It took me two days to get the power back up, and that involved a lot of trudging through the forest, searching for a break in the cables. There was one benefit of this; I managed to get some time away from Archer, and someone else was quick to capitalise on this.

It had been only a few minutes since we'd split when I looked down from the cables overhead, and there he was.

"Blue!" I breathed, a grin spreading across my face as I strode towards him. Stopping a little way back, I reached out a cautious hand, touching his arm gently.

Breaking from his stillness, he pulled me into a rough hug that I reciprocated with interest. His eyes remained on my face as he pulled back, touching the bruise on my head.

Wincing, I pulled back, waving his hand away.

"I'm fine," I said impatiently.

"Her?" he growled, looking over my shoulder.

I glanced back, but there was no sign of Archer.

"No," I said, shaking my head quickly. "Just an accident in the earthquake. Are you all okay, was anyone hurt?"

"Not bad," Blue Eyes said. "Bad-ly," he corrected himself, and I grinned. "She dangerous?"

I grimaced. "I don't know. I don't think so. She doesn't seem to be with the soldiers and she doesn't seem to know about you guys, but I want to keep it that way."

Blue Eyes nodded. "Saw her. Stayed away."

"Thank you," I sighed, relieved. Glancing back over my shoulder again, I started walking, following the power line overhead, Blue Eyes keeping pace with me.

"How is everyone?" I asked.

"Work hard," Blue said. "Found new place."

"That's great!" I said honestly.

"What... are you doing?" he asked.

"Power is out," I sighed. "We went up to the dam, and it's still running, but I think there must be a break in the cables somewhere, so we're trying to fix it. Not that I know how we're going to fix it if we find it," I added in a mutter.

"No music," Blue Eyes observed.

"Exactly. No power, no music, no plan."

"Then come back."

"Oh, Blue," I groaned. "Please stop."

"Worry. You hurt," he signed stubbornly.

"From the earthquake," I snapped, rounding on him. "Do you think this is easy for me, that I want to be doing this? I'm scared all the time! I'm scared about whether or not you are okay, I'm scared about what will happen if I do manage to intercept the soldiers, I'm scared of being out here on my own. I'm scared that you will be attacked when I'm not there and I won't be able to do anything about it. But you know what? None of that matters. Because that's nothing compared to how scared I am that I can make a difference, here and now, and that I might run away instead."

I took several breaths, trying to calm myself as Blue Eyes stared at me.

Too loud.

"I'm sorry," I said, volume back under control. "Look, I want to come back with you. More than anything. But I can't. It's about... it's about choosing between what's right, and what's easy. Blue, it would be easier to come back with you. I know that. And I know that staying out here, doing this, might not even be the right choice, but I believe that it is. So I have to do it. And it would be a lot easier if I had your support."

Suddenly exhausted, I half turned away, sitting down on the cold floor. For a moment, Blue Eyes didn't move and I worried that I had made him angry, but then he knuckled around in front of me. Warily, I raised my gaze and watching him making a sign.

Both his hands, curled into fists, held horizontally in front of him, thumbs touching.

"What does that mean?" I asked quietly.

"Apes, together, strong," he huffed, with the tiniest pause between each word.

I gave a small smile. "I'm not ape," I pointed out.

"You are family," he said, signing the word at the same time.

My shoulders slumped and I looked at him with barely contained tears.

Knuckling closer, he huddled down and put his arms around me.

I returned the hug, resting my forehead on his shoulder, and for the first time in longer than I could remember, I let my guard drop. I stopped listening for movement behind me, I stopped thinking about the emotions showing on my face. I let it all go, knowing that, at that moment, I didn't need my guard up. At that moment, he was my guard.

.

.

Archer was the one who found the problem – several tree branches had fallen and pulled the power cables sideways. By some miracle, they weren't broken, just shorting out, and we spent a frustrating yet amusing afternoon trying to get the branches down without actually touching them. Mostly, it involved throwing more branches at them, which felt counter-intuitive but worked in the end.

The power at the gas station remained patchy, often cutting out for a few seconds, or even several minutes, but for the most part, it remained on, and that was the important thing.

My dilemma now was what to do about the soldiers and Archer. Could I continue with my original plan to lure them in and wean information out of them with her around? It might provide better cover for my true identity, but equally, if I was revealed, she was another potential attacker. Part of me whispered that she wouldn't do that, but I shrugged it off. I was reasonably confident now that she wasn't working with the soldiers, but I didn't know how she would react if she knew the truth about me. In the end, I didn't have to decide; the problem removed itself before it arose.

