The impact was not as rough as I had expected it to be. I thought there would be people screaming as their heads were being torn off and I would have felt like the world had just run me over. Or, I thought that I wouldn't feel anything at all – I would be killed instantly. But no, it just felt like a satellite had just fallen out of the sky and landed on me. And no, I don't mean an artificial satellite; I mean a natural one – like the moon.
Not the most pleasant feeling I've ever had, mind you.
But, right after the millisecond of bone jarring, unimaginable pain, it was over. Sure, I was still shaky, but I was alive. I looked to my right. The piggish man that had sat next to me was now slammed against the wall, his eyes widen open and his head bent in a strange position. I could tell – he was dead. His neck had broken on impact, killing him instantly.
I looked to my left to find Cole and Andy working their way out of their seatbelts. Seeming to know that eyes were on them, they turned to me and sighed.
"You're alive too?" Andy asked as if it were the most ordinary question in the world to ask, having finally managed to unhook his belt despite the dead body lying across him. He was trying not to take notice of it as he pushed it off of him, and stood up, along with Cole and me.
"Hi," I heard behind me, and I saw Kyle. He was standing up and holding his arm to his chest. It wasn't broken, but he had a long cut down the side. I saw the plastic bits sticking out of it. I then looked at the nearest plastic item – his window.
That's when I noticed we were in even more trouble. Half of the window was underwater. I looked down and, sure enough, we were all standing in about half a centimeter of water, but it was rising quickly.
"Guys, we're sinking." I said, and not a moment too soon. Just then, the water pressure seemed to become a bit too much for the air-tight doorways, and they burst open. Sea water came rushing in, and all four of us made eye contact. We knew we would have to get out of there, and fast. The water now filled the bottom half of the plane, and was still rising.
Since the doorways were beginning to get covered by water, the water was not rushing as much anymore. The four of us made it to the nearest emergency exit and propelled ourselves out of it.
Just outside, we found ourselves about ten feet from the surface. We hadn't noticed how deep the plane had gotten in the ocean. Holding our breath, we all swam up. We broke through the water, gasping for air.
We then looked at each other, a mixture of shock and sudden realization at the same time. We all had just one question running through our minds – were we the only ones to survive? I thought back to the little girl playing with her teddy, and I couldn't help the tears that built up in my eyes. I felt Kyle swim up against me and give me a hug, something very unbecoming of strangers. But, I realized we weren't strangers; we were survivors, and the only ones, by the looks of things.
Just when those thoughts were settling down on the four of us, a head popped out of the water. It was a woman – one of the three that had made the scene at the beginning of the flight.
"Thank you black belt," she said, and jokingly patted herself on the back. She seemed to be the youngest sister – Phoebe, I think her name was. Her shoulder-length brown hair looked almost black from the water, and a bit of her make-up was running down her face. Subconsciously, I lifted my left hand up to my face and pulled it back. There were droplets of black on it; my make-up was coming off as well.
While I chastised myself for thinking about my make-up in a time like that, another head popped up from the surface. It was another one of the sisters – the eldest, Prue. Her styled black hair was now drooping down to her shoulders and her make-up was falling quickly from her face as well. People obviously do not think of using waterproof make-up on an airplane flight.
"Phoebe," Prue gasped, still trying to catch her breath. The two embraced, happy that they were both still alive. Cole, Kyle, and I came closer to the girls, quickly realizing that the water was cold and we needed to stay close for warmth. Another head popped up, surprising all of us, especially the two sisters who had just released each other.
The head was male. The guy had blonde hair and calm, blue-green eyes. He, also, was Hott on my guy scale, but so were the other three guys. Of course, I wasn't thinking about that at the moment, though. I was thinking about who the hell he was.
While I was processing my thoughts, the man looked over at Kyle's arm, which was still bleeding heavily. He swam quickly over to the slightly younger man and took his injured arm. He began to inspect the wound, causing Kyle to push him harshly away.
