Chapter 9 - Hunting game (1/2)
Rey knew she was in extremely dire situation. She had managed to slipped from the original ambush but since then she had been attacked every 10 meters and even if she was proficient, her stamina was not infinite and she had started to feel the toll in her body. If she had not trained so hard all these years, she would have already collapsed long time ago. Shye could see Broom grin while saying ”I told you!” nbehind her. She had six opponents and she had managed to get rid of one already. In this group there were two who were very troublesome and she may be able to win again them individually but they were using the mob tactic very effectively.
- ”Give us the droid and we'll share the portions!”- said one of the opponents trying to encircle her.
- ”Why should I if I can get all?”- said Rey trying to gain time but knowing that every second that she stayed in this place would mean more enemies to deal with.
One of the persuers jumped on her but Rey easily knocked him down with a strong hit in his head. She had showed an operning in purpose and the idiot had fallen for it. She still needed to deal with five more and she tried to look for a place that could give her an advantage but then one of the danegrous ones ran to her while the other used a net on BB8.
- ”No!”- Rey lost her focus and then she felt a strong punch on her face.
She felt her body tumbling but she managed to maintain her equilibrium rejecting to fall. She knew that everything would be over in the moment she touched the floor so she send a scorpion kick amost blindly and she felt the impact in the man behind her. She used the impulse to regain her footing and immediately attack the enemy that had thrown the net on BB8 with a stabbing move that landed in his plexum. She immediately made a 360º horizontal sweep to hit the enemy that she imagined was behind her but she saw in horror that the man had guessed her intentions and evaded the land and was now directing a knife to her ċhėst. Rey used the momentum of her previous move and forced her body to make an unnatural movement to avoid the cold steel that was about to take her life. She felt the knife cutting her clothes and touching her skin but it was not deep. However, the previous movement sent her to the floor but she immediately was restrained by two of the guys that had been waiting for her to make a mistake.
- ”It's over”- thought Rey watching how BB8 was being collected and the man with the knife approaching her with a broken nose. and with obvious bad intentions.
- ”I'm going to enjoy this!”- said the man and then Rey saw a figure running from behind her opponent.
- ”Let her go!”- said the man with dark skin who was approaching at a quick pace.
The man in front of Rey did not react on time and was hit in the back of the neck with an elbow strike that sent him unconscious to the floor. The good samaritan did not stop and sent a punch to the man who was restraining Rey making him release her. Rey did not lose her opportunity and liberated her arm from her other captor immediately using a throw that took her opponent completely by surprise and sent the poor scavenger to the floor where he lost some teeth.
- ”Who are you?!”- asked the man who was being punched by the black man but he did not respond and just continued attacking until he connected three effective jabs that sent the scavenger to dreamland.
- ”You really need to learn how to counter this”- said Rey and BB8 beeped in rage.
Rey smiled to his response and looked at his helper. He seemed to be extremely exhausted and she wondered what this man wanted with them. There were no good people who just saved people for the sdake of it. Everyone had schemes and hidden intentions and even if she was grateful by his ȧssistance, she would not lower her guard. She was about to ask when she heard voices coming from around the corner.
- ”More people are coming!”- said the man trying to recover his breathe- ”you should hide!”
- ”Come with me!”- replied Rey who knew that now this man was also a target and it would not be correct to just abandon him- ”I have a hideout nearby.”
- ”Lead the way!”- he said and followed Rey as fast as he could.
After some minutes of intense running, Rey entered a hut which seemed to be abandoned. The man just was out of breath and grabbed his knees taking huge quantities of oxygen.
- ”Is it safe?”- he asked trying to control himself.
- ”It will be for a while”- said Rey brooding over the man in front of her. His eyes were the type she had not seen before. They were... pure and without malice... not even Broom had had those and this made her wonder who was this man.
- ”Beep beep bomp kan leee”- said BB8 almost immediately and both Rey and the man looked at him
- ”Me?”- asked the man in a very confused voice.
Rey did not take any chances and swang her quarterstaff to the man. He evaded the attack and tried to take distance but Rey was faster and the man was too drained to be a match so she easily sent him to the floor and placed the quarterstaff on his neck.
- ”So what did you do with the owner, thief?”- said Rey whose voice had become extremely cold.
- ”What?”- said Finn who was extremely confused and tired to react as fast as he wished.
Finn would have been able to submit Rey easily if he were in his top condition. After all, she may be very skilled and strong but Finn had received military training in combat. Although he had to admit that her movements were too unpredectible but once he adapted to them it would have been easy. However, he was absolutely in his limits and his body was about to collapse due to exhaustion and hunger. Maybe it had been a bad idea to help her. He had thought of establish a link with a native of the planet to get information and maybe acquire a means to get out of the system but he did ot imagine he was going to be attacked by the same person he had helped.
*electric shock* Ziiiiip
- ”Ouch... hey! what?”- asked Finn in anger after being electrocuted by the BB droid.
- ”The jacket!- said Rey pushing her weapon more in his neck- ”The droid said you stole it”
- ”I know what he said! I understand Binary!”- said Finn with an annoyed tone- ”look... I've had a pretty messed up day, alright? And I'd appreciated if you stopped accusing me of... ouch!”
