A's/N: Hi people! How's 2019 so far? :D
So little update here: I got the Dawn of The Planet of The Apes Novalization for my birthday and I dicovered Kemp's name is spelled withut a 'T'. Those of you that already read tha book probably already knew that but I didn't so I'm going to go back into my previous chapters and fix that error. XD
Warnig!: This chapter contains scenes of cursing, a not-so-detailed C-Section (nothing gross I swear!) and mentions of drugs anf dismembered body limbs (again, nothing gross!).
Anyways, enjoy the late chapter! ;D
McCullough was gone. Caroline didn't know where he went, but she took his absence as an opportunity to get answers.
When she was sure the only people in the colonel's courters were the servants, she started searching. By now, Caroline had lived with McCullough long enough to know how he organized things. Sure he'd leave maps, jacks and shell casings on the table, and Caroline had never seen him clean anything other than his plate and face, but McCullough was not one to leave anything important lying around and out in the open. He kept anything that reflected his plans hidden and all windows to his mind locked tightly.
But Caroline had learned years ago that all hidden treasures can be found eventually, and all windows can be opened somehow.
The first place she wanted to try was that camera room, but when she tried the doorknob, she found it to be locked. Of course it would, McCullough always kept the key for it in his front pocket on his uniform.
Undeterred, Caroline pulled out one of her hair clips and pulled out a paper clip from her skirt pocket and used them to try and pick the lock. A trick she picked up from Cortez, though the scarred gorilla hadn't used it since getting burned.
After a couple of tries, a light snap told her one clip was broken and the other damaged. She pulled both tools out with a frustrated sigh. Clearly this door had a more complicated lock than the ones used for cages.
How ironic, Jonathon. She thought bitterly. You'd think by now, I'd know not to underestimate you, but I still do.
Meanwhile, Lake was busy dusting
Just then, Caroline jumped as she heard the floor boards behind her make a sound. Was McCullough back already?!
No. Much to her relief, the person standing there was Lake. "Sorry." She quickly signed. "I just came in here to clean."
Caroline sighed to calm her nerves. "It's ok." She signed as she stood up. "Where's Cortez and Rowena?"
"Still doing chores." Lake glanced at the door Elaine was just sitting in front of before looking back at the human. "Were you trying to get in there?"
Caroline hesitated before nodding. "I was trying to find out what he's going to do with Red."
Lake looked surprised. "You really care about him?" Elaine looked and acted like she was his wife, but their interactions weren't like Lake's own parents, or Caesar's and Cornelia's, or like Rocket's and Tinker's. It felt…Fake. Like McCullough liked having her around, but he didn't seem to actually love Elaine. Meanwhile, Elaine didn't act as if she loved him either. If anything, it felt like she feared him.
But as strange as their marriage was, Lake expected Elaine to have some dislike or resentment to the apes.
Caroline sighed a deep sigh. Thinking. She supposed now was a good time to tell Lake who she really was. "My name isn't Elaine." She admitted. "My real name is Caroline."
"Caroline?" Lake asked, scrunching he face in confusion.
"I joined the AO with Will. Caesar's adoptive father." She explained, hoping Lake knew of Caesar's background.
Her hope was confirmed by Lake's eyes widening. "Caesar's adoptive father?! You know him?!" Lake and all the other apes her age had been told by Maurice and their parents that Caesar had been raised by humans. Caesar never gave names, but it was known that he had an adoptive grandfather, an adoptive mother, and an adoptive father.
If the adoptive father-or Will, is here than...! "You're Caesar's adoptive mother!?"
At that, Caroline almost laughed. She never thought of herself as a mother, but she supposed that sounded about right. "Yes!"
Lake hooted in amazement before quickly placing her hands over her mouth and glancing around to see if anyone heard her. When nothing happened, she glanced back at Caroline. "But if you're Caesar's adoptive mother, why are you the Colonel's wife?"
Caroline mentally rolled her eyes at the word. She married the Colonel. McCullough and the soldiers put together a wedding for them in the base and she wore an old, white gown...But it wasn't a marriage. Not one Caroline's parents would have approved of and certainly not one she would have, under normal circumstances, would have agreed to.
"He wanted a wife and he chose me…I accepted because I thought it could give me a chance to get closer to his plans without anyone being suspicious. He calls me his wife, but I'm actually spying on him." There, that sounds better. That's why their marriage is a sham. It was never real from the start.
Slowly, the pieces began to come together in Lake's mind: The soldier most called Roscoe was actually Will, who was Caesar's adoptive father and the Colonel's 'wife' was Caesar's adoptive mother, who was really spying on McCullough. They were both here, under different names. Surrounded by soldiers maybe, but alive…Caesar's adoptive parents…The family that most of the apes in her colony disapproved, were the very people who were trying to stop the Alpha-Omega before the apes and the humans back in the city knew of their existence.
Rebels.
But what did any of this have to do with Red? Caesar didn't know other apes until he was taken to the primate shelter, which meant he didn't grow up with any ape siblings. So where did Red fit into all of this?
