They had been riding for a while now Suzanne could feel the cold wind blow on her face and the vibrations of the horse galloping, Suzanne took a good look around the forest as they moved, fog was everywhere, the trees where tall and dark green and the air was very clean, it reminded her of when her and her mother were traveling through the woods up North... before Alpha Omega found them...and now they have taken another individual that she cared about, that all 3 of them cared about.
She felt a tug on her arm causing her to look at Heather
"Suzanne...what's going to happen to us now?.." she said quietly.
Suzanne looked around at the other apes on horses, some where staring at them out of curiosity and the others where glaring at them while Suzanne just looked at them nonchalantly. She then turned her head back to stare at the younger girl with tired eyes.
"I don't know..." she replied weakly.
Rory who was sitting between Heather and the female ape had fallen asleep during the ride. Suzanne wasn't really surprised that he did though, it had been long rough day for all of them.
Lake looked carefully over her shoulder to see the children tired.
"Don't worry we're almost there to the village" she spoke.
Suzanne nodded weakly and avoided eye contact while Heather turned her head away shyly.
"Are you... alright?" She spoke gently focusing on the forest path.
"It hurts..." Suzanne signed shakely and gestured to her side where she was injured. This made Heather look at her in worry.
Suzanne then brought her gaze to up ahead to look at the leader who she believed was the King that Connor was talking about Caesar. He took a few glances at the children riding with Lake, the female ape looked at him nodding her head indicating what she knew he was going to say.
Lake took a glance back at Suzanne the question was gnawing at her mind for awhile she could only hope if the childern we're alright to speak.
"How did he die?" She signed.
Suzanne froze remembering what happened making her wince her eyes "He was shot...right in front of us...and..and he fell over the bridge...I tried to grab him but...I couldn't do anything" Suzanne struggled to sign to the female as she could feel tears come down her eyes again.
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked" Lake signed.
"It's fine...It's not the first time I've seen someone get shot...and It's not the first time...it was someone...I cared about..." she signed grimly to Lake.
This cause Lake to look at her in shock and then her expression turned to sorrow.
"I knew him for a few years, I'm glad he did something out his kindness" she signed.
Heather started to cry weakly at the mention of Connor, out of all three of them she was the one closest to him.
"Will she be ok?" Lake looked over at Suzanne with worry.
Suzanne looked at Heather and sighed deeply and looked back at the female seriously "honestly...I don't know...we've seen a lot...been through a lot...lost a lot...and what happen today...i don't know if any one of us will be ok" she signed.
"I only hope the price is not to high" Lake signed.
Suzanne noticed the King was still staring at them, he didn't glare at them or growl at them like most of the apes riding near them but would stare intimidatingly at them which made her feel uncomfortable causing her to avert her eyes away from him. The Kings intimidating stare caused Heather to wrap her arms tighter around Lake and hide her face into her back.
Lake glared at her leader and growled softly to drop the stare, he maybe her leader but it didn't mean she'll blindly follow him, he then huffed and turned back around.
Heather tugged in the older girl's shirt causing both her and the ape to look at her "Suzanne... Do you think...they where looking for us...and that's why they where there..."Heather quietly with tears in her eyes.
Suzanne looked at her in shock and then her expression turn to sadness "I don't know...but it wouldn't surprise me..." she said to the younger girl.
Lake looked at Heather in shock at this question and then looked back to the older girl, she was wondering where these childern had come from and how they were related to the soilders but before she could ask the female ape realized they where now at the cave entrance of their home.
"Home" Lake whispered.
The two girls looked around as they entered the cave and out the other side too stare in surprise to see a huge water fall. Apes started to appear hooting at their kings and the others safe return but when they caught sight of the humans their hoots turn to growls and started to prepare aiming their arrows and their spears and guns at them causing Heather to look at them horrified and Suzanne to shield the younger ones with her body. The apes readied to take the kill soon became hesitant when they saw the humans where childern, causing them to look at them frozen in incomprehension.
Caesar raised his fist in the air stopping there intent and growling and hooting right away, Suzanne raised her head slowly to look at The King and then she then felt someone gently touch her arm she looked to see it was Lake who hooted softly to her trying to reassure her.
"Everything will be alright" she signed.