.

.

"Okay, but I'm sure I saw something once where the castle and the king switched places?"

I groaned as Archer moved her bishop across the board. "That's called 'castling' and it's the stupidest move there is. Plus, I don't understand it or remember how it works, so it's irrelevant."

"Why is it stupid?" Archer chuckled.

"Because it is," I grumbled. "Only knights can jump. And, it means you move two pieces in a single turn. I'm pretty sure someone just made it up because they were stuck one day. 'You're in check... Oh no I'm not, I'm going to do this fancy-ass move that's totally legitimate and get out of it.'."

Archer was laughing again at my ridiculous voice impressions as I moved my knight forwards.

For a few moment, we were silent as we played. She'd picked up the rules well enough after a couple of games, and now we had a fair even mix of winning and losing.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asked, just as she slid her way out of my plan to check her.

"Um, sure?" I eyed her, taken aback by her suddenly introspective tone.

She refused to meet my gaze. "What's your name?"

I looked at her lowered head. It was not a question I'd been expecting. Neither of us had ever offered up our real names. My jab of calling her 'Archer' had stuck like glue, and she'd very rarely called me anything, though 'Survivor' had slipped out a few too many times to be a coincidence.

She didn't take the question back, despite my hesitation, and nor had she made a move.

The worst part was that I had an answer ready, but I paused, some part of me wanting to give a different answer.

Jac, it wanted to say. My name is Jac.

"Heather," I croaked out then cleared my throat as she finally looked up. "Heather."

She gave the most beautiful smile I'd seen in years. "Lilianne," she offered in return. "But everyone just calls me Lily."

Lily. It suited her, from her messy blond hair to her oversized eyes.

"So... Heather," she drawled the word out as I inched my pawn closer to the other side of the board. "Can I ask you another question?"

I grinned at her. "You can."

"When were you going to tell me about the apes?"

"What?"

I answered instinctively, without even registering the question properly then looked up, and found her eyes locked on me.

"What do you mean?" I said, but I could feel the mask slipping.

"I saw you," she said with a gentle bluntness. "I heard the music and followed it, but I watched you for a while, to see what you were like. And I saw you, right out there, with an ape."

I couldn't breathe.

"Obviously, I was kinda confused—"

Chess pieces flew everywhere as I launched myself over the board. Her head smacked off the ground as I tackled her, flipping her roughly over onto her front and pinning her arms. My gun was in my hand and then it was pressed against the back of her neck.

"Who are you?" I hissed. "Who are you working for? Where did you come from? What..."

"Get off me!"

"Who sent you?!" I roared.

"No one!" she cried, wriggling underneath me.

I ground my knee into her elbow and she went still with a gasp of pain.

"No one sent me," she repeated, her voice wavering. "I swear."

Did I believe her? Not enough. I didn't move. The gun was to her head. It would make an awful mess... I wanted to slap myself for the callous thought, even as I remained frozen, my breaths uneven and shaky.

"Heather, survivor," she said, her voice steadier now. "Let me up."

I couldn't move. I couldn't do it. She knew. She knew about the apes, about Blue, about Caesar, and I couldn't do it.

"You're not with..."

"I'm not with anyone," she said emphatically. "Let me up. Now."

Slowly, I removed my knee from her elbow and my gun from the back of her head, though I didn't put it away. I stood up and backed away so fast it felt like I was falling.

Lily rolled over and looked up at me with something between shock and sadness. She opened her mouth, but I couldn't hear it, so I spoke first.

"You..." I cleared my throat. "You need to leave."

She just stared at me with that blank, broken expression.

"Now."

Slowly, she stood up, and gathered up her possessions without a word, her back to me. Back straight, she moved towards the door.

"Don't go to the city," I said, before she could leave. It was too much to ask; I had no right, but I couldn't help myself. "Go back north, or go around, just... don't go to the city. Please."

She spun on her heel to face me and there were tears streaking her cheeks.

"I don't know who the hell you think I am, or what you think I'm doing here, but you're wrong," she asserted. "Remember that." Then she strode out the door.

I stood in the silence that remained, gazing blindly at the chess pieces, scattered all over the floor.

Trust is a precious thing.

And I'd never really trusted anyone, had I? Too late to change that now. I needed to be sure she didn't run straight to the soldiers or run into them if she'd been telling the truth. Without holstering my gun, I followed Archer out of the door.

.

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A/N: Sorry this took so long. I've had a horrible couple of weeks. Let me know what you thought of the chapter!