SUMMARY: Through the woods and into the swamp as the trio near the end of their journey.

A/N: This is probably my favorite chapter.

Leia was having a strange dream.

She dreamed that she was back in Alderaan, playing in the woods. In her dream it was raining, not a thunderstorm but one of those light, mild showers that Alderaan had. She kept trying to climb up the trees, scrambling along the rough bark and leaping for the lowest branches. In her dream she kept failing though, so eventually she started running under the roots, which were big and deep, dodging her parents and giggling as they tried to catch her until she was so worn out, her father had to carry her back to her bedroom.

A deep rumble and a flash of light against her eyelids brought the dream to an end just as swiftly as it brought back the memories of the last few days. Her head hurt and her body ached and her stomach felt like it was tumbling inside her and she was so, so cold. She was sick, very sick. She was far from home. And her father was not here.

She was being carried, however.

Leia scrunched her face as water kept splashing into it. Not only was she cold, she was also quite wet. Her clothes were sticking to her and itching at the edges, but she was too tired to scratch. The blanket wrapped around her was equally wet and cold and itchy. And she ached, all the way down to her bones. It took a huge effort just to breathe; to open her eyes was almost more than she could handle. All she wanted to do was sleep, but she ached so much that whenever she drifted off, the pain would bring her right back.

It felt like she was being carried on the back of a roba, what with the constant swaying motion and the swish of plants and water. It was the hardest roba she'd ever ridden, though. Finally, her curiosity made her open her eyes just a little.

She blinked some more droplets from her eyelashes. All she saw was a lot of gray and black. She could hear a distant sizzle, as if something was burning. Everything looked very fuzzy, too, except for the black parts nearest her. That part looked shiny, water sliding down the hard surface and along the many ridges in fat drops. It didn't surprise her when she angled her head slightly and saw the edge of Vader's mask, only inches from her face. She had known that it was him all along, while she was drifting in the haze between sleep and wakefulness.

He must have become aware that she was awake, because she saw his mask tilt in her direction, down towards her face, hidden beneath the hood of the blanket. But he didn't stop or speak, he just looked at her for a long moment, and kept walking.

Leia let herself be rocked by the motion for a bit, closing her eyes once more. With the blanket around her, all the sounds of the environment came swaddled in softness, from the constant fall of rain splashing into the water, to the swish of the plants rubbing against each other, to the slash of Vader's lightsaber as he cut through them. She looked at it with a dreamy distance, watching the pattern of his movements as he used it. It was the brightest thing for miles around, the red glow reflecting off the wetly shining armor. She kept staring at it, fascinated by the way the light played off the surface. It was so cold that parts of his helmet was starting to fog up, and Leia was tempted to start drawing funny patterns in it. Then she blinked and realized that would be really, really dumb, and also she couldn't even move her arm very well anyway.

Vader kept the lightsaber in front of him, away from his body. Every few inches he would swing it in an arc in front, cutting so that the plants would fall away from them. It was almost comforting, the repetition of the movement, the way the plants fell before him in one large mass to lean against the other stalks.

And there were other sounds, only identifiable when she opened her eyes again - the hiss of rain running down the saber, the hard splash as plants fell into piles in his wake, the sloshing motion of water as he and Luke pushed through the flood. If she looked over his shoulder, she could see a path of burnt stalks behind them. It lasted only a few feet; beyond that was only gray fog, and already the building was so far away it was no longer visible.

Vader halted.

The sudden stop jolted Leia enough to make her look. Vader was staring straight ahead, through the thick stalks. She rubbed the water from her face, but there were more falling from the edge of the blanket where it hooded her face. Squinting, she tried to see what he had seen.

There was movement ahead - a shadowed figure slouching amongst the stalks.

Vader shut off his lightsaber. His hand dropped to his side; why, Leia wasn't sure. He held himself perfectly still, except for his mask. Leia could see his mask follow the figure as stumbled in front of them, crossing from the right to their left. And Leia, feeling the tension in his arm, held her breath as well.

It was probably only a minute of waiting, but to Leia it seemed to take forever before the infected person was out of sight, fading into the rain. Only then did Vader reignite his lightsaber and begin to move forward, slowly, cautiously. She wondered why he hadn't just killed it, like he had so many others even when she'd complained about it - but thinking about it too hard made her head ache, so she stopped.

Where was Luke? She knew he was there but she could not see him. Making a massive effort, she lifted her head and looked around. Finally she spotted him, almost hidden on Vader's other side, beneath his cloak. He had his own blanket wrapped around him and was holding onto that with one hand. His other hand was bunched in the folds of the cape. Leia thought worriedly that he needed to stay warm; the water was up to Luke's waist and he was shivering. He can't swim, she thought distractedly, and here he was, having to wade through muddy water in freezing rain.

