Sky Corruption (Past Tense)

Chapter Seven

It didn't take long for the small group to find themselves back home, it took several shortcuts at first, but they finally made it to the junkyard. Bob had merely gazed around the towers of old cars, furniture, and traffic signs that were toppled over one another through the maze of unwanted items. China carefully grazed his arm with her hand, he slightly jumped as she pointed her finger toward the ground.

"Watch out for glass." China simply pointed out with her index finger. North, even though he was behind them, gave out a short eye roll.

Bob knitted his eyebrows, clearly confused. "Where is this shelter you were talking about?" He asked. China responded by picking up the pace with her cheerful walk.

"Oh, just you wait!" She eagerly squealed as she approached the lid in the middle of the clearing up ahead.

Jay glanced at Tyrese, his lips formed into a deep frown as his eyes blazed with doubt. "I hope you know what you're doing," Jay muttered, his voice no higher than a whisper, Tyrese gave him a reassuring nod in response.

"I'm not all the way crazy." Tyrese joked, earning another glare from Jay.

"I'm serious Tyrese, Faith is going to tear into both of our asses because we let a stranger inside the shelter," Jay warned a bit of venom in his tone. Tyrese responded with a yawn and stretched his arms over his head, causing his shoulder blades to pop.

He cut his eyes at Jay. "And she's not the leader. It's too soon to assume that the kid is a threat to us." He explained as his walking slowed.

Once they reached the top lid of the bunker hidden beneath, China crouched down, gripping her hands around the rustic red handle. Bob narrowed his eyes, confused as to what China was doing.

China proceeded to tug at the handle, revealing the metal ladder that tunneled down into the darkness. China then continued to climb down.

Once she hit the floor with a thud, she cupped her mouth and shouted to Bob. "If you fall, I'll catch you!" China reassured him, her voice echoing up the dark chamber loud enough for the entire group to hear.

North shook his head. "That's not very promising, China." He declared.

"Will you all keep your voices down?" Jay hissed as him and Tyrese finally caught up with the three. He glared at Bob and gestured his head down at the tunnel. "The floor isn't lava, kid. No need to be scared of it."

Bob managed to climb down safely, followed by the rest of the group. As China continued down the hall while looping arms with Bob, one of the doors down the hall opens, Nikki and Winter both entered the hallway, only to stare at Bob with wide eyes, frozen in stance.

Winter carefully eyed China, then shifted her gaze at the new stranger, "China...who is this?" Nikki asked, slowly stepping in front of Winter.

China beamed triumphantly, closing her eyes and playfully nudging Bob by his shoulder with her own, "This is Bob. Bob, meet Nikki and my sister Winter." China swiftly spoken, casually introducing him.

Confused, Nikki knitted her eyebrows together as Winter awkwardly folded her arms across her chest while she tried to look past the two, China was a special case, so Winter needed to hear from someone else in order to understand the situation better.

Nikki's face flushed beet red as she realized that the stranger had a little amount of clothes. "China!" Nikki exclaimed, at a loss for words.

Bob, just as confused as they were, blinked as he gazed at both of the ladies with wide eyes, a slack-jawed expression crept on his face as the awkward silence played in between them.

North appeared from behind. He cupped his mouth with his hand while looking directly at Nikki, "We'll tell you in a bit" He mouthed before actually speaking. "We'll need you in the spare room, Nikki." He grunted, grabbing Bob by his arm and casually continuing down the narrow hallway, ripping him away from China's protective grip in the process.

"W-where are you taking me?" Bob frantically asked North, who just responded with a shrug.

"Somewhere you can put some clothes on." North simply replied with a lack of concern or reassurance in his tone. Nikki and Winter watch as North apathetically shoved the boy into the last room down the dim hallway on the left.

China yelled down the hall after him, "It's going to be okay Bob!"

Nikki sighed and ran her hands through her tousled hair, "China, what happened out there?" She asked her, her voice sounding strained and exhausted.

China turned to Nikki, "We found him in the gas station, he's not going to hurt anyone, Bobby can't seem to remember anything." She explained. A wave of disbelief appeared onto Nikki's face, but disappeared the moment it arrived. 

Nikki nodded while taking another glance at the last room down the hall in the far right. "Amnesia, huh..." She mumbled to herself. "I'll be sure to take a look at him in a second to make sure what he's saying is true."

Winter peered over at Jay and Tyrese as they finally reached the bottom of the tall ladder, "Hey guys, is everything alright?" She asked, her softspoken voice was so low that not even Nikki could really hear her, and Nikki was only standing beside her.

Tyrese and Jay proceeded down the hall, no words were spoken as they went down into the room Bob was escorted to. China pulled Winter into a steady hug.

"I'm glad to see that you're finally up," China chirped, forking her hands into Winter's dreadlocks, Winter lightly smacked her hand away with a dismissive smile. She always hated how handsy China got with her.

Completely unbothered, China slid her hands in the pockets of her jacket, absentmindedly rocking her feet back and forth. "What happened while we were gone?"

Winter pursed her lips in response, "Nikki had a-"

"It's not important, I made some stew while the power was still on." Nikki interrupted Winter swiftly, making a wide smile that had reached from ear to ear.

China's eyes grew to the size of saucers, "Is it still warm?" She asked eagerly, folding her hands together as drool slowly poured over her bottom lip.

"Yeah sure is!" Nikki nodded, China bolted through the two women to get to the kitchen, opening the door to and allowing it to slam loudly behind her.

Nikki let out a small giggle at China's childlike reaction to her cooking. It gave her confidence that she was equally finding a way to help everyone.

Winter narrowed her eyes at Nikki while rubbing the side of her neck, "You could trust China, she may be a bit dim but she never spills secrets." Winter reassured her, Nikki massaged her forehead with her hand.

"I know, I know....but it's already risky having to face these symptoms as is, you know how Faith is...no telling how she would react if-" Nikki rambled on, her eyes falling to the floor as she spoke. Nikki always had a problem with talking about things that had troubled her.

Nikki coughed slightly, masking away her wavering voice. "Well, we don't know anything quite yet, right?"

Winter furrowed her brow but nodded silently. "Right."

Winter shouldn't even be carrying such a secret for me. I'm a grown ass woman, I can do this! Nikki subtly thought to herself.