"Who are you?" Kyle asked, the man, cradling his arm again. The man held out his hand just above the water.
"I'm Leo, a medical resident." He answered, and began inspecting the wound again. He looked over at Cole and pointed to his expensive suit jacket. "Let me borrow that," he said, and Cole quickly complied. It definitely seemed like this Leo guy knew what he was doing.
Leo took the jacket and, with just his bare hands, ripped it in half. He wrapped it up with one half of the sports coat, and made a makeshift sling with the other. Yes, people, this was all while we were trying to stay afloat. And yes, the plane had filled with water only two minutes previously.
Just when Leo had finished his work on Kyle's arm (three minutes since water), Prue and Phoebe gasped.
"Piper," they whispered at the same time, and looked below us. We couldn't see the plane, even though the water was crystal clear. We had been in the middle of two Pacific land masses when we crashed – not quite to Hawaii, but quite a ways away from California. Not the best place to be, mind you.
The two sisters embraced while the guys and I looked on them. We felt sorry for them – they had just lost their sister in a plane crash.
All of our eyes looked up, though, when the surface bubbled again. Out of it popped a head – a female head. But, it wasn't the one the sisters were hoping for. The head was that of the little girl I had seen playing next to her father on the plane, and she still clutched her teddy bear tightly to her chest as she doggy paddled to stay afloat. Her blonde curls bounced as she sobbed her heart out into her soaked teddy's head. My instincts kicked in as I jetted through the water to the kid and wrapped my arms around you.
"What's wrong?" I asked, realizing as I said it that it was a very stupid question. She had been on a plane that just crashed and she saw a lot of people die. Of course I knew what was wrong, but it was just better to hear it from her. The response I received, however, was unexpected.
"The lady," she said in a strangled voice, "the long-haiwed lady that hiccup helped me hiccup went to sleep!" The girl was probably about six and couldn't say her R's yet, making it a few seconds before we had understood what she said.
Prue and Phoebe's eyes immediately widened, and Phoebe dived as Prue grabbed the collar of the man nearest to her – Andy.
"What are you waiting for?" She screamed, "Save her!" The four men followed Phoebe below the surface, leaving on me and freaked out Prue. As Prue nervously waited (she obviously wasn't the best swimmer in the world), I turned to the girl in my arms.
"What's your name, sweetie?" I asked, and she looked up with me with her tearful blue eyes.
"Rachel Gardner," she said, and sniffled again. I watched as she hugged the stuffed bear in her arms even tighter, which made me realize that it had a button-eye missing. I, following her example, hugged Rachel closer to my body.
Just then, the boys and Phoebe popped out of the wavy surface of the Pacific Ocean. Cole and Leo were supporting the limp form of Piper by wrapping her arms around their shoulders. They slowly swam behind Kyle, Andy, and Phoebe, who were all looking on anxiously.
"Does she have a pulse?" Andy asked. They obviously hadn't checked for a sign of life before bringing her body to the surface. Cole pressed his fingers against Piper's throat for a moment, and then pulled them back. He nodded, and Prue raced over to the bunch.
"I would think so. She wasn't convulsing when we were down there." Kyle said. He must have, in his training, learned things about medicine and death for his field work.
Just when he had finished speaking, Piper opened her eyes and began gasping for air, startling everyone. Cole and Leo almost dropped her, but held on just in time. Cole lifted Piper off of himself and handed her over to Leo, who supported her effortlessly as she allowed air into her lungs. I couldn't help but admire the woman as Cole swam over to us – she had risked her life to save a little girl who was a complete stranger to her.
However, what Cole said got my attention.
"I've been thinking, guys, and… what are we going to do now?"
AN: Hey, guys! Sorry for not updating for a while - I've entered this new program for school and it's tons of work (and I mean TONS) so I haven't been able to write much. I know this is just a stupid excuse, but I really am trying to fit writing in. Hey - it's five minutes 'til the new year for me, so wish me luck on it, will ya? Thanx for reading my fic, and please don't forget to leave a review!