Luke seemed to sense her gaze. Peeking out from beneath Vader's cloak, he smiled tentatively at her. His hair was slick with rain even with him sheltering under the cloak, and he was breathing heavily from the cold water and having to keep up with Vader's strides. Each of his steps looked more like he was hurling himself forward through the water. The movement created a small wave, swirling water around Vader's own form, knocking aside twigs, bits of plant material, and clumps of grass.

Leia smiled back wanly, feeling guilty that she got to be carried while he had to walk. Perhaps she ought to switch places with him… which was the last coherent thought she had for a while. Between the sloshing water and the patter of rain and the rocking movement, her mind drifted off, numbed by the unchanging landscape, the hum of the lightsaber. They and the plants and the pelting rain were the only things in the world, and the dark mass of the woods at the edge never seemed to grow any closer.

But Vader kept going, treading through the flood of water that now reached his boots, while Luke followed, hidden as best as he could beneath his cloak. He had dropped his hand, flinging his arms around to try and give him more momentum to push through the water. Leia could see nothing else around, not even the infected, and she allowed herself to fall into that half-dreamy haze. Sometimes they would stop again as an infected person, or two, or three, passed by them. The first few times she opened her eyes to watch. The infected were just shadows most times, figures passing through the grain slowly and then disappearing into the fog. After a while she let herself be lulled again into sleepiness by the rhythm of walking, stopping, walking, stopping again…

Time passed, she wasn't sure how much. It felt like it could have been seconds or it could have been hours when she opened her eyes again. The sky was so dark that she could not tell if it was morning or noon or evening, it all looked the same. They were still surrounded by the plants, but they looked even taller, so tall and heavy their tops drooped back down in the rain to hover just over his helmet. Leia stared at them as they passed by. In the rain and with so many, they were a blur of thick, grayish stalks, thorny leaves justin out every few inches and grainy heads poking out at the top. They swayed in the rain, back and forth, leaves twisting eerily.

Until, with a shocked yelp, Luke went sprawling into the water.

The sound of the splash and Vader's voice shouting "Luke!" startled Leia awake. She pushed herself away from him, for one wild moment thinking Vader had done something to Luke and ready to protect him. But Vader swung around so quickly his lightsaber would have slashed through Luke's head had it still been there. As if realizing that, he doused it but kept it in his hand as he reached straight into the water.

And Leia saw, to her horror, a thrashing form in the water being dragged away from them - being pulled by something into the stalks where they couldn't reach. Vader's hand came up empty, only holding his lightsaber. Luke's blanket sank into the water, disappearing.

But Vader moved forward with a surge of strength that pressed Leia against him. His lightsaber split the air, glowing red, and he hefted it, changed his position on it, and stabbed it straight into the water.

A huge ripple split the water, an entire line stretching five feet in front of them, going straight into the stalks of grain. The ripples turned into a bubbling foam and Leia, clutching hold of Vader, gasped as a sinuous dark form floated up, writhing in its death throes. He pulled back, lightsaber hissing, and shut it off, hooking it to his belt in one smooth motion.

The next second, Vader plunged a hand back into the water, right where the splashing was biggest and strongest - and came out with Luke, gasping and spitting water. Vader had grabbed him by the back of his shirt. Luke was kicking and Leia could see where the big black snake-thing had coiled itself around his leg. But finally it stopped wriggling and went limp, still floating along the water, allowing Luke to pull himself free. Vader hauled him back to his side, a sodden mass, then straightened sharply, pressing Luke to his side. The movement was sudden enough that Leia had to grab hold with her uninjured arm to keep from suddenly sliding to one side.

"Wha-" Luke choked out, shaking water from his eyes.

Vader clamped a hand on his shoulder tightly.

Leia looked around and sucked in a breath as an infected passed right in front of her.

It was so close she could see how the rain had darkened its torn clothing. She could see it was a human, a man, but his skin had turned grayish and… bubbly, she thought, with a sick twist in her stomach. Its eyes were a dark gray too, like he had gone blind, and as it shuffled past her, she caught sight of the dark lines of its veins… exactly like the ones on her bitten arm.

Luke was breathing almost as loudly as Vader, eyes wide. Water dripped off his hair and into his eyes, down his nose, getting into his mouth, but he was holding himself totally still. The infected stumbled through the water, making the stream slosh in big muddy waves around its legs. It sniffed, jerking its head from one side, then the other. Trying to find them, Leia thought, trying her hardest not to move at all, not even to breathe too much. Vader felt like a statue she was resting against, his only movement the slight turn of his masked head as he watched the infected pass by. As it rounded by Luke, Leia saw Vader's hand tighten even more on Luke's shoulder. Luke's face looked like he was in pain, but he kept quiet, eyes widening slightly.

