It's been a long time since I've smiled. A long time since I've seen another human without a gun in between us pointed at my head. I've lost track of how many humans have attacked me. I'm human myself and they won't give me even a sliver of trust. I've been running for years now and it all started in southern Arizona where I was kicked out of my bunker by a small troop of soldiers. They shot me in the shoulder and sent me on my way. I easily recovered, though the bullet is still lodged in my shoulder blade and causes issues sometimes.
After leaving the bunker I headed west towards the coast. I've always wanted to see the ocean and I figured the Simian Flu is probably going to kill me, so might as well see the sights first. My second run in with other humans ever since the break out of the virus was at Arizona's border into California. A group of civilians had armed themselves with military grade weapons and they were searching every person who tried to pass into California, which wasn't many. If you had anything valuable, they took it, if you refused, then they took the most valuable thing you had, your life. I was either too stubborn or too stupid, hell, maybe even both, but I told them to fuck off and they took everything I had, beat me until they thought I was dead, then threw me in a ditch over the border into California. From that encounter I gained broken ribs that have yet to heal, gashes on my arms, chest, and face that left scars, and a broken knee cap and ankle.
It took a lot longer to heal from that mess, but when I did I headed north west to San Francisco. I tried to join the colony there, but the soldiers, or really civilians with guns, told me they didn't have any room so they tried to send me away. Again I refused saying they had a whole city to fill, one of them decked me in the jaw and shot me in the leg while I was down. They made me leave this time, and I did, sort of. I stayed in San Francisco, but on the opposite side of the city and closer to the river.
I finally got to see the ocean. I was in the city for a few years and stayed on my side for the first few years. After a while I snuck around and was able to make it to the San Francisco Zoo which is where I watched the ocean from. That backfired big time as the same humans who had refused me and shot me had found me there, and they were not happy I had stuck around. That was a year ago, and they are still trying to hunt me down and kill me.
"Hurry, I think I saw her go this way!" Shit, shit, shit! I'm almost there, if I can just get to the bridge and across it to the forest I can disappear into the trees. Before I can get to the bridge I had to get past the quarantine checkpoint and they knew I was coming so they were prepared. I growled as I peaked out from behind a rusted out car and glared at the men who stood between me and my freedom.
"You know what, y'all want to play this game, I'll play, but by my rules." I smirked and turned my head towards the trees to my left. Three years of sneaking around this city made it easy for me to get over to the trees and make my way up the base of the trunk until I was hidden among the leaves. I started jumping from branch to branch and tree to tree headed towards the checkpoint. Usually humans don't look up from their field of vision and they wouldn't expect me to take the high route anyway, so I got careless and didn't even bother to hide my movements.
"Look, up there!" Well, shit, time to run!
"Get her, shoot her down if you have to, she does not escape!" Well fuck you, too! It was getting a little hard to move between trees with people shooting at me now. Still I pushed on, determined to get to the woods, something was pulling me that way. I can't explain it but I feel that if I get to the woods I will be protected. Finally I passed the checkpoint by jumping from a tree on one side of the fence to a tree on the other side of the fence and continued on towards the bridge. New problem, now they were chasing me.
"Figures." I huffed then let out a yelp as a bullet whizzed past my head. I was coming up to the edge of the trees and the beginning of the bridge so I jumped from a lower branch and rolled to break my fall. When I looked behind me I saw they were still running towards me and shooting at me so without wasting more time I headed for the bridge. Now only a couple hundred feet before I can start climbing the wire suspensions, but the horrible people behind me had other plans. I screamed out as I tumbled to the ground, a bullet in the back of my right shoulder blade. The fall to the ground was painful, but the force from the impact of the bullet gave me enough momentum to do a roll and continue on my feet. The pain now turned to a dull ache as the adrenaline overthrew my senses.
"Faster, she's getting away! Don't let her get over the bridge!" Fuck, they are getting closer! This royally sucks but at least I'm almost there. I used a broken down car to jump off of and grab hold of the thick suspension wires of the bridge support and hoisted myself into a comfortable climbing position. Bullets were still flying by me and I'm sure I've been grazed a few times, and I think another one stuck in my leg. It's kind of hard to tell as I was focused on getting as high as possible. The higher I go the less likely I will be hit.
