Sky Corruption (Past Tense)

Chapter Nine

"Geez Faith, you don't need to scare him like that, he ain't a threat." The girl with the long series of braids entered the room, she slowly closed the door behind her and confidently slid her hands into both pockets of her red track jacket.

The woman, who Bob assumed is Faith, broke away from him, turning around as she mumbled something underneath her breath, which almost sounded as audible as a curse word.

Jay turned to China, his glare softened as she continued walking into the center of the room. "Am I interrupting something?" She asked, her upbeat tone contradicted the atmosphere of the room altogether. Her big dark eyes shifted to Bob's, only for them to widen with excitement.  "Hi Bobby!"

China spoke as if she knew Bob for quite a while and she's giving him his daily greeting. The pure happiness that she displayed was uncanny, compared to the atmosphere of the entire bunker, much less the room that the four were in.

Faith narrowed her eyes at her, "You're not supposed to be here!" She hissed at China, who apparently seemed unbothered by Faith's hostility.

"Yeah yeah," China yawned dismissively, squinting her eyes at Faith. "I was the one who found Bob, and that is his name," China clarified, Faith wrinkled her nose at the crumbs that were gathered in the corners of China's mouth.

"I can't really take you seriously when you still eat like an undisciplined toddler!" Faith grumbled angrily.

Jay did a slight facepalm. "China-"

"Hear me out," China interrupted him, tilting her head. "I found him in the closet of the gas station, he didn't have any weapons on him," She explained, oblivious to Faith's insults.

Faith sneered, her scowl deepened as she slowly approached China like a cat stalking mouse, "That's right...this was your fault." She growled, she towered over China, who still remained unfazed by Faith's threatening stare.

"It was no one's fault," China asserted, her beam never shrunk, "Bob felt really horrible for causing us trouble, he was scared most of all, I gave him some water and he was too scared to take it,"

Faith's eyes blazed with fury, "You gave him our food? Our water?" Faith yelled, her shrill voice sent shivers down almost everyone's spine, that is...except China's.

"Calm down Faith-" Jay tried to intervene but failed as Faith shot him a glare, causing him to stop in his tracks and his mouth remained shut.

"It's okay Jay, Faith just needs to hear me out," China reassured him, she could see Bob recoiling away in fear in the corner of her eyes.

I have to do something. I know he's innocent, I just know it. China thought to herself.

"No! Clearly you have nothing going on upstairs to even consider the fact that this Bob character could be a potential raider, or even an outsider! Yet you give him our supplies and bring him home where we all sleep!" Faith jabbed her finger into China's chest but China continued to wear her usual facial expression: a gentle smile.

Jay let out a frustrated growl, which had caused Faith to back away from China almost immediately. "Enough Faith! You don't need to insult her!" He argued, Faith quickly shifted her glare toward him.

China knitted her eyebrows together. "We don't have an upstairs in our shelter though..." She protested, confused about Faith's insult.

"Surely you didn't forget why I'm doing this right? Do you think you can just trust anything that isn't one of those monsters? Do you have any idea of what the hell you're doing?" Faith's voice grew louder as she argued back at Jay.

"He isn't one of the outsiders Faith, he had the chance to kill us, outsiders don't need weapons to give us the chomp, that's for sure." China butted in, walking toward Bob.

Faith pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a sharp breath, "Okay, he isn't an outsider, but that doesn't exclude the fact that he can belong to a nearby group,"

"I'm telling you! I don't know anyone! What's going on?" Bob argued back, China glanced at Jay.

Jay closed his eyes, unfolding his arms. Faith's hands were clenched in trembling fists as her teeth gnashed together. China truly irritated Faith, especially with her obliviousness.

"Okay, we don't know if he's trustworthy, neither do we know if he actually has amnesia, we don't have any solid proof to believe anything yet." Jay continued, his voice surprisingly calm as he slowly paced around the room. "We keep him under surveillance, he has a certain grace period to fuck up, if he comes out innocent, he'll be one of us." Jay explained his plan, Faith regressed back to her stoic frame, her arms locked together across her chest as she eyed Bob suspiciously. Jay gave China a small smile.

Though I can see that Nikki's evidence is clearly enough to prove that he's harmless, there is no way I can truly convince Faith that. I'll have to reach some sort of compromise if I want to retain the peace in this shelter. Jay had thought to himself.

"How does that sound China?" Jay asked her, she nodded her head aggressively.

"It's good enough for me," China chirped, she turned to Bob, giving him a nudge, "It's going to be okay, this won't be forever." She reassured him. Bob gave her a small look of hope before he let out a sigh of relief.

Faith didn't say a word, she reached inside her pocket and stormed towards the door, Jay turned to her as she opens the door. "Where are you going?"

"Up." Faith vaguely answered as she pulled out a box of marlboros, letting the door slam behind her with a loud thud, the hinges shook as she did so.

China shuffled to Jay, allowing him to place his rough hands on both of her shoulders. "You shouldn't have gotten involved with this."

"If I didn't, you'd guys would be sitting ducks." China simply answered with a small giggle. Jay looked into her eyes, if she was hurting from the malicious insult Faith threw at her, she was doing a good job at hiding it...but since this was China, it probably went unnoticed. "Thus, I was involved in the beginning."

Jay softened his grip on her, "Don't let Faith get to you-"

"I'm fine Jay, she'll cool off," China simply shrugged, "I'm just glad I'm able to get through to you."

Jay chuckled, awkwardly scratching at his stubble, "You always do," He said with a small smile on his face.

"I knew I'd grow on you!" China beamed, Jay's eyes widen as his face flushed at China's sudden excitement. Before he could argue back at her, she walked towards the door, while opening the door, she glanced at Bob over her shoulder.

"I'll be back." She simply reassured him, the last thing Bob could see as the door closes was the twinkle in China's eyes as the millions of her minuscule braids had flown from side to side across her back.

Bob instantly grew accustomed of the fact that China is definitely someone he can rely on.

That she's his gate to his survival in this place.