't understand, and would only try to stop her, she left without telling them.
Breathing in the cold air, as she pedaled swiftly through Chinatown's streets, she was determined to find Sid and Tobey. Nana had Sid's phone with her underground, so it was gone from the alley, but Sue still found the hole. She breathlessly started talking out loud to herself she was so worried, "Nana m-mentioned finding a . . . hole that she thought they went down. I'll follow her – at least if Kong Li . . . really is involved I can help Nana and make our chances better."
Sue left her bike with Tobey's, chaining both bikes to a dilapidated fence. Then she ran to the edge of the hole, but she saw no way to lower herself down. She wondered if Nana just flew down, because there was no rope or anything to use to climb down. Before she could figure it out, she had to endure a violent coughing fit.
After her coughing fit was over, Sue used her phone's glow to try and see the bottom, thinking, maybe the hole wasn't as deep as it looked. She frowned after she looked down. She still couldn't tell how far down the bottom was. "Well – Sid, Tobey and Nana all made it down, so I will too . . . or if they didn't make it, I'll land on their bodies." After that grim thought, Sue held her breath like she was jumping into a pool and stepped into the space above the hole.
The dust caused her to have another coughing fit, but she was otherwise fine when she landed, and there were no bodies lying around. The coughing fits were becoming worse and hurt her sore throat and her ribs enough to make her double over. Sue leaned on the wall for a few seconds before she started exploring. She worried that if Kong Li was around, he might have heard her coughing but no one approached her, at least not that she could see in the dark. Using the glow from her phone for her only light, she went down the tunnel, cautiously.
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Nana arrived at the cell where Kong Li had been keeping Sid and Tobey just moments after he left with the boys. There were no bars in place, but she could tell he had kept them there, chains and remnants of recipes, jars and pots were left lying around. She went further down the tunnel and felt a little relieved that she didn't find Tobey and Sid hanging in the chains being tortured. She knew what Kong Li was capable of if he had helpless prisoners. Still she worried, Kong Li's plan and their fates were still unknown.
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Using a rusty old fire escape that rocked and shook as they climbed, Kong Li forced Sid and Tobey up first, taking them to the roof of the tallest, oldest building in Chinatown to check it for his so-called magic mold. Sid hesitated for only a moment when he came to a section of ladder that had two rungs missing, and the bolt on one side gone. Sid wasn't fond of heights anyway, and the strong wind and rain made it even less fun. Kong Li looked up and saw that Tobey had stopped, because Sid had stopped first. "Keep going!" he demanded.
Sid yelled back down, "This isn't safe, we shouldn't . . . " he stopped talking when he was interrupted by a scream. Tobey covered his ear with both hands and fell off the ladder! Kong Li had used a whistle, with a pitch silent to humans, but that would drive most sea life crazy. The noise agitated the eel and it made Tobey scream, all just to get Sid's attention. Sid was too high above Tobey to catch him, even though he tried and almost fell too. Kong Li caught Tobey around the waist. Even hanging upside down Tobey didn't let go of his ear and kept screaming.
Sid screamed too, "STOP-STOP! I'm going! I didn't say I wouldn't go!" but by the time Sid finished saying it, Tobey's pain subsided and he quieted down, Even though he was feeling dizzy and nauseous, he still struggled to get out of Kong Li's arms. "Don't touch me!" he climbed away from Kong Li as quickly as he could.
Sid whispered, "Sorry Tob'." and climbed faster. Tobey replied, "Its not you're fault, Sid," knowing who's fault it really was. Once on the roof, Tobey went to his knees holding his head. "Tobey!" Sid cried.
"I'm okay Sid. Just a little wiped out."
"You better go Sid, or he won't be okay long." Kong Li threw Sid a rope and made him tie a loop around his waist before he lowered himself over the edge. Kong Li explained, "This is not to keep you from falling as much as to keep you from climbing down or inside, through a window and escaping. Also, remember what I will do to Tobey if you try anything." Kong Li tied the other end of the rope to a pipe sticking out of the roof, about ten feet from the edge.
Hurting, soaking wet and really frustrated, Tobey lie down the rest of the way and rolled onto his back, letting the rain hit him in the face.
Sid crab-walked using his hands and feet on every ledge and window's edge, as he moved carefully, looking for even a small speck of the mold. After several minutes of searching, he didn't see any mold or mildew at all, and nothing sparkled green when he put the flashlight on it like Kong Li said it would.
Kong Li impatiently strode over to the edge and looked down at Sid, "Hey, reject! Hurry up! But if you come back up without anything for me, you'll be sorry, or should I say, Tobey will be sorry." Tobey heard. Just the thought of what Kong Li would do made him cringe and cover his ear, not that covering his ear would help.
