Sky Corruption (Past Tense)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"So...now what?"

Ezra's voice had brought China back to her senses. She had been zoning out and trying to focus, but got easily distracted every time. China had been doing small exercises with her arms and legs the entire time, from push-ups to arm stretches. Ezra had been in a loop of formulating small talk with the energetic teen, thinking of the next possible plan, and battling his hunger silently as he leaned against the wall.

China tapped her index finger on her chin as she did light jogs while standing in place. "As much as I would like to look around outside, I don't want to risk leaving you here while I'm out in the dark."

"I can hold my own, but I'm in no hurry to leave at the moment." Ezra admitted, China had stopped her jogging and walked over to him.

"So can I, but I agree, we should wait until morning." China beamed, she sat down in front of Ezra. "What would you want to do? I know the way back, I don't need a map." She reassured him.

Ezra didn't hesitate. "I want to find my brother, Jericho."

"Jeri-what?" China repeated, instantly confused.

"Jericho. That's his name. I know where to go, but if you want to return back to your people, I understand." Ezra continued, slightly thrown off by China's instant confusion.

"Ezra. You need help and protection, you should see how tough the group is on a daily basis." China chirped, she had threw in a wink at the last bit of her sentence. Her face contorted into one full of curiosity. "Hey, where is Faith?"

Unaware that she's asked this question before, she patiently waited for a response. Ezra had given her a sharp stare, his lips moved and she could tell that he wanted to say something.

"Is she out scavenging?" She guessed. Ezra shook his head.

"Did she go to find North and Jay?" She guessed again. Ezra did the same thing as he did before.

"Ezra, tell me where she is please." China politely demanded. Ezra let out an heavy sigh and stood up. China watched as he sauntered near the stairwell, he glanced over his shoulder down at her.

"Follow me." He simply said as he ascended down. It didn't take long for China to spring to her feet and join him downstairs. As she reached the bottom, she made a glance at the wall to her right, where she remembered getting slammed, there were many cracks in the wall, the wallpaper had been torn and a powdery substance was gathered around the floor. A putrid smell filled her nostrils as she looked to her left.

Ezra carefully stepped over the alien's corpse, wary of even allowing the sole of his shoe to make contact with it. China simply leapt over the figure and followed Ezra to the door, he leaned against the wall as China raised an eyebrow.

"Go on, give it a shove." Ezra urged.

China, with a bit a force, pushed at the double doors, it didn't budge all that much and there was a sound of metal clinking together on the other side of the door. China took a step back, her eyes widened with sudden confusion.

"It's locked. What does this mean?" China asked Ezra. He simply blew at the strands of blonde hair that framed his face.

"It's obvious. She locked us in here." He simply stated.

"That can't be true," China protested. She made another glance toward the door. "If this is a prank, you've got me good."

Ezra scoffed, his eyebrows furrowed in mock excitement from China's blank statement. "Yeah, because it makes absolute sense for me to lock myself in with a dangerous creature." He sarcastically responded.

China wrinkled her eyebrows. "Why would you-"

"It's sarcasm China. I didn't do this. Faith was still outside when we faced that...that...thing, and it seems that this place can only be locked up from the outside." Ezra explained. "I can't believe she'll just leave you in the dust like that."

"No...no way. Faith may be rough around the edges but she's a good person!" China argued back, Ezra pinched the bridge of his nose.

China had started to pace back and forth. "There has to be some..."

Ezra, completely annoyed, stormed over and grabbed China by both of her shoulders, he hunched himself lower so that they were at eye level. His grip was firm but he didn't hurt China, she stared back with wide eyes, immediately silenced by his gesture.

"China, the facts are staring you in the face. I know you don't want to accept it, but it's the truth. Your friend locked us in here, she's gone."

China didn't respond. She just blinked back at Ezra in shock and awe. Ezra then realized China's big issue.

She wasn't all that smart. From her not understanding simple sarcasm to Ezra having to state the obvious to her. Her stupidity was what irked Faith, and was the possible reason why she allowed her to come with Ezra. To Faith, China wouldn't have been smart enough to suspect her movements.

"I'm sorry." Ezra apologized as he took his hands off her. "I know this is hard for you, let's just focus on getting some rest for tomorrow morning, yeah?"

China gave him a small smile. He gazed down at her tiny frame, "Sure thing. I have some food in my backpack, we can eat a little something so we have some calories to burn off in the morning." She ended her sentence with a vacant laugh, her eyes never made contact with Ezra's.

"Once we find out what happened down the street I've lived at, we can head back home, maybe Faith has a good explanation for this." Ezra propositioned, he knew Faith's motive for doing this already, but he wanted to give China a bit of hope, in case she didn't have any already.

"Let's do that, I don't really like staying in this place." She chirped, he noticed that her smile was a little forced, her eyes had a distant look in them, as if she was trying to calculate everything in her little mind.

Ezra straightened his posture and nodded. "Yeah, me neither."