"Markus? Markus!" Reiko is shaking Markus's shoulders to wake him up. He saw what happened to his son after he was forced to get out of the VR from Markus' monitor.
"Hey Marky, wake up!! Please... Dad's here ... please wake up... hang in there son..." he brought his son to his chest as he removed the headgear. "Hey, it's all done. You've won, c'mon, you just have to wake up, son!" Reiko exclaimed and did everything to revive the helpless kid. He tried to resuscitate as he pressed the wound on the kid's side to stop the bleeding.
Reiko managed to get to his son right before he fully fell to the abyss when Kirk was finishing him. He knew that the fight continued and that his son is in a dire state. He was about to lose his consciousness but his son did something to get him back from the VR.
Markus, on the other hand, was slowly losing consciousness. He fell on his knees as the under his feet is slowly succumbing to the abyss. He is also losing himself in the real world from all the blood that was lost thru his wound.
Kirk gained his consciousness on the other unit but he's not fully aware of his surroundings anymore. He stood and said, "I will... not let you... get out of here alive, Markus! This is not yet the end." then he pushed something under his chair and he collapsed.
"What are you saying?" Reiko saw Kirk pushed something. It was some kind of a trigger placed under his chair. "What was that?" he kept his son close to him. He can feel him breathing slowly and turning cold.
Reiko heard a sound and looked around to find where it came from.
"That was near..." he looked more and he noticed it was from a bag under his son's chair. He opened it and saw the laptop blinking red. He opened the lid up and the timer started, flashed on the blue screen.
3:49
"A bomb? Seriously?!" Reiko exclaimed and stood immediately away from the bomb. He turned away and left the laptop in front of the monitor. He went straight to the exit and carried his son outside the cafe, not noticing the headgear hanging on his arm.
"The building was already shaking from the earlier explosion and it might really bury them down when the bomb on the laptop will explode as well," he muttered to himself.
Reiko looked for the kids he left before going to Markus, then he heard from the smoke and dust from the falling debris, a familiar voice shouted.
"Ol' man! Oi!, we're here, are you alright?" Dave shouted; coughing, waving his right injured arm at Reiko.
"Mr. Reiko!" Cassandra exclaimed.
He and Cassandra were carrying Louige on their shoulders, helping him to walk on his feet.
"I'm glad, you're all safe..." Reiko replied with glee in his eyes. He can't believe how blessed they are to get out from all this mess but he still has a cold feeling. His son on his arms felt lifeless that it made him look pale as well. "...Get out of here, fast! The building will explode, soon." He added and he led the kids to run away from the building.
"Hai!" they all shouted.
When they reached the middle of the alley, a loud bang shattered the cement behind them. The collapsing building brought dust and gusts of dirty wind. The building exploded and buried whatever's left under.
They ran past the alley and reached the highway. He looked around for help and a Charlotte running towards them with distress.
"Thank God you're safe!" Charlotte exclaimed. She hurried towards the group and hugged Cassy and Dave. "Louige, you're injured. We should get you to the hospital immediately."
Kevin and Edson followed her and reached the kids to help.
"Don't mind me yet, Charlie, tend to Markus first, he needs help fast." Louige brushed her off and he saw Reiko's devastated face.
"How's Marky?" Cassandra asked with a worried look. "How is he?" Her heart skipped a beat as she walks towards his helpless son in his father's arms.
"I don't know. He's getting cold." Reiko's voice lacked strength and courage. He was trembling all the way down. "We need to get him to the hospital immediately," he said
Charlotte stood frozen. She placed her hand on her son's arm and she can feel his life fading.
"Get a grip, Charlie!" Edson grabbed her arm and said with an urge. "We need to get him to the hospital, right? Then let's get going!"
"Ahh, we should hurry...!" Louige replied, he lost his strength and fainted.
"Let's get him to the car!" Kevin exclaimed and they ran towards their only vehicle.
"How about the others?" Charlotte asked.
"The captain will come with you, I'll stay here with the kids. We'll be right behind you." Edson said. "You get the severely wounded to the hospital and you should hurry!"
"How about Ken?"
