Sky Corruption (Past Tense)

Chapter Two

Once she landed on her feet, she drew in a deep breath with her eyes closed. Jay finally followed with a good-natured eye roll the moment he reached the ground. China was infamous for her agility and her ability to silently move, thanks to Jay's training.

The familiar smell of disinfectants filled her nostrils, she opened her eyes to see the familiar, narrow, dim environment of what they called home. The dull fluorescent light flickered as China carried on down the hallway. The floor was made of metal plates, walls consisted of large, rustic burgundy pipes that gave the hallway it's slightly dark hue since you barely saw much of the actual wall. The bunker consisted of eight rooms in total. Iron doors were set along each sides of the hallway, a door set at the far other end.

This was the underground bunker, several feet underground in the middle of some junkyard, which is the point-hard to spot. There weren't really any decorations to make it more comfortable, every hour or so, the entire area was cleaned and sterilized to prevent infections (According to Nikki).

The dull light flickered as China journeyed down to towards the first left door of the hall, the kitchen area.

"China!"

She quickly turned around to see Jay jogging up after her, strands of black hair escaped out of his bun and had framed themselves along his face. "Before you go inside..."

Before China could react, Jay wrapped his muscular arms around her, pulling her into a bear hug. "If you're going to sneak out and let's be honest, I know you will..."

China had been busy engulfed in the warmth of his arms to reassure him, but he ended the hug as quickly as it arrived.

Jay took China's fist into his large, calloused hands, dropping a walkie-talkie into her hand. "Don't forget keep this on you."

China smiled at Jay as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "So if something ever does happen, just holler and I'll come running."

"Jay." China tilted her head, giving him a reassuring look. "Nothing bad is going to happen to me, especially with you and Faith training me like crazy."

"But nevertheless, I brought it with me this morning, I can't have you worrying yourself sick because of me, bad for your skin." She added as she stored the walkie talkie back into her backpack. Jay furrowed his eyebrows as China disappears into the room known as the kitchen area.

What a crazy kid. He thought to himself as the weight of the door slammed itself shut.

China hummed to herself as she walked towards a chestnut-haired woman who was preparing sandwiches at a wooden table. Since there were no windows, there's one lightbulb, that ominously swung above the small rectangular table that was placed in the middle of the room. Just like the hallway, burgundy metal pipes have traveled around the room like a road map.

The refrigerator was placed against the wall in the far left corner, along with coolers beside it, crates that held energy bars and water bottles were in the other corner of the room. Whenever the power was low, that was their go-to in order to save electricity. Crates were stacked in between the gaps, full of packaged goods from the scavenges the survivors would make. A stove rested in the middle along with a microwave that had been connected to an outlet, supported by another foldout table. A worn out rug was placed before the stove, as there's little to no decoration in the room.

With a giggle, China approached the woman and tapped her shoulder. "Guess who?"

Startled, the woman winced and turned around to face her with wide hazel green eyes. "China! You're back already?"

China nodded in response. "I always come back, Nikki."

"That doesn't stop me from worrying about you." Nikki shot back with a wry smile. "It's good to see you in one piece again."

Nikki was one of the survivors that China lived with. Her skills mainly revolved around mechanical work, cooking and nursing. Due to the fact that she was attending college for a nursing major, she was still in the process of advancing this skill. She's also responsible for cleaning and sanitizing the bunker daily. When China and Nikki met, Nikki hardly gave off much about where she was from, she had almond-shaped blue eyes and a very pale complexion, her pointy chin and nose made her seem like one of those porcelain dolls that were overpriced at the store. Since everyone in the bunker is required to undergo some sort of training throughout the day, her physique is slim but muscular, like China's but when it came to comparison, China's muscles were more toned.

Nikki was known to be a maternal figure for the group, one that would provide care and love for others, she carried a lot of responsibilities at the bunker and had tended to overwork herself doing so. Her honesty nearly ruled out her other traits which would be having a laid-back, mature and self-righteous nature. Unlike Jay, Nikki had shown more confidence as to China sneaking up to the surface. 

The survivors all took turns cooking once a week and as of the moment, Nikki was on kitchen duty, as she preferred to wake up hours early to advance her culinary skills.

Nikki tucked a strand of her choppy brown hair behind her ear and placed a hand on her hip. "I'm assuming you're  hungry?"

China rubbed her stomach, a wide smile spreading on her face as her eyes squinted shut with glee. "When it comes to your cooking, I'm always hungry."

Nikki smirked, stifling a chuckle in the process. "Well, you can't pig out now, Faith had just asked for you five minutes ago." She acknowledged China, though when she mentioned Faith's name, it was always brought up with some amount of scorn.

A slight look of distaste formed on Nikki's face but it completely vanished the moment it arrived. "I'm pretty sure she wants to train you to death again." Nikki snickered. "You should start putting your foot down with her,

"Don't say that Nikki, she just wants to make sure I'm all set for the surface, I'm sure of it." China chirped while reaching over to grab one of the ham sandwiches from the table.

As she took a bite, she gazed at Nikki who wore a look of concern on her face.

"Where's your hunk of a man at?" China asked between bites, several crumbs fell along her chin. Nikki cringed at the sight of China's sloppy eating and turned her face away, giggling at China's obnoxious eating habits.

"First of all, we're just friends. Second, Winter asked if he could help her clean the bathroom." Nikki responded assertively, taking the plate full of sandwiches and sauntering over to the refrigerator.

"You should get a move-on into the spare room, Faith isn't much of a patient person," Nikki suggested without turning around.

China, who had finished her sandwhich, stretched her arms behind her head, causing her shoulder blades to pop. "Yeah, yeah I'm goin'."

It never really mattered to China, as long as she got to be active, she could survive anything. It always had been her life motto.

Something her fellow group members never seemed to understand.