Finally, the infected disappeared into the grain, the stalks parting as it pushed through and then returning with the slap of wet leaves. Only then did Leia feel the slightest softening of Vader's arm around her as he relaxed, removing his hand from Luke's shoulder.

Luke let out a big breath and began to wipe at his face. Vader stared at him for a second, then kneeled down so that they were both level with him. He was still holding Leia, and with him bent down, she was practically sitting on his leg.

"Are you all right?" he asked Luke, loud enough to be heard over the pouring rain.

Leia thought that was a bit of a silly question, because Luke did not look all right to her. He was more drenched than ever before, even more than when they were in the sewer and he'd decided to fall straight into the water. There were flecks of mud soaking into his tunic and dirt leaving streaks along his skin as the rain continued to splatter him. He looked too shaken to speak.

Vader grasped Luke's shoulder. "Luke, are you hurt?"

"N-no," he finally managed to say. He was shaking so badly that his words were coming out in small, chilled gasps. "No… I… don't think so…" His shivering grew more violent, and he grabbed at Vader's hand, without thinking, Leia thought, clinging to where it rested on his shoulder. "What grabbed… what was-"

Vader did not loosen his grip on Luke or shake him off. "Some kind of eel or serpent, perhaps. Or a swamp slug."

"Swamp slug…" Luke's eyes were wide with fear. "W-was it… sick? Infected?"

Vader straightened, removing his hand (Luke looked a little crestfallen at that). He pushed through the water towards the slug-eel-snake thing and gave it a kick.

It rolled over in the water, and Leia saw the head appear - a bulbous thing with several eyes, a pair of long feelers, and sharp teeth. There was a blackened hole in its head where Vader had stabbed it with his lightsaber. He examined it now, helmet tilting.

"No," said Vader at last, making Luke's shoulders sag with relief and Leia release a faint sigh. "That would explain why it was able to find you. The shield only obscures our presence in the Force. A creature like this would still be able to sense any vibrations through the water."

"S-so…" Luke said, still shivering, "there might be more of them? And they could find us?"

Vader turned in a wide semicircle, looking at the stalks around them. Still holding Leia, he tugged Luke closer, back beneath his cloak, before reigniting his lightsaber. Again he turned, searching, hunting, and feeling his paranoia, Leia darted nervous looks around as well, searching behind Vader's massive form. She tried to wound her arm around his neck, but it wasn't responding, like it had disconnected from her brain, so she just flopped it as best as she could over Vader's shoulder. Were they swimming amongst the plants? Lurking in the mud? Or worst of all: gliding silently around them, hidden in the constant ripples and waves of the water as the storm continued to pour down? She stared at the muddy flood around them. If it was in the water then there was nothing they could do; the dirt that had mixed with it was thick enough that she could see nothing.

But finally, he stopped. "I do not think there are others nearby."

"And the - the infected?" He looked around again, at the small gap they had made in the grain.

"There are still many more of them around." He tugged Luke even closer to his side. "Which is why we must remain alert, for both types of creatures. Stay as far from the plants as you can, Luke; if another water creature grabs you and drags you into there, it will make it more difficult to find you." He glanced at Leia briefly, like he was checking she was safe.

She gazed at him from beneath the blanket, lifting her head up as much as she could. "You didn't kill it," she whispered.

Vader turned back to stare at her. After a moment, he said, "It would have alerted others to our position."

She blinked sleepily. "Mmhm." It was tiring to keep her head up, and she dropped back down to rest against his shoulder.

He paused for the space of a second, then looked back at Luke. "Keep hold of me. Do not stray." He lit his lightsaber once again, as Luke grabbed firmly hold of his cape, and looked around them - all around them - one last time.

They moved on. Leia took her arm off of him, feeling awkward, but Vader still said nothing. He acted like he did not even see or feel it. They moved even slower now: Luke was edgy around all the plants after having been grabbed by the eel or slug or whatever it was, huddling so close to Vader that Leia wondered how he wasn't tripping over Luke. Both of them moved even more carefully, pulling back where the plants remained uncut. Vader, she thought, was slicing them down in an even wider arc than before. But that took more time, he had to stop and cut more for every step. And still they continued on, through the roaring rain, the dark mist of it showing nothing ahead except, in rare instances, when a fork of lightning split the sky and thunder rumbled through the clouds.

Vader stopped once again.

Leia, about to fall back into her trance, was jolted out of it. She saw Vader swing his saber in front of Luke, bringing him to a halt as well. When she lifted her head, he was staring straight ahead of them, and even through the mask she could feel the intensity of his gaze.

She turned, trying to look as well, pressing her good arm against his shoulder for support when it felt like her body was too weak to hold her up.