"But Kong Loser! There's nothing down here!" Sid called.
"There has to be – all the conditions are right - look closer. Be sure before you choose to make my son suffer some more."
Sid practically screamed to be heard over the rain, "I'm not choosing anything! If its not here – I can't just wave my hand and conjure it like magic!"
"True Sid, if that were possible, I would have conjured it myself. You make sure to bring me something – and hurry!"
Sid growled under his breath and searched with his flashlight again, in the same places he had already looked. He still found nothing 'growing" but did find a collection of soggy pigeon poop on a ledge that he scraped up into the vial. "Kong Li said he wanted me to bring him something – this is something." Sid smiled in spite of himself. "If he has to punish someone because I didn't find the mold, maybe he'll get mad enough to punish me instead of Tobey."
Kong Li's eyes got big and he smiled when Sid crawled back up on the roof and handed him the vial, but his mood darkened almost immediately. "This isn't my mold! This is pigeon crap!"
Tobey laughed out loud, holding his stomach, Sid grinned, but he had a good idea what was coming. He tried to stay composed when the pain started, but found he couldn't even stay on his feet. He fell to his knees, screaming in agony. Tobey fell a moment later covering his ear, and groaning loudly. Unfortunately Kong Li was so angry he 'punished' both boys.
"After a few seconds, Kong Li stopped, both boys lie gasping. "So, do you both still think I'm funny?"
"No - We think you're ridiculous." Sid answered first. Tobey added, "Yeah, but Sid giving you pigeon crap; that was funny! The look on your face was totally worth it!" Tobey stopped talking suddenly, expecting to have his brain poked again by the eel, but it didn't happen because of what Sid did next. Trying to distract Kong Li, Sid cried, "You keep hurting us, we'll be too weak to climb around on the sides of buildings, looking for your mold. I'm guessing even if it is growing someplace, we won't have long to find it. How long after it stops raining will the mold last?"
"Only as long as it stays wet, so you either have to find it fast, or suffer for the rest of you're short, pitiful days that you have left because you failed me!"
Kong Li hurried the boys to recover, threatening to hurt them again, and telling Sid, that the eel in Tobey's ear could get agitated enough to swim right into his brain. Tobey seemed more willing to cooperate than Sid did from the beginning, being the soft-hearted kid that he was. He hoped if they just played along for a while, that Nana and Sue would find them before Kong Li actually found his mold.
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Farther along in the tunnel, Nana came upon Tobey's phone next. "Oh no, now there's no chance we can use the GPS on the phones to find them." Nana kept going at a jog until she found an area that had a table and hot plate, several books and a dozen large jars containing different substances, some not easily identified. There was an aquarium half-full of dirty water that had small black eel-like creatures of several different species swimming around. Nana ran to the book that was near the center of the table and had been left open to the page Kong Li had been using.
She started reading about using creatures and potions to torture and control prisoners, and shivered at all the terrible things that the boys might be going though. The book was old, mid-evil times old. Eels, jellyfish, even lionfish, most of the creatures were salt water, and could inflict some kind of poison on their victims. Nana lit three candles so she could see the creatures in the aquarium better, realizing most were some kind of eels. Next, Nana started trying to figure out what was in the potion that Kong Li had been cooking. There was still some left in a pot sitting on the ground, and it smelled like dead things. She hoped she could quickly figure it out and find the antidote.
Without knowing for sure which way to go, Sue happened to follow Nana for a while, but took a different turn and never came upon the area where Nana was working to find antidotes for what Kong Li had done. The tunnels kept splitting off in different directions and pretty soon, Sue found herself in one that took her back up to the street about two blocks away from where she started and without her bike, Sue started walking.
It was late now, and Chinatown's streets were nearly empty, except for people who had to work nights, police and criminals. Kong Li's plans often made Sue, Sid and Tobey stay out on the streets all night, investigating or trying to stop him once they found him and tonight wasn't much different, except this time Sue was alone. She headed back toward her bike so she could cover the ground faster.
Sue had a very strong feeling of deja vu when she got close to her bike. She even got goosebumps, but a sneeze forcing its way out of her nose distracted her before she could even look around. After she used some more toilet paper from her pocket, she looked down the alley and saw three figures, one taller than the other two, and wearing a cape. They were nearly running and only appeared for an instant as they crossed by the end of the alley two blocks away. "That had to be Sid and Tobey – with Kong Li!" Sue hurried to get her bike unchained so she could catch them, when suddenly a familiar poisonous-sounding voice yelled, "Hey Yi!"
Sue hoped for a moment that she was dreaming, but turned around; and sure enough Zoey and the other four cretins were walking up to her. "Look Zoey, I don't have time to play with you right now."
"You better make time. We owe you, Yi."