"But if you're Caesar's adoptive mother, how do you know Red?" Lake asked when this thought came to mind.
Caroline paused for a second. Ten years of never speaking a word of her family or of where she came from have left her memories buried and locked away. The only hints of the past being her earrings, and Will. Especially Will.
She believed she'd either take the truth of who she was and who she knew to her grave, or the Colonel would die never knowing who he had married.
"I used to work at the Zoo, the very one Caesar freed some of the apes in your colony from, as a vet-Or healer and midwife." She corrected when seeing the slight confusion in Lake's face.
Lake nodded, showing she understood.
Good. Thought Caroline. "The year before Caesar freed your colony, there was a female gorilla named Ariyah. She was sick, I had to deliver her child through an emergency C-section. That baby was Red."
Flashback
"Forceps!"
Caroline felt like she was on a tightrope. Any minute, she'll lose her balance and plunge into nothingness. The familiar sounds and smells of the operating room didn't make her feel any better. She was used to doing cesarian sections, but never like this. She normally only preformed this procedure for smaller mammals in less dire situations.
This was different…This was a matter of life and death.
"We're losing them!" Gasped one of the others, another vet.
The only noise Caroline could hear was the heartbeats on the monitor. One was Ariyah's, the other was the baby's. Ariyah's was beating abnormally, and the baby's was unstable. Everything else didn't matter. "Not if I can help it, keep going!"
It had to have been minutes after saying that, but if felt like hours had passed when Caroline finally had her hands on the baby gorilla as she gently pulled him out. While one of the other vets started to close the wound, she placed the baby on a clean mat as she cleared his airways.
He was premature by seven months…And he wasn't moving.
"Come on, baby." Caroline whispered as she pressed her fingers on his tiny chest. "Breathe!"
There was a short cycle of her doing CPR and another vet checking the infant's pulse. It was the same head spinning, heart dropping feeling of time running out. A kind of panic that made her whole body tremble. Caroline focused on nothing else.
She didn't hear her colleague until she suddenly felt her hand on her shoulder. "Hay, I feel a pulse!"
"W-What?" Caroline felt as if her mind had floated away and was suddenly yanked back to the ground.
"He's alive!"
Caroline quickly glanced at the baby gorilla. He still wasn't making any noise, but she saw the slightest hint of movement from him. His tiny eyes twitching and fingers slowly clenching and unclenching.
"Oh thank God!" Relief wasn't enough to describe what she felt. Caroline didn't realize it, but she had been holding her breath the whole time. Now her lungs ached with finally receiving air.
"We need to get him in an incubator!-Nicu! Whatever the hell that box is called!" Ordered the head vet. He never did well under pressure. "And someone figure out why he's not crying!"
"He may be having trouble breathing, look for signs of pneumonia or respiratory distress!" Another added.
The baby wasn't out of the woods yet, but Caroline couldn't help but have high hopes for him. The fact that he was alive was a miracle in itself. Looking back down at him, she smiled just a little bit.
Don't worry, little guy. She thought. I won't give up on you.
End of Flashback
Lake listened to Caroline's story with wide, disbelieving eyes. So that was how Red came to be.
"What was wrong with him?" She asked as soon as Caroline had finished.
"His lungs weren't fully developed." Caroline still felt nostalgic sadness as she signed. "We were so afraid he'd get phenomena or some other infection, that we kept him and his mother in observation for months. I was still giving him medicine on a daily basis when Caesar freed them."
For a second, fear struck Lake. "Red still needed medicine? Even though he was better?"
Caroline quickly saw her concern. "Not that kind of medicine." She reassured. "Just vitamins and nutrients. Medicine that would help him grow."
Lake relaxed. For that one minute, she thought Red still needed medication and by freeing him and taking him to the forest, Caesar had inadvertently done more harm than good. She was relieved that wasn't the case.
"Where's Ariyah now?" Asked Caroline. "I haven't seen her or Red since they were at the zoo."
It didn't surprise Lake that Caroline would ask about Ariyah. What did surprise her was the pang of saddens she felt at remembering her.
Lake didn't interact with Ariyah that much, but she knew the female gorilla to be a stubborn, grouchy ape. Ariyah respected Caesar and followed his rule, but she made it clear no one could tell her what to do. No one could ask her to do anything without a rude remark in return.
"She died two years ago." Lake signed sadly. "The last humans we saw before the ones in the city killed her."
Caroline drew in a breath and blinked in shock. No! Just like Charles and everything else from the past, Caroline never stopped thinking about Ariyah and Red. She doubted she's ever see them again, but she always hoped they were happy and safe in the forest. She hoped she could protect them like she could protect Caesar by spying on the AO soldiers…Now it seemed her being in the base did nothing to prevent Ariyah's death at the hands of enemies that weren't even in the Colonel's army.
She sniffled as tears build up in her eyes. Even though it was completely out of her hands, Caroline felt as if she had failed in protecting them.