They had almost reached the edge of the field, an area where the grain became shorter and more scattered. But instead of directly merging into the woods, the dense plain dropped off rapidly into a massive swamp. There were places where it seemed people had been clearing it out: places where she saw bushes torn up and piled along the edge of the field, the stumps of trees, pipes laid to drain water, and in the distance, the shape of a tractor-droid.

But even just a few feet beyond that, she could see it was mostly still wilderness. Huge trees rose out of dark, swirling mud. And the water - the ground dropped off into a wide expanse of it. But it was not like the cool, clear lakes of Alderaan. Here the water was as thick and muddy as in the fields. Islands of matted plant life or wet soil jutted out all over the water, and the trees hung over it, low branches and leaves brushing the surface and leaving more material drifting over the already dank water. The rain splashed through the branches and made huge ripples; Leia could see masses of algae and moss hanging off the trees, drifting along the swamp. Sometimes she'd see a giant log and think it was some surface to stand on, only to see it move away or sink into the water.

And moving in and out of the water, barely noticeable until she looked, really looked, were shapes. Humanoid shapes, but slinking through the water like fish, their backs and heads breaking occasionally through the surface only to dive back down. She could see rounded heads and giant eyes on many of them; others were tentacled, making her think of the plant roots - or the infected that had attacked her in the stairwell.

Without thinking, Leia wrapped her unhurt arm around Vader's neck once again. She was surprised, this time, to feel him squeeze her tighter for one brief second. It almost made her let go of him.

Luke stared at the swamp before them, fear palpable. "Are they…"

"Infected," Vader answered before he could finish the sentence. He watched the cresting shapes for a moment, head following one that got particularly close for a few seconds. "Mon Calamari. Some Quarren as well."

Something churned in Leia's memory: her father, discussing politics with an uncle. It had become a heated argument, about a problem in the Outer Rim that was morphing into ones closer to home, especially of non-human beings, hidden under words like "labor force" and "importation"...

"Are they…" Leia lifted her head to stare at them, curiosity overcoming her tiredness for a second. "Aren't the Mon Calamari slaves?"

She was sure she felt Vader twitch under her arm. "It does not matter," he said forcefully.

"They're slaves?" whispered Luke. But when Vader turned his masked head to stare at him, he went silent. He was too frightened to say more, and Leia too tired and in pain. But it lashed at her, the revelation, and it was somehow worse than if they had been other beings. They were forced to come here, someone had made them. It wasn't their fault for getting sick, and especially not their fault for anything they did because they were sick, and now they had no choice in whether they would get better or die.

The downpour of rain was the only sound for a time. "So what do we do?" asked Luke, words so quiet they were almost lost. A strong wind battered them at that moment, whipping at leaves and branches and sending the water sloshing over them. Despite being protected by Vader's cloak, with his blanket gone, Luke was drenched along his back and arms - even more than he already was.

Vader pointed with his lightsaber towards something. Leia turned, the movement finally exhausting her, squinting as water batted at her eyelids. It was so dark with the clouds and the downpour that she wasn't sure what she was looking at, everything kept blurring in and out of focus. But finally, she saw what Vader was looking at: a narrow series of wooden bridges and crossings, a few buildings on stilts out of the water.

"These will lead us towards the woods," said Vader, though Leia did not know how he could be so sure.

Luke swallowed. "So we're going to… swim there?" His voice shook on the last words.

Vader shook his head and indicated one of the trees. It had huge roots that rose out of the water and sank into it, out of sight. "The water is too deep for any of us to swim through it." And Leia, clutching onto him, was suddenly aware of how heavy his armor must be. "I will drop the shield. We will have to jump across and then make our way to the other side."

Luke's voice was small beneath his cape. "They'll find us then, won't they? The sla - the infected in the water."

"Yes. And the ones hiding in the fields."

Luke whipped around at that and was almost tangled in the cape. "The fields? They'll be able to sense us all the way from there?"

"Yes," said Vader resignedly. He moved his lightsaber so it hovered above Luke. "But I will protect you. I will not let them harm you."

By killing them, Leia thought. Killing enslaved beings. She had thought it'd be different when Vader hadn't hurt the ones hiding in the grain. It made her feel sick in a very different way from what the bite was doing to her.

Vader tilted his head towards the wooden walkways. "Come. We must get as close as we can."

They sloshed along the edge of the field until they reached an area where the heads of grain were the fewest, clumps barely sprouting from the flooded soil rather than the large stands they had been passing through. But with every step away from the most carefully tended parts, they drew nearer to the wilder areas of the swamp, and Leia could see the water growing murkier, if possible, and deeper; it splashed in waves against Vader's thighs and threatened to pull Luke into its current. Mud splattered on Vader's cloak, his armor, and all over Luke's face, and he had to swipe at it and the constant rain.

