The Shelter

Part 3 - The Port

xx-xx

It was complicated with four bodies draped on her, but Karma managed to sneak out. She hoped she'd be back before one of them woke up.

It was almost the end of the X's charge day and the best time to go visit her mom.

She sneaked around the corridors, jumping when she heard someone laugh loudly. It sounded like it came from further along. Karma hoped she was wrong.

She kept creeping along, checking every corner, climbing the stairs to go above ground.

And for the first time in her life, she was right. It was also the first time she wished she wasn't.

There stood Jeanine, giggling crazily as she stumbled towards the exit. The exit to outside the Shelter.

Oh god. That wasn't good.

Karma shouted down the stairs, hoping someone would wake up, and when Jeanine heard her shout, she doubled her speed to the exit. Karma ran to her, throwing the woman on the ground. Her body was incredibly sore from the previous day, and she was finding it increasingly difficult with every second that passed to hold the older woman down. Karma had forgotten how vicious insane people could be. When you didn't care about your life anymore, you didn't mind getting a few scratches in a fight.

"Hey!" Karma shouted even louder, praying that there were no X's in the vicinity. "I need help here!"

Karma sighed in relief when she saw Martha running towards her, looking dishevelled as if she'd been sleeping. Karma didn't notice how her grip slackened and soon Jeanine was kicking her in the chest. Karma flew through the air, landing harshly, the wind knocked out of her lungs.

It took a while for her senses to come back to her and her vision to stop spinning, but as soon as she remembered Jeanine, she rushed to stand up, which was honestly not one of her proudest moments. She swayed on the spot and then moved her butt into action as she saw Martha struggling with withholding Jeanine. The older woman was way too close to the exit for comfort.

Karma suddenly remembered she had a Helmet. She tried broadcasting a message to anyone in the area, but she doubted anyone had their Systems on after Oberon's check to make sure everyone turned them off that evening or was awake so late.

Karma rushed to help Martha, tripping Jeanine so she fell. She bound her hands above her head, sitting on her back. Martha grabbed the flailing legs. Jeanine started screaming bloody murder, and Karma placed her hands on her neck, cutting off her breath which disabled her shouts. Soon enough, Jeanine fainted, and Karma turned around to look at Martha. The woman had an eyebrow raised, probably not agreeing with the swift way Karma had silenced Jeanine. Karma checked for any injuries and blushed when she saw that the woman's t-shirt had been ripped during the scuffle and her chest was naked. Martha rolled her eyes at the younger girl's reaction to her indecency.

"You'd think that you'd be more concerned about the unconscious figure on the ground then my nudity- thanks, love," Martha grabbed the jacket Karma handed her, which she had been wearing to brave the cold outside originally. Karma agreed with Martha, there were more important things to consider than ripped clothing when someone was about to attract X's straight to their hideout.

They carried Jeanine back to her bed in the infirmary and Karma mourned the fact that she wouldn't be able to visit her mom. Maybe she could go in three days, after the X's most active day- or hunt day as she called it. It usually happened right after charging up.

Martha scolded the person on duty for falling asleep. You'd think medics would know how dangerous it was to leave someone unsupervised, but then Karma realised that the man on duty probably wasn't a medic, and had learnt everything after the X-day, just to help save the lives that were left. He'd never asked for this, just like Karma hadn't.