Lake shed a few tears of her own. Most avoided Ariyah, but Dolly had been one of her only friends and she had mourned for her. Even those who disliked Ariyah felt sad for losing her. But no one had been more hurt by her death than Red. From what Lake knew, Red and Ariyah's relationship had been rocky as both were equally defiant. Ariyah wasn't in any way a bad parent, she was just overprotective of Red and suspicious of any friend he made. When asked about it, Red would say it all because his mother missed his father and siblings and her old home-The Forest of Fruit, the same place where Cornelia had come from. Wherever that was.
Despite all that, when Ariyah died, Red-then orphaned and alone-hid away into a shell of himself and never really was the same after that.
After drying away her tears, Caroline finally started signing again. "What happened to those humans that killed her?"
Lake sniffled and shook her head. "I don't know. I wasn't there when it happened…Caesar had Pope and the Ape Army search for them but they disappeared." She went silent again, thinking about that horrible day. "It's strange…" She started. "Ever since she died, Red has been…Angry…"
"Angry?" Asked Caroline, suddenly focused again.
"Yeah…Particularly at Caesar…He wouldn't tell anyone why…"
Angry at Caesar? Caroline's nose was still wet and her cheeks damp from her tears, but now her thoughts were back on Red, and what McCullough said about him. Now Elaine had never seen the Colonel actually break an ape before, but she knew the kind of damage he could do. He had driven normally timid and non-violent apes into doing the most unthinkable of things before. Carlos was an example of that.
Caroline wasn't married to the Colonel at the time, but Will told her that he said the same thing about the elderly bonobo that he said about Red.
That he was also useful to him.
The place where the rebels met was the one place no one would expect rebels to meet in-the kitchen. All soldiers and Donkeys were expected to take turns doing kitchen duty in the base, so seeing a bunch of soldiers and apes in the small room wasn't unusual at all and the room was one of few places that didn't have cameras set. Even if there were just two rebels in the kitchen, they knew how to communicate in a way that no onlookers would pick up on.
Today, it was Will and Tanoddah who were that only two rebels in a room full of the Colonel's soldiers.
What little Will knew about the female gorilla came from other rebels. Her colony of gorillas had been imprisoned in the base since she was a preteen. As she grew, Tanoddah had developed a talent for reading the soldiers: she knew how to play the part of the obedient donkey…Though that didn't stop her from fighting back when given the chance.
Even now, even with soldiers everywhere, Tanoddah's blue and green eyes seemed to watch every human in the kitchen. Always watching, waiting.
Will hoped she wouldn't blow their cover.
Standing side by side, her doing the dishes while he prepared someone's meal, it was Tanoddah who spoke first.
"Where's Red and Winter?" Only she didn't use Sign Language.
Most soldiers didn't know Sign Language, but recognized it as the language almost all apes used to communicate, so it was too risky to use it in the kitchen and spoken language would be suicide. In order to communicate, the rebels had invented a new language. One that only rebels would know.
They called it, the Kitchen Language. Instead of using words to communicate, they used the objects, the food and making hand gestures such as pointing or itching. To any onlookers, it would just look like a soldier and an ape working next to each other.
So when Tanoddah asked that question, she asked it by scratching her bottom lip for Red, scratched her chest for white, pointed at herself for Gorilla, and shrugged her shoulders for where.
Will, Preacher and Hazell had been the ones to make up the language. Then Hazell taught it to Rowena and Cortez, who taught it to Tanoddah, and other ape rebels while Will and Preacher taught it to Caroline and the other human rebels.
Will outlined his face where McCullough's facial hair grew. "The Colonel." Then he put away dishes in a cupboard. "has them locked away."
Tanoddah frowned. 'Locked away' was never a good thing. She picked up a cup,"He." then began to wash it. "brainwash" She finished the question by itching her lip and chest. "them?"
Will rubbed his hands. "Maybe." He glanced around, pretending to have overheard Weber's joke but really just making sure no one was watching their secret conversation.
Like always, no one paid any attention to them. Despite the situation they were really in, Will often felt as if he were back in high school. Resuming his old role as the 'invisible kid'. However, in a place like the base, being invisible was the best thing one could hope for.
"He might" Will picked up a cup with one hand and rubbed the other on his shirt and then picked up a napkin. "try" With the napkin, he picked up a dirty knife to hand to Tanoddah and itched his lip. "torture Red."
Holding her hand close to her chest, Tanoddah made the sign for why but only so Will could see it.
"Caroline" In the Kitchen Language, Caroline's name sign was itching the ear. Signifying her many earrings. "heard" Will itched the skin next to his ear than picked up anther cup and pretended to pick something out of it before placing it upside down on the counter. "him say he has plans."
At this, Tanoddah's normally calm face began to falter. She knew all too well what that could mean. She thought about Red and Winter. The fear Winter displayed and the anger hinted in Red's eyes. She could tell the reddish furred gorilla didn't like Winter, that was obvious from the moment she met him. But that didn't stop Red from protecting him and the child gorilla, Pinto.
