Ole Andreson is a potential code hero but not complete.Nick Adams is on the road to becoming the complete code hero though still young and learning.

Nick bravely confronts evil when he goes to warn Ole about the killers.  Ole is part code hero  because he has accepted the inevitability of his death, but still manages to thank Nick for coming! However, Nick is right to note that he is too passive about it, 'I can't stand to think about him waiting in that room and knowing he's going to get it'. A true code hero must act even in the face of death.

Ole himself says, 'I just can't make up my mind to go out...After a while I'll make up my mind to go out'. Of course leaving his room would result in his death but facing up to death is a code hero requirement. At the moment, staring at the wall, he is not acting, not facing up to things.

Nick has been like a true code hero by facing up to death and by demanding Ole should act. However, at the end he shows he's too young to be one when he says,'I'm going to get out of this town'.it is naive to think he can escape life's grim realities by a change of scenery.