Suzanne looked around then back to the female apes who held kind eyes, while she was reluctant and scared of the other apes around her she knew she could trust the female in front of her. Lake then got off the horse began to help Suzanne down and then cafefully handed sleeping Rory to her as she helped Heather down.
Suzanne could the stinging pain in her side again and this time it felt much worse making her closed her eyes tightly in pain. Lake who had by then placed Heather on the ground next to her had noticed to older girl's reaction and looked at her with concern, The other apes began to notice her reaction as well.
Suzanne hissed while the pain was making it very hard for her to stand, knowing she was about to collapse Suzanne quickly handed Rory to Lake before she came crashing down the ground while holding her side in pain, making her cry out.
"Suzanne!" the younger girl cried.
The apes started to hoot in distress and in confusion. Lake looked at her with deep panic and it didn't help that Rory woke up and started crying at the loud noises and being passed off roughly. Suzanne could feel that her side was wet so she brought up her hand to see blood, her wound obviously got worse. She knew it has been hurting all this time but she didn't realize how bad it had become. She was in so much pain that she didn't feel the vibrations of of other getting close to her and she could barely feel herself being lift up and carried away.
"Suzanne" a familiar voice spoke out to her.
"Suzanne" the voice echoed, why did it sound so familiar to her.
"Run" the voice spoke hoarse, she could've sworn the voice was behind her.
She didn't know what was happening but she could hear quiet screeching and could see clouded figures hovering over her. She felt terrible pain in her side making her scream she tried to push away the hands causing it but strong hands held her down while hooting to her softly.
"Don't die on me" the voice sounded like Connor.
She turned her head while being held down and she looked to see the bloody forms of her Mother and Connor causing her to hyperventilate. Her mother looked at her with the bullet wound on her head while Connor had them all across his chest.
"Why'd you let us die?..." Connor and her mother both said simultaneously with horrified looks on their slowly decayed faces.
She screamed and started to thrash around, she didn't realize the apes brought her to the healing hut and were trying to help her. Her mother was beside her clutching her arm with a sad look on her face.
"Didn't you love me sweetie!?" Her mother cried as blood pooled all over her arm.
Sparrow and Tinker where doing their best cleaning out her wound but it required them to scrap the damage skin so it wouldn't get worse but it it was a really painful process but they also could tell she was feeling another kind of pain right now besides physical which worried them. Suzanne wailed as she looked at the bloodly figures of her Mother and Connor.
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." she whimpered over and over again.
Connor cupped her face getting her attention "Did I deserve it?" Connor tilted his head to the side, Suzanne heard a sickening pop.
"Did I deserve to die for protecting you?" His voiced echoed as his eyes bulged.
She closed her eyes tightly as tears steamed down her eyes,the apes started to look at her with worry. She could feel one stroke her head while hooting softly trying ease her.
"Connor...Mom..." she said quietly.
She then gasped feeling something being put into her wound.
"Something..is coming... sweetheart" her spoke crying blood out of her eyes.
"What's...coming?..." She asked.
The Obas looked at her confused at her talking to herself, thinking she had become dulerious.
"Something that will end all wars" Connor growled putting both hands on his face ripping his face showing his bloody red skull with milky eye's "Something that doesn't have a face" He vomited blood.
Suzanne looked at him horrified
"Something...that doesn't have a face?" she said in confusion.
Lake who had been the one stroking her head looked at Caesar who had been standing at near entrance watching and could tell he also was confused by what she was talking about.
"Fight Suzanne! fight with everything fiber of your being!" Her mother cried grasping her hand.
"Alpha Omega...will they come..." she asked the hallucination in fear.
What she just said made Caesar look at her in shock.
"Remember Suzanne, you'll make friends and enemies, the decisions that you will make will impact your family, friends, most importantly.. yourself" Connor explained.
"Alpha Omega will return with full force and power, lives will be determined on this year" her mother spoke calmly glancing at Connor.
"No one will...care if I died...Connor...and I'm not...important..." She said to hallucination as tears continued to steam down her eyes, the pain in her side becoming numb to her.
Connor paced around staring at her in irritation "You helped me!" He pointed at his chest "Now I helped you" he seethed as he turned his hand to point at her "And I died because of your actions" he looked away in anger.
