HOOTERS

=Chapter06: Game Over, BOOM!=

=JeTi=

Tiffany’s POV

 

“Quick.” I said to Jessica as I pull her out of the hole.

“Aiyo!!” Jessica shrieked as she splashed back down to the dark waters.

“Jessica!!” I shouted.

Something dragged her down and I don’t know what it was. “omo…” I panicked.

I took off the first aid medicine bag that was around my upper body. Then I jumped after.

The water was so dark and blurry. I couldn’t see well, and it was painful. I can’t seem to sense where Jessica is.

I know something grabbed her and pulled her into the deep. But what was it? Was it a creature? I hope not… Not sharks pls. Not killer whale or any marine animals that have huge googly eyes or I myself will die as well.

But then down below, a torrent of bubbles swooshed, maybe it was her.

I saw her silhouette; she struggled and even clamped shut with her hand. Forcing herself not to inhale, but she could barely keep from struggling.

Air bubbles floated and I swam deeper into the depths of darkness. I followed the air bubbles hoping it would lead me to her.

I kept swimming and swimming. Where is she??

Suddenly my device lit, the numbers in my device started disappearing. I was puzzled. Is there something wrong with my device? I thought it was waterproof. I knocked it using my fist but then it blinked weirdly like it was malfunctioning.

From the depths of darkness I saw a little spark from below. It was the same color as my device.

JESSICA MY LOVE!! I shouted through my thoughts.

I quickly swam down and finally I could see Jessica’s device. I grabbed it and got her her wrist. I touched her face and she was unconscious. I held her by the waist but before I could swim up. I noticed something was around Jessica’s foot.

What the? What is this??

I tried to pull her up but I can’t. She’s stuck. I tried to pull it off but it was no use. What the hell is this?! It was slippery like a snake’s body but it wasn’t a snake.

I can’t distinguish what it was and I started to run out of breath. My heart was beating slowly already and I feel dizzy. With all my strength I pulled Jessica’s boots off but the thing just loosen a little bit.

I tried it again once more it loosens just a little bit again. This requires time and patient, and I’m running out of both. I don’t have anything sharp with me. I’m running out of options. Should I cut Jessica’s foot? Of course not! What was I thinking…

 

I tried to pull it once more, this time I used my strength. I pulled it hard and it loosens an inch. I was running out of breath, with the help of my adrenaline rush I pulled Jessica’s boots off instead, slipping her foot out of it.

 

Then I drag her up with me.

We’ve been staying here for quite a while now, and if I stayed any longer, I bet fins and gills would grow on me.

I pushed her up to the surface and crawled my way out. I coughed hard like I was choking already. My nose hurts like crazy and I think I have inhaled water on my way out. I noticed the water was over flowing through the surface. What is happening? 

I checked on my device and it was dead, I’m really bewildered with the device. Was it broken? I thought it was waterproof.

And then Jessica… She wasn’t responding. She was like a lifeless vegetable. The colors of her face drained, she was pale as ice and slightly colored violet, and she wasn’t breathing. I checked her pulse but I felt nothing. No thump or pump.

No…. No… This won’t do… You’re not leaving me. I don’t know CPR… I started to panic. I felt the regret of not being able to listen while our coaches were teaching us CPR during our early days. Shoot… How do I do this?!?!

I pinched my nose bridge and closed my eyes. I remembered we have to pump by the stomach. I tried it, but it was no use.

I think I’ll just do this my way.

Through her nose I sipped the water out. I spit it out. Then sipped again. Spit out. Sipped again. Spit out.

Suddenly a bright line color started to appear in Jessica’s under eyes down to her cheeks. It was her color, it slightly came back.

I sipped some more and spit out. I did it many times until her color appeared back.

No more water came out.

Her pink lips came back but still she has no respond.

I pumped her chest, I didn’t know if this is right, but this is what I remembered. It was no use.

 

While I was about to do CPR my way, the ground rumbled and the water underground splashed through the hole like a geyser.