Sue started coughing, and cursing the bad timing of the coughing fit she was having on top of the bad timing of the gang showing up and the effect it would have on her being able to catch up with Kong Li.
"Look, Zoey - I caught your cold, I feel like crap - you got your revenge, now go bother someone else for a while." Sue tried to get on her bike, but Jenna kicked her legs out from under her. Sue and the bike fell, and the effort made her cough some more. Jenna and Ashley pulled her up to her feet and turned her to face Zoey.
"I don't think we're even yet at all! I planned on giving you my cold anyway, just for fun. Now we still owe you for getting us detention."
"Don't you pay any attention to anything? You caused yourself to get in trouble, the effect was detention. Now you're causing me to lose Sid and Tobey and you really aren't going to like the effect that brings upon you."
"What do you mean lose them? Maybe they just don't want to hang around with you anymore."
"Once again you're showing how ignorant you truly are Zoey. I swear - if Sid and Tobey are hurt because you have slowed me down – there'll be no place on the planet that you can hide from me. I'll spend the rest of my life hunting each of you down if I have to."
Sue kicked Zoey in the gut and followed through with a back-flip out of Jenna and Ashley's grip. The instant she landed, she palmed the two of them and glared at May and Riley.
"Come on you chickens -cough-cough- lets get this over with!"
Riley yelled back, "You callin' me chicken?"
"Hey – if the feathers fit . . ."
"You take that back!" Riley charged Sue, who sidestepped and palmed her in the chest in one easy move. May ran like the wind in the other direction and Sue screamed hoarsely and out of breath. "You morons! Stay out of my way! -cough." Sue jumped on her bike and took off. Of course Sid and Tobey were no where in sight now, but looking in the direction they had been going, she saw a seven-story abandoned building and thought that was a good a place as any to start.
When Sue saw the doors at the entrance had been left open she thought chances were even better that she would find Sid, Tobey and Kong Li inside. She hoped she would find Sid and Tobey first, but stopped on the first floor to try to call Nana, There was no answer. Running up the stairs, she kept having to stop and cough, each time hoping that Kong Li wouldn't hear her.
Coming to an open door on the sixth floor, Sue went in to stay out of sight while she caught her breath and rested for a moment. While there, she saw Tobey swing across on a rope, outside the window! She ran over to try and talk to him.
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When Kong Li forced Sid and Tobey through the alleys, they never saw Sue and had no idea she had to fight those girls alone again. With Kong Li hounding them, they couldn't have helped her anyway. The building the boys found themselves standing in front of, was seven stories tall and the front entrance was unlocked so Kong Li wasted no time, or magic before he forced them inside. There was evidence that homeless people had been sleeping there, old rags and blankets had been wadded up and left in corners. Some of the lumps in the blankets may have been people sleeping right then. Kong Li pushed the boys to the stairs. Tobey and Sid were glad they didn't have to brave another rickety fire escape, but climbing seven flights of stairs wasn't easier. At least they weren't getting rained on.
On the roof, Kong Li said it was Tobey's turn to go over the edge. Kong Li wouldn't even let them rest after the long climb even though Tobey tried to anyway. He sat down, trying to catch his breath and held his head, which was pounding with pain. Kong Li yelled at him, "Get up – get going!" Sid interrupted, "Give him a minute! Can't you see he's in pain?"
Sid leaned down to check on Tobey, but Kong Li backhanded him along the side of his head. Sid almost fell on Tobey as Kong Li reached into his pocket. Tobey thought he would squeeze the leech-bag or blow the whistle again, and cried, "Wait! I'm going! I'm going!" he gave Sid's shoulder a pat when he got up, hoping to reassure him that things would be okay, and tied the rope around his waist to go over the edge.
During his search, Tobey was extremely active at the end of the rope. Where Sid used his hands and feet to move around slowly, Tobey kicked off the wall again and again, swinging back and forth. As the wet rope slid over the wet bricks it started to fray and the rope began to slowly unravel.
Kong Li looked over the edge and saw Tobey swinging, he yelled, "Tobey, you won't be able to find it moving so fast! Stay on the wall and look closely."
"Yeah-yeah," he called, and then grumbled, "Jerk."
He came to rest with his feet on the wall near a window and shined the flashlight along a crack, but it wasn't even wet under the edge so he cried in frustration, "Crap, Kong Li said it would have to be wet to grow." Tobey swung to the other side of the window, just as Sue threw the window open. It scared him and he screamed and kicked off the wall to get away. That was all it took, one more fast movement and the rope broke!
Kong Li heard Tobey scream, but didn't go to the edge to look down. Sid panicked, "Tobey! - Check on him! Maybe he's in trouble!" But Kong Li just answered angrily, "My son is an idiot. Do you think he's trying to make me hurt you again, Sid?"
