20| WAY TOO MUCH RUNNING

[ Chapter Twenty ]

❝We're outnumbered. And I am not dying today..❞

[The Force Awakens]

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When Adelina next opened her eyes, all she could see was sand, and her head and side throbbed painfully. It took her a few minutes to figure out what happened and when she realized where she was and that she was in fact alive, she remembered.

Adelina touched her side remembering the pain and she felt the dried blood. She cursed before trying to get up. She pushed herself out of the ruined fighter before grabbing ripping off a piece of fabric and wrapping it around her side. The wound didn't look too bad but she worried it would get infected if she didn't find water to clean it soon, so for now she tried to wrap it as tightly as possible.

When she stood up, swaying a little to keep her balance she suddenly remembered Poe and Finn. Her eyes widened as she realized neither man was here and she started freaking out.

"POE! FINN!" She yelled but the area around her was silent except for the slight creaking.

She started to walk, wondering if they had been thrown out and could be somewhere nearby. She looked behind her to see flames on the other side of the TIE fighter and she grimaced.

Suddenly she saw someone running towards her. Adelina looked around for a weapon but didn't find any so she just turned towards the figure and yelled, "Don't try anything, I'm armed!"

The man stopped and looked at her confused, "You're not."

Adelina breathed out a sigh of relief recognizing Finn but her heart sunk again realizing Poe wasn't with him, "Where's Poe?"

"I thought he'd be here." Finn admitted.

"Oh." Adelina sighed, "Um, he's not. Do you think he left without us?"

"I hope so but I don't think he'd leave you behind." Finn told her.

"He's done worse." Adelina sighed, peering inside the TIE fighter and grabbed a blaster that was on the ground before Finn lurched forward and looked inside it himself. He only had time to pull Poe's jacket out before the fighter started sinking into the sand.

"Finn!" Adelina yelled, pulling him backwards before he was taken into the sand with it.

"Thanks." Finn said sadly before handing her the jacket, "You should have it."

She shakes her head, "He's not my boyfriend. I don't want his jacket." She gestures to him, "Besides, it will look better on you."

"Oh okay." Finn responded in a confused voice, "Well we should try and find water."

Adelina nodded as they left the crash site.

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Adelina was sure they'd been walking for hours. Her entire body ached. Training had never hurt her this much and now she wished she'd trained harder back on base. However, nothing could have prepared her for this grueling experience.

Finn insisted that they couldn't slow down until they reached some sort of civilization but considering the only civilization the two of them had seen on this planet had been blown up, Adelina was dubious there'd be one anywhere nearby.

However, the two soon walk to the edge of an enormous dune and peer over it. There in the distance is an outpost. Adelina almost breathes a sigh of relief but Finn looks down at her and motions to her side.

"Adelina. You're bleeding again." Finn tells her.

Adelina looks at her side and sure enough the cloth is beginning to stain red. Adelina curses aloud. It's doubtful that anyone at the outpost will be able to give her medical attention or will want to for free as neither of them were carrying any form of currency.

"We need to keep going otherwise we'll both faint from dehydration and heat exhaustion." Adelina told him, "I'll be okay. It's not deep. At least, it didn't look too deep."

Finn nodded, not questioning her which almost made Adelina miss Poe who would have fought her on this out of 'concern' for her.

The two continued on. It took them a couple more hours to reach the outpost and by that time, both of them were almost ready to pass out. Adelina's makeshift bandage was completely stained red and her head was pounding.

Finn wasn't much better. He could barely see or walk just because of the heat.

They stumbled through the merchant stalls and the people and creatures shopping until they saw a trough of water. At any other time it would have looked terribly unappetizing due to the creature drinking from it. Adelina was sure there were about fifty diseases that they could get from the contaminated water but right now it sounded better than anything.

Adelina scooped some of the water into her mouth after she had collapsed beside it. Finn followed suit but the two looked at each other and spit the water out in disgust.

"That's gross." Adelina complained but ignored her thoughts and scooped more of it into her mouth.

When she'd had her fill, she looks at her wound. It's stopped bleeding for the moment and though Adelina desperately wants to clean it, the water in the trough is not at all suitable for that and Adelina would rather leave her wound unclean for the moment than contaminate it more.

Finn is still drinking when he is suddenly pushed aside by the creature. He rolls and then sits up staring at Adelina.

"What?" Adelina asks.

"Are you okay?" Finn asks.

"Other than being exhausted, light-headed and wanting to nap for the rest of my life, yeah I think so." Adelina answers.

