embarkation | what the hell is left of me?

what the hell is left of me? | for fightsforher

The entire world might not be in complete shambles, but the world that Anna could see definitely was. After they ran out of petrol somewhere near the coast, in the freezing winter weather and with no provisions or food or even a plan, she wondered what would get them first - the undead or the elements.

While the weather tried its best, the zombies certainly tried to stay in the competition. At some point, she got separated from Steph and Nick. Anna hoped they were still alive (she couldn't think otherwise, she couldn't let herself think she was alone in the world, even if she hadn't seen another living soul in weeks), but she knew she had to push on. That's how she managed to scrape by, raiding farmhouses for food and replacing her giant candy cane with a more seasonably inappropriate cricket bat. By mid-February she found herself to an abandoned RAF base and, through some frustrating trial and error, managed to get one of the radios working. Then she sent out a distress message, although it really didn't end up where she thought it would.

Maybe it was because she figured out how to use the system correctly. Or, maybe, it was an artifact of the fact that she had no idea what she was doing. Either way, the message pinged out into the wide universe, winding up a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, in the hands of a fellow resistance fighter.

At first, Anna was just relieved to grasp some kind of human connection, even if she had a hard enough time believing Finn's story as much as he probably had believing hers. But it was the first interaction she'd had with any being outside of the groans and grunts of the zombies who plagued her every time she left her shelter, and she was glad for it. And that was good enough, until, somehow, the undead got the message that there was fresh meat hiding out in the radio tower and began their own decent.

Which was the point where she asked for help.

Finn said a few days, but they passed by slowly and at this point, she isn't sure she'll survive the hour. She's been cornered up on the roof, bat in one hand and freezing wind whipping around her, with no means of escape than up. If Finn doesn't come through for her, Anna knows her number was up.

He's her only hope.

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It's right about then, really, that a sound like a whining jaguar cuts through the air, and shatters the sound of moans as the clouds overhead are scattered by the appearance through them of an eyeball-shaped ship, one with two flat wings on either side, shot down from the sky.

And fired into that crowd. Blasters may not be great at all times, but they do make good work of dead things walking and it wasn't long before the eyeball looking craft was hovering over the now mostly empty roof. Of course, part of the roof was also gone, but... still...

The bottom of the craft popped open and Finn peered out, upside down as he threw a rope ladder, down for her, and a cargo tie down for any bags she might have.

"Anyone need a lift out of this crazy galaxy?"

Yeah, Finn sort of stole a tie fighter to come to get you, Anna. A prototype long-distance scout fighter, but a tie fighter nonetheless.

Anna ducks her head when the firefight starts, clinging to the roof and praying that Finn has a better aim that she worries he does. But he manages - the hoard is cut down in an impressive hurry, and before she can even raise her head he's hovering over her, tossing her the ladder.

"What, you take the scenic route?" She still manages to smile as she grabs the ladder, securing her backpack and cricket bat to the cargo tie before hoisting herself up towards the ship. Seeing Finn's face fills her with a warm wash of warmth that she hasn't felt since she said goodbye to her father, and she climbs up into the ship in a hurry, grasping onto his shoulders once she's on so she can steady herself.

"Get me out of here."

Finn laughs and shakes his head as she speaks.

"Hello to you, too. Welcome aboard the Rose."

He pulls her in, then starts the winch to pull in her stuff as he gets up and closes the main hatch. Sliding into the pilot seat, he directs her to the one behind him, where the secondary gun controls are.

"Ever handle blasters?"

Once her stuff is in, they start rising in the sky, the engines biting the air with a slowly growing whine.

He glances at her over his shoulder, gesturing to the headset next to her chair.

Once she's onboard she starts to have second thoughts, pausing before she slips into the seat and looking at the controls. They are all completely alien to her, which is expected, but it helps to truly bring home the reality of the situation - she's escaping a zombie apocalypse, leaving her world and everything she knows behind, to escape with some bloke she's never met across the galaxy.

All she's ever wanted to do as long as she could remember was get out of the haven, to leave all of it behind, and now she was. In a big way. But she wasn't going to for good. She was going to figure out how to find Steph and Nick, and she was going to come back. She'd be back.

For now, she grabs the headset and puts it on, examining the controls in front of her. "Yeah, no problem, took blasters in year four," she responds sarcastically.

Finn laughs and glances back at her as he takes the fighter up into the clouds. "It's okay. I can talk you through it in orbit, or somewhere where the shambling mounds of what the hell are not coming close."

He lets the shop settle into orbit as the stars come into view, and turns in the chair to face her, offering his hand as the chair spins to look at her. "So, hi! I'm Finn, your friendly neighborhood rescue pilot. Nice to meet you, Miss Anna on the radio."

She wishes this felt like being in an airplane instead of a spaceship right before she realizes she doesn't actually know what being in an airplane feels like. Is this the same thing? She feels a little queasy. Hopefully, she doesn't get airsick.

