mirrorball // AOUAD

Chapter Twenty-Nine.

"Let me see you," Nam So-ju said, pulling back and cupping his daughter's face.

"Get out!" Su-hyeok shouted at the others. They obliged quickly and Cheong-san briefly glanced at On-jo and So-ju before closing the door. (Y/n) sat down and dug through her backpack.

"Are you okay?" So-ju asked. "Are you hurt, On-jo?

"What took you so long?" On-jo said tearfully. "I kept waiting for you." So-ju smiled shortly and turned to look at the others.

"And you kids, are you okay?" he asked. Some nods were thrown his way. (Y/n) pushed a smoke bomb into Dae-su's hands and lit it up with the hand she could actually move. It took a few times to actually get the lighter aflame.

"Yeah," said Dae-su.

"Good," So-ju said, turning to face Cheong-san. "Cheong-san," he said.

"Mr. Nam," Cheong-san greeted. He slowly walked forward and So-ju wrapped him in a tight hug. After a few moments, So-ju pulled away and addressed the others.

"Okay, are you all able to run?" he asked. They all nodded their heads. "Good... Okay, if you go straight through the tennis courts and pass the construction site, you'll hit the mountain," he said. "If you cross the mountain and get to Yangdong—"

"Throw it Dae-su, throw it!" (Y/n) shouted.

"Eh?" So-ju looked back at the kids. Dae-su held one of their homemade smoke bombs in his hand, looking mortified. "Smart girl," So-ju praised before taking the smoke bomb from Dae-su and throwing it past the zombie that was running at them. So-ju ran forward and flipped the zombie over before breaking its leg.

"Kids, go!"

"Shit," Mi-jin swore as they got down the steps and went up a small hill. On-jo ran to her dad, giving him his backpack

"Come on," So-ju said as On-jo took his hand and they ran together. "Run! Go! Run! To the tennis courts!"

Wu-jin pushed open the gate to the tennis courts. Ha-ri lingered back to shoot an arrow at a zombie. As a result, she was attacked by another.  So-ju threw the zombie off of her and pushed her and Su-hyeok into the tennis court before closing the door behind him and locking it. 

"Run!" So-ju said.

"Hey, hey, hey! Wait!" Dae-su cried. Zombies were going around the fence. Hyo-ryung collapsed and Su-hyeok was quick to her aid.

"Come on," (Y/n) grumbled, trying to get her lighter to work. Mi-jin anxiously bounced on her feet, holding the smoke bomb in one hand and her stake in the other.

"Light it already!" Mi-jin fumed.

"I'm trying!" (Y/n) cried.

"We can't go out there," Dae-su said. "We can't go anywhere."

"What should we do?" Wu-jin asked.

"Dammit," Mi-jin muttered. The kids readied to fight, backing away from the zombies that had gotten through the gate. As they got caught on the net, Su-hyeok and Cheong-san ran forward and started hitting the zombies back with their bats. So-ju took the smoke bomb and the lighter from the girls, having much more success in getting the lighter working than (Y/n) had. He held the bomb above his head and started drawing the zombies away. He threw it in the corner opposite where they needed to go. On-jo rushed to her dad.

"Let's go," Dae-su said. They looked both ways before opening the gate and making for the forest. "Hurry!" The smoke bomb seemed to have burnt out, for the zombies turned back to the group.

"Cheong-san," So-ju called, "take On-jo with you."

"But why?" On-jo asked. "Dad, where are you going?" she gasped, going to rush after her dad if Cheong-san hadn't grabbed her arm. "Dad! Dad!" So-ju blew his whistle and waved the zombies over. "Dad, no!" On-jo screamed. So-ju crouched down and pulled out a fire flare from his bag. He lit it up. "Dad!" So-ju threw the fire flare, distracting the zombies. "Dad, come back!" On-jo shrieked as Cheong-san and Su-hyeok dragged her over to the gate.