What on earth is going on??

I felt the ground rumbled again and it was about to erode so I carried Jessica in my back.

“Goodness, Sica… You’re so thin yet you’re heavy…” I said under my breath.

I heard Jessica groaned.

“Ya!” I said. “You’re alive!!!”

But she didn’t respond no more.

I walked as fast as I can, but Jessica was too heavy.

I walked for like how many minutes now and finally I reached the forest trees, my knees couldn’t take it anymore. It was wobbling already and I collapsed flat onto the ground.

Jessica’s weight was too heavy for my size that I was pinned to the ground. My strength drained and my muscles started shaking.

I have to move fast. But I can’t carry Jessica anymore. I can’t leave her.

Something was bothering me. I could sense something and I hate it. It was the thing that I hate the most…

Smoke.

“Smoke?” I asked myself. I looked up to the sky and there I saw a huge cloud of dark smoke.

Omo… Fire…I didn’t know where it came from but at a distance I could see a huge fire engulfing all of the trees. It was like an ocean of fire.

Are the game mods killing us??

“Jessica… We have to run…” I carried her again. I’m trying my hardest but my body is not syncing with me.

“Sica…” I said. In times of calamity, I was usually the one who rescues, but now, I’m the victim and I feel helpless and hopeless… I need a miracle.

 Just as I was about to ask for it, something happened.

Loud noises swoosh upon the grey dark sky. Gusts of wind came from above and as I looked up helicopters were everywhere. One helicopter stopped above my location. A rope ladder appeared and someone jumped down.

“Tiffany! Go now.” I was amused it was our coach, Je Eun. She carried Jessica and I didn’t know how she did it. I didn’t say a word and I quietly climb up.

Everything was so sudden that I didn’t know what was happening. I wish I was Jessica. I wish I was the one who collapsed.

The moment I got it, there was a pilot driving the helicopter. He pushed the auto-pilot button and went to the door opening.

“Please settle down Ms. Tiffany. I will be handling the rescue operation.”

I sat down, I felt anxious, scared, and worried. I wanted to cry but I couldn’t.

I watched the pilot pull Je Eun and Jessica up. Jessica was still unconscious.

“What happened?” Je Eun asked as she touched Jessica’s cold hands. “Her heart isn't beating anymore. Head back to the quarters and call for a stretcher, tell the doctors and nurses we have an emergency…”

I was shocked. What?? Her heart stopped??  “Sica...." I mumbled as I touched her hand. She was responding earlier but why did she gave up that easily?

Je Eun took out a first aid kit from the stowage cabin. I watched Je Eun perform some first aid emergency procedure.

"Wait... where are my other friends??" I choked in a sob.

"Later... you will see them... then we'll discuss what they did..."

"What? What did they do?"

Je Eun looked at me. "Oh... they just destroyed the game's system... That's all..."

HUH??

I hope my family forgives me...

Because I'll never forgive myself if something worst happens to Jessica...

 

=Sunny’s PO

 

The birds were chirping sweetly, they were chirping sweet melodies. I felt as if I was sleeping under a tree, in a meadow full of flowers and there was serenity.

I felt the sun’s warm rays touched the lashes of my eyes. It was as if tickling me to wake up.

As I open my eyes, I frowned. Well… yes… the birds were chirping sweetly, and I’m in a beautiful paradise. But it was a paradise of death. My friends were still

sleeping and I was first to wake up.

 

Taeyeon was sleeping beside me and in her little arms our Seohyun was sleeping tightly. I looked to my other side and our trooper twins were sleeping as well. They were facing each other and like cats they’re in a crouching position.

I stood up and stretched myself. Oh gosh… My back hurts. This is not good.

I walked near the river bed and watched the waterfall. The cool clear water was so beautiful and I was slightly damp after being sprinkled by the mist of it. If only I could stay like this forever, I love how the droplets of ice cold water hit my face.

