“Find someplace to hide, I’ll find you,” he hears James say.

Miko glances back and sees James turning to confront the oncoming soldiers. His desire to stay to help his friend is strong, but he knows that he’ll be more of a hindrance. His first duty is to help the kids get away. Turning back, he finds the fleeing children far ahead, turning down a side street. He hurries to follow, trying to catch them before they move too far ahead.

Rounding the corner where they fled, he sees the last few children turning another corner, even further ahead than before. Running as fast as he can, he comes to where they disappeared around the corner. Almost losing his balance from taking the corner too fast, he comes to a sudden stop. The kids are no where in sight.

Crumph!

The sound of a loud explosion comes from where he left James.

“James!”

Glancing back at the cloud of smoke and dust rising into the sky, he fears the worst. Torn between his duty to the children whom he’s lost and to his friend, he stands there a moment in indecision. Finally making up his mind to return to help his friend, he turns around and races back the way he had come.

As he rounds the second corner, a billowing cloud of dust engulfs him and he’s unable to see anything. After a moment, the dust clears and a large pile of rubble is revealed blocking the street where several buildings have toppled over. Amidst the rubble are the bodies of Empire soldiers, lying there crushed to death under large sections of the toppled buildings.

“James!” he cries out, but receives no answer. Looking around frantically, he can’t find James anywhere. Scared and alone, he races back again along the path he and the children originally took in an attempt to find some place to hole up until James finds him.