"She's headed for the woods! Follow her, catch her before she disappears, and bri…" I couldn't hear the rest as I was too high now.
"Gotta get to the woods, the trees will help keep me outta sight." The climb to the top of the first set of wires took longer then I thought it would, but when I got up there I looked down at my hands and noticed they were covered in blood and flakes of red paint.
"Wonderful, just lovely." I never used to have this weird sense of humor or be so sarcastic, so I guess it just developed over the years along with most of my survival skills.
"Time to head down now, hopefully it isn't too difficult." My wish was granted to me, thank god, because I was exhausted when I started down the wire suspensions. It was much easier to balance myself going down then to pull my body when going up and I reached the bottom much quicker but I slowed myself to observe. I didn't see any signs of movement. All of the vehicles in the area were broken down and done for, and there weren't very many places to hide.
"Maybe I should proceed on foot." The stinging in my hands confirmed this and I cautiously jumped down to the road. I turned to look towards the city, and then turned and looked towards the forest. No signs of anyone, good! With that I started jogging towards the forest. The quicker I get there, the less likely they are to find me and the quicker I can disappear. It was a long jog, but faster then climbing again, and it was only half of the bridge. By the time I reached the other side I was out of breath and had to stop. I looked towards the forest I was heading into and had to stop to take a deep breath. What ever was pulling me towards the woods was much stronger now. I could feel the tug on my heart like it wanted to jump out of my chest, take my hand, and lead me away.
"Okay, that is super weird, but I'll be safer there, so that is where we are going." I was about to start walking when I heard a noise that was getting louder and louder and sounded very much like a truck.
"Fuck!" They found me!
"There she is, get her!" How did they find me so easily?! Well, if you hadn't of been standing in the middle of the road like a sitting duck they might not have! Thank you, voice of reason, for your always kind and helpful words, smart ass…. Okay, now I really need to get into the trees. I had already started running, but noticed the trees closest to me were too small to climb and I was in the open right now, so I ducked behind the small trees and let my instincts guide me. I was already being shot at again and had to duck out of the way of a few bullets and wood splinters flying into my face.
"Come on, I need bigger trees!" I tried to go deeper into the trees in hopes of losing them and finding bigger more climbable trees, but they just kept following me through the roughage. Eventually I would find what I am looking for, and I would… wait, I think I see…
"Yes!" A larger tree with a boulder sitting at the base. This is exactly what I need. I grinned as I hopped onto the boulder and jumped to grab the nearest branch. My hands stung from the pressure on my cuts but I ignored it for favor of pulling my body up and onto the branch. Now in a tree I felt more comfortable and at an advantage. I started leaping from branch to branch, sometimes swinging from branches to propel myself farther. I kept looking forward and jumping forward until I could no longer hear the sound of the engine or the cursing of my pursuers. I slowed down and looked behind me and stopped completely when I realized I couldn't see the truck anymore and the ground below me was too covered in bushes and fallen branches for the truck to follow anyway. I grinned to myself and sat down on the branch, leaning my back against the truck and sighing.
I have no idea how long I sat like that, catching my breath and trying to relax my stiff muscles, but when I opened my eyes I about jumped from the tree with a scream. Standing on the branch in front of me was a rather large ape. He stood almost like a human and even had human like facial features. There was a white substance covering his face and chest that looked similar to paint, and a stripe of red went down his nose and the center of his chest.
"Holy shit…" The ape huffed at me and narrowed his eyes.
"Why. Are. You. Here?" What the fuck! Am I going crazy or did an ape just ask me a question?
"Holy shit you talked…" The ape huffed again as if annoyed that I haven't answered his question and it was that moment I realized that he was holding a sharp looking spear, and the trees around us were covered in more painted apes. Before the ape could say anything else or I could react to being surrounded, we both jumped at the sound of people headed this way.