She shut her eyes tightly at his comment.
"Then ...why do I deserve to live?..."
Lake looked at the young girl with deep sorrow, knowing someone as young as her shouldn't never think or talk about something like that, it broke her heart.
"Prove you can still survive" Connor looked at her in sadness "Drown your demons."
Suzanne then reached out her now free hand to the bloodly my ape. His hand grasped hers tightly as he sobbed.
"Think of Heather...Think of little Rory" he gritted his teeth trying to contain his sadness.
"I should've been there I could've done more" the blood leaked over his palm.
"Y-you did everything you could...but not one not even you is indestructible..." she said as her lids started to get weak.
"You have one life why not risk it all" he gave a sad chuckle.
"Please do this for me...Talk to Heather, raise Rory to be a great kid... I had stuff in my cloak, before I fell off the bridge" Connor paused for a bit, my contents are now your treasure make use of them even for the childern" he explained.
"And where do we go?...what will happen to us now?..." she said as she felt her body getting weaker and vision getting darker.
"In the end all you do is live..." he mother told her softly.
"Live..." Connor whispered fading into darkness.
Suzanne eyes rolled into the back of her head finally passing out, Lake pushed some hair out her face and turned look back to her king.
Suzanne woke up gasping while looking around the room hastily, she realized she was in some type of cave and she was laying on a moss leaf like bed. As she looked around she saw that she was alone, she then felt soreness in her side causing her to slowly pull up her shirt to see moss on top of her wound with animal skin wrapped around her waist to keep it there.
She then realized in shock that Rory and Heather were missing, she struggled to pull herself up and stumbled out of the exit to figure out where she was and where the younger childern where. When she got out and started walking she noticed she was in rocky caverns, she put her hand on the wall to help her walk, she could feel the rocks were moist and could feel crisp air biting at her skin along with the faint sound of water and since the water was loud enough for her to hear she guessed she was near a waterfall.
She could feel some vibrations of steps on her feet and on her hand but they were all coming from different derections telling her there was more then one individual here, she was becoming worrried causing her to speed up. She finally found a opening to a much bigger cavarn that had apes sitting around in a circle and as she guessed a huge water fall falling down the entrance to the big cave that they where in. Suzanne leaned closer to the cavarn wall in caution watching the circle of apes sign with each other, and it seemed that the main topic that they where talking about was her, Heather, and Rory, she recognized Lake was within the group along with the King.
She didn't notice someone had been following her and was standing behind her all this time.
"Cornelia managed to calm down the younger child and the baby and they are now asleep while the older girl is stable but...what do we do about them?.."Lake signed to the others.
The apes began to argue.
"These childern could be our downfall!" one ape signed.
"How do we know they are not with the soilders!" another signed.
"We don't know anything yet, we should wait for the older one to wake up to find out" a orangutan signed.
"I can tell you they are definitely not with the soilders...the older girl got shot by them...they tried to kill her" Lake signed seriously to them.
Lake's comment made Suzanne wince and hold her side in grimly remeberance.
This made who Suzaanne thought was the Queen cause of the flower crown on her head look at Caesar worriedly.
"If that's true that means the soilders are looking for them and if they stay here they will find us and kill us all! They need to go!" one ape signed aggressively.
This ape's comment made the girl grip on the wall tightly.
"And go where? They are only childern, they will die" a older grey ape signed angrily to the ape.
Caesar still stayed in deep thought.
"Rocket's right, it would be too cruel to do that to them" a blue eyed ape who was sitting next to Lake signed.
"A ape has already died because of them! Connor is dead because of them!"
Suzanne closed her eyes gently and sobbed queitly at this. Because Connor's death was her fault not Heather's not Rory's hers.
"Connor's death was at their hands we found Zen's body too!" A female ape signed aggressively.
"These children are not one of us why would that traitor save them! After what he did to Caesar when Koba was alive" a darker ape signed.
"Send them away" one ape at the back chimed in.
"We must focus on the tribe first!" A white female chimp signed her opinion.
"Where could we send them!Like Rocket and Blue Eyes said they have no where else to go! They are only childern!they will die speacily since the soilders are still out there!" Lake signed angrily.
