The Shelter

Part 4 - The Survival

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A few weeks later, Karma was given the green light to go back to training. Which she did.

At first, she had to get used to the view of her hand. There was a big scar in the middle of it and stumps where fingers should have been instead, but otherwise, it still had the same moles and lines as it did before. She could move her wrist freely, but she had more trouble moving her last two remaining fingers. They told her that it was likely because the muscle was not used to being used or even able to work the same way as before. No one could tell her a lot really because they did their best based on textbooks they found and knowledge they'd gathered these past few years after the outbreak. Karma kept it hidden from sight most of the time in the days after that until Flair brought her back a pair of gloves from a trip to a Ghost town.

"I know they're leather and not the most comfortable, but I thought you might-" she never got to finish her sentence before she was tackled into a hug.

One night, Pandora had asked how it healed, and Karma had let her curiously observe her hand, not looking at herself. If that could help others in the future, Karma was all for being a test subject.

Talking about test subject, she still hadn't had the guts to tell the others about the charger she carried in her pocket. Somehow, it hadn't gotten lost in everything that had happened, still in the inside pocket of her jacket, which she'd gotten back. If she told anyone about the charger, they would want to use their System. And after what she'd experienced, she couldn't let that happen.

She reasoned with herself to tell Oberon soon enough about the vision.

She started training like crazy, hating every day where she couldn't help. She felt weak and useless. She got her body back into shape, doing cardio every day. Burpees were tricky for a while, but she learned to compensate for her hand with her body. Rope jumping, sprinting, jumping jacks, interval training, you name it, she did it.

Next was getting used to using her left hand to shoot or do anything. Eating, grabbing objects by reflex, tucking her hair behind her ear. It's not that her right hand was incapable, but it would make her life easier if she changed her dominant hand to the left. She was glad that they didn't write anything anymore, because that would be a real setback.

Her usual sparring partner, who she now knew the name of (it was Dalton of all things) also trained with her. Every time she would work twice as hard, he would follow her pace. She was mildly impressed.

Two weeks later, she was back out for recon in nearby Ghost towns. Dalton also joined them a few days later along with Oberon who'd finally healed enough to get back on missions after his leg injury, completing their group. Dalton was mostly silent, but when he spoke, it was better to listen to him. He was so in tune with his surroundings and his focus was unbeatable. Sometimes, Karma thought he could relax more, but the other half of the time, he amazed her. Oberon had the experience. He split them up an organised far better than they ever did. He was wickedly good at thinking on his feet and improvising and had gotten them out of tricky situations well.

They didn't find anything for three more weeks. It was going out every day, trying to find a portal, find food, find first aid, avoid X's. The moral was down. No one actually believed they would ever get out of the Gaunt.

Karma spent all her time with her new family and Dalton. At first, he and Flair weren't too keen on each other, the two magnetic poles, but the second Dalton told them that blue was his favourite colour, Flair softened up to him. Dalton didn't join their room, he was sharing a bed with his twin sister whom he'd arrived with, but he did spend a lot of time with them. His twin also joined them from time to time, but she found her own people, older, like her.