They then hear a scream and Finn moves to his feet. Adelina follows the noise and spots a young woman fighting with a couple attackers who are trying to steal something from her. Adelina tilts her head as she watches impressed with the girl fighting back.

"Well, she's a badass." Adelina smirks.

Finn also seems impressed as he watches the woman push the attackers to the ground before she pulls a sack off of something. Adelina gasps seeing BB-8.

"Holy sith!" Adelina says in surprise and steps forward towards the woman and the droid.

The woman seems to hear her and BB-8 also beeps in surprise. She suddenly rushes towards Finn and Adelina. Adelina grabs Finn and runs as soon as she sees the angry expression on the woman's face.

The two weave through the marketplace but as neither of them know the area, the woman soon catches up to them and slams into Finn, pinning him to the ground. Adelina glares at the woman, "Who the hell do you think you are?"

The woman ignores her pointing her staff at Finn, "What's your hurry, thief?"

"Thief?" Finn asks.

"We haven't stolen anything." Adelina remarks.

BB-8 rolls up to Finn and shocks him causing Finn to scream, "Ow. Hey what?"

"The jacket. The droid says you stole it." The woman tells them, still pointing her stick at Finn.

"What? I've had a pretty messed up day, alright? So, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop accusing me" Finn screams again as BB-8 zaps him for the second time.

"Where'd you get it? It belonged to his master." The woman tells them.

"Yeah. I knew his master." Adelina crosses her arms over her chest, "BB-8, you know me."

BB-8 looks at her and beeps happily and Adelina smiles sadly at him, "Good to see you too. Now, where's CC?"

BB-8 beeped back a response and Adelina smiled, "Thank goodness. And um, about Poe."

"He and Adelina were captured by the First Order! I helped them escape but our ship crashed." Finn paused and looked upset, "Poe didn't make it."

BB-8 rolled off to the side, hanging his head.

"I'm so sorry." Finn responded.

A single tear streaked down Adelina's dirty cheek as Finn said the words that Adelina so hoped weren't true. As there was no sign of Poe's body, she still assumed that he could be alive though she was still furious that he'd left them behind.

The woman looked at them and then back at BB-8 before speaking, "So, you're with the Resistance?"

"Not so loud." Adelina shushed the woman. She was willing to bet that there were many First Order spies on this desert planet, and she didn't exactly want to alert the world to their presence.

"Obviously. Yes. I am. I'm with the Resistance, yeah." Finn nodded, clearly lying.

Adelina rolled her eyes as Rey lowered her staff, "Both of you are? I've never met a Resistance fighter before, let alone two."

"Well, here we are." Adelina mumbled.

"Yeah. This is what we look like. Some of us. Others look different." Finn responded causing Adelina to roll her eyes again and elbow him in the ribs to shut up.

"BB-8 says he's on a secret mission, he has to get back to your base." The woman told them.

"Oh. BB-8 told you about that?" Adelina asked.

"Yeah. Apparently he's carrying a map that leads to Luke Skywalker, and everyone's after it." Finn said.

"Luke Skywalker? I thought he was a myth." Rey asks, confused.

"Um-" Adelina starts but then BB-8 beeps madly at something.

"What is it?" Rey asks and Adelina looks at BB-8 concerned before the two of them peek around a tent corner. Two stormtroopers were talking to some thugs and all of a sudden they point in Adelina, Rey and Finn's direction.

Adelina motions to BB-8, "We need to go, now."

"What are you doing?" Rey asks as Finn grabs her hand and pulls her ahead of Adelina and BB-8.

BB-8 leads Adelina in the direction of where CC is hiding. She throws off the tarp covering CC and motions to her droid to follow behind them.

Laser blasts rip past Finn and Rey and hit a cleaning unit causing steam to spew out of it. Rey screams as Finn pulls her out of the way.

"Where the hell do we go?" Adelina screamed over the noise.

"I don't know." Finn screamed back.

They zigzagged through the tents. Adelina could hear Rey telling Finn to let go of her.

"I can run without you holding my hand." Rey instructed.

"BB-8, CC, stay close." Adelina yelled behind her at the two droids who were rolling across the sand.

Rey led them through another tent and ducked behind some rusty wares to take cover.

"They're shooting at all of us. Why are they shooting at all of us?" Rey yells.

"Yeah, they saw you with me! You're marked." Finn responded.

"Well, thanks for that." Rey spat.

"I'm not the one who chased you down with a stick." Finn yelled back, "Does anyone have blasters around here?"

"I have one if you'd all stop arguing and listen." Adelina told them.

"Great. Give it here." Finn instructed.

"No way. We're outnumbered. And I am not dying today." Adelina responded.