She hoped whatever the Colonel was planning, it wouldn't change that part of Red. Tanoddah itched her lip and touched a towel. "Can Red be saved?"
Will shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know." Earlier that day, Will and a few other rebels decided they had to do anther mass escape. Seeing as McCullough seemed more…Absent than usual. That usually meant he was planning something, and it almost always included death. Just last night, he had another 'package' delivered to San Francisco and Will barely had enough time to sneak his latest clue inside it.
Fearing for the worst, Will had wanted to make sure all those taken from San Fransisco would be sent back in the mass escape. But due to Red and Winter being locked away, Lake being a servant to the Colonel and no one knowing where the laboratory was, only Andy and Lucky would be in the group of escaped apes.
Even if Will knew where Red was though, he doubted any rebel could sneak him out without the Colonel finding out. Since McCullough's plan seemed to involve Red somehow, he'd likely guard Red like a dog guards a bone...Like how he guards Rose...
Tanoddah itched her chest. "Winter" She then touched a drawer. "Safe?"
Will touched the same drawer with a sad shake of the head. Bringing up one finger to his own chest. "No one is safe."
Flashback:
Needless to say, McCullough was not impressed with Preacher's failed attempt at interrogating Hazell. If anything, it angered him. Preacher's punishment for not getting answers was to clean the cell Hazell was held in every time Boyle, who would be interrogating her from now on, was 'done with her' as McCullough had put it.
Just the way he said those three words sent a chill down the young soldier's back, though he couldn't understand why.
Preacher didn't think or dwell on what the Colonel had meant by those words until the first time he had to clean the cell. It started with him walking over to the holding cells with a hose and bucket of bleach (which he thought was a little odd, considering that Hazell would be in the cell with him as he cleaned).
On the outside, the holding chamber seemed as dark and creepy as always. But when Preacher opened the door, he was met with the sound of banging.
"Tell me!" Boyle's voice, loud as it echoed in the hall, yelled. "Who else stole food?! How many more of you are there?!"
Preacher almost fell back outside at the yell. The sheer volume of it caused all his senses to suddenly become fully alert.
As the banging continued, Preacher willed himself forward. Slowly walking down the hallway. All the while, feeling as if he were in one of those horror movies where something is going to jump out and scare him.
When he got closer to the door, Preacher heard what could only be described as breathing. Pained, injured breathing.
Hazell.
Whatever answer Boyle was hoping to get, Hazell didn't give it to him.
"You bitch!" There was another bang, and a scrapping sound. Preacher suddenly felt cold when he realized what was happening. "You better tell me what you know or else I'll make it worse for you!"
Just as suddenly as it started, the door swung open and Boyle slammed it behind him. He looked surprised to see Preacher there for a minute, but then he chuckled. "No wonder Colonel had me take over." He pointed at the door with his thumb. "She's a hard nut to crack."
With that, he walked away. Taking his mocking laugh with him. Preacher wasn't sure if the bullying soldier was mocking him or if he actually meant it what he said about Hazell. He was just glad he didn't decide to spay him with his own hose-or worse, dump the bucket of bleach on him.
He nervously glanced at the door. Taking in a breath before walking up and opening it.
He had just barely stepped one foot into the cell when he saw Hazell. Just like before, she was chained in the center of the cell. Only now, she laid on her side on the floor in an almost fetal position (except that her arms were restrained behind her back). Her breathing was low and shaky, as if each air intake hurt.
Boyle did more than just beat her…He had beaten her so severely, that he made her vomit...And now, Hazell laid in a puddle of her own bile.
A sickening realization overcame Preacher as his gaze drifted from Hazell to the bucket. It felt as if the bleach was glaring right back at him. Now he understood why the Colonel wanted him to use it.
The bleach would do more than just clean the cell...It could hurt Hazell, disfigure her body to something less like an ape. McCullough ordered the bleach to continue with the torture even after Boyle left.
And Preacher was the one to use it on her.
No! The voice was loud and clear. Louder than McCullough's orders. Louder than any voice Preacher had ever known. No!
Colonels orders. Said another voice. You're already in enough trouble, do you really think she's worth disobeying the Colonel?
Preacher forced his feet forward, now he was inside the cell. He closed the door and it made a slamming noise behind him, causing him to jump.
When he looked back at Hazell, he almost jumped again. She was now looking up at him, her eyes blackened with bruises and her lip and nose bloody, but her spring colored eyes were just as he remembered.
Despite her obvious pain, she still wasn't afraid of him...She doesn't know what's in the bucket, or what Preacher could do to her with it.
For several heartbeats, the two stared at each other. She was ape, but she was still a living being...No different than him, deep down inside.
He couldn't do this. Preacher had seen apes get wiped, beaten, tattooed and killed by other soldiers, but this is wrong on a different level. He knew what bleach could do to skin-no, to an entire body if it were dumped on a person. It didn't matter if she was ape, or of she were a slave. She didn't deserve to be mutilated like that.
I'm going to get killed for this. With that thought, Preacher turned on the hose and only sprayed the vomit puddle down the drain in the floor. His thought was to just get rid of that awful puddle and then go but he made the mistake of looking at her again.
