Detours
Alex and Riley's hike out of Tamalpais Valley was more difficult than getting in. The roads to Panoramic Highway were so filled with abandoned cars that they finally had to leave the road and cross through the woods. With Riley's compass, they found Muir Woods Road within thirty minutes, but the detour used up more time than planned. All the while, Alex kept quiet, even for him. Riley didn't seem to notice, but his fear of the future kept his thoughts away from any form of communication.
"We shouldn't be too far from the creek now," Riley said, breaking the silence.
They had been on Muir Woods Road for about twenty minutes and the redwoods had slowly been growing in height the whole way, a sure sign they were headed down into the canyon.
Alex pointed to the wooden, moss-covered signs that listed park directions, "The visitor center is down that road there," he pointed, then looked down the road the other way, "The 76 Station is down that way across the bridge. That's where we went to get to the dam." He kept everything short and to the point, not wanting to break his thoughts too much.
"Good," she turned to him, "Now, before we head to the dam, is there anything here that you recognize? It'd be splendid if we didn't have to backtrack."
Alex shook his head. He sunk his head in his hood as he thought back. He remembered the gas station, and that they passed it often, but details about the dam were more vivid. He hoped that he didn't lead them in circles when they got there, then again he had a feeling it would end that way anyway.
Riley looked discouraged but she shrugged it off, "Alright, off to the dam then."
They hiked down the road to the gas station, the lights still fluttering with the little bit of life left in their florescent bulbs. Riley stopped them there for a few minutes while she looked through the store for anything they could possibly use in the future.
There wasn't much left on the shelves. Thieves and other desperate people had cleaned it out years ago. She did manage to find a few lighters, a box of steel wool—something she said could easily start a fire with the solar battery of the radio if the lighters somehow went missing—and some spools of fishing line. There were other knick-knacks she found strewn around the floor that she said she could use for different survival things, but Alex hadn't paid much attention to her after she found the fishing line. His attention had fallen to a thick magazine with an unmistakable yellow border, the bright green eyes of a chimpanzee staring back at him.
'Apes of the Redwoods: The Truth Behind Green Eyes', this had been the last issue of the National Geographic published, just six months before the fragile society of man finally crumbled under the flu outbreak. He never had the chance to read the article; honestly, he was too young to pay the magazine much notice then. He did remember though, that it was one of the biggest stories to come out at that time; its fame mixed in with coverage of the flu outbreak.
"What'd you find, Alex?" Riley asked as she came up behind him. He showed her the faded issue. She stared at the chimp on the cover, seemingly as mesmerized by its eyes as he had been when he found it. After a few seconds, she shivered out of the trance-like stare, "Woo, it's kind of creepy how much his eyes look like that Afghan girl picture they took back in '84. Do you…do you think that's Caesar?"
Alex shook his head, "It's just one of the other chimps that escaped with him. Caesar is…pretty easy to recognize."
The click of her backpack clip caught his attention, "Why don't you bring that with us and you can read it tonight when we make camp. I know I want to read it now, same as you, but we need to cover as much ground as possible today." She glanced outside, "It's almost two from what it looks like, so we've got a good amount of light before we need to stop."
He sighed and started to put the magazine up, she paused him with a hand on his shoulder. Her smile was comforting, "Hey, if we're lucky, you might get to see them again by tonight! That'd be worth more than a mountain of Nat Geos."
He smiled, she was right. He'd wanted to show Maurice his new sketches for a long while, and, though he had never told anyone before, he wanted to give Caesar the picture of him and his 'father' that he had found in Caesar's old house. Alex kept a photo of his mother with him to remember her by, so he knew the ape would appreciate having a memento like that with him as well.
They left the gas station and found their way to the creek. It didn't take long for the rumble of water to reach them as the dam came into sight. Riley led them to the edge of the dam on its west side as Alex had told her earlier, where she pulled the map back out.
"Okay, here we are," she pointed to her pencil mark, "You said y'all travelled up river right?"
He nodded.
"Okay…so if we follow the creek here, and there is a massive waterfall like you said, there should be an unmarked stream leading into this one somewhere. So, rather than trying to find the old campsite y'all had a year ago, I think finding the stream and following it up to its source would be our best route."
Alex nodded again. It was beginning to get amusing how quickly she changed plans. First, it had been to wander around and hope to stumble on something, and now there was a real strategy behind it.
"Much better idea than wandering around like idiots, huh?" Alex had to hold back a laugh at her impeccable timing.
This plan to find a feeder stream turned out to be genius on her part. It wasn't ten minutes before they found a strong flow of water weaving itself through the trees, its path clearly something that hadn't been there for hundreds of years like the other rivers. It was when his heart began to lift in anticipation, that Alex remembered something the apes would never overlook.
"Riley," he called out in a careful whisper.
"Hmm?" she stopped and turned.
He held his backpack close and lowered his eyes, suddenly his introverted self again, "You…you're gonna need to get rid of your gun. The…apes are real picky about guns."
"No," her voice was harder than usual.
Alex looked up at her, disappointment and a wave of distrust in his eyes.
She stood firm, her small frame tall and resolute, "It's not my plan to shoot at apes, Alex. That's not why I'm here. But, you have to think offensively as well as defensively if you wish to survive in this new world of ours."
