Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Forty-Four.

So-yeon, clad in a black leather jacket over her black hoodie, tapped her finger against the tip of her gun, growing briefly lost in thought as she remained crouched down and out of sight until one of the three who were luring the Cells turned up. It had been about a month since they parted from the safety shelter and things were working better for them than they had originally thought. On the downside, their communication device had broken a little over a week ago, so they were waiting for the parts to fix it before they took any further action. Yu-jeong had made the suggestion to start voting on what they would do next now that they were showing actual progress in their mission— There were fewer and fewer Cells each passing day.
So-yeon's daze was immediately broken by the shrill sound of a whistle, telling her that Deok-jung was heading her way. She quickly got up and raised her gun, aiming it in the direction she believed Deok-jung would be appearing any moment. Sure enough, Deok-jung, wearing a red hoodie beneath a yellow puffer jacket, came into view riding an electric scooter with rainbow LED lights.

"Come and get me if you can!" Deok-jung taunted the Cells chasing him. So-yeon started shooting them and Deok-jung continued blowing his whistle. So-yeon continued shooting before she heard another singular gunshot. Looking back, she found their class's sniper, Na-ra, had come to help with shooting. Na-ra, clad in a long green jacket, black leggings, and a neat ponytail, nodded in greeting before aiding So-yeon in shooting the Cells. Once they were out of range, the two girls quickly took off on the rooftop to find more Cells in need of elimination.

"Follow me, you pieces of shit!" Il-ha hollered over his shoulder, not once wavering as he rode his motorcycle. He wore a graphic black hoodie under a leather jacket and he still wore his military cargo pants because he saw no reason to change something that worked for him. His helmet and safety glasses to protect his eyes were on. He grimaced a bit at the pile of rubble blocking his path ahead, but only took it as a challenge. "Fuck, let's go!" He used a piece of wood as a ramp to get over the pile and continue driving.
Bo-ra, wearing all black and a helmet (as she would be riding with Il-ha, skipped up a flight of stairs and started shooting at all the Cells she saw. She ran across the bridge connecting two buildings before heading right back down the staircase. She heard tires screeching and knew Il-ha had arrived at their agreed meeting spot.
"Yeon Bo-ra!" Il-ha called. Bo-ra came into sight, shooting the Cells that were crawling down the building toward Il-ha. "Fuck, there are so many..." Bo-ra climbed onto the back of Il-ha's back, looking both ways at the Cells heading their way. She started shooting at the same time three other people from above also shot at the Cells. Jang-su and Ae-seol were the only two in their group wearing their full military uniforms, with the latter also wearing the scarf (Y/n) had crocheted her. Tae-man, like the rest of the group, was wearing all black. His hat had long since fallen off his head and was now hanging around his neck by its string.

"Geez, fuck," Tae-man muttered. The three looked at each other before looking down at Bo-ra and Il-ha, who were also looking at them. Il-ha grinned up at them, but his attention was immediately caught by a new figure entering the street through his peripheral vision. If not for the gun on her back and their current location, (Y/n) would have fit right in at an average skating rink based on how she was practically waltzing, twirling, and leaping around. Beneath her dark blue denim jacket was her white turtleneck and a mostly buttoned pink flannel.

"Sorry!" (Y/n) hollered rather vaguely, taking a sharp turn down the next street over to the one Il-ha originally planned to bring Bo-ra down.

"What's that—?" Bo-ra's question was immediately answered when the Cells making chase after (Y/n) came crawling out of the alley (Y/n) had previously exited. Il-ha immediately took that as his cue to get moving. Due to (Y/n) having a headstart but the motorcycle being faster, they both turned out from their respective streets at the same time. "(Y/n)," Bo-ra called, tossing a looped rope at (Y/n), who got it around her waist and turned to shoot the Cells that had emerged behind Il-ha and Bo-ra and were thus closer to her.