Planet of the Apes: Broken Chain
(Set in 1968 planet universe.)
Ch.1 Survival
…. Man, what is Man? Is it the thought that makes it who it is, or is the physical manifestation of one's genetic makeup? Can one measure one's worth by it? Man has wondered these things and more through the millenniums. When does the thinking end, when does the 'being here' stop? Those who think, those who reason in this world are guilty of these acts. All are the same, even ones next door.
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Laying in the sand here is Robert Burman. A simple fellow. Was. Now stuck in the middle of a wasteland. Not by his own choice, or of his own knowledge of where or when it happened. Only soon does he learn that he is there, alone. Even more troubling than his lapse of memory, is that the world around him is inhabited by beings that are not so different than him. Creatures that view him as inferior, as they had for a thousand years…
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Pov: Robert
….Did I forget to turn off my light and heater?... Wait a minute, I don't have a heater in my room… THEN WHY IS IT SO HOT!
My eyes opened only for them to shut again.
That light is almost bright as the sun…
I sat up expecting to look around again. Wastes, as far as the eyes could see.
That was the sun… uh oh.
I rushed to my feet and saw I was still in my night clothes. Nylon shorts, tee shirt with holes from work, and socks that collected dirt on the ground.
My eyes turned once more to my surroundings. I saw a lake in a valley, nothing appeared to be growing there.
A salt lake?
Pushing that thought aside, I searched my outfit for anything else useful. Luck was with me. A phone and my pocket knife. I went to my phone first.
Time, time… 12:00pm, high noon...
I looked up, and sure enough it was high noon. Proving my clock to be accurate, I decided to check my signal.
...nothing.
It made sense, there was not a cell tower in sight.
That wasn't all, It only had sixty percent left on it. Leaving it turned off for now was my best option. It was after all my only chance for calling for help.
Wait, did I try shouting for help?!
"Hello?! Anyone out there?! I'm kind of lost! Is this a Prank?! Cause I ain't laughing?!"
Nothing but a little gust of wind answered my call.
Lovely….
My next task was to examine my knife, which I did after I spotted a nearby rock and sat on it. As I moved all of the parts of the tool in my hand, my mind was elsewhere and my body forgot what it was doing.
What is going on? I mean, it could be worse. I could be naked. But come on?! Where am I? And why a wasteland? What do I do?
I looked down to my hand once more. And saw one of the side compartments. A compass was shown… and seeing it burned a flame in my instincts. Anywhere, but here.
But which way, east or west?
I checked my pockets one more time. Luck showed me what it could spare. A penny.
Must be my lucky day…
Taking the penny, I used it for the only thing it's good for. Coin toss.
Heads East, tails West…
The flip of my life was then, and landed in my palm.
Tails…
It was then I knew what I had to do, survive.
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Water… Please let me find water…
My prayer went up, but hadn't found an answer yet. It was desperate, and yet I found my location was odd.
Does Earth have environments like this?! I mean this isn't the Sahara, scalding rock structures, salt lakes? I would say the Grand Canyon, but there is no Grand Canyon. Maybe it's-.
My thoughts were halted by a thunderous sound. Clouds were abundant in the sky, but none of them were rain clouds. Vibrations made it to my feet, giving me a startling revelation. I rushed to a nearby hill to see.
Horses?! Maybe there are people with them!... Wait, what if they're behind me being out here?! Gotta hide, I need higher ground!
One of the rock structures proved to provide what I needed as I looked through the cleft in the rock. The horse came closer, but what I saw riding them made my heart skip.
Gorillas, with clothes?!
"Search the place! Those humans couldn't have gotten far!"
They talk?!
The talking Gorillas dismounted while clicking sound came from sticks on their backs.
Guns?! Oh what's going on? They're after humans, that means I'm a target right now!... This is the part where I start running… SO WHY AM I NOT RUNNING!
In truth, I knew why I wasn't running. I had nowhere to go, no food, no water, and my feet were burnt up from the sun. And most important of all, I needed information. Thankfully some came my way.