At last, they stopped. Carefully, Vader put Leia down, trying to place her on the steadiest piece of ground available. She unwound her arm from around him, swaying at being put on her feet after so long, and clung to her blanket. Her legs felt like jelly, her head too big for her body, and the world tipped dangerously until Vader put a hand to her forehead. The air seemed to shirt just a little, and something warm spread down her body, steadying her.

He stepped aside, and a glimmer of understanding came to her.

"You're going to stay behind," she said, "aren't you?"

Vader regarded her for a moment, seemingly unsurprised. "They will come for me first," he told her. "I will hold them off while you and Luke get as far as you can."

"But you'll come with us after, right?" asked Luke.

A pause. "Yes, Luke," Vader replied, "I will come with you." He held his lightsaber aloft, the sword hissing as rain scattered over its surface, and held out his hand. "Hold on."

Luke grabbed hold of Leia's left hand, letting her lean against him. Leia felt something change in the atmosphere once more, a sense of sounds growing louder, her vision more focused. The shield, she realized, the shield had dropped. Vader raised his hand.

Their feet left the ground, and she might have yelped if this had not happened to her multiple times already. They soared through the air, Leia feeling her stomach whoosh uncomfortably as they sailed over a stream of mud and water and reeds, over clumps of floating dirt and grass, over strange shapes in the water below, fast enough that their face was drenched with rain and droplets from the trees - until with a thud that almost sent them sprawling, they landed. Leia knew what would happen, waited with bated breath for the telltale screech of the monsters.

It came almost as soon as she thought it.

They swarmed from everywhere - Mon Calamari bursting with a massive splash from the water, gurgling horribly; humans tearing through the fields; Quarren appearing from behind the rain itself; and leaping from the very trees, something huge and hairy.

Before their eyes the mud-covered infected began crawling up the bridge. They hurled themselves out of the water covered in floating plant matter and algae and moss. Vader turned in a whirl, cape billowing out behind him, pushing his hand out. Leia saw several of the nearest infected being hurled backwards from them as if pulled by an invisible rope, disappearing beneath the water. But she knew that would not hold them for long.

A voice echoed through her mind: Run!

Luke pulled hard at her hand - had he heard the same thing? Together they wobbled along the rickety bridge, stumbling over the jutting planks, Leia clutching her injured arm close to her body. It was so narrow they could not even run side by side, and Luke pushed her ahead of him. There were no railings, just impenetrable water on either side of them, and the wood was so slick with rain that if they took one misstep they'd end up falling into it. Leia could see the ripples of water from the constant rainfall - or was it the air bubbles of something lurking beneath? She clutched at the edges of her blanket whilst also trying to balance, the hood flapping off.

There was a small platform just ahead, sitting, like all the rest, on a set of stilts and support poles. From there multiple crossings spread out, but only one led to a building as far as Leia could see, the others disappearing into a thickening fog.

They reached the landing just as the wooden slats exploded beneath their feet.

Leia screamed as a mud-covered infected burst through the wood. It was covered in so much plant matter that she could not even tell what species it was, only that it was shrieking, teeth tearing through the wood as its clawed hands thrashed in their direction, trying to catch them. One hand snatched at her blanket and tore it from her before she even had time to comprehend it. Luke tripped and crawled onto the other side from the gap on instinct, but the blanket was twisted around her unbitten arm. She cried out again as she was pulled towards the edge, the blanket cutting into her flesh, slipping on the wet wood and falling on her back. Her other arm was useless, barely able to scrabble at the entangled fabric. Just inches from going over the edge, Leia saw the water churning beneath her. Struggling to keep from falling in and totally separated from Luke, on either side of the platform, she yelled at him, "Keep going!"

Luke did not say anything. Determination filled his face and Leia knew, as clearly as if she had read his thoughts, that he was going to stay and fight. She opened her mouth to tell him not to be so stupid and to just run -

He grabbed a bunch of the moss growing along the platform, balled it up into one soggy mass, and flung it in all the infected being's face with all the strength he could muster.

The plant stuff walloped the infected and splattered its face just enough to make it loosen its hold on Leia's blanket. She twisted her arm free, then grabbed at a plank, feeling splinters under her palm. Launching herself back to her feet, she fled up the rest of the bridge and took hold of Luke. Together they ran, fast as they could, leaving behind the choking, snorting infected.

They reached the landing and took the only bridge that looked promising. This one sloped upward and was marginally wider; Leia ran side by side with Luke. But the rain sliding down made it even more slippery, and both of them fell at different points, ending up scrambling up on hands and knees as they tried to regain their footing. Gurgling snarls could be heard beneath them, but so long as they kept getting higher it would be all right….

