War Child--Rogue One

XXI

That next morning, I track down Gaspard and Erwan and sit next to them.

"How was your night?" Gaspard asks.

"I thought after a week I'd stop being sore. I think I've used more muscles than are in the human body." I stretch my arms above my head.

"It gets worse," Erwan says.

"Don't be such a pessimist. It only got worse for you because you pulled something in your back," Gaspard retorts.

"And did they give me any time to recover? No." He points a finger my way.  "Don't get hurt."

I shrug.  "I'll try not to."

"Don't try.  Just don't get hurt in the first place."

I raise my eyebrow and look at Gaspard with a laugh. He shakes his head, but he's smiling too.

We move out to go to the tanks.

There's a huge flash of light and everyone starts yelling. It's chaos. I find Gaspard and stand near him, looking up towards the sky.

It's the weirdest thing.  Have you ever seen a soap bubble being popped?  I'll assume you have.  Now think about it, very slowly, with the shimmery, iridescent walls collapsing in a wave.  That's what it looks like.  The force field around the prison is collapsing in that exact way, as a fleet of what appear to be decked-out merchant ships fly in, shooting at the defense towers.

Stormtroopers and prisoners run around at random, attacking each other.

Gaspard grabs my arm.  "Come on.  This way!"

We run along the wall, heads down, to the back of the women's block.  A small group of prisoners in drab garb huddle in the corner, guarded by a few with blasters.  Gaspard whispers what sounds to be a word in Huttese, a language I've heard around but never learned.

One of the guards gestures with his head for us to join the group and we press in.

"Aren't we just sitting targets here?" I ask Gaspard quietly.

"Hopefully in the confusion nobody will come here to look for us," he whispers back, but he doesn't look all that confident or hopeful.

I look around, looking for Erwan.  He's nowhere to be found, but I recognize the girl, Linami, from the transport that brought me here.  She looks angry, and glares at me when we make eye contact.  I hold it for a second, then blink and glance away.

Two human women, one older than the other by about ten years, sprint towards our corner, gasping the code word.  The older of them falls, pulling the other down by her hand.  The younger cries out and hits her head against the packed dirt.  Neither of them move.

I look up and see who shot the older woman.  A cluster of about a dozen stormtroopers advance on us.  Everyone starts to push back.  I'm shoved backwards into Gaspard and my ankle twists.  I hear someone else break a bone and nearly gag.  The handful of rebels with blasters fire at the stormtroopers, but they're scared and the troops are trained for this situation.

Linami slips and her head collides with my shoulder.  We both hiss with pain.  I wrestle my arm up and pull her down.  Gaspard follows our lead.

"The Force is with us," Gaspard keeps chanting.

Linami glares at him, but doesn't say anything.  People fall around us.

She looks around quickly.  "Play dead."

I don't question her, instead going limp over my own lap, folding in probably the worst position to play dead in.  She slumps over my back, and I start to push myself so I slide towards her, unintentionally ending up on her lap.  She tenses, then I feel her purposefully relax.  I keep my eyes closed, but I want to see where Gaspard ended up.  Someone falls on top of both of us.  Linami jerks, and slowly pushes them off of her head.