Preacher stared at her for the longest time before he forced himself to leave the room.
End of Flashback
In the quiet darkness of his room, Preacher wondered if McCullough would make other soldiers torture him with bleach, or let them beat him until his insides are broken and damaged. It wouldn't surprise him if any of them decide to do them without the Colonel ordering them to.
That's not why I'm locked up in here. Preacher thought, not trusting it to be safe enough to speak. He wants to interrogate me, so he can find out more about the rebels…And since I'm a…Or was, a follower to him…Would that mean he'll interrogate me here or in that cell he kept Hazell in? Would he use the same methods?
All this ran through his mind. Next to his memories, they were all he had now…Especially his memories.
As a rebel, Preacher knew some of the names of those who secretly opposed the Colonel. Counting himself, Will and Caroline, Preacher only knew of thirteen soldiers who were secretly rebels, and that was just the ones above ground.
There was Robbins, who preferred to go by 'Cliff', was the one to inform him and Will of Hazell going into labor. He was also the one who'd mess with the security cameras in the base, make them seem useless or buggy to McCullough but secretly record anything that went on in the base so Will could send them to the city.
Jefferson, who was more commonly known as 'Jeff', was one of the base's helicopter pilots and helped organize the mass escape plans as well as actually fly the escapees to the city.
Chambers and Eder, who all the ape rebels knew as 'Lisa' and 'Kyle', were the ones who purposely lied to the Colonel about their inventory notes just to make it easier for the rebel apes to steel food.
And then there were the ape rebels: Cortez, Tanoddah, Rowena, and Hazell. There had to be more, but Preacher didn't know any others. There had to be other soldiers who worked in the laboratory but he and Will never met any of them so there was no way of knowing which side they were on.
The way it worked was everyone, no matter if they were ape or soldier, had a role or purpose in their cause. Some spied, some organized, some planned, some stole, and then, when the time was right, they acted. They risked their own lives rebelling against the Colonel, one wrong move and they could all die, but it was a risk worth taking if it meant saving lives.
If McCullough wanted information out of Preacher, he'd get enough to kill most of the rebels…But not all of them. If he finds out about Will or Caroline though…Then we're all doomed.
Preacher wondered what had become of his fellow rebels. He hadn't seen either of them since that horrible day Hazell died…At his hands…He could only hope that none of the others had been found out, and that hope was strengthened by the fact that he hadn't heard any familiar voices belonging to a rebel down here…Though that could change at any given time.
Since he was locked up in this unknown prison, there wasn't much Preacher could do to help the rebels which made him restless. The others could need help or someone could be dying, and here he is literally left in the dark.
The renegade soldier suddenly became aware of footsteps. The walls outside his room echoed, so every time a soldier walked through them it made it sound like it came everywhere.
They're coming for me. Preacher thought. None of them had so far, but that didn't mean they wouldn't torture or interrogate him today or tomorrow.
"He's so ugly-all of them are, but gorillas? Bleh!"
Preacher felt his eyes widen. He stopped breathing for a minute and sat very still. Listening intently to the voice.
Lang? What was she doing here?
"Oh please, you think he's ugly? The servant called Cortez is much worse, most of his body is burned!" The other was Travis.
Boyle's followers. Since Boyle stole his sandwich, Preacher avoided the three all together. Funny, he always thought Boyle was the worst and the most dangerous of the three. Lang was more of a gossip queen than anything else-although if she were ordered to, she wouldn't hesitate to shoot the crap out of someone. Travis, meanwhile, seemed more like the type who was more interested in getting the job done and laugh at Boyle's antics than actually participate in it.
Preacher never thought or considered either of the two to be close to the Colonel. At least, not before now.
"True, true. Though he deserved those scars." Lang huffed. Even though she was hidden by walls and darkness, Preacher could feel the disgust in her voice. "When I was a kid, I loved that movie Tarzan. Why is it that talking apes are only fun and cute when they're animated? Real life ones are just disgusting! They stink like hell!"
"I know, I know." Travis had to be rolling his eyes at her rant.
"What does the Colonel see in him anyway?" Lang sounded more annoyed than curious. "I admit, his reddish fur is kinda nice-little ombre never hurts, but how is he worth anything?"
Reddish fur?
"I don't know, he told me there's something different about this 'Red' and he calls him his 'key'…Whatever that means."
Red? Preacher recognized the name immediately. He remembered Red, and the other gorilla-Winter. He and Will met them the night they freed the children. Robins and Jefferson were two of the rebel soldiers who helped get the children out. Red is here too?!
"Anyway, our orders are to help McCullough break him so he can be controlled-same old, same old."
"Ok, but I still don't see why he chose to keep him in the same room as that old guy the others…" The voices trailed off. Leaving Preacher in silence.
Red is the key. Preacher repeated Travis' words in his head. Key to what?