“Ahnyoung!!!” Taeyeon greeted. “Wanna go for a swim?”

Oh good… She’s awake.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “How about let’s just dip our feet?” I smiled.

Both of us took our boots off and together we dipped our feet. “Look! There are so many fishes…” I said as I make another step forward towards a huge rock.

“Ya…Don’t step any further.” Taeyeon warned. “Just stay in the area where there are huge rocks to step on.”

“Taeyeon-ah!” I shouted as I cupped an amount of water in my palms and threw it against her.

“OMO!” She was totally shocked. “That was cold!!!” She wiped her face with her palms. “YAA!!” She did the same with me, and suddenly we ended up playing and

splashing each other.

“Oh?? Incoming!!!” Seohyun came and she jumped on us. The three of us ended up swimming in the clear water.

“Ya!!!” Yuri shouted. She and Yoona were standing few meters away from us. They were taking their boots off. “We want to swim too!!!”

Yuri held Yoona’s hand and just as they were about to jump, Yoona stopped her. She shook her head, she whispered something to Yuri and in respond she nodded. Instead of jumping they gracefully walked together to join us.

 “She’s traumatized.” Yuri said to me.

“Oh….”

Seohyun has been staring into the falls for how many minutes now. “Uhm… Guys… Look at that…”

All of us stared but we didn’t know what to stare at. “What?” Yuri asked.

“Follow me.” She said. She stepped out of the water.

“Where are you going?” We asked.

“Come quick!” She walked over the side of the river bed- about to approach the massive wall of the waterfall.

We followed her. What did she find now? We walked over the side and there was a rock like stairs behind the waterfall.

“Omo…” I said. “Daebak… what is this place?”

The waterfall was like a curtain concealing the stairs behind it. “Whoa… This is so beautiful.” Yuri said as she touched the water.

“Guys… look! Check this out.” In front of us was a cave. It has a wide opening. “Do you think we’ll be safe here for the night?”

“This place is perfect for the night…” Taeyeon said.

“Awe… I miss Tiffany unnie… Sica unnie….Hyoyeon unnie and Sooyoung unnie…” Yuri said, she even pouted.

“Omma! Why don’t we look for them?” Yoona asked.

Taeyeon nodded. “We’ll look for them later. But now, let’s see if this place is okay.”

We inspected the place for almost how many minutes now. “Omma!! Appa!! Unniieee!” Seohyun’s voice echoed from the inner cave tunnel.

“Bzkkk… Bzzzkkk…” My device sounded. “Don-Bzzk Sto- Bzzz! Bzzkkk Bzzzkkk!“

What is going on here? My device ran out of signal??

We ran towards Seohyun’s direction until- “Ohmaigahd… What is this?”

We entered a small opening and inside it looked like a laboratory; there were CCTV everywhere, buttons of different color, wires, machines, and more.

 

“Where are we?” Yuri asked. “It looks like a hide out? A laboratory??”

“I think it’s a control room??” Seohyun said, unsure. She inspected the surroundings.

“Omo!! Guys, isn’t that Jessica and Tiffany unnie?” Yuri pointed to a small TV.

Taeyeon smiled. “Whoa! It’s our first and second born! They’re still asleep…” Tiffany was sleeping soundly in Jessica’s arms. “They’re safe…”

Our chests felt relief for the first time in the game. It was like a thorn being pulled off our hearts.

“Here’s Sooyoung and Hyoyeon-nnie!” Seohyun pointed to another TV. “Oh? Luna unnie is with them!”

Taeyeon tilted her head. “Poor girl…I think we should be responsible for her from now on. What do you think?” She asked me. “I think we should adopt her or something?”

I nodded. “Of course… she’s family. We’ll take her with us.” I said. “There’s Nicole with Suzy… and-“

“Oh gosh!” Seohyun snapped. She was looking at the buttons that was spread out in front of us. “I think this is the control room…Look…. There’s the temperature

button, the water level button, the waterfall button, there’s buttons for everything…”

“Let’s try it…” Yoona moved adjusted the button of the waterfall. In the monitor, we saw the waterfall stopped. “Whoa… it controls the game! Where are the game mods??”