Both children yelped as another clawed hand reached through the water and dug long nails into the wood - there was one on their right, tearing gouges - and then another on the left, making splinters erupt around them. Stick-like arms thrust up and hauled its body up, claws reaching for Luke -

Leia forgot entirely that she had tried to defend them, forgot everything about them being sentient beings, forgot that she had been about to tell Luke to leave her when she was attacked. She only knew that she had to stop them from grabbing Luke - and so without thinking, she lifted her foot and stomped right on its wrist.

Bone snapped beneath her foot. The infected lost its hold and tumbled back into the water with a splash that soaked her and Luke from head to foot. She swayed, unbalanced, only able to use one arm to keep herself upright - until Luke was at her side, steadying her. He shouted something right in her ear - it might have been "Come on!" - and pulled her up the sloped ridge as more and more infected burst out. There was a rickety building on the next platform, with a thin slatted door swinging open.

Then one of the infected roared out of the water. It was too far below them, it could not reach them, could not get out of the water, and Leia thought that they were safe, it was okay.

The infected opened its mouth. Leia heard a horrible noise, something between choking and strangling.

Something thick and gooey splattered across her face. The force of it made her stagger. She tasted dirt and vegetable matter, gagged on it, inhaled it. She couldn't see and she was unbalanced and she tripped, smacking onto the wood. Frantically she rubbed at her face, tossing off bits of mud, and her mind was screaming, keep going, keep going, don't stop so she was trying to wipe her face with just one hand and run at the same time even though she could barely see where she was going, was in danger of plummeting off the ramp if she took even one wrong step.

Then she heard another strangling sound. Something whizzed through the air, close enough Leia felt it almost graze her cheek and Leia instinctively threw herself down and felt it splash just inches from where she'd fallen. Smearing away the last of the mud on her face, she saw Luke ahead of her, shaking off more bits of his own faceful of mud, the pieces falling in large globs all over the floor. And along the tall ridge poles, the infected were boiling out of the water, reaching up towards them.

One of them stopped, sniffed the air; Leia could see the lines of tentacles beneath the clotted mud, spot the blackened vessels and gray skin of its sickness. Its glassy eyes focused on her - and then with a warning shriek, it clambered up the pole like it was nothing and came running straight for her, shoving itself towards her. Leia fell back. The thing came again and she kicked out on instinct, but it was slick with water and mud and its screams pierced her ears and her foot slipped off the body.

"Get off of her!"

Something small and drenched in mud hurtled itself at the monster. Carried by Luke's momentum, it was tossed off the platform and into the water.

Leia grabbed Luke's proffered hand, wobbling to her feet. "We have to get inside!" she yelled, pointing at the building.

There was one way there, a shaky rope and wood suspension bridge that careened downwards so that at its center it hung a mere foot off the water. There was no time for fear or hesitation; Leia simply pulled at Luke and ran. The bridge bounced horribly beneath them and a board cracked, sending Leia falling, one foot caught in the space of the broken plank and almost hitting the surface of the water. Her palms and knees smacked into the wood painfully. Luke leaped over and grabbed at her arm, almost wrenching it from her shoulder.

"Get up!" he yelled.

The bridge was swinging wildly under their struggles and Leia could see bubbles forming in the water beneath, a warning that the infected were congregating beneath them. They sprinted the rest of the way, grabbing at the slippery ropes for support as the bridge sloped up. With a final burst of speed, the two reached hard wooden ground and Luke grabbed the door. Leia, shooting a look behind her, saw no sign of Vader anywhere before she was pulled inside.

They slammed the door shut. Leia took in the room with one glance, seeing wooden walls and a wooden ceiling and wooden beams, before finding some old, rickety furniture, also made of wood, much of it looking like it was rotting from the rain and lack of upkeep. As if reading her mind, Luke shot forward and grabbed one of the pieces, hauling it over with loud gasps of effort. Leia, legs wobbling as much as if she were still on the bridge, helped him, and they heaved it in front of the door. Another small table was tipped over on the ground near them, and Luke pushed that towards the door as well.

Panting, Leia backed away, listening. Her head was swimming, her body prickling painfully, her limbs trembling, but some instinct told her not to rest: told her she had to stay alert, to try and listen for any danger. The sounds of the infected were fading a little, and she remembered what Vader said about them not being able to sense them unless they were close. Maybe, maybe they were far away enough that they had been forgotten. They were several feet above the water and a lot of them had gone for…

Seemingly reading her thoughts once more, Luke looked around. "Where - where-?"

Leia shook her head. "I don't-"

The floor blew up beneath their feet.

Dozens of clawed hands tore through the thin planks of wood, nails scratching the air. As one, Luke and Leia screamed, hurtling back, Leia towards the other door, Luke all the way on the other side where the only way out was a window, too high up for him to reach. More wood burst in a shower of splinters. The arms latched onto the floor, on the unbroken planks, even at the lowest edges of the walls, and heaved up, revealing round, hairless heads and great orb-like eyes that had turned glassy from disease.