Koba yawned as he groggily woke up. The nausea and headache that had originally driven him back to sleep was now gone, though his arm still ached from having an IV in it. As he blinks his eyes open, he feels a hand gently place itself on the side of his face. When Koba looked to see who it was, he saw Tori. She was still sitting next to his bed.
Tori met his gaze the second he looked at her. She spent the entire time he was asleep sitting with him, never leaving his side. Thinking better of it, she was about to pull her hand away but then, much to her surprise, Koba placed his own hand on top of hers. Holding it to his face and closing his eyes.
Koba never used to like human touch. He learned from all his years in cages that touch from human hands resulted in pain. But the warmth from Tori's hand was different. Her touch calmed all the storms in him, keeping him from breaking.
Tori watched his face worriedly. He didn't seem troubled while he was sleeping, but now she wondered if she missed something. Any hint or clue of a nightmare she didn't pick up on.
But then, Koba opened his eyes again, and returned his gaze to hers.
Slowly, the corners of his mouth lifted. Wordlessly letting her know he was alright.
Relief sunk in. Tori returned the smile, letting the hope that despite what had happened, everything would be fine and Koba wouldn't be effected by it.
As they gazed at each other, Koba realized he couldn't feel the IV, or any other aches. It was as if he suddenly became numbed to pain. How-?
Suddenly, the entrance opened and a familiar human voice spoke. "Hey guys, we found Carlos!"
The scarred bonobo and pink haired human turned their heads and saw Kemp appear. Stone followed behind him, holding the hand of the elderly bonobo as he did.
Ok, good. Thought Koba as he rubbed the last bit of sleep from his eye. My father's ok.
Though that relief was quickly interrupted when Carlos suddenly, without warning, broke away from Stone and Kemp and charged right at Tori! It happened so fast, barely of the humans had time to react.
Koba himself didn't fully comprehend what was happening until he saw his father push Tori out of her chair and stand over her on the floor, growling as she held her arms protectively over her face.
"LEAVE HER!"
In a matter of seconds, it stopped. Everyone froze. Carlos looked at him, his eyes wide. Sanity temporarily returning to him.
Koba stared back, shivering from the shock of what just happened and from his own anger. How dare his father attack Tori like that! "Leave her." He repeated in a somewhat calmer tone, albeit still angry.
Carlos growled one more time at Tori before backing away from her. The sanity in his eyes fading again.
The room slowly changed. The faces of the humans-Ellie, Malcolm, Kempt, Foster, Dreyfus, Tori, became faces of soldiers and Caesar, Blue Eyes, Rocket, Stone, Maurice and Luca suddenly became the faces of of enslaved apes from the base.
The only ones who didn't change were Koba's and Dolly's.
"…B-Baaad humans…!" He rasped, growing more and more frightened. "S-Soldiers!"
"What the hell?" Dreyfus was visibly disturbed by Carlos' odd behavior.
Ellie, on the other hand, recognized the behavior for what it was. The elderly ape was delirious! "Ohhh dear…" She breathed as her mind raced.
"Carlos?" Caesar didn't like where this was going. He instinctively held an arm out in front of Blue Eyes, keeping him from the hallucinating bonobo.
"What's wrong with him?" Malcolm asked as he glanced at Kemp and Stone.
"We don't know, we found him like that." Kemp thought that bringing Carlos back to his children would calm him down but it seems to have only made it worse.
"Drugs, maybe?" Asked Stone, keeping his worried eyes on Carlos.
"NOOOOOO!"
Everyone jumped. Carlos yelled so loudly, it felt like the walls shook. Footsteps could be heard from the floor above them, signaling that Carlos had alarmed others in the building.
Carlos just stood there in the middle of the room, ranting and shaking. He wasn't violent, but it was hard to tell if he'd stay that way.
Caesar and the apes could only stare in mute shock at him, having never seen an ape-or anyone-act like this before. Even Koba's anger had melted away to shock and worry for his father.
Then, suddenly!
"YOUR NAME IS CARLOS!" Carlos began yelling again. "YOU! HAVE! NO! LIFE! NO ONE! NOTHING! YOU ARE MY SPY! SPY ON HER! TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!-No! Don't want to! Don't want to spy!"
It was as if Carlos suddenly became two people, one being angry and the other being scared.
"MAGDALENE, RUN! RUN MAGDALENE, RUN!"
Magdalene?
Aaron could not have appeared at a worse time. His foot barely stepped into the room before Carlos suddenly charged at him. "BAD HUMAN!"
"Aaahhh!" Now Aaron was on the ground with the elderly ape holding him down.
"KOBA, DOLLY! RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!"
Koba and Dolly glanced at each other, both having the same scared looks on their faces though Dolly looked closer to tears than he was. Neither of them knew what to do.
The madness was suddenly stopped when a gunshot ran in the air. Then, just as suddenly as he attacked, Carlos fell. A tranquilizer dart sticking out of his neck.
Dolly shrieked and made a move towards him but Maurice held her back, preventing her from dislodging the IV in her arm.
"Why didn't you guys have a 'sleepy-time' gun?" Asked Finney as he appeared from his hiding place, holding the tranquilizer gun in his hand. "He was on a rampage-!"
