Independent

Chapter 35: the restless Guilt

"How much further?" I stopped in my tracks and crouched down, placing both hands on my knees for support. The force drained my energy, physically tiring me.

"Not much longer, we didn't walk a lot though. Are you okay? your face is yellow," Gavin got closer examining my paling skin.

I nodded my head, which made me even more light-headed. Gavin carried on but kept glancing back at me every once in a while.

Edd was right behind us. He hadn't really spoken since what happened. It was all too fast. One moment we were laughing, the next we were being attacked. How did the stormtroopers even know how to find us so quickly?

"There it is," Gavin pointed towards an old building.

We entered to find the swarms of people piling up inside to get a drink or two. It was like almost the whole town was there.

In the middle of the bar was a huge ring of people. In the centre was a fight. People were betting on the winner with anything they've got. The screams and shouts urging the fighters to lash out on each other made it difficult to hear anything else.

The walls were made of old stones with different coloured lights bound to them, and yet I found it difficult to look around me.

"How are we going to know which one is the pilot?" Edd called out over the noise. I shrugged and looked at Gavin who looked as clueless as Edd was.

"Great!" I rubbed my forehead and scanned the place one more time.

Two men were sitting at one table. They were arguing according to the body language and the scowls on their faces. But neither of them were pilots as they were too distracted.

"A pilot always stays focused, Mala you never leg your guard down not in air and not on the ground, its what we do," Castor said as he straightened my back and guided my eyes to the correct path.

Behind them sat a handsome man. He was laid back. His arms resting on the chair while his legs were thrown over the table. He was smirking as he looked around.

"Poe!" I shouted as loudly as possible. He lifted his head in alert and looked towards me. His smirk slowly vanished as he realised who I was and he got up from the chair. That's it. He was the pilot Nora was talkimg about, the best of the best. I pushed past the people as I tried to get to him.

"Mala, wait for us" the voice came from behind but it sounded distant just like everything else around me.

I was coming back. I was going to see them all again. Leia, Finn, Chewie and the rest of them. Poe was one of the only comforts I had at the resistance base,or so I remember.

"Vanity, I can't believe it," Poe reached out to me and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug before I could say anything, "We thought you were dead or worse caught by the first order".

"Yes because being tortured by Kylo Ren is worse than being dead a very clever remark Poe," I rolled my eyes. Knowing that he did in fact get caught before, " a lot has happened, but there is no time to explain".

I felt a hand grip my shoulder, "Don't run off like that again, looks like we found our pilot Mala," Edd spoke up.

"Mala? Wh-" Knowing what Poe was going to ask I stopped him.

"It's a long story, these are Edd and Gavin, guys meet Poe the best pilot I know," I introduced them.

The conversation was interuppted by a loud roar. One of the fighters has been knocked down. A person from the crowd was looking around frantically. Their face was obscured and he or she carried a poorly hidden blaster, in their belt.