“But it’s just a partial control room…” Seohyun said. “It only controls this part of the island until where Sica unnie is located. It means every part of the island has a control room??”

“We should be quick! There must be a self-destruct button somewhere!” Yuri said. “If not, let’s push all of the buttons and destroy all of the machines.”

“Are you crazy?!” Taeyeon said. “We’ll be in danger, not just us but also the others.”

“Omma… if the game keepers brought us in death then let’s bring death to our game keepers.” Yoona said.

Seohyun and Yuri started to push varieties of buttons, Yoona on the other hand started to unplug some machines. “I’ll find a way to cut some wires.” Yoona said.

“Hmm… Do you like rare? Medium rare? Or well done?” Seohyun asked Yuri. She was despicably smiling.

Yuri smiled evilly. “Well done…” Seohyun turned a button to a maximum level, and then there was fire. The fire came out from nowhere. I didn't know where it came from, but it just sparked.

Fire started to crawl over the forest. It burned parts of the tree branches and the leaves of several trees enflamed. The fire was getting huge.

Taeyeon and I were just standing- Both of us were dumb founded. “What do we do?” I asked. Taeyeon didn’t answer. We watched the kids play and have fun over the buttons until-

*Bzzkkk Bzzzkk… BOOM!* A loud explosion suddenly came from somewhere. “Sorry! My bad!” Yoona shouted.

Our devices started malfunctioning. “Ya! What’s going on?” I asked.

“I killed the device’s machine!!” Yoona shouted. We don’t know where she was but I think she was inside of somewhere.

“Dear, where are you??” Taeyeon asked Yoona. Yuri and Seohyun were laughing as they happily push different types of buttons. They were like children playing.

“I’m here omma, but wait a sec. I’m pulling something out. I can’t seem to-“

Suddenly there was a black out. Everything was shut down like it was turned off or something was unplugged.

“Uh-oh…” Yoona came out from a small room of something, she was covered in dirt, she looked like a kid who went to play hide and seek. “I think… I jammed the system??”

“We have to run before someone comes in!” Taeyeon panicked. Her eyes popped wide open.

All of us ran out of the cave, and just outside by the cave’s mouth the curtain waterfall was rushing hard like it was out of control. It wasn’t beautiful anymore like earlier, it was horrifying now. The current was so hard it was splashing water against the rocky stairs and we got soaked and wet.

“Careful… we might slip.” Taeyeon warned. We walked down and by the time we got out, fire was engulfing the forest and- “We have to run…” I second the motion Taeyeon.

We grabbed our boots and slipped them on. “Oh gosh! We shouldn’t have destroyed the system just yet! I’m particularly concern of the others…Besides of fire what did you send?” I asked.

“We have no idea…” Yuri answered.

 

We ran swiftly towards the direction of the forest heading to the main grounds. Some parts of the forest were burned but some are not.

YET.

The smoke was getting thick and we started to slow down our phase. Good thing we were still slightly damp from earlier.

“Just a little more… The main grounds is there… just ahead of us…” Seohyun directed with her finger as she covered her nose.

The smoke was getting thicker and it was getting hotter. Some of the trees turned into ashes and some are starting to fall off of its roots.

"Aahhh!" A sharp scream shrieked through our ears.

I froze. I know that voice. It was so familiar that my chest felt a strong pang. It pained, I didn't want to believe what I heard, and I wanted to pretend I didn't hear anything but it's not that simple.

The fire was spreading swiftly, it was so hot but we didn't mind it anymore. My skin was now numb from the fire.

Yoona who was slightly behind us rushed through the thick smoke. "Guys!  Guys! It's Hyoyeon unnie! I found them!"

Taeyeon's expression changed. It was the first time I see her this way. She ran immediately and we tailed her behind.