"Hi, Finn." She puts her hand out to shake his. "I... Thanks. For coming to get me."

She looks down for a moment, taking back her hand. She's still wrapping her head around this, trying to fully understand what is happening and coming up short. "This is your spaceship?"

"You're welcome. We don't leave anyone behind who cries for help. Ever." Finn nodded. Poe and Rey had taught hi that much, along with the General.

"It is now. I liberated it form some assholes who were strafing a farming moon. they won't need it anymore." He had had some help doing so. Thank you, Chewbacca.

He watched her, and nodded. "Are you okay? It sounds like you have been through a lot."

'Liberated.' That's a new word for stealing. Anna's into it.

His question gives her pause, though, and she falls silent for a long moment. She's avoided the specifics of what she's been through, but how do you casually explain to someone that you watched your world fall apart, the people you care about fade away, in the span of 24 hours. That you watched your best friend die and left your father behind to the same fate--at Christmas, no less--and spent the last month caving in the heads of what was left of the human race just to survive, but for what? Anna didn't even know if there were still enough people left to rebuild a new world, or where she would even find them. She didn't know if she was just biding her time until the inevitable, which she would face all alone.

Granted, that wasn't the case anymore. She did get her one wish - to get out of town. This wasn't really the way she wanted to do it, though.

"A lot... is an understatement." That's the most she can manage at the moment. "You're the first living person I've seen in over a fortnight, if that clears it up for you."

"I get it. How about this. We go get you some food and drink in you, and some sleep at the system cantina a few systems over, and then you can make decisions on a full stomach and sleep. What do you say?"

He knew how it felt to have your world upended and destroyed. It has happened to him twice, and he remembers the second time in vivid ptsd.

While a big part of her doesn't want that-she just wants to find Steph and Nick and track down whatever group of survivors might have assembled somewhere and then figure out the next step-she knows Finn is right. In all reality, going back now that she's found a way to escape is insane, isn't it?

"I have to come back for my friends." Was that the right word? Steph had always been alright but they weren't ever particularly close, and Nick was, well, Nick. All of Anna's real friends were dead, though, and the one thing in common they all really had was that they were alone. But maybe, in times like this, that was enough.

"But food would be nice. I can't remember the last time I ate anything besides crisps or slept more than three hours at a stretch." She manages something of a smile. "Think there's someplace I could get a bath? That'd be nice." Speaking of things she didn't have much of an opportunity for.

"I understand. And I wouldn't expect any less of you." He had learned, in just a few days, that she was loyal, and fierce, and he knew she was like him.

"I'll bring you back, I promise. We'll get you fed, and some sleep, and some weapons, and then we will go back and get your friends, and get them out of this trouble too." He nodded. He had dropped several survey drones over the planet and he knew that by tomorrow, they would have a better idea of where the living were.

"And a bath, yes. The place I am thinking of has a bath for sure." Maz always made sure she had those up and running. "In the meantime, I brought this." He fished out a cantina with cool water in it, and a box with some actually pretty tasty protein bars in it.

"Something to tide you over."

Once he offers the water and snacks she takes them happily, gulping down a few swallows before she tears open one of the protein bars and takes a bite off of it. It's certainly better than anything she's eaten lately, and it takes a lot of willpower to not wolf it down.

It's quiet for a long moment as she eats, before she finally speaks again.

"Why'd you come get me?"

He starts the ship moving as he checks the instruments and he smiles at her as she asks that.

"Because I was the lost one, once, and people came for me. I was the one afraid, and someone helped me out. I figure, someone has to be willing, always, to help others, or else, what is it all for?"

His voice is soft as he says it, and he glances at her, cheeks a little darker, as he shakes his head. "Sounds silly, I know, but... its what I think."

"It's not silly."

She knows the feeling. She's fought against all odds to save her dad, and then kept fighting even after, because she wanted to believe there was enough left of the world to save. She never wanted to give up on the world like Savage did - to hate people so much that he would let them be killed. Knowing she isn't alone in that hope perks her up a little.

"I've been wondering about that lately... Wondering if it was even worth fighting. I don't even know who's left out there, besides me." She finishes eating and leans back in the chair, although it's not easy to make herself comfortable in such close quarters. "I'd almost given up before I got ahold of you."

he flashes her a smile for her words, and nods.

"Its worth it, to try to find out, to try, even if we fail. Hope, and trying to help are never wrong." There is passion, fierce and heady,m in his words. He never wanted to fight, but he came to fighting for a girl, and then grew past that to live for helping others have a fighting chance.

Everything he is, he will give, until he has no more to give.

"There is a blanket under the seat, if you need it. It will take us a few hours to get to Takodana."

Space is a little cold, though she just came from England in February so the cold isn't exactly foreign to her. Still, she takes him up on the offer, fishing the blanket out and folding herself up inside of it to warm up a little bit.

"So... Tell me more about yourself, Finn from the radio. What're you doing stealing a space ship?"

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