Alex

**Alex Campbell** is one of the main 8 characters in *Road 96*. He is a fourteen-year-old self proclaimed "genius" making money by developing games. Since his biological parents died when he was four, he never had the chance to know them. So, after his adoptive mother, Fanny, revealed that she knew they were members of the Black Brigades, Alex decided it was best for him to leave his home and work with the Brigades while traveling across Petria in order to find more information. Doing this, the young teen is hopeful that he can piece together their full story from John or Robert.

## Appearance

Alex has light skin and short dark hair that is mostly covered by a beanie he wears. He’s considerably short in comparison to the other characters, including the player character. He wears a over-sized white shirt that has red strips, and dark blue cargo shorts. He also has belt over his shirt, and white boots that seem to have Velcro straps to them. He can be always seen with his small computer, and a blue backpack that has an antenna sticking out.

## Role

###  *Road 96: Mile 0*

Alex encounters Zoe near the end of the game as she looks for Kaito in a closed Biggy's diner. They chat for a bit and informs her that he saw Kaito and 'some guy named John' pass by, but doesn't know where they went.
He is repairing a van that he can be seen driving in his encounter "Teenage Dirtbag" in Road 96.

### *Road 96*

While it is never shown onscreen what exactly went down, sometime before the main storyline of Road 96 begins, Alex learns about his real parents. According to his adoptive mother, Fanny, they had been members of the Black Brigades, and to her knowledge, had died during The Peak Collapse of ‘86. Having been told all of his life that Fanny never knew who his biological parents were, he felt betrayed and left on his own to go find answers.

He gets into contact with John and Robert, two Brigades who knew his parents. John is more reluctant to share any information about them as he is worried that the more he learns about them, the more Alex would want to join the Brigades and do things that could either harm him or others. So, he makes a deal with Alex that he would tell him information about them if Alex does simple tasks remotely from his computer. Robert however, wants to use Alex’s intelligence to create explosives for the Brigades, including a big bomb for the Election Day, and manipulates the young hacker in doing so.

The player's choices will determine if Alex builds the bomb or not. If the genius remains pacifist, Robert will get someone else to build the bomb for him, but it can still be deactivated, as John guesses that the code is the same as the first bomb built by Naomi and Stephen: Alex's birth day (6/6/'82).

## Personality

Alex is a confident kid when it comes to his intelligence, to the point that at times, he may get in over his head (ex. In the Beep Boop Beep encounter, he makes the decision to rob the diner owner and places in all of his confidence that it will go well, until the owner comes to the back, catching the both of you). However, he often uses his smarts and skills to create video games, something he’s passionate about. Besides being a bit of a trickster a times as well, he is an overall nice kid, but has no tolerance for those who are liars to him.

## Encounters

Alex may be seen in the following encounters:

### Beep Boop Beep

This encounter takes place at Biggy's Diner. Inside Alex will be hacking an arcade machine playing Pong. You can challenge him to a game, afterwards he will ask for you help in breaking into the back room to steal cash. After searching around the room for a moment, Alex will find an article and start reading. Focused on the article, he will give you his gear, and unlock Hacking. After hacking open the safe, the manager will approach, forcing you and Alex to hide in a nearby closet. The manager will call 'Al' on the phone, mentioning it looks like someone has been back there. He'll notice the two of you, leading to Alex running away and the manager taking the $60 from the safe back. The scene will end with the manager rummaging around the back room, leaving the diner open for looting.

In the back room you can find:

* $20 in the table drawer
* $60 in the safe
* Keys to a car
* A few newspaper articles

In the diner you can find:

* $20 hanging out of the till
* $3 on the counter
* A frozen burger in the freezer (can be heated up in the microwave)

### Goldfinger

The encounter will start with Alex in your car, thanking you for giving him a ride. As you two talk, he is multitasking on a game that you have the opportunity to play with him. Between rounds, you can give him suggestions on how to improve the game, like making ammo collectable or have bullets bounce off the walls. After playing, if you say the game is good, he will give you some money as proceeds for the profits he thinks the game will eventually make. Alex will then bring up his knowledge of computers, leading to a conversation about his backstory. You drop him off at the next location as your car runs out of gas.