"Shut up, Finney!" Yelled Dreyfus, regaining his bearings. Looking at Carlos in an almost fearful glance, he added. "An-And someone put him in restraints!"
Blinking away her shock, Ellie ran to Carlos' body and pulled him off of Aaron. Riley and other nurses, who had been hiding to avoid getting caught in the craziness, helped.
The second the elderly ape was off of him, Aaron got to his feet. "What the heck is his problem? He could have killed me!" He complained angrily. "What was he yelling about anyway?"
"How are we supposed to know?" Argued Kemp. "He was rambling like that when Stone and I found him!"
"Duh, because he's crazy!" Aaron inched away, no doubt wanting to distance himself from the elderly bonobo. "Just keep him away from me!" With that, he ran off.
Cowardly human.
Even though Carlos was no longer attacking anyone, the tension was still there. Rocket and Blue eyes were both signing furiously at Caesar, who could barely answer them due to his own flustered mind while Luca kept his eyes on Carlos, despite the bonobo being unconscious.
The noises fell to background as Dolly's gaze fell from the humans and the apes to the tiled floor. The only thing she could hear now was her own breathing and the distinct pounding of her heart.
Is this my fault? She wondered as her body trembled. Did this happen…Because I couldn't protect him?
What little Dolly remembered of last night was vaguely similar to that of her worst nightmare: She remembered waking up to a shuffling noise. She had risen her head up, and saw a figure bent over Koba…Then there was a fight and then…The last thing she remembered was Carlos running out of the room.
When she woke up and saw Koba still asleep and their father gone, Dolly had immediately feared he may have been hurt by their attackers. Now, it looked like they did more than just hurt him. They did something to him, why else would he act like that?
I didn't protect him…I could have lost him too!
A familiar flashback replayed itself before her eyes: The bottle, the oranges, the big black caterpillar screaming…And then…Her heart pounded faster as the face of her mother…
No, stop! Her mind cried out. Dolly shook herself, desperate to be rid of the images. She thought she buried these memories to the deepest reaches of her mind and locked them away in a cage long ago, but they escaped and they came back just as easily as the tears as they ran down her face.
Father is not gone. Mother is, but not Father, he's still here. She reminded herself as she felt the gentle hand of Maurice touch her shoulder. Even without looking at him, she could feel the concern in the orangutan. It's not your fault…None of this is your fault…You did what you could, just remember that…You did what you could…
Dolly wished she could believe her own thoughts.
Meanwhile, Koba struggled with his own shock. Carlos may have had delusions before, but never any like that. Even his most erratic withdrawal symptoms was never that extreme...They never scared him or Dolly before either...Made them worried maybe, but never actually frightened them.
Your name is Carlos. You have no life. No one, nothing. You are my spy. Spy on her. Tell me what you know. Koba repeated his father's yelling in his mind.
His father wasn't, at all, in his right mind. He had to have been drugged, that's what everyone believed. But Koba wondered just how much of that was true. That 'no life and being a spy' talk was too...Eerie to just be a drug-induced delusion.
Then what could have caused it? Before, Koba had blamed his father's problems on the years of alcohol and drugs. But now he began to really fear that there may be something else wrong with him.
Koba jumped when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He glanced to his side and found Tori, looking at him with concerned eyes. Despite Carlos pushing her to the floor, she didn't seem wounded. "Are you ok?" She signed.
No. His mind answered. Koba didn't feel ok. Not even Tori's company could make him feel better. His bottom lip quivered as he pulled Tori into a hug. I'm not ok.
Tori could practically feel him falling apart. She hugged him tightly and, despite being attacked by Carlos just minutes earlier, shed a tear of her own for him.
Unspoken or not, the question remained in the air like a dark cloud. Why?…Just, why?
Dot knew she was tied up before she opened her eyes. The tight rope around her arms and legs was the first thing she felt when she started to wake up. The second thing was the pain in her head. She recognized this as the aftermath of being drugged.
What happened? She wondered as she shook herself awake. Dot found herself laying on her side in the grass. She was surrounded by tall trees and blurs of green. So close, she could practically smell the dewdrops on all the leaves.
How did she-?
Dot glanced up and gasped.
The face looking at her, was a skull. Black, empty eye sockets staring back at her, it's teeth grinning at her in a sneer. Everything else on the figure was covered in black fabric.
She stared at it with her heart pounding in her chest so loudly she wondered if this creature could hear it. They stared at each other, the thing never making any movement. If she wasn't tied up, Dot would have ran. Baring her teeth was her only defense.
The creature being so still only fed her terror at it. It felt like this thing was either a statue or something her paranoid mind dreamt up...Or a monster, waiting to pounce.
She didn't dare take her eyes off of it.
Then suddenly, something grabbed her from behind. Holding her down. All she saw was two black gloved hands and another skull face grinning down at her.
The first skull face rose up, revealing a large knife. The creature raised it up, preparing to bring it down on her.
Dot shrieked.