- ”Just confess where you get it and what did you do with the owner”- said Rey using a very threatening tone and Finn could feel her blood thirst- ”Otherwise I'll have to use rougher methods.”
In that moment Finn saw the jacket he was wearing and remembered what Poe had said about this droid. He sighed and looked at the small BB unit who seemed to be waiting to know the fate of his beloved companion.
- ”They belonged to Poe Dameron that was his name right?”- Finn said looking at BB8 with sadness- ”He was captured by the First Order. I helped him escape but our ship crashed...”
Finn stopped for a moment while remembering the valiant pilot that had helped him to escape and that had given him a name. He did not want to say the next sentence but he knew that this BB unit deserved to know so he steeled himself.
- ”Poe didn't make it!”- Finn finally said and he felt a sharp emotion in his gut after the words got out his mouth- ”I tried to helped him... I'm sorry.”
BB8 lowers his head in sadness and after a while he went away to the corner of the hut. Rey saw the little droid who was now completely alone with pity and respects his wanting to be alone. She helped Finn back to his feet. They saw BB8 and then looked at each other in an awkward silence.
- ”So... you're part of the Resistance?”- said Rey to break the ice and disrupt the uncomfortable moment. Finn seemed a little confused by her question but then he coughs a little.
- ”Obviously”- said Finn seeing an opportunity and following the idea this girl had believed- ”yes, I am. I work for the Resistance.”
Rey smiled with an expression that said that she didn't buy it. Finn was not being totally honest and Rey could tell so she imagined that maybe he was not a very important member of the organization. However, she decided to chat with Finn since she wanted to know more about him and why he was different from the other people she had known.
- ”I've never met with someone from the Resistance before”- she said while looking at him curiously like trying to uncover all his secrets- ”you don't seem pretty heroic to be honest. Ive heard all of them were powerful warriors and daring pilots.”
- ”Well...”- said Finn feeling a little offended since he knew that he could defeat her at any moment, well once he was in optimal conditions... but then he remembered that he was not really in the Resistance- ”this is how we look... Some of us at least... Others are much more heroic, believe me.”
Rey giggled to this answer and she did not know how to measure the man in front of her. Maybe he was not heroic but at leats he had a good sense of humour. Was he pretending or he was really that innocent. By his posture and way of fighting, Rey could see that he was trained and was more skilled than he had shown her until now. He definitely had killed before and his demeanor was the one of a warrior. However, his actions did not match with this description and that confused Rey in a great way.
- ”He was defeated to easily by me and he just surrendered too fast”- she thought trying to organize her ideas- ”His eyes tell me that he has great convictions and inner strenght but at the same time he looks desperate. He has killed before but his eyes are pure and clear. Just who is this man?”
It was the first time Rey had been unable to judge the character of a person since it was a very important skill to survive in Jakku. She really wanted to know more about this person.
- ”I'm Rey”- she said remembering that they hadn't introduced yet- ”what's your name? Unless of course that the Resistance forbid using your names.”
- ”Eh... not at all”- said Finn thinking that this girl was just all over the place- ”I'm Finn. Nice to meet you, Rey.”
- ”Likewise, and thanks for the help”- she said and then she turned to see BB8 who was very silent and she sighed- ”BB8 said that he had a secret mission and he has to return to his base.”
- ”Apparently he has a map that leads to Luke Skywalker and everyone is after it.”- said Finn quoting the words of Poe.
Rey's face illuminated to this words and she got closer to Finn with a radiant smile that took Finn completely unguarded. How could a girl which was about to skin him alive a moment ago to get information smile with such innocence? Finn did not have much experience with the opposite sėx and the ones that he met never smiled like this so he was lost on how to react.
- ”I thought it was a myth”- said Rey who had heard so many incredible stories about Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo and the Jedi who had magical powers and who could destroy a city with a movement of their hands.
Rey had played many times imagining herself to be a Jedi with great power who could lift a mountain with just a thought and who could wield a ”laser sword” eliminating the villains who were sent into the air with a mere finger and saving thousands of innocents.
- ”Yeah, me too”- said Finn understanding why Rey would say so.
To be honest Finn had heard about Luke Skywalker and how he had become one of the greatest obstacles to the First Order. In his training he had been told that if you found him, it was better to escape and prepare to die fighting. He had heard crazy storiers about how he had anhililated a full batallion of stormtroopers by himself and that had destroyed a full fleet some years ago using a single X-wing Starfighter. Finn had always hought of him as a fictional monster created by the Republic to instill fear in the First Order, but it seemed that the First Order took him very seriously.
- ”Bon Bweep plariii!”- BB8 alerted and both young people watched outside using the nearest window. Finn started to sweat profusely when he saw two stormtroopers talking with a merchant not so far from their location. The merchant was pointing at where they were at the mment.
- ”It's the First Order”- said Finn to Rey who seemed to be confused- ”We have to move!”
- ”Why?”- asked Rey but Finn was already on the move- ”they have no reason to...”
Bang!
A blaster bolt entered for the window and hit one of the walls. This stunned Rey completely, so Finn ulled her arm and used the back door to escape. Rey recovered from the initial shock and started to run by herself into the laberynth streets of the Niima Post.
- ”What is happening?”- she asked since she did nt understand why the First Order was shooting at them.
- ”They want BB8!”- explained Finn as he ran- ”they must have received news that you and him so you're marked.”