### Walking In My Shoes

The encounter will start with the player walking along a road towards a bus stop and a phone booth where Alex will be trying to reach John but John will be hearing a noise to which Alex will reply “it’s a bug messing with the connection” and then “But don’t worry. Pre-pubescent Einstein here is gonna fix it”. Once the player gets close Alex will say to the player “Help me a sec, homie/homegirl? I got a bug I need to fix.” And then “Mister Ursus isn’t hearing me well” then “If I leave the booth, he’ll hang up, I know it.” to which Mister U will reply “Who are you talking to?” Soon after this Alex will instruct you to grab his computer and search around the telephone pole with the yellow box to find the keys for the box, here the dish on the scanner will print to the nearest metal object when a ‘!’ appears on the computer screen, which could be metal cans or the keys. Once the keys have been found the yellow box can be unlocked and the button within pressed no longer bugging the communications to which Alex will reply “Thanks, yo!” After the call ends Alex will walk over to the bus stop and upon player interaction he will reply “I’m fine, just a little frustrated” after this the player and Alex will go take shelter in the phone booth where Alex will ask the player whether he should call his adoptive mom. After the call ends, Alex says to the player “Come on, it’s cramped in here” where then both Alex and the player will leave the phone booth, Alex will then offer after some conversation a cereal bar will be offered by Alex to the player on top of his bag, after this Alex will say that he hacked happy taxi and got some free ride vouchers giving the player a free taxi ride to which the player can either accept, decline and walk or decline and take the bus, to all responses Alex wishes the player good luck on their journey to Road 96.

### Short Circuit

In this encounter, the hitchhiker will come across an abandoned gas station. While scavenging around the station, they will hear Alex talk to himself in frustration. The hitcher can either call out to Alex from outside, who will then ask the hitcher to come in. Or they can come upon Alex from behind without him knowing it, who will then get spooked and ask if their a ninja.

The hitchhiker will then notice that Alex is working on something that looks like a bomb and ask about it. He explains that it's merely a prototype that can't detonate. If he had been talked out of building the bomb for Robert in Too Young To Die, he'll state that he's trying to find a way to deactivate it. If not, then he'll state that he's building it for Robert. Either way, he suggests the hitchhiker be his "rubber duck" where he explains the problem to them and they come up with a solution.

After Alex speaks for a bit, the hitcher suggests that they check the power. Alex says that they need to follow a cable in the ceiling to find the generator. The hitchhiker than uses a nearby nail gun to shoot out the tiles on the ceiling.

They could also shoot out a poster of Tyrak on the wall to reveal a safe that can be hacked into.

After uncovering enough of the cable, they follow it outside to a locked shed. The hitchhiker then shoots the lock open to get access. The generator needs a key. They find it in a grating on the wall. But when the hitchhiker tried to grab it, they're shocked. The key is in an electric maze and touching the inside gives anyone who touches it a jolt. Alex provides a hitchhiker with a magnet to maneuver the key through the maze but gets a jolt whenever the key touches electrified parts of the maze.

After recovering the key, the hitchhiker starts up the generator and all the lights come on around the station. This also activates the phone booth, which was non-functional when the hitcher arrived.

After starting the generator, Alex tells the hitcher to hide. Two men have come up to the station and are looking around. They state the dilapidated shape of the station and comment on how it demonstrates why they support Tyrak.

Alex then suggests they scare the men by rigging a button that would send a shock through a cable to a car. After shocking one man, the other one wonders what's wrong. He says that the car electrocuted him and suggests he see for himself. After the man touches the car, the hitcher shocks him. Alex laughs uncontrollably which draws their attention. Alex yells "run" and runs off while the hitchhiker hides behind the shed. Later, when the day/night cycle flips. The hitchhiker comes out of hiding and is free to continue scrounging until they choose how to move on.

## Quotes

"Life is hard when your 14 and a genius."

"One day, scientists are gonna study my brain"

"I'm in the intel game. Big Brother is watching us. So I'm watching Big Brother."

"Those capitalist pigs need to spread a little wealth around!"

"Sometimes you GOTTA be radical. Especially when you're living in a dictatorship."

"But sometimes people need to be hurt for a good cause."

"Mom, look around. Things are happening... change is happening."