Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Twenty-One.

The group of twelve found themselves collecting their belongings and getting a grasp on their situation. So-yun had taken care of Sun-yi's scratch herself as she didn't want the girl accidentally using more ointment than (Y/n) was okay with; Tae-man, So-chul, and Chi-yeol were checking everyone's guns for any remaining bullets; Yeong-shin was putting the map to use; Jun-hi was helping Yeon-ju with getting So-yeon comfortable; (Y/n) and Jang-su were still by the dead soldiers, triple checking that they were actually dead.

"We probably should at least check if they have bullets and grab their dog tags," (Y/n) said quietly. Jang-su nodded grimly. No one wanted to deal with dead bodies, but that was to be expected with their current situation.

"I'll hold them up and you check one at a time," Jang-su said. (Y/n) nodded in understanding, once again rolling up her sleeves. "Jun-hi, could we borrow your hand sanitizer?" Jun-hi glanced over her shoulder before sliding said object over to So-yun, who kept her distance from the front of the car and chose to just toss the bottle to (Y/n).

"I don't have any, either," Chi-yeol said to the two boys. "How about you?"

"No, I don't," Tae-man denied.

"(Y/n)'s got three bullets," So-chul said, returning the magazine to (Y/n)'s gun.

"Better hope we don't run into anything that requires more than three rounds," Tae-man murmured. Chi-yeol grimaced at the idea. Yeon-ju compared her temperature to So-yeon's.

"I think she has a fever..." Yeon-ju said to Jun-hi.

"Oh, no, what do we do?" Jun-hi asked, paling.

"Just bear with it for a little longer," Yeon-ju told So-yeon. (Y/n) and Jang-su returned from their search of the bodies and Chi-yeol hastily got to his feet.

"Jang-su, (Y/n)," Chi-yeol greeted. "How about the soldiers?" Jang-su shook his head.

"They're dead," Jang-su said.

"What?" Chi-yeol gaped.

"What?" So-yun walked over.

"Shit," So-chul muttered.

"What do we do?" Chi-yeol whispered.

"Then, what do we do now?" Sun-yi asked.

"What do you mean? We have to return to Seoul," So-yun said simply.

"'Return to Seoul'?" (Y/n) repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah, are you crazy?" Jun-hi asked. "We've got three bullets between all of us! Do you want us to die?"

"What else can we do?" So-yun retorted.

"Where was the closest city? Shouldn't we head there?" So-chul suggested.

"We're heading to Seoraksan," Tae-man said. "That's got to be close by now, right?"

"Yes, Seoraksan," So-chul nodded. "We're getting stationed there, so we at least know there are soldiers around. It's a lot safer than Seoul."

"Hey, Yeong-shin, how long will it take to get to Seoraksan?" Tae-man asked. Yeong-shin looked down at So-yeon. He then knelt down and set down the map, opening it.

"We are about here," Yeong-shin said, pointing out an area. "And we need to go there." He pointed to another, further area. "It's not as far as I thought. Probably sixty kilometers straight across. It looks like it'd be around seventy on the highway."

"Hey..." Chi-yeol murmured.

"Sixty kilometers?" Jun-hi repeated.

"That's crazy..." Tae-man muttered.