"Malek! Get over here!"
"Yes, Sir!"
The one called Malek looked different than the others. Not that I had thought they all looked exactly the same, but this one was shorter. His voice almost seemed to crack on the "Sir."
"Now your father put me in charge of your care. Correct?"
"Yes, Sir!"
"First thing first, enough of that Sir rubbish. While we are on patrol you can still call me Uncle Drek."
"Yes, S- Uncle Drek."
Oi vey, this guy is a newbie…
"Second, ease up out here. You're bound to give yourself an early grave being nervous. Is that how the son of a General should act?"
"No, Uncle."
"Then let's get working. You should stay with the horses, this being your first time on the hunt after all. And remember this is the forbidden zone, watch yourself."
"Right, Uncle."
Then both started pounding their chests as the uncle went over to the ridge line opposite of where I was. Peaking my head out more, I looked back at the horses. If I wasn't dehydrated at the time, my mouth would have drooled at the sight of the water canteens on the saddles of the horses.
With the "boy" distracted by waiting for his group to come back, I decided to risk it and swipe some water off them. My head was hurting to think otherwise.
Water first...
I moved around my hiding rock and hoped to get close enough, but I quickly turned back behind my hiding spot.
My life had flashed before my eyes! Something was there.
Definitely not a gorilla!
I leaned over to see it again. What I saw made me want to puke.
It was bipedal, darkish see through skin. It looked glossy wet, but it was dry like leather. Its head was similar to that of a skull of a bear or wolf. And its claws… whatever this was, it was somehow crazier than the talking gorillas. The more I looked at it, the more I wanted to gag. I could see its organs as it breathed, and it's teeth were bare from it's lack of visible skin around its mouth. It's attention was on the gorillas and the horses...
To my horror, it slowly turned to look in my direction. It knew I was there… somehow it knew…
Smell? Or something else?
I wanted to run, but I didn't know how fast this abomination could run.
Before I could think of a plan through, the cracking of gunfire riddled the air.
I flinched the direction of it for a moment, but remembered my immediate threat. Taking a "last stand" stance, I turned with my pocket knife raised for the kill.
Nothing... The monster was gone… And I rushed to look behind me. Nothing…
As I was looking for where it went, the gun fire got closer. Soon screaming and yelling was thrown into the mixture. Figures who were boldly moving to hunt, now we're running away in fear… and their fear was almost what I saw moments before. Instead, there was more than one creature and they were on all fours. I had counted them, six. The six of them were chasing the hunters. Some of the hunters turned to fire back but were sliced down by the claws. Soon the shrieks and shrills of the predators filled up the air with the sound of gunfire.
The rest of the hunters who wouldn't fight ran to the horses and scared most of them off before others could get to them.
"RUN! IT'S THE RAVAGERS! THEY'RE BACK!"
"Every Ape for themselves!"
The Uncle thought otherwise.
"NO! Hold your ground!"
His command did resonate with a few, but it was to no use. They were faster than any predator I had seen in nature documentaries.
As for poor Malek, he was stuck in the middle of this frenzy trying to figure out what was happening. A horse had knocked him down as it ran off with the rest, while another tramped on him. That said horse was tacked by what the apes dubbed a "Ravager" and the creature tore into the steed.
"GET BACK HERE YOU MONSTER!"
The uncle looked all torn up with its helmet now gone. With a loud entrance, he charged the abomination with his gun in hand. He grabbed the monster from behind and threw him from the horse. As strong as the leader appeared, it was not enough to toss the ravager aside far enough.
Instead this predator stood bipedal like the one I saw before. It towered over Uncle and swiped fast at his gun arm. Taking his gun and arm away from Him. The ape screamed in his agony as he was knocked back from the force in the swipe.
As the other animals in the group continued to chase down the escaping gorillas, this one remained. It walked over to the arm on the ground and dug in.
