Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Thirty-Five.

The group Won-bin had gathered stared down at the bloodied girl, Park Yun-seo, feeling quite sorry as they wondered how long she had been alone in the town. Won-bin reached out and gave the girl's arm a gentle squeeze.

"It's okay," Won-bin said. "All the Cells have been eliminated."

"What happened?" Yu-jeong asked quietly. The shaking Yun-seo slowly looked at her. She looked past Yu-jeong and at everyone else. They all looked as pitiful as they did frightened.

"Is this a dream?" Yun-seo asked. "Is it?" The kids and Won-bin looked down grimly. They glanced back as Chun-ho appeared with the rest of the class and two other survivors.

"There must be survivors over there, too," Deok-jung said. He jogged over to the group, nearly knocking into Ae-seol, who stepped back to avoid him.

"It's a boy..."

"That's two survivors?"

"Don't step on him," Yun-seo whispered, making them all look at her. "Don't step on him! Hey..." Ae-seol quickly stepped away from the body she had accidentally stepped on. Yun-seo started hyperventilating, much to their concern.

"I'm sorry," Ae-seol said sincerely.

"Don't step on my friend!" Yun-seo pleaded, pushing herself to her feet and limping toward the deceased. "Don't step on him... My friend... My friend... Don't step on him... Don't step on him!" the girl shrieked. She screamed and clamped her hands over her ears. "Don't step on him!" Yun-seo collapsed backward and Chi-yeol hastily caught her, lowering the unconscious girl to the ground as Chun-ho, Won-bin, and the rest of the class darted over.

"Hey, what happened?" Il-ha asked Tae-man.

"I don't know..." Tae-man mumbled. Chun-ho knelt down to check on the bloodied girl in Chi-yeol's arms. The two rescued survivors had to try and stand taller to see which of their classmates was still alive. Upon seeing her classmate's face, the girl Yeon-ju and (Y/n) were supporting pushed the girls away and started approaching the girl. She didn't get very far before she almost lost her balance.

"Careful!" Yeon-ju cried, rushing to help the girl. (Y/n) opened her water canister for the girl, assuming it must have been at least a few days since she last ate or drank. So-chul quickly opened his own canister and gave it to the boy Jang-su was holding up.

"Squad Two, go back to your vehicle," Chun-ho instructed. "Squad One, spread out and search for any survivors. Report back to your vehicle in half an hour."

"Yes, Sir!"

Chi-yeol quickly jogged over to help So-chul with the male survivor while Wu-taek and So-yeon came over to take Yeon-ju and (Y/n)'s places. Bo-ra wound up pairing up with (Y/n) and Yeon-ju. The three set off in the same direction as Chun-ho and Yeong-shin, searching in the houses and streets across from the ones the other two were looking in.

"I wonder how long they've been out here," Yeon-ju said worriedly.

Upon arriving at the safe shelter, Platoon 2 discovered many corpses outside already. Cars were bloody and opened as though people had tried fleeing, the soldiers that were meant to be guarding the gates weren't seen upon arrival, and it was all a graveyard. Chun-ho had them search the outside and the cars for any survivors or lingering Cells.

"Platoon Leader!" Yu-jeong hollered, jogging over to the awaiting man and showing him the Cell detector, which revealed nothing was in the area. "It's not reacting to any Cells." Chun-ho nodded understandingly before calling back over the class. They went inside as a group and the two of the three survivors took it upon themselves to step up and show the group around for what little information they had about the building.