"Ah!" Second squirmed in pain.
"What's wrong?" Sectwen asked.
"I sprained my legs," she lied. An old rotten trick, but she hoped it would work.
Fifzen released her arms and supported her to stand up properly. They were kind; maybe they were just driven by emotions and the desire to win, so they were like this. She was sorry, but she had to do this for her teammates who had sacrificed. She didn't want their hard work to come to nothing. Fifzen held both of her arms from behind, Thirtwen held the needle in front of her glass bubble, Sectwen was leading them the way, and Ninezen was at the back of Fifzen. It seemed Sixth caught on to what she was planning, as she picked up the big golden flag on the right corner of the cave and swam away. Fifth pulled Fifzen and Thirtwen away from her. He held her right arm, and they swam away too.
Fifth, Sixth, and she swam faster. Sixth gave the flag to Fifth to secure it. Although they were taken aback by what she did, they did not ask first. Fifth was holding the largest golden flag hidden on the side. She turned around, and the three of them followed. They kept swimming until they thought they would first rise above the water to see how far or close they were to the floating finish line. They felt joy in their hearts when they saw that they were only about 40 meters away. She could already see the red ribbon attached to the two sticks stuck in the sand—the finish line. Just a little more and-
"Hey! You can't escape us!" someone yelled.
They were already catching up to them.
"Sixth!" Fifth called her and threw the big golden flag at her, which she caught right away. "I'll slow them down!"
Fifth sacrificed himself as he quickly rushed Fifzen and Sixzen. She saw Sectwen continue to swim to chase them.
"You won't get to the finish line!" she gasped when Sectwen shouted, enraged.
They ignored her and just continued to swim. She turned around and saw Sectwen hold Sixth's hair and pierce her glass bubble.
"Haha! I told you," Sectwen mocked.
She came back to help Sixth.
"Leave her alone!" she shouted, but Sectwen just sneered.
Sixth handed her the flag and smiled. She seized it out of confusion. With that smile, Sixth sank and was swallowed by the water.
"No! Sixth!" she thought—they were supposed to swim together to reach the finish line. "What do you want, Sectwen? You weren't like this before?!" she confronted her.
Sectwen snickered. "Before? Ah! Of course, I used to." She even pointed to herself. "It's gone. The old me is gone. Now that I know what my real life is, my life is miserable! The reason I joined this game because I wanted to live in a fair world. To claim what I deserved, you all must die!"
Sectwen started swimming to chase her.
Were her memories back?
If that was how desperate she was to win the game, and if that was also the reason why she was here now... couldn't they have had the same experience while they were still on earth?
"You're not paying attention."
Sectwen startled her by trying to pierce her bubble. She had to protect it. Despite this, she got out of her grip and hit her with the flagstick, causing her pain.
"You b*tch-aw!" Sectwen cursed.
Second was sorry, but she didn't want to do this. She needed Sectwen to let her go.
"Sh*tty teammates!" Sectwen cursed again.
She ignored her and tried to remain focused. She swam; it was only 25 meters. Oh no! She couldn't help but sneer at the pain she felt. She stopped swimming and stayed afloat. She rolled her eyes and staggered to see Sixzen behind her.
"W-Why?" Sectwen had backup. Fifth was not able to stop Sixzen because he was also facing Fifzen. This was bad. She was all alone. Where was her team? How had it turned out like this?
"I'm sorry, Second, I hurt you. By the way, we've already completed your three silver flags, and you?" Sixzen looked at her, holding a large gold flag. "Looks like we're the winners, goodbye!" Then she swam under her.
Second writhed in pain when Sixzen wounded her foot with a rough and sharp rock while she was swimming. Annoying. She had injured herself to buy time.
Would she still swim and beat Sixzen? They had completed the three flags. They only had one. The gold team had found the two small silver flags. The only reason she continued to swim was because of the possibility that they could still win, even though the chances were very low.
If she were only 25 meters away from the finish line, would she still give up? She shouldn't!
She forgot about the excruciating pain and continued swimming. Sixzen turned to her, grinning. Fifteen meters... she was a bit ahead of Sixzen. It seems like carrying the three flags slowed her down. That was an advantage for her.
"You can't beat me, Second!" Sixzen shouted and even pushed her to the right. Maybe she forgot they were in the water, and she wouldn't stumble?
Twelve meters...
"Argh!" she groaned. Why did they have to do something like this?
Sixzen slapped her with a flagstick on her shoulder.
Ten meters...
She was about to punch her when she pulled away, so Sixzen released the two flags. She just kept swimming. Sixzen swam to retrieve the flags and became more aggressive.
Seven meters...
When she got close, Sixzen gripped her left foot and bit it, so she twisted in pain again. This was not fair anymore! She used bold violence, so she would use a strategy not to hurt, but to annoy. She swam first when Sixzen was a little ahead of her. When Sixzen got close, she climbed up for a moment and smiled to see the finish line up close. She called her when she saw that Sixzen had no more glass bubbles. How did that happen? Then she saw that Sixzen was holding a needle. Sectwen must have given it to her to burst hers, but was not able to.
"Sixzen!"
She turned around. Then she spat in her eyes. She swam too fast.
Five meters...
"Whaaa!" Sixzen screamed in pain.
Second was sorry, Sixzen! She must have felt her eyes ache so badly as if they had been soaked in salty water. She didn't want to do this, but at the same time, her team was hoping for her to win this. She didn't know what had happened to the rest of them, but this was the least she could do for those who put their trust in her. Now that she witnessed her friends and even herself being like this, being desperate could be really scary. They were all fighting for something, but victory demanded something in return. Now, she could see clearly how friendship ties were slowly breaking off because of this game that forced them to play with each other.
Sixzen chased after her while squinting her eyes. She pulled her legs again. Didn't her plan work? No, that should work.
"Argh!" she groaned.
After Sixzen pulled her legs, she felt a slight hint of pain in her ankle. Sixzen must have sprained her ankle. She bit her lower lip. This was really getting bad. She tried to ignore the pain in her ankle and exerted herself to her limit. She should finish this game and reach the finish line no matter what. She was so near, yet the finish line felt so far.
One meter-
Here I come…