The smoke was so thick and it was hard to see but as we got closer and closer my visions became clearer.

My jaws dropped and I couldn't believe what I saw. My knees, my arms, my whole body weakened.

Hyoyeon was lying under a medium sized tree trunk. Her back was nailed flatly on the ground, she was crushed by the huge boulder and I don't know if she is still alive. I couldn’t see her face because her hair was spread out to different direction. Beside her lay Sooyoung and Luna both of them were unconscious.

My mind went blank and I didn't know what to think anymore. I can't think straight. My emotions rumbled. My eyes wanted to cry, but instead I felt like choking. My chest tightened like I was being gripped by thousands of ropes.

 

I can’t believe what I saw.

"Hyoyeon ah!" Taeyeon whispered. She kneeled over and touched Hyoyeon's hand. She wasn't responding. Taeyeon let out a sob. She cried hard. She heaved away Hyoyeon’s blond hair and there was Hyoyeon’s lifeless face.

I stood by the end of the tree trunk. "Help me, let's carry it away."

Seohyun, Yuri, Taeyeon, and Yoona stood by the sides and with all our might we carried the trunk and tossed it off somewhere.

Yuri and Yoona held Sooyoung up, while Seohyun and I carried Luna.

"Our Hyoyeon..." Taeyeon sobbed.

We didn't know what to do. We all felt helpless. Taeyeon and I, using our first aid rescue, we lightly and swiftly turned Hyoyeon’s body in a lying position.

All of us cried as we saw Hyoyeon’s dear face. Her peaceful expression crushed my heart.

 

Our Hyoyeon… Once beautiful…Once cheerful and alive…

Now… She lay silently on the ground…

Her blond hair that used to shine under the sun was now covered in dirty smoke.

 

Suddenly up in the sky several helicopters were flying, and one helicopter stopped above us. It lowered down and landed meters away from us in a clear space.

The door opened and Hye Kyo hopped out.

"Quick! Get inside!" She commanded. “The fire is spreading to the east side of the island. We must evacuate!”

Taeyeon stood still. "Hyoyeon! Hyoyeon needs help! It’s an emergency."

Hye Kyo ran towards Hyoyeon and she checked her status. "She’s gone…??”

"Please don't say such thing..." Taeyeon whispered in a sob.

 

Yuri cried.

Hye Kyo took out a device from her pocket. "Emergency, we need a stretcher; we have a critical situation here. Send some specialists now. We are near the main grounds."

“Copy. Give us 60 seconds.” The device replied.

"All of you go now. I'll stay behind." Our coach said.

"No" We said. "We won't leave."

Taeyeon touched my wrist. "Ah-nee.. You guys go. I'll stay. You'll take care of them. Go on now, besides Sooyoung and Luna needs help as well. I'll be fine guys."

I can’t do anything but shook my head.

"You'll see each other later." Hye Kyo said. Her eyes started to tear up as well she couldn’t believe the case of Hyoyeon.

Taeyeon nodded and hugged us.

"Omma, take care. We'll see you later, right?" Our Yuri asked. She always wanted assurance.

"Yes yes." Taeyeon assured.

The pilot helped us carry our unconscious Sooyoung and Luna. As we settled ourselves inside the helicopter, I glanced over Sooyoung and Luna.

Yuri, Yoona and Seohyun were crying non-stop. The four of us watched from the window glass as we alight from the ground. 

I can’t believe this is happening to me… Hyoyeon can’t be dead. She can’t be…

 

 

"ONE TRUE NINE"

Is this farewell for Hyoyeon and Jessica?

Will it always be the One True Nine forever that they dreamed of?

Are they finally going to taste the life they wanted?

But in what way will they be living?

What do you think is the ending of the game?

It's not over yet...

 

 

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING!!! :)
I promise to write well, was the chapters confusing?

Kahmsameeda!! Saranghaeyo!!

More to come :)