"You shouldn't be in this meeting Lake! You we're friends with that traitor when he almost killed our leader!" The white female chimp signed hatefully at her.
"I agree with Lake, these children have nowhere to go they could help" a male chimp hooted.
"Nature will take it's course I say let these humans fend for themselves" black chimp signed.
The queen became angry at this comment "You want to leave two young childern and baby alone to die...if we do that how are we any better then soilders!" The Queen signed angrily at the ape.
"They may not be apes but they are innocent!" she signed.
"Don't forget Cornelia, Connor betrayed our tribe to Koba after he shot your husband! I don't understand why he defended those children" the white female ape signed.
"Because he saw the error of his ways..." Suzanne finally spoke causing all the apes to turn to her in surprise, unable to handle them bad mouthing the ape who died protecting her and the two younger childern.
"In the end he knew Koba was wrong...his eye was proof of that..." she signed to them depressingly.
"And I geuss...he couldn't just...leave...us alone..." she signed shakely, tears threatening to fall again.
The white female ape lowered her head.
"How did he die?" The black chimp signed curiously.
"Was shot...right in front of us...And fell over the bridge...I tried to grab him but it was too late..."
Cornelia turned to her husband "What do you think? do you think her story about Connor is true?" She signed carefully seeing him deep in thought.
Suzanne then felt a hand on her shoulder making her jump and turn around in fear to face a silver back gorilla. She backed up in fear to see this large ape, she didn't notice l what she was backing into and ended up stumbling on the ground making her look up at the gorilla terrified as looked down at her stoic.
She flinched when he offered his hand to her but eased when she realized that he wanted to help her up, she looked between him and his hand a little unsure but then reluctantly took his hand as he carefully helped her stand. She then slowly turned around to see that all eyes where now on her speacily now she was in the open for all of them to see, she started to feel self conscious by their stares and lowered her gaze.
She spotted Lake who gave her a weak smile. The female gestured with her hand for the young girl to come over which she slowly did do to being somewhat comfortable around the female ape and because she was the only one she recognized beside the king but he made her nervous. As she walked over to Lake she saw some of the apes give her glares which made her avoid looking at them, when she got to Lake the female ape helped her sit down next to her knowing she would have trouble with her wound.
Suzanne had her gaze still lowered but made a quick glance to Caesar to see he was now looking at her causing her to quickly to glance away. She then felt Lake lightly stroke her arm trying to get her attention she looked at the female ape who pointed to her king who was speaking to her, apparently he was trying to get attention for awhile now but he didn't know she couldn't hear yet.
"Your name..is Suzanne right?" he asked gruffly.
She was a little surprised he knew her name but she nodded her head confirmation, she began to tangle her fingers in nervousnes.
"The younger girl..told us...her and the baby are...ok..they are...sleeping..." The queen answered her confusion with a kind smile.
Suzanne sighed in relief and looked back to the queen, Suzanne wasn't really surprised that Heather told the queen, she had a really calming effect about her and seemed very kind not to mention Heather was too trusting which worried her sometimes.
"How do you..know sign? And why do you...talk differently then...other humans" Caesar asked her seriously, she could tell the other apes in the room wanted to know as well.
"I'm partially deaf" she signed by touching the side of her check then to her ear, this caused the apes to look at her in shock.
"What do you...mean partially?" Caesar asked.
" I mean I can't hear anything unless it's really loud but it sounds quiet for me like this water fall" she gestured to it" it might be loud for you but it's quiet for me" she signed.
She felt a light touch on her causing her to see the blue eyed ape "But how are you able communicate with the child? it's apparent she doesn't know sign" he signed to her confused.
"I can read lips" she signed plainly.
"Read lips?" he signed to her in confusion.
"When someone talks I can make out the words when I look at the movement of their mouth" she signed to him plainly.
"That's why the child kept tugging on your arm when she talked to you" Lake signed finally understanding.
She nodded and then turned to look at Caesar.
"So what do plan on doing with us?..." she signed to Caesar.
So here you go guys another chapter sorry it took awhile but school and life for in the way not to mention I've had food poisoning for the last couple days ^^¿ but I'm better now and I would like to thank my friend Marian of Cintra for help me :D
