☔ search and rescue
INITIATING ADVANCEMENT PROGRAM . . . 100%.
GO WOORI, your stamina and overall physical ability will be put to the test in a danger room simulation that takes place in the pacific ocean. You’ve been dropped off roughly twenty miles from your destination, and will have to fly the remainder of the way to take part in a search & rescue effort to recover the crew and passengers of a sunken boat. You have three hours until the sun sets and your search is called off for the night, complete the simulation before this point or it will end.
PROCEEDING..
Woori had on her suit. She didn't wear it often, but when she had made it into the advanced program, she decided to splurge and got a special suit made. It was light, kept her warm when she was in the air and yet was breathable for those hotter days. She was pretty sure that it was waterproof too, but to be honest, she hadn't paid all that much attention when the tailor explained it all to her. She had just asked for the bet suit given her ability and trusted the man to work his magic. She tugged at the collar. It hugged her neck far too tightly and she was felt as if it was strangling her. It could all be in her head, of course, like her body was trying to get her out of what she was about to put it through.
Woori came to a halt outside the danger simulation room. As soon as she opened that door, she was going to be flung right into the middle of her scenario. She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply as she tried to calm herself. "Alright, Woori, think" She whispered to herself under her breath. "What was your task" She forced herself to think back. Getting the facts straight about her assignment helped her relax, so she recited everything to herself. "You have to fly 20 miles over open ocean to a ship that is sinking. You have to rescue the crew members and passengers that had been on board." She muttered. She had no idea the size of the boat. She wished she was given some sort of clue. She could have researched the boat and had some kind of estimation for the amount of survivors that she was supposed to be saving, but she had absolutely nothing to go on. "Alright, that's not so bad" She told herself, turning the handle.
She was greeted with the tangy bit of salt sea air. Wind was whipping her face, her hair lashing her cheeks like tens of tiny whips. She used a hand to push her hair back and that's when she nearly lost her breath. She was standing at the edge of a helicopter, doors open, and below her was nothing but the raging sea. A voice was in her ear, telling her her assignment. She had twenty miles to go but due to the ferocity of the storm, the copter couldn't bring her further in. Woori nodded. She understood and knew what she had to do. "Roger" She replied. She inhaled quickly and exhaled, gathering her strength. Once she stepped out of this machine, there was no going back and her task would officially be underway.
Without allowing herself any more time to second guess herself, she stepped over the edge.
Woori streaked towards the crashing waves, the water dark and malicious as it churned beneath her, calling her down towards its depths with icy fingers. her eyes widened as rain disoriented her vision, wind making it difficult to hear anything as it whistled against her ear drums. She jammed her eyes shut and managed to catch herself before she plunged into the black water. "Alright, okay, you got this. Twenty miles is nothing" She whispered, her body carving through the air effortlessly, even with the storm buffering her from side to side rather violently, but remained on course.
Whatever it was her suit was made of, it certainly was doing its job. She felt completely dry despite having been carving through the air for a while. She wasn't sure how long she had been up there, but it certainly felt as if it had to be somewhere around her record time. She could feel the fatigue setting in, though, and prayed that what she was looking for would show up soon. Her prayers seemed to be answered. Woori squinted through the torrential rain, barely making out what looked like a boat just a few yards ahead and down below. After another second or two, she had confirmed that it was, in fact, the vessel she had been searching for. She began to descend towards to surface of the angry sea. It was like sitting down when your legs were sore from working out; it was painful, and it took everything not to just collapse into the water and let the waves swallow her up.
She stopped just above the water. Around her, she could spot four people. "How many of you are there?" She shouted over the roaring wind. The majority of the people seemed to be passengers. They were panicking, reaching out at her, yelling and screaming for help. Didn't they understand that she was hear to help them?! Why couldn't they just answer her questions? She tried again as a young woman grabbed onto her leg, nearly pulling her under as a wave crashed against the side of the sinking boat. Woori panicked and pulled her leg free, accidentally kicking the girl in the face. Well, might as well rescue that one first. "How many of you are there?" She repeated, urging her voice to rise over that of the storm, like the two were having a shouting competition.