This waste of skin was evil incarnate. It was playing with it's prey still alive in pain.
I heard what they said about hunting humans, but nobody deserves this treatment! I gotta stop this!
As the monster chewed into the arm, I took the opportunity to get close to one of those guns. It was near one of the dead soldiers and looked old fashioned. However it did have a magazine.
Semi auto…
Around the belt on the hunter, I saw a bayonet.
Ok, 50 percent of a plan done, better than a sharp stick.
In a rush, I attached the knife and quickly found another gun. Two are better than one.
The Ravager was done with his play food. It was going for his main course, while said course was cradling where his arm used to be.
It slowly walked up to the ape jaw opened. Making some kind of laughing sound as it went step by step. The beast was a mere feet away from pouncing when I made my move.
The newly acquired gun made it mark with each cackling. I was close enough to where I really didn't need to take aim as I fired at its hind leg and back. Now with its attention, the beast hesitated when it saw me but it's anger grew as it leaped for me.
Checkmate Nightmare!
The bayoneted rifle I had laid previously was balanced on a rock that went just past shin level and was now sticking up in front of the ravager. The animal landed hard on the blade that soon entered its chest, organs visible being sliced under the dark transparent skin. What sad life was in its eyes was then gone.
I quickly looked around for any of the other creatures. Nothing. No shrills, no gunfire. Dead silence.
My tired feet left the gun and I made my way to the downed Gorilla, he looked deeply in pain covering his stump where his arm was. He was however aware enough to know of his surroundings.
"Back off you filthy human!"
"Look, I just want to help you with your arm."
Instead of the hardened look he had, it morphed into terror.
"What kind of a joke is this! Whoever is behind this get out here and help!"
This guy for real?!
"Look pal, you want my help or not?!"
"Not from a dirty mutant human like you!"
Some Gorilla…
"Well, then I guess you don't mind me taking water then!"
If the ape wasn't mad before, it certainly was now.
"You wouldn't dare!"
"OH YES I WOULD! CONSIDERING I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE! I AM RUNNING ON EMPTY AND HAVE A MAJOR HEADACHE!"
The ape flinched at my snapping, but he didn't say a word.
Whatever…
I started my walk to the dead horse, making sure not to waste too much energy to do so. Thankfully the canteen was still intact. Opening the lid, I made sure to keep my lips away from the rim as water started trickling down my dry throat.
"Satisfied mutant?! Now leave!"
The water was already working through my body, alleviating my headache.
No, I can't leave him like that. Even if I really wanted to.
I pulled off my shirt (My only shirt.) And tore off parts of the cloth with my pocket knife. I threw some of the pieces at him.
He glanced at them, "What do you expect me to do with these tainted rags?!"
"To stop the bleeding, or wipe your butt if you need to. If you don't want them, you could bleed out. Nobody's gonna stop you."
This shut him up. The big gorilla person meekly picked up the rags and put them on the wound. He gave a big hiss, but calmed down quickly.
Now to get to work.
I took out the ammo from the magazine in my gun. Using the same rock as before as a table, I broke open the ammo with the back end of the bayonet knife on top of a piece of cloth. The powder started to mingle in the cloth as I moved it around on it.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Well, your bleeding isn't going to just stop. So I'm preparing to cauterize your arm stump."
"And how, pray tell, will you do that?"
"On a scale of one to ten, how well can you handle pain."
He said nothing as he gave a grunt.
I hope he doesn't die from this… Hey, this might help.
"Ok, bite on the end of this butt stock."
"What for?!"
"You don't want to hurt your jaw, do you? Now open wide~."
He could have taken a bite of me with my fingers close to his face, but I supposed he wouldn't want to taste a "Filthy human".
The ape moved his head forward and got a good grip with his teeth on it.
"Alright, move your rags for a second, I'm putting this one over it. Now this may sting a little… Ok, it may hurt a little more than a little."