"Come on, she's injured, she couldn't have gotten far!" The shout came from a good distance away but was still close enough to be heard clearly. I tried to stand up to get moving again but let out a low holler of pain before collapsing back again the tree. The ape in front of me looked between me and the sound of the approaching humans. He turned to the rest of the apes and gave them hand signals that looked a lot like sign language, and the other apes took off except one who seemed to be waiting for his leader.
"Wait, please! Can you help me? Hide me somewhere or something?" The ape was about to jump to another branch but stopped and turned to look at me.
"Please, they'll kill me if they find me!" The sound of the other humans getting closer made me nervous and had me looking from the ape to the noise and back to the ape. He seemed like he was going to refuse and just leave me there until I tried to stand up again but then passed out from blood loss. The last thing I saw was the ape lunging towards me before my vision went dark and my ears started ringing.
All of the apes were in a frenzy. Walking through the city was Caesar carrying a human female, and they were both covered in blood. A couple females that were taking care of Caesar's wife were in the village center and came rushing over when signaled by their leader.
She is badly injured, do best you can to help. Caesar signed to the females after he put the girl down.
Inform me when she wakes, if she wakes. The females all gave nods of acknowledgment and carried the girl away to treat her.
Now sitting around a fire pit, their fresh kill from their most recent hunt sizzling over the flames, apes surrounded Caesar, each trying to give their opinion on having a human in their home, but it was Koba who caused the subject to come to a close.
She is a human, humans are dangerous! Why bring her here, why save her?! Caesar had to hold back a sigh at the hate and anger behind Koba's hand movements.
Other humans were chasing her, she said they would kill her. She was scared and dying. Koba turned his head away and grunted before looking back to his leader.
If she survives and recovers, she will try to kill us.
"My decision. Is final, Koba." Caesar's voice startled Koba slightly, he only used it every so often and usually only to get his point across. Koba huffed out a sigh and walked off to sit next to Gray and Stone. Movement to his left caught Caesars attention as Rocket started to sign to him.
What if Koba right? What if human attack, what will we do? It took Caesar a second to answer, but when he did he grabbed a small twig from the ground and snapped it in half, then snapped the halves into quarters.
Apes together strong. If we must, we will get rid of her. For now, we give her a chance to prove herself. Rocket nodded and took his place back next to his son, Ash. For the rest of the night the apes let their leader be on the matter of the human. Instead they enjoyed each other's company and were entertained by Ash and Blue Eyes, the sons of two of the most powerful apes in the colony, getting into a wrestling match.
The next few days were a little nerve wracking for the apes. The human still hadn't woken up, but her condition would fluctuate. She would get better one day, worse the next, even worse to where she was barely breathing, then improve again the day after that. This went on for nine days. On the tenth day, the morning hunt was already over, and it was close to mid-day. A young female ape named Lake had been tasked with watching the human and to call for the other females if her condition changed, and boy did it change!
Everything hurt, why does everything hurt? I feel like I should be dead, am I dead? If I was, then I wouldn't be in so much pain. So, I guess this means I'm alive, okay, I was in a lot of trouble, being hunted by my own kind and headed for the forest. After that, what happened? Oh yeah, talking ape-man-thing, good looking talking-ape-man-thing, actually. Wow, I am more fucked up then I thought. Okay, so time to open my eyes and find out why I'm still alive. I did just that, and honestly, I was not expecting to see a roof over my head. Not the roof you'd expect, more so made of twigs, branches, and moss then roofing shingles or wooden beams, but it was still a roof.
"Where am I?" My voice sounded foreign to me, and my throat was dry. Water, I need water. A small hooting sound to my left caused me to turn my head. A female ape trotted over to me and then started hooting louder in the direction of the entrance. I looked around me a little and saw what looked like a water pail and tried to sit up but the ape put a hand on my shoulder and was shaking her head. I think she was trying to tell me not to move, and when pain shot through my right shoulder and side I growled and allowed the ape to help me back into a laying position.
"Okay, okay, yeah, that hurt. Let's not do that again." Just as I was getting comfortable again and the throbbing was going away, a few more apes entered the room. The one in the front turned and signed to another and that one left just as quick. The remaining apes came to my side, one put one hand on my forehead, and her other on my stomach.
