Magic of The Golden Flower Chapter 25
During the night the apes discreetly planned their escape while the humans slept in their beds. By sunrise they had everything set up in their minds for what each and every one of them had to do.
The tribe then settled to get some rest from the remaining hours of the night that were left. While most of his people slept that night Caesar had a hard time sleeping. He'd constantly wake up for no reason, but inwardly he knew his mind was mentally trying to keep him from seeing Koba in his nightmares.
A few times when he glanced up at the Colonel's quarters overlooking the entire yard he saw a familiar glow from far inside the man's upper level rooms. By this point in time Caesar had seen that shine enough to figure out it was Aurora. To him it was obvious what was going on. The soldiers were making Aurora use her hair on them making up for lost time decreasing their chances of being turned into primitive being from the virus. Like his dreams of his old nemesis Caesar forced himself to tune it out.
When morning came the strangest thing occurred. The soldiers were lined in outside the pens as usual, but they didn't immediately herd the apes out of their pens and made to work on the barricade after they declared themselves the Beginning and the End.
Looking up at the base the tower hosting the Colonel's command center where the man usually appeared to motivate his troops Caesar discovered why.
Instead of emerging bare chested or wearing casual clothing like he normally did the Colonel was doing something completely out of the ordinary. The Colonel was dressed in full uniform and this immediately set Caesar on edge knowing there must've been a purpose to make him change things up this way. But his attention was averted from the Colonel when he spotted the tiny form standing beside him on the railing.
It was Aurora and she was in a right state. Caesar and all the others were well justified to be worried for her.
The child looked like she'd been up all night. The reality of it is she probably was. She was wobbling on her feet barely able to stand and her eyes drooping shut snapping back open every few seconds showing how tired she was, but this wasn't what alarmed him the most. Caesar was disgusted to see shackles on the little ones ankles and wrists and the end of the chain connecting them held in the Colonel's hand. The Colonel wasn't taking any chances of having her runaway again.
Shadow perked up when he saw his owner. He started barking up a storm wanting to get to her, but he couldn't get out of the pen. Luca and Rocket were close to the dog and tired to comfort him in Aurora's absence by placing their hands on Shadow's back and head.
The Colonel raised a hand for silence and his subordinates quieted waiting to hear what he had to say with rapt devotion and loyalty.
Taking a deep breath annunciating his voice so all could hear, the Colonel said "For two years now, we have fought relentlessly against these beasts. But now we find ourselves on the eve of battle, against our own kind. They say we are indecent. They say we are inhumane. They call us a death squad. But they'll never understand the extent of our sacrifice, how agonizing it has been to do what must be done, even as it tears at our very souls. Because there are times when it is necessary to abandon our humanity, in the fight to save humanity. All of you have shown the courage to do that. But now we must take the fight to them, or this hellish trial will all have been in vain."
The Colonel then descended the steps to meet his soldiers yanking Aurora unceremoniously along with him. She tripped on the steps and would've fallen if the chains hadn't been what were keeping her standing.
"We cannot fail! We are the last defense," stated the Colonel, continuing his speech, walking among the neat lines of his soldiers. "Somewhere in this world there are more survivors. And whether they know it or not they are counting on us to show the will to protect them against this new plague. We've seen it here. We've watched it devastate our families. And already it is spreading up north. If we lose this battle, there'll be nothing left to stop it from spreading everywhere. In a matter of months, the human race will gasp its last words and go silent. Just another dumb animal left to roam this godforsaken world."
Another pause followed as the Colonel seemed to carefully consider what to say next ware of how it would affect the people under him.
"Most of you are still young men and women. And if we win, years from now, you may be sitting somewhere, with your children, your grandchildren, and they'll ask you 'What did you do in the greatest war?' And you can tell them 'I fought viciously…for a gentler world.' A world now made brighter by the return of our Flower," said the Colonel, gesturing at Aurora. "With the magic of the golden flower we will be unstoppable and mold a new world order into our exact image. A forefront that nothing will be able to penetrate ever again!"
The soldiers erupted into roaring cheers, the ferocity of them making Aurora flinch shivering in fright, eyes wide.
The sight had Luca growl lowly in his throat, hands fisting over the pen bars as they shook in rage at having to witness Aurora's degrading humiliation. Poor thing looked like she was going to burst into tears.
The Colonel had achieved the effect he'd wanted. He nodded to a soldier on one of the guard towers. The whistle on blew upon the Colonel's signal and the soldiers then proceeded to hustle the apes out of their pens for a days labor. Turning to head back inside with Aurora the Colonel briefly made eye contact with Caesar as Red and Preacher were putting the collar back on his neck along with the chains. Caesar's face was inscrutable while staring him down. The Colonel snickered smugly and took Aurora away with the heavy metal doors slamming shut.
It made Caesar sick to think about Aurora was going through away from their eyes, people who actually cared for her wellbeing, but the way things were until the escape plan could commence there was nothing any of them could do to save her yet. He wanted to tell her then and there that everything was going to be all right, but like all things in this world victory never came without a price.
Authors Note:
I just realized how close to the end we're getting. :O