Once China and Jay exited the pharmacy, they both gazed around at the city they had once called Manhattan. Jay took another glance at China behind him, she wore her usual bright smile as she looked around outside. The buildings that used to stand tall and harmonious, either stood halfway with the windows completely shattered, or the buildings had completely became one with the ground below it. But still, they were still framed within the outrageous landscape of New York.
Jay snickered and nudged China with his elbow. "Do you like the sight of this dump?" He asked tauntingly, China blinked, but abruptly grabbed his arm and pointed at the sky. Jay's confusion grew as he tried to understand what exactly China was so ecstatic to show him.
"Look." China chirped, placing a firm grip along Jay's arm, he stumbled a little as he continued to stare blankly at the rustic bus that had been flipped upside down in front of them.
Jay's puzzled face soon became full of boredom. His mouth formed into a straight line. "All I see is a damn fossil."
China's smile didn't subside. "Look up."
Jay did as he's told, peering over all the devastated buildings, to see the Statue of Liberty standing tall in the distance, several birds drifting past as if it was a normal day. It was one of the few things that was able to stand tall through all of the destruction.
"She still stands," China spoke in barely a whisper, her face in a complete wave of awe. "Isn't she beautiful?"
Even though Jay found it a little odd that she pointed this out of nowhere, he still found it endearing.
"It's a statue, not a person," Jay answered back in a smart-ass tone.
China turned to him, her hands gripped at the straps of her backpack and had skipped so that she was facing him. A glimmer of hope had glowed in her eyes as she spoke. "I don't see it that way, she may be a statue but it's a woman who stands strong." She explained.
Unable to make sense of what China is saying, Jay gave off a slight chuckle. "Okay, okay mother goose, let's get a move on, we can't be out in the open too long."
They continued down in the city, careful not to attract any attention from anyone or anything that lurked within the shadows. China often had glanced over her shoulder at the wonders of Manhattan that had remained undiscovered while Jay kept an eye out for the predators that coexisted on down the streets they walked.
--
"Damn, we nearly walked past it."
The pair finally made a pit stop in a small clearing of the junkyard, there was an iron lid that had blended its way with the other debris of the cluttered area full of junk. It remained a mystery as to why a manhole cover was in the middle of a junkyard of all places, nonetheless, it was a place of refuge for both China and Jay.
Jay let out a relieved grunt while they came to a stopping point in the middle of the junkyard. China giggled as she crouched down toward the lid, her hands grazed over the metal handle fastened to it.
"You'll have a sharper eye next time." China chirped as she gave the handle a sharp tug, revealing a long ladder that had tunneled its way down into pitch darkness. Jay gazed at her.
Jay crossed his arms, wondering why China had hesitated to climb down. "Something the matter?"
China shook her head, looking up at him. "No, I was waiting for you to go down first."
Jay rolled his eyes. "I got it, just go down."
Without further argument, China did as she was told, her sturdy feet and hands had climbed down the rustic ladder with Jay not so far behind. Once she was close to the bottom, she lept down.
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.