"Luke!" Leia screamed, waving her arm frantically, but he was trapped by several feet of biting heads and grasping arms.

"Go!" he yelled at her. "Just run!"

No! She wasn't leaving him, she refused to leave him -

Her eyes fell on half a plank of wood, its end broken into sharp pointy bits.

Leia scooped it up and brought it hurtling down on the nearest infected's head. Her aim was clumsy but she was so close it didn't matter. It cracked right atop the thing's skull. With a yowl it sank from its shoulders to its neck, still snapping its teeth. A second hit made it fall further. She smacked it a third and final time and watched it go under.

She looked up at Luke, panting, head aching. "Come on!"

Luke took a big breath, then began run-jumping from one area of unbroken wood to another. Some of them burst just seconds after he leapt off of them; one broke as he landed, and would have sent him into the water had he not made a lightning-fast jump in time. Another infected pushed its head through that hole but Leia, reaching forward heedlessly, jammed the wood into its huge eye. White fluid burst out in a spray as the monster sank down. Another tried to bite her hand but she jerked back and smacked it as Luke leaped over it, landing next to her.

"Let's go!" he exclaimed, hauling her up.

They hurtled out onto another platform. The rain was letting up, they could see a bit further through the mist of dampness. The trees kept getting higher, but ahead, Leia saw something, something that could save them: a downed transport ship at the end of one last, long wooden crossing that stretched through fog and trees. Her body was shaking, her legs were starting to give out, there was a harsh buzzing in her ears, but she knew only one thing: have to keep going. Because if she stopped, Luke would stop, and she could not bear for Luke to get taken by one of them - or worse, infected as she was.

Through a mouth that was even dry even with the pouring rain, she grabbed onto Luke with her free hand, still holding the plank of wood in the other, and said, "Come on! Just a bit more - a bit more!"

They ran.

The crossing sloped downwards which made it even harder; the only mercy was that it was wide enough for them both without one slipping over the other. Twice they skidded into each other or almost over the edge, one or the other grabbing them to keep them from falling. The infected were bursting out on all sides, but they ran so fast they passed right by them - and maybe something more. Leia thought for one wild second that maybe Vader was doing something or protecting them still because she saw several infected turn away from them and run back, back towards the fields, towards the places they had left behind. He was nowhere in sight, not even the glow of his saber visible behind the drizzle and the fog. For all she knew he was creating a mass of writhing bodies but she had no time anymore to pity them, no energy to wish they could help. All she knew was to run.

"We're close!" Luke yelled, pointing ahead. It was a transport, looking almost intact, half sunk into the water in the midst of a clearing between dozens of trees. Its wings had crashed through a mass of buildings and bridges and trees to lie, partially submerged, in the water. All they had to do was jump to the last wooden crossing, run across the surface, and then get to the door -

Leia heard only a warning shriek before a dark shape jumped out of the tallest tree in a blur of motion.

"Look out!" was all Luke had time to shout before a huge, hairy thing was on top of them.

The force of the jump slammed both of them into the wooden platform and partially through it. The plank fell from her hand. Splinters of wood exploded out in a wave around them and Leia felt her pain and Luke's, somehow both part of her and separate from her, a tearing along her arms and her legs - and his terror as he fell down towards the water -

But then the jumper released Leia. It went for Luke - it grabbed him, hauling him back up, saving him from plunging into the water. But it had done so only so it could eat him. It was massive, bigger than Vader, all bloodied fur and a massive, red jaw lined with teeth opening to clamp down on Luke's body.

It's an infected Wookiee, Leia realized dazedly. And all at once, a second bolt of realization - she was infected, too. That was why it had let her go - it didn't want her, it knew she was sick, it probably could barely sense her, but Luke, Luke wasn't sick -

The buzz in her head was only increasing in volume but she found herself getting to her feet anyway, though the world tipped about her. Luke, she kept thinking, I have to get to Luke.

With all the force that she could, she leaped on the Wookiee, grappling at its hairy back and tearing out bits of its fur.

The Wookiee roared and thrust itself upright. Leia grabbed frantically at its fur but it was so wet it slipped from her hands and she landed on her back with a thump that knocked the breath from her lungs. She saw Luke dive for something.

He found the plank of wood, drew it back over his shoulder, and sent it plunging straight towards the Wookiee's face.

It slammed into the Wookiee's mouth with such a wet squelch Leia thought its whole jaw might break. Instead it gargled, mud and saliva and other liquids Leia did not want to think about spewing around the plank.

Luke gagged as he was almost hit with flecks of it, releasing the plank and stumbling back. Leia, breath tearing at her lungs, ran around to grab him and pull him back with her.

The Wookiee stood there for a moment, gray eyes looking momentarily shocked. Maybe it hadn't expected them to fight back.