"Tobey wouldn't do that! Please look! Make sure he's okay!"
"I'm sure he's fine, but it doesn't sound like he's looking for the mold." Kong Li walked back over and looked down. Tobey was no where in sight!
"That reject! I don't see him! He must have climbed in a window to get away, even knowing what I would do to you!"
Kong Li squished the bag with the leech in it so hard he almost squeezed it in half. Sid started screaming and curled into a ball, holding his stomach. Kong Li yelled over the side, "You better get your butt back up here! I don't think Sid can take much more of this!"
But Tobey hadn't climbed in a window. When the rope broke, Sue saw him fall. She leaned out and caught the rope as it went by. It burned the first three layers of skin off of her palms and pulled her half way out the window, but she slowed Tobey's fall. The rope swung him through a window, three stories below. Sue heard the glass break and saw what floor he was on, so she ran back down to find him. Kong Li was right in that he had gone through a window, but it wasn't his choice.
Counting doors from the stairwell she found the room, but the door was locked. Suppressing a coughing fit, she kicked the door in and saw Tobey was just then trying to get up. His head under his bangs was bleeding into his white hair, his cheek and arms were cut, his knees bloody from landing in the broken glass and blood was actually dripping from his palm, cut when he put it out to protect his face.
"Tobey – oh no! You're hurt! But, can you run? We have to get out of here!"
"I can't come with you Sue – Kong Li is up on the roof with Sid – he can do terrible things to him if he even thinks I'm trying to escape."
Just then, through the broken window, they heard Sid screaming. "No! He thinks I left - he's hurting Sid already!" Tobey staggered toward the door, but Sue stopped him. "Okay then, run down to the front of the building - find Nana, I'll go save Sid." Sue ran back to the stairs before Tobey could answer her, but he had no intention of leaving. Instead, he followed her with the rope still tied around his waist, dragging behind him up the stairs.
Kong Li saw Sue appear in the doorway at the top of the stairs and growled at Sid, "Well looks like little Sue made it to our party after all."
Sid heard him but was in too much pain to even look for Sue. She called to Sid and ran toward him, followed by Tobey. Kong Li took the whistle out of his pocket and blew, hard and angrily, agitating the eel in Tobey's ear. "How dare you defy me!" he accused as Tobey screamed and covered his ear. He staggered sideways to the edge of the roof and Sue saw him. "Tobey – Don't move!" She called to him and left Sid to go catch him, but couldn't get there in time. Tobey fell off the roof - again!
Sue got to the edge of the roof, grabbed the rope with her already sore hands and took two quick loops around a broken pipe. Tobey fell until the slack in the rope tightened. Yanked abruptly to a stop by the loop around his waist, he gasped from the pressure of the rope cutting into his belly, but the pain from his ear was overwhelming and other than exhaling loudly, he was barely aware of his predicament. Screaming, he writhed at the end of the rope like a fish on a hook. Sue yelled, "Tobey! Stop moving!" but yelling only made her cough harder, and the rope slid a few inches at a time through her hands.
Sid could still hear Tobey screaming, and with Kong Li's attention on him, the pain he felt was easing up, so he cried weakly; his voice strained, "Kong Li – stop hurting him - you've lost!"
Tobey stopped screaming finally, but not because Kong Li stopped, he got quiet because he fainted. Sue couldn't pull Tobey up by herself, so she tied the rope off securely, but before she could get back to Sid, Kong Li attacked him. Weakened from the cold rain, the pain and all the climbing, Sid wasn't much of a match for him. He punched him in the stomach really angering the leach and Sid went back down.
Sue wasn't much of a match for him either, alone and suffering from her bad cold, but she was very determined to protect Sid and attacked Kong Li. He grabbed her wrists and laughed maniacally. He tried to kick her legs out from under her and she coughed in his face.
"Yuck! Cough on your cuff girl!"
"Hey whatever."
Sue fell back, and took Kong Li with her by holding onto his cape. With a kick using both legs, Kong Li went over her head and fell off the roof. Falling passed Tobey, he tried to grab onto the same rope, but missed. Sue and Sid could hear him scream on the way down, but there seemed to be no sudden stop.
At least when Kong Li stopped screaming, so did Sid. Sue helped him stand up and they ran to pull Tobey up. They saw he was still at the end of the rope, but now he was just hanging limply, face-down, still passed out.
"Oh no! Kong Li said that thing could get in his brain and kill him!"
"What thing?"
"Never-mind lets just get him up here!"
Sue could hardly help Sid pull Tobey up, for having to cough and trying to breathe. With all the activity and being cold, soaked to the skin, her symptoms were rapidly getting worse.
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Tobey continued . . .