It seemed like she was getting nothing out of any of them. The only person that seemed to have any authority at all was laying unconscious, only his life vest keeping him our of reach of a watery grave. Woori floated over to him, shielding her eyes as the wind whipped the rain into them. She reached down, checking for a pulse. It was difficult given the circumstances, but she found one. "I'm getting him out of here, and then I am coming right back" She screamed. The others didn't seem to like that at all, but Woori was sure she wouldn't be able to handle carrying another person, especially given the fact that she was having enough trouble keeping herself aloft. She had definitely surpassed her own record. She was running on sheer panic, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She had almost completely forgotten that this wasn't real, that actual lives weren't at stake. She knew if she tried to tell herself that now, she'd lose all her strength.
Woori tried pulling the man up, but it was too difficult, so she sank into the water. She swam over to him and pulled his arms over her shoulders, locking them together in her grasp, and took to the sky once more. It was slow going and she couldn't seem to rise more than ten feet or so above the ocean, but she managed to stay afloat. If her brow was drenched with rain, sweat, or sea water, she didn't know. It had to be a mixture of both.
She finally managed to get the unconscious captain back to the helicopter, but all she wanted to do now was to lay down and go to sleep. She was just physically drained. Her legs shook as she carried herself back to the doorway, staring down into the swirling waters. There were 4 other people out there and she had kicked that girl. She couldn't really let her die. With a groan, she jumped off, remaining higher above the water now that she wasn't weighed down by a body. The effort and time that it took to return to the boat was far greater than the first time and she was shocked to see that the vessel was over halfway beneath the waves now. Another good few and it would be swallowed up.
"Ok, I'm back!" She announced and she saw the panic-stricken faces look up at her. The fear she saw in their eyes hit her hard. She had to save them all. She had to. The people left were considerably smaller than the captain. Perhaps, if they didn't wiggle around too much, she could take more than one. "Alright, you" She pointed to the girl who had grabbed onto her leg before. "And you." She pointed to a slighter woman who looked as though she would be hardly more than the weight of a weather. "Why them?!" Shouted a heavier man, looking mad with fear, trying to get closer to Woori as she lowered herself into the water to try and pick up the two women. "Please, stay back sir" Woori begged. She was getting terrified now. The man was still coming and he was a faster swimmer than the second woman. There was no doubt that he would reach her first and try and climb on, and surely that would be the end.
Woori bit down on her lip. She waited as long as she could. With the first girl secure on her back, she took back off into the air. The frail woman looked up at her in disbelief, but Woori knew that if she stayed down there, the larger male would have drowned her along with him, and then no one would be rescued. "I'm so sorry, I will be right back" Woori called. She felt guilty and it was eating her up inside, but she definitely had made the right decision, hadn't she? She had no time to second-guess herself. This was a disaster and one couldn't doubt the decisions that they made in times such as these.
The trip back the second time went faster than the first. The captain was awake now, being tended to by emergency staff within the helicopter. Woori dropped off the girl, who was bleeding a bit from the nose from her earlier kick, and immediately took back to the sky. She willed herself forward, propelling herself with thoughts of how if these people died, it would be entirely her fault. Of course that wasn't true, but Woori had a tendency to use negativity towards herself to motivate her. As she reached the site, however, her heart sank. Where was that frail woman? She couldn't see her anywhere. There was the man, still struggling to stay afloat, but the woman was gone. With a sinking feeling, one that seemed to go beyond the pit of stomach, one that was dragging her heart with her, Woori realized that she must have drowned.
She had no time to waste, though. Time was ticking. She lowered herself into the icy waves for the third time and the man clambered violently onto her. He was dragging her down a bit and Woori got a mouth full of freezing salt water. She forced herself up higher, grunting from the effort of trying to get herself and the man into the air. It was like the night on the bridge all over again. The rain had been streaming down then too, lightning had been carving up the night sky it streaks of brilliant white light. She had been only six years old back then, and yet she had managed to keep herself and her mother afloat. How had she done it? How?
She hadn't been focusing on just herself.
"Think, Woori, think. Remember what you've been training with Char" She took great, shuddering breaths, water filling her lungs. The man was freaking out on her since they weren't going anywhere. Together, the two crashed back into the water. Woori hadn't been prepared. She was swallowed up by the waves. She kicked furiously in any direction. Her face broke the surface of the water and she gulped down oxygen. Frantically, she looked for the man but couldn't find him. She began to whimper. Where was he? Where was he? She dove beneath the waves, trying to open her eyes to search for him, but the combination of the cold and the salt was too much.
"Go Woori, your simulation is finished"
As quickly as it had started, Woori was standing in the middle of the danger simulation room. That's right, this was all a test. It wasn't real, but as Woori took her leave, shutting the door behind her, she couldn't help but feel that she had let two people die out there in the middle of the ocean.