It clamped its jaws down.

The plank of wood snapped into a shower of pieces. With a growl, it spat out the remainder. Its eyes fell back on Luke, clawed, furry hands grabbing onto the planks for purchase. Luke scrambled back, dragging Leia with him too - only to bang against something hard. The wall, they were up against a wall of a building with nowhere to go.

The Wookiee lurched forward, arms extended, mouth open, straight for Luke to tear into his flesh.

Red light arced in a circle around its waist.

With a gasp, Leia saw the Wookie freeze. Its fur was hissing, the smell of it burning making her nose hurt, stronger than the smell of molding wood and rain. Behind them, Vader landed so hard he made the entire landing shake.

Her head was still ringing from being tossed about, her vision wavering, but through it she saw the Wookiee staring dully at them - and then its body split neatly in half. The lower part slid slowly through the hole in the wood it had created. She heard the dull splash of its body landing in the water, and a wave of sickness crashed over her as the Wookiee's upper half writhed - and then began clawing its way towards a scrambling Luke, not caring at all that it had lost part of its body.

This time, the swing of Vader's lightsaber cut it off at the neck. Its head bounced off the floor and over the edge, dropping with a plop into the water below. The torso slumped, went still, save for its furred hands. Those kept wriggling, like it still wanted to grab Luke, even after the head was gone.

Familiar breathing filled her ears, louder even than the howling cacophony of the monsters left behind them. It cycled faster than she'd ever heard it, and she could see Vader's body moving jerkily, as if he too was panting from exertion. He swept his gaze over the area for all of half a second before grabbing Luke and Leia by the backs of their shirts. Mud splattered his armor and his cape, coated his boots and his gloves - everything except for his mask and his saber.

Without a word, he thrust them like dolls onto the crossing. They ran the rest of the way to the transport, Vader right behind them. He pulled open the door with a crash upon reaching it, before heaving all of them inside. A second crash echoed around the enclosed area as he slammed the door shut hard enough to make the whole thing wobble on the unsteady ground that it had landed on. The echo of it thrust itself like a shard into Leia's head.

"Leia, your ship."

Vader.

She swayed and he grabbed her by the arm. Everything was going fuzzy. "Where is it?" His voice was booming in her head.

The ship, the ship, that was all anyone wanted, she thought disorientedly; what did it matter when she was going to die. She couldn't find it now, her body hurt, her head hurt, she didn't want to think, to move, to breathe -

"One last time, Leia." Vader's voice, simultaneously commanding and persuasive, "just once more. We will find it and I will make the hurt go away."

And if she couldn't? She was sick, she was going to turn into them. Would he leave her then?

His hand found her cheek, tilted her face up to his. "No," he said, "I will not abandon you."

Her very body rebelled, the knife in her mind blazing cold as ice - but she tried. She reached out, one last time, as he had said, even as her vision exploded into stars.

The second to last thing she was aware of was raising her arm to point in a direction, a direction she could not even see but she knew it was the right one, as the ice cold knife buried itself in her brain.

The very last was someone, she could not recognize the voice, calling out her name.

I remember this is one of the scenes that I had in my head from the very start of the story: Vader, lightsaber lit, guiding his kids as they push through a field of grain while zombies lurk among the stalks. Very horror-movie-esque.

This chapter is a conglomeration of three different levels from the Left 4 Dead games. The Blood Harvest level from the first game gave me the initial idea, as the finale featured the survivors running through a cornfield, but Hard Rain (same level that inspired the previous chapter) took it to the next level, since it had the survivors running through a flooded cane field in the pouring rain. Swamp Fever is basically the entire inspiration for the other half of this chapter, and yeah, it features the exact conceit of characters running along narrow planks and sheltering in an abandoned shanty town on stilts in the middle of a swamp, which I found very scary (what if you fall in?!). The level even had "swamp men" as enemies, essentially zombies that hurl mud at you and obscure your vision, and I simply changed them to Mon Calamari and Quarren (and one Wookiee), which I thought fit because they were aquatic beings who, in the SW canon, were enslaved by the Empire. (And yes, that'll be brought up in later chapters.) The bit I added was the zombies literally bursting through the floor, that never happens in the games, but it definitely happens in other zombie movies.

Also, in the initial draft of this, the plants themselves were infected and Luke was actually nabbed by the sentient roots of one of the plants, but I cut that out and changed it to a swamp slug thing because 1) the biological implications of the virus literally jumping kingdoms to infect plants is WAY too much for me to deal with lol, and 2) the only other horror movie I could think of where plants turn out to be the villain is M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, and I think I'm better off not drawing comparisons to that movie. The slug thing grabbing Luke is a total ANH shout-out, but I also like that there are some creatures around that are uninfected but still pose a danger. Because, you know, there isn't enough to worry about here...