"Did you treat me, heal me?" The ape looked down at me and waited a second before nodding her head. I smiled and brought my hand up to my chin and then down in the sign 'thank you'. The ape used her left hand to make a somewhat circle that signed 'you're welcome'.
"Do you have any water? My throat is very dry." To accompany my words I put my fingers under my chin and dragged them down my throat in the sign for 'thirsty'. One of the other apes brought the pail over to me and assisted me in taking a drink. In the middle of a gulp of water, the ape from before came back, this time with the first male ape I met in the woods. As soon as he entered all of the females looked over to him, and the one giving me water set the pail aside and moved out of the way to let her leader sit beside me.
"You saved my life, bringing me here, and them healing me. I owe you big time. I thought I was a goner this time for sure."
"This. Time?" I was about to reply when one of the females started signing to her leader.
She has many scars, most look fatal, all look to be from humans. The male ape looked back over at me and the look on his face was that of a battle torn soldier.
"Do you. Have. A name?" The fact that this ape can speak, and they know sign language, this is incredible!
"Kenai, what about you?" The ape thought for a second, and there was a brief moment where I thought he wasn't going to give me his name, or maybe he didn't have one.
"Caesar." Well, that suited him very nicely, and his eyes are so green and pretty. Just as I was about to ask the ape how he was able to sign and speak, two more apes entered the room. One was rather young and handsome, the other a little older and was the one who had stayed behind waiting for Caesar in the woods.
"Why were you in our woods?" Caesar's words were choppy and slow but easily understood.
"I was running, and I felt I would be safer among the trees. There's a small colony of humans in the city, the men charged with protecting it want me dead, so I either left the city and came here or let them kill me. I am a pretty decent climber so I had the advantage, that is, until I sat down to rest." One of the males by the door hooted to grab Caesar's attention and then started signing to him when he had it. I could make out the words why, what, and betrayed, but that was it. Caesar signed back to the ape, a very brief reply, then turned back to me. By now the females were attending to my wounds again. One was checking my leg, another was checking my right side, and the third was trying to check the back of my shoulder. Not having very good access with me laying down, she gestured for me to sit up and helped me do so. I gave out a growl at the pain and my hand shot up to grab my right shoulder.
"Might I ask how long I was out? It hurts like a son-of-a-bitch, but not near as bad as it has in the past." My voice was low and my teeth were clenched from the pain which caused me to speak slowly and now I was breathing rather heavily.
"Nine days." Well, no wonder it doesn't hurt as bad, I slept through the worst part of my recovery, nice! Now that I was sitting up I could get a better look around me. I was in a single room building made of large and small branches, moss, and vines as well. The size was about medium and it fit seven apes and myself comfortably. The first female I saw when I woke up was the one tending to my wounds on my leg and I guess that means I was right in thinking I had also been shot in the leg… again. Now I had a bullet in each leg, and each shoulder, and since there was another ape tending to my right side means I was either grazed pretty good or had another bullet stuck in there, awesome.
"Why, Humans. Want you. Dead?" I was now studying the two apes by the entrance, so I moved my gaze from looking over Caesar's head, to looking into his eyes.
"I tried to join their colony a few years back, they wouldn't let me, said they didn't have any room. Which, I find to be bull shit cause they have a whole city. After that I just stayed in the city, but stayed away from the colony. One year ago they found me out by the ocean and I guess they didn't like the fact that I was still in the city, so they have been hunting and trying to kill me ever since." Caesar seemed to be processing all of this because he went silent for a few minutes. This allowed me to continue observing the area around me, that is, until the ape working on my leg accidentally used too much pressure over the wound making me give out a huff of pain and I sucked in my breath. The ape jumped back and started signing 'I'm sorry' over and over again. I put my hand up and signed back.
It's okay, I'm fine, it's okay. She seemed to calm down and was more gentle when she started cleaning my wound again. They were using large leaves to cover my wounds and animal skins to clean them.
"You. Can. Sign?" I looked over at Caesar and nodded.
"At least a little. My brother was born deaf so I had to start learning, but when the virus broke out he was only three and it took him within a year. I only had a few classes so I only know basics and essentials." Caesar stood up then and turned to walk out the door.
