My Unfortunate Fate

chapter 77

Courage is more important than victory.

Coming to terms with how high up we are is what makes me the wooziest. Luckily, with the Force's help, I can remain stable as we approach the other skyscraper. When we reach the halfway point between the two buildings, droids pile into the entrance of our destination.

"Turn around!" Anakin orders. "Go back!"

I turn around—as the rest of the group does—and droids begin to pour in from the other building.

We're surrounded. Trapped.

I ignite my lightsaber, hoping to protect us in any way I can. Crosshair and Wrecker lose their balance and fall off the narrow pipe, catching themselves on a flimsy support beam.

"Anybody got a brilliant idea?" Anakin asks somewhat rhetorically. We have no way to escape, so I doubt anybody has the plan to get us out of here.

"I do have a brilliant idea," Tech says, raising his hand and then pulling out his datapad. "When the locals attacked us, I recorded the creatures' distress call."

"He records everything," Hunter comments. "It's a hobby."

"—Which allows us to call those flying creatures to us."

He plays a loud, high-pitched noise, and I cover my ears. This is one of the most torturous sounds I've ever heard. My feeble attempt to protect my eardrums hardly works as I can still hear it quite clearly. As I open my eyes, half a dozen flying creatures emerge from the dust storm, headed in our direction. Tech wasn't exaggerating when he called this a brilliant plan.

"This is our ride out of here!" he says. The creatures fly past us and loop back around, crowding the air around the pipe bridge.

"Okay, so how are we supposed to mount them?" I ask.

"How else? We jump!"

The rest of us are stunned into silence, dreading this inevitability. Maybe I shouldn't have asked. Then none of us would be this scared.

"All right, I'll go first," Anakin announces, bracing himself before leaping into the unknown. He falls and lands safely on one of the creatures' backs.

Well, here goes nothing.

I follow suit, returning my lightsaber to my belt and jumping. I free-fall and end up on the same creature as my husband, holding on to him for additional stability. He chuckles, turning his head as I press my chin into his shoulder.

"You all right?" he asks. So caring and considerate.

What have I done to deserve him?

"Yep. Just a little...spooked."

"You'll be okay. Hey, do you know how to fly this thing?"

"No. Do you?"

"No..."

I sigh; of course, we don't know how to execute this brilliant plan. "Here, I'll try."

I let go of him and we switch places; I grab onto two of the creature's appendages and try to connect with it. I close my eyes, petting the creature's scaly surface in an attempt to ease its thrashing. I inform it, through the Force, that we have no intention of hurting it. We merely need transportation to get us to safety.

"Y/n!" Anakin calls out. I turn and face him, worried that something might have happened. He is still on the mount, which relieves me. He points behind us, into the dust storm, and I can make out lanky flying objects. Oh, blast. The droids can fly?

Our creature veers left, and I hang on to set it back on the right path. "It's okay," I whisper, more to myself than the animal. "Don't panic."

I hear blaster shots zooming past us, causing my heart to race faster. I feel Anakin's back press against mine, warm and stable despite our rocking.