"Don't worry aunt Charlie," Ken replied. "The bleeding had stopped a while ago and I can wait until rescue arrives."
"Ahh." Brent agreed. "Looks like the city was back to consciousness again now."
They all looked around and saw the people slowly starting to get back to their feet. Some shook their head and was confused why they're lying on the ground. Some stood faintly fazed on the scenery around.
Sirens started to sound around the city and are now slowly moving. The silent city had come back to life with full confusion.
"You're right. Then, we'll go to the hospital first." Charlotte said, turned her back, and walked towards the car. "Edson, take care of the children," she said before entering the car.
"Don't worry about them. I'll also apply the first aid." Edson waved his hand and sat beside the children. He started treating their wounds.
The captain drove the car past the chaos in the city. He wailed his siren to make way for their emergency.
"What happened to him?" Charlotte said in fright seeing his son bathing on his own blood. She doesn't care what happened to her. She is not minding her own wounds and bruises after she saw her son's state. "How did it happened inside that shop?"
The three of them sat on the back seat, placing their son between them. Reiko held Markus on his lap, still compressing the wound.
"He's in a bad condition," Reiko muttered. He grits his teeth in anger and frustration. He can't do anything to lessen his son's pain. "We need to get him to the hospital immediately. Please drive faster!" Reiko exclaimed.
"I know. I'll find a way to make this fast." Kevin replied as he stepped on the gas. "This will make us slow now," he said while looking at the mirrors. "People are already starting to gain consciousness."
"Of course they will start to wake up from that sleep," Louige said. He sat on the front seat while compressing his own wound. "... Since the server was destroyed, nothing can send that interference anymore. It also automatically disconnected from the Apollo and stopped its transmission making all the affected individuals back to normal," he explained.
"In other words, the server was really in that Sunny Go Cafe?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah." Louige replied. "He installed that program on the unit that Markus used. The only way to stop it from running is to counter it by winning the game."
"So that was really a battle that will decide the fate of the city and its people, huh..." Kevin said. He took a right turn and honked a few times to make way on the highway.
"That was only possible with the use of the Phantom Algorithm that Markus has." Louige looked at him from the rearview mirror. "I scanned that Algorithm and I saw the codes made from old earth tech."
"That's why he's so confident that he's the only one who can defeat the hacker." Kevin turned left and make a full stop. He got his half body out the unrolled window and shouted at the pedestrians before they were able to pass by.
"I'm really sorry I called him for this, Charlotte," Louige said in remorse and fell unconscious again.
Charlotte didn't say a word. She thought it is not the right time to deal with the guy when her son is on the brink of death.
They drove fast straight to the nearest emergency gate of the Hospital in Zone 3 and dashed inside.
"Please help my son!" Charlotte exclaimed with an indescribable look. She was terrified to lose her son. Her hands are shaking and they all look pale and helpless.
Apparently, the doctors and the nurses affected by the dissonance that the Apollo had transmitted gained consciousness before anyone else in the city and was confused by what happened went directly to do their job. They were trapped inside the hospital because of the people hurt during the incident, their hands are full with all the casualties and the hospital itself became chaotic. But when they saw the kid carried by his father bathe in blood, they immediately responded to their helpless patient.
"Lay him in bed and let us check him. Nurse, get the--" the doctor instructed his personnel, and they hurried to get their tools and medicines to apply first aid to Markus. They set up the apparatus connected to his chest, monitoring his heartbeat. They put up the oxygen, doing their best to revive their patient.
"Marky, hang in there..." Charlotte cried on the bedside, losing her mind watching his helpless son losing the little life he had left.
"Charlotte, it's alright, Marky can do it... he's strong, you know.. he's our son." Reiko is holding Charlotte's shoulders trying to be strong for both of them. He placed his hand on Markus' head and tried very hard not to cry.
"We need space Ma'am, Sir," the nurse said, "Could you please leave the room, we promise we'll do our best." She gestured to Charlotte and Reiko to stay outside.
"But..." Charlotte refused but she then followed their instruction as Reiko agreed to it as well.