Alex's eyes narrowed, his sudden bravery surprising even him. "They don't think like that. Any kind of gun is a threat to them. They'll throw you out without a second thought!"
His argument made no impact on her at all, if anything, she stood taller, "If that's the case, then I'll fail and all this'll be pointless. It's hidden and I don't plan on revealing it, so they don't even have to know it's there."
Heat was starting to build up behind his eyes along with the burn of moisture that he prayed didn't turn to tears. The memory of Carver with his sawed-off shotgun pointed at Caesar's sons raced through his head. He would never want to relive something like that again. "So you're going to lie?!" he said with ice in his voice.
"No, I'm just…"
"You're just like them," he wasn't entirely sure what he meant by 'them', but he could think of many things that the word could be associated with and his growl of it through his teeth verified that fact.
Riley tried to stay tall, but with every second of silence that passed between them, her frame grew weaker and weaker. His statement somehow meant something to her, for at her lowest point, she tensed up, fury in her face, and knelt down for the gun. Alex had a rush of fear until he saw her disassemble it and throw it away, the pieces banging loudly against tree and leaves.
"There!" she shouted, "You happy?! I just threw our only protection away! Don't blame me if a cougar ends up eating you tonight, this was your idea! Yesh, stupid boys," she said the last part more to herself as she turned away from him with a stamp of her feet and kept going up the stream.
Their hike for the next fifteen minutes was dead silent, Riley frustrated with him and Alex uncertain of her intentions. He had been staring at his boots digging in the mud when Riley's gasp finally broke their silence.
There it was. The maze of broken logs decorated with Caesar's symbol and numerous skulls and bones loomed in front of them like a relic from Neolithic times. And, as Alex had said, high up the hill, behind a fog of mist, thundered the waterfall, the fire ridden remnants of the ape colony surrounding it.
Alex would have rushed in, reveling in the fact that he was going to see his friends again, and almost did until Riley's arm stopped him.
"What now?" Alex's voiced remained harsh.
"Shh," she covered his face again, listening up into the mass of wood. He really didn't like when she did that. Having a hand over his mouth was bad enough, but his entire face? "It's too quiet," she said, "Apes aren't quiet."
He pulled her hand off, "They can be really quiet when they have to."
"I know. It's just…dead quiet. Like nothing's here," she started walking cautiously through the trench of logs.
Alex followed and soon realized what she meant by 'dead quiet'. There was nothing here, not the gorilla sentries at the gate, or the chimps weaving their way overhead. All the fires had long since been extinguished from their torches and, as they reached the main gates to Caesar's Stone, the blackened crusts of the apes' burned homes were nothing but rain soaked mush slowly fertilizing the soil around it. There were even plants and tree saplings growing in places. Nevertheless, even in its decaying condition, Riley still took the time to gawk over everything she laid eyes on.
"I can't believe apes built this!" she picked up a forgotten spear, looking over the rough craftsmanship of it. "Look!" she was talking to herself now, "They even found a way to divert water! That's why this waterfall is here! It's so they had fresher water flow! Genius…" Alex followed how she almost skipped up to the writing wall, the three ape codes still legible on the stone surface. She rubbed her hand over the white markings, "They even know how to write…this is just…wow…I knew they were smart but…wow…"
She was finally beginning to see what he saw, Alex thought. They might be covered in thick hair and walk on all fours most of the time, but the apes were closer to them than any human would dare acknowledge. All accept him, his father, and Ellie perhaps.
Riley was confusing. She would make him feel like he had a big sister one minute, then turn around and give him the feeling like she was out for blood the next. He had promised that day he would keep her alive for the sake of keeping Fremont away, but he wasn't too sure he was ready to call her a friend yet.
"Aww shit,"
The random change in her tone from elation to annoyed frustration was almost comical. He climbed up to the Ape Code wall, a feat he hadn't realized was quite difficult for a non-ape, or non-climber for that matter, and looked to see what she had been so derogatory to.
She was crouched down, looking at the crinkled remains of what looked like a map, similar to the large one she carried. It had marks on it as well, a bright red like the color the apes had used on their war paint. The marks were difficult to make out, but he could tell they led away from their current location.
"Do you think this is where they went?" he asked, knowing the answer before she had to speak.
She sighed hard into her hand and pulled it down her face in frustration, "Yup…and that means our lives just got a lot harder."
Alex motioned for the map with his hands. Riley gave it to him and plopped down on the stone, taking off her pack.
He looked over the map, "Can you tell where it leads?"
She nodded through a bit lip, "Uh-huh…a whopping hundred or so miles north."
Alex's shoulders sank as he plopped down with her.
"My thoughts exactly."
He glanced all over the map, "How…long?"
She looked down at her hands, calculating on her fingers, "About…a week if we push it. Realistically? Closer to two. Fremont's not gonna be happy."
"Great," Alex huffed under his breath. This was going to be a long trip.
Sorry if this one gets a little random. I wanted to get a lot into this chapter since I really want to get into the meat of the story (aka more apes ;) )
As always, thanks for all the R&R's, they are loved!
Till next time ;)