He didn't argue this time and moved the rags. Sure enough when he did, blood started leaking out. Wasting no time, I placed the gun powdered rag completely over the wound. He then placed his rags over it.
"Hehe…"
The leader struggled laughing with the piece of wood in his mouth.
"What's so funny?"
"It didn't hurt at all, just tickled."
Oh really?~…
"Well I can promise you that what you experienced just now is wonderful compared to what's next."
The ape's face swiftly switched to apprehension.
I got out my pocket knife and got out the fire starter tool with the flint. Using it, I started a fire on the last rag I had.
This better work…
"Alright, move the rags again"
He did just that and I got close with my fire rag to the powdered one.
"Have you done this before?" Was what he said through his mouth piece when translated.
"Nope."
"WHAT?!"
It was too late, I tossed the rag and it started the reaction. As much as the gorilla wanted to "Ape up", he started screaming in agony. He started rocking from side to side with tears now visible from his face, eventually calming down to where I could investigate.
Easy big guy…
I moved in closer to the arm and removed the remains of the cloth. What was underneath made me want to vomit, but it appeared that the bleeding was stopped.
"Alright, you should be good now."
Calm turned to panic when I noticed the ape's eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving. My hand rushed to his neck.
...Ok, he has a pulse...
At this I felt like I could die. Even with the water I was still weak.
Food…
I go back to the satchel. Sure enough, there was what I would assume was some of their soldier ration. Dried fruit.
Good enough…
I started with the raisins and dug in. The canteen I used before was still full and I took another swig.
Meal fit for a king… I think I overstayed my welcome.
I went over to the Uncle to check up, I stopped a few feet when snoring could be heard. I couldn't help but smile, next was the boy. He was alright, just a little scuffed up around his face.
I'm not a biologist, or a doctor for that matter…
I walked up the hill with my intent to leave when I was stopped by what I saw at the top. None of the other soldiers made it, not even the horses. Parts were everywhere, guns were sliced and broken, and none of the predators could be seen in the mess.
It's not my problem, keep walking.
I started my pace again. I looked over the apes bodies and guilt rose up in me. Even though they weren't human, I could still see the terror they saw in their last moments. My walking stopped when I tripped on one of the gun parts and had to stare hard at it. It was one of the gun stock's broken down the center, it was crushed in a shape similar to that of a shovel. A very crooked shovel…
Brain, do I have to?
I knew I was raised better, so I got to work.
Soft ground would be easier due to my energy levels, and I saw a dune hill nearby.
Well, let's get to work.
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I had been at it for twenty minutes after I had dug the hole, and progress was slowly coming along in the clean up. Body parts had been everywhere, so much so that I wouldn't have known which part went with which person. So making a mass grave was the best solution to the problem. I also gathered up the surviving guns and threw them over to where the survivors were. Those animals were still out there, waiting I was sure. Then again, I didn't know exactly.
I just finished bringing all of the parts over when I saw the one armed Gorilla over the hill. It didn't stop me long, I picked up the shovel and started to bury the remains. The Ape watched me intently as I did this, then spoke.
"What are you doing?"
"If you can't tell, I'm making a grave for your soldiers."
"I can see that, but why? Don't you know what we have done to your kind?!"
I stopped for a moment.
"Oh I heard enough from you and your 'Posse' to get the idea. 'Filthy humans', 'Mutant'. You hunt them like animals from what I have heard."
"Then why?"
Even I had to think, It wasn't like I owed him something. No…
"It was the right thing to do, what's a life of just living…"
With that I turned to walk away with my gun.
"Wait!"
I stopped and turned back to the Gorilla.
"You can't go that way, they will find you. My people cage or make sport of your kind."
Now I was stumped.
"Is there nowhere for my kind?"
"In the jungle, but you would be hunted. You should go back where you came from."
I sighed, "I...I can't… It's a long story."
The Ape moved his hand over his face and sighed as well.
"Then come over here, tell me."
I didn't know it then, but this was a turning point of what was to come…
End chapter