Finn suddenly shushed both women and peered out.

"What?" Adelina asked, ignoring Finn.

He grabs both Rey and Adelina and pushes them forward.

"Stop taking my hand!" Rey yells at him.

"What's going on?" Adelina asks just as a TIE fighter screams into view.

Adelina curses as another one follows close behind it and both begin to shoot at the three as they race across the sand. A massive blast shoots at them and sends them all flying. Adelina screams as she lands on her hurt side.

Rey blinks and crawls over to Adelina first and helps her sit up. Adelina motions that she's okay and then looks at Finn who seems to be lying unconsciously a few feet from them. Both of the women crawl towards him.

"Hey." Rey pushes his chest.

Finn comes to and blinks at them, "Are you guys okay?"

Rey looks at him confused before answering, "Yeah." She holds out her hand to pull him up.

"I'm not but don't worry about me." Adelina says after Rey helps her up.

All the locals are running every which way as the TIE fighters come back around. Adelina, Rey, and Finn sprint across the sand, closely followed by the two rolling droids. Rey straps her staff to her back as she leads them into the spaceport.

"There's no way we can outrun them." Finn says as he looks back at Adelina who is clutching her side, "Especially when she's hurt."

"We might, in that quad jumper." Rey points ahead of them at a parked four-engine ship.

"We need a pilot." Finn says.

"We've got one!" Both Adelina and Rey say at the same time.

"You're a pilot?" Finn directs his question at Rey.

"Seriously? I'm a pilot too." Adelina scoffs.

"And you're hurt." Finn tells her.

"I can still fly a bloody ship." Adelina says back.

Finn looks in another direction and points to a ship, "What about that one?"

Adelina instead looks in the direction of the TIE fighters as Rey responds, "That one's garbage."

They run for the jumper but the TIE fighters get there before they do and fire at it blowing it up. The three come to a standstill.

"Holy sith!" Adelina yells and Rey looks stunned before leading them in another direction.

"Alright. The garbage one will do." Rey announces.

They all follow her as she leads them to a ship that Adelina immediately recognizes. Her mouth drops open from shock as they run towards it, dodging blasts from the TIE fighters.

"That is not a piece of garbage." Adelina immediately defends the ship which turns out to be her father's ship.

"Yeah it is. Look at it." Rey scoffs.

"Appearances can be deceiving." Adelina responds as they run up the ramp of the millenium falcon.

Rey hits a button and the ramp closes. She races towards the cockpit closely followed by Adelina.

"Gunner position's down there!" Rey instructs.

"You ever fly this thing?" Finn asks her as he climbs down.

Rey throws her staff to the side as she jumps into the pilot's seat and flips switches. Adelina sits down in the co-pilot seat before following suit. BB-8 and CC roll in as the engine whines to life.

"No. This thing hasn't flown in years." The woman responds and looks at Adelina, "You're a pilot?"

"Did you not just hear that argument?" Adelina asks, pressing a few buttons and looks at her, "Yeah, I am. Not as good as Poe Dameron but I'm getting close. And I know this ship. By the way, what's your name?"

"Rey." She responds smiling, "What's yours?"

"Adelina." Adelina grins back.

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Back on Base

No one had heard from Poe Dameron or Adelina Solo in days. Some of them had assumed that they were dead. Others assumed they had been captured by the first order. But Nara hadn't given up hope that they would return any minute.

Nara missed her best friend like crazy and she hated the fact that no one knew where she was. She was supposed to have checked in after they retrieved the map piece but it had been radio silence since they had arrived on Jakku. Nara knew that Adelina would have obeyed her mother's orders and was sure that something terrible had happened.

She'd been checking in with General Leia every hour and she was sure that the general was sick of her coming into her office. But Nara didn't know what else to do. She felt utterly helpless. General Leia refused to send out a search party because she didn't want the first order to find them.

Jessika Pava had volunteered herself to go search for the two pilots but General Leia had refused insisting that Jessika was too precious for the resistance to lose. Nara was furious that the general wasn't going after the best pilot they had and her own daughter, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Nara had been about to go herself but Jessika had caught her before she could and told her not to. Jessika had been right, of course, as Nara wasn't nearly prepared enough to look for them by herself.

Nara was determined to figure out what had happened to her best friend, and she would do it with or without the help from her general.

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Word Count: 2698

Hey guys! I am officially into the twenties for this book. 

What did you guys think? Poe was obviously not in this chapter which was super sad. What did you think of Adelina meeting Rey? And Adelina and Finn interactions?

I love you all and will see you soon with chapter 21.

POSTED ON:

10. 28. 19