They stood outside the room, looking from the glass window seeing the room inside. They saw that the doctor and nurses were doing their best to revive their son. They felt some sort of discomfort looking at the situation.
"He can do it, I know he can," Reiko said reassuringly. "He's a great kid."
"We had bad experiences in hospitals," Charlotte replied. "The last time we're here was when he was 11, he got into a fight and a shard of radiation-infused material was stuck on his back making him unconscious for days. All those times he got a high fever." she continued. "They got the shard out but the pain in my chest didn't go away until he woke up."
Reiko listened carefully and brought Charlie's head on his shoulder. "He will be fine. I understand the pain you've felt before because you were alone. Even Ned's company was not enough but now it's different. I'm here, for you and for Marky." he looked her in the eyes and said, "Don't worry."
But a sudden chill blew on them and everything inside the room seemed to be uncontrollable. The doctor and nurses were all startled.
"What's going on inside? How's Marky doing? Oi..." Charlotte felt all her blood just dried inside. Her body became cold as ice.
"Marky... ne, Marky?" Reiko felt the same, he turned pale as if he's the one who had lost his blood.
They entered the room immediately and went straight to their son. Charlotte reached her son's face. She felt it was cold.
Reiko approached hesitantly, rejecting the situation.
"Time of death..." the doctor said.
But Reiko interrupted him and rushed to his son's side, glaring at the doctor.
"Oi,, wait a sec, Doc,,, don't say he's dead. My son is not dead, yet..." Reiko stared on him blankly and he felt his tears fell from his eyes. He grabbed the lab gown and raised it near his face. "HE's not dead yet, is he?" he shouted.
He heard Charlotte's controlled crying, his hearing fades slowly in the commotion. He heard that the doctor replied, "we did what we can but it is already too late, he had lost a lot of blood and his innards were damaged severely. Even if we transfused blood the moment you came to the hospital, we fell a minute behind, and even if you came on time, the operation won't yield a positive chance of survival."
Reiko heard all of that but he refused to believe it. He doesn't want to give up on his son. He was almost drowned with his own regret. He slowly let go of the doctor and turned towards his son. He saw Charlie crying on the bedside, hugging her son.
"What the hell have I done?" Reiko muttered. "What's with that "everything's going to be fine" if my son is here with me but I can't do anything to save him, again."
Wild ideas of doubt and despair came crossing his mind but suddenly, he thought of a hopeful idea.
"Wait, is it possible that he is still conscious at this stage?" Reiko asked. He's still trembling but he was reasoning with all confidence.
"What are you saying all of a sudden, Sir?" the doctor replied confusingly.
"You know..." Reiko tried to explain. "The theory saying that a person who just died had a few minutes to spare thus doctors can still utilize that time to revive the patient."
"Ahh I probably read that article in a magazine,,, why do you ask, sir?" the doctor replied. He was amazed that the parents didn't believe what he had announced about their son.
"What if... he is still conscious deep inside; we can still revive him, right?" Reiko added
"Theoretically speaking, even if the body had just died, it still has a few minutes to spare until his unconscious state fades. In other words, that unconscious mind is still there, slightly alive. It was in the study of the late Ginsei Danika, the pioneer in the field of CryptoBiology. But, it remained as a theory until now. It was not proven by any scholar nor any doctor yet so I guess it will remain as a theory and is unreliable." The doctor explained
Reiko saw the headgear on the floor he might have dropped when they entered the room.
"Then I would like to buy that opportunity and exploit it to save my son. I will definitely bring my son back." Reiko seemed to have a newfound hope.
The medical staff stared at the desperate face of the man gambling for his son's life. He stared at them without fear and a gloomy face.
"Haven't you heard what I said, sir?" the doctor tried to reason out. "It was never proven yet. AI welding has always been a pipe dream."
"Ginsei Danika is my mother. I know how it goes and what are its stakes." Reiko turned his gaze to the weeping mother beside her lifeless son. "She spent most of her time studying that possibility and I stand with her, even if that means we never have time for each other. If this works, I can forgive her for all the wasted moments she had never spent with me if it can save my son right now."
Charlotte stared back at Reiko with blank watery eyes and desperately said "...Do it please..."