"Get rest. Ape will be outside, call if you need something." Caesar started to head for the door, and the two apes there exited the building.
"Caesar?!" The ape stopped and turned his head to me.
"Thank you, for saving my life. I can't imagine what it must take for you to trust a human, much less save one. So I appreciate it." Without any acknowledgement or anything, Caesar turned forward and left the room. For the next ten minutes I let the females fuss over me. When they were satisfied with changing out the leaves and cleaning my wounds they helped me lay down and left. It was difficult to sleep, the pain wanted to lull me to sleep, but my mind was racing. So many things were running through my head, including the fact that I am among apes who seem smarter than most humans, those apes saved my life without even knowing me, and my own kind has never done that for me. I was so lost in thought I didn't realize that someone had come in and was now standing next to me. When he gave out a huff it startled me slightly, but I looked up at him and sighed when I recognized him as one of the apes from before. He was the young handsome one, and when he squatted down next to me I could see he had beautiful blue eyes.
"Hi, you startled me, I didn't see you come in." The ape said nothing, but set a wooden plate over my stomach and signed the word 'eat'.
"Thank you." The ape bowed his head then stood up and left quickly and silently. They don't like me being here, at all, but they've still treated me better then all of the humans I've encountered. The food given to me consisted of a couple pieces of fruit and a few cooked slabs of meat. I ate slowly, it was difficult to move my right arm because of my shoulder, and I had a hard time grabbing the food because of the cuts and bruises all over my hands, but eventually I finished the plate and set it next to me on the ground. The fruit was sweet and the meat was hot, it almost tasted like elk, which I haven't had in years. Now that I had a full belly and I had let my mind wear itself out, I was able to fall asleep rather quickly.
Now that the human was awake, the apes were asking questions again. What was she like? Did she seem dangerous? What are they gonna do now that she's awake? Why was she in the forest? Who attacked her? The apes were all hooting while signing these questions, and since Caesar was just sitting there observing, Blue Eyes and Rocket were trying to answer as many questions as possible.
She isn't like any human I've ever seen. Her skin is white, her hair is black, her eyes are red like blood. Rocket had just answered a young ape who asked what she looked like as he wasn't around when she was brought into the colony. Blue Eyes hooted at one of the apes around his age as he signed an answer to his question.
She was attacked by other humans. She wanted to join their colony, they said no, and now trying to kill her. She's a climber, like us. A growl from the other side of the fire pit caught everyone's attention. Koba sat there watching curiosity take over his fellow apes. He snorted and started signing aggressively.
She is not like us. She is not ape, she is human. Caesar, she is awake, send her away before she attacks. Caesar narrowed his eyes and signed back to the ape.
She is too weak, she can barely move. The humans would find and kill her easy. I do not believe her to be a threat. A couple apes around Caesar hooted until Koba spoke.
"All... humans... threat." Caesar gave out a huffed growl.
She has been abused by humans, her own kind, yet she does not seem to carry hate for them as you do. Give her a chance, if you judge her by her species that makes you no better than the humans. Koba growled but went silent after that. Next to Caesar, Blue Eyes sat and started signing to his father.
What will we do when she is fully healed? Will she stay here or will we send her away? Caesar had to think about this for a second.
I will make that decision when that time comes. Blue Eyes nodded and turned back to the other apes. He and Ash striked up a conversation about the human, talking about what she looked like, how she was grateful they saved her life, how she knows sign, and about the fact that humans had attacked her multiple times. Caesar decided to let the girl sleep and he would check on her in the morning before their first hunt.
A/N: I haven't written this much in a while, and I have a whole lot more coming as well, just have to get it put on my computer from my binder. This is the first story I have written for this universe and I am loving it. I know I do have many other stories that I have not finished, but it is difficult to find the motivation for them when my current obsession is Caesar and his apes. I would like to know what y'all think of this story. It is rated M for language for now, I do not know if I will do any lemon style scenes, but there will be a little bit of romance. I just don't know if I wanna go with rated M kind of romance yet, that will depend on y'all and if you want to see it, so I want your feedback in the comments!