He should have gotten Cora and Fifer. That way, he'd cover more ground. But Pope hadn't had time to even think about anyone else aside from Dot.
Pope was, by now, either lost or in a part of the city that not even the humans had entered in years. If it weren't for the tops of some buildings and the long, cemented trees with the red, blue and yellow light boxes in some places, he would have thought he were in some weird forest.
Come on, Dot. He thought as he looked around helplessly. Where are you?
Right then, he heard it. A scream. Her scream.
Everything else stopped. Pope's eyes dilated, hearing nothing else. Without thinking, he ran on all fours in that direction. Long grass scraped his face, rocks and unknown debris cut his hands, but he didn't stop running. Nothing would stop Pope from getting to her. "Dot!"
Dot's mind went blank as that knife hung above her. For years, she had wished for death. For so many nights, she hoped she'd go to sleep and never wake up again. How many times has she secretly begged and pleaded for her suffering to end? Or how many times she'd watch the soldiers and wonder why they wouldn't just kill her?
That was all before she met Pope. Before she had a taste of life again.
And now…Only now…Death comes for her and with it, taking away any hope or chance of being any life again.
At least I got to know you, Pope. The split second voice would have been the last thing she ever thought.
But just as the skull face started to bring down the knife, Pope burst through the bushes and pounced on the creature from behind. He brought his long arms on it once before grabbing it and throwing it into a tree.
It screamed…The skull face sounded human!
"Pope!" Dot cried out.
Pope punched the other skull face and threw it into the bushes before turning to Dot and untying her. He started to sign if she were alright, but got lost in her eyes. Dot's silvery blue eyes, which looked right into his own golden ones, shined with a brightness to them that Pope had never seen before...And in that same second, the corners of her mouth began to curve upwards.
It was the closest thing to happiness that Pope had ever seen in her.
Then suddenly-!
BING!
Pain exploded in the back of his head. For a split second, Pope couldn't see anything but stars and all he could hear was the echo of the sound in his ears. When he opened his eyes, he saw double of everything.
"D-Dot-!" Pope tried to yell, but he couldn't quite hear his own voice. A surge of panic ran through him at that moment. "R-Run!"
Through his double vision, he saw Dot-or two of them-turn and run. He could barely hear the sound. He didn't have time to turn around and look at his attacker before being hit again. This time, Pope fell to the ground.
This is it. He thought. I'm going to die. Even now, Pope didn't fear death. He feared for Dot. He hoped she'd get to safety before the skull faces get her.
Despite the ringing in his ears, despite his consciousness fading, Pope thought he heard a voice. He wasn't sure if he had imagined it, or if he truly heard it but somehow, three words-spoken in a voice other than his own-went into the darkness with him.
"Hello again, Pope."
Milo could no longer stay in that bed. The more he did, he thought about all those still trapped within the base and felt as if time were running out for them. As if every minute he stayed in the comforts of the blanket and pillow, was another minute someone else was closer to death.
The cold floor sent a shockwave up his back when his feet first touched it, but that was least of his worries. When he stood up, he felt light headed and almost had to sit back down again.
Stupid soldiers. He thought bitterly.
Milo only remembered how he and Pope, Dot, Carlos and Spazz got here in small bits. He remembered the flying machine landing, the two soldiers jumping out and dragging Hazell's body with them, he and the other apes jumping out and Hopely crying out before a soldier saw them and then…Then nothing.
Apparently it had been Pope, the fishnet scarred ape, who had dragged him away. The soldiers must have thought he was dead and just left him where he had fallen. Otherwise, they would have kept beating him.
As he stood up again, Milo did what he always did when he was alone with his thoughts. He reflected. He thought back on his earlier days in the base. He remembered feeling so confused back then, not understanding why his owners let other humans take him there and why the humans in uniform would hurt other, ordinary, humans. Milo used to watch every movement the humans made when they were around another ape. Hoping to learn their tricks from afar and show these humans what he can do.
Tricks. He thought it was all an act. Just like Tommy, and other humans, taught him to think everything was just an act.
How could you be so stupid? He cursed at himself. Why couldn't you see what was right in front of you?
But he couldn't have known. Tommy had taught him what abuse was, but he had failed to teach him what death was. Even his own suicide didn't teach him the concept of dying. Let alone that humans can abuse other humans too.
He knew now. And what he knew haunted him.
Can't trust anyone...Human, or ape. He reminded himself. Trust is a tool the humans use to get what they want.
That was what kept him alive in the base. It kept him from standing out like Hazell, yet made him cold and hard like Nemo, one of the bonobo Donkeys. But did it apply here? Even though these humans weren't soldiers and the apes weren't being brainwashed?...Even if Koba and Dolly are here?
No. He thought. Something not right here. Milo didn't know why or where the feeling came from, but he felt like he were a duck floating in the river and something was in the water, waiting to pounce. Everyone seemed to think the city was safe and maybe it really was but Milo couldn't ignore the feeling that something was brewing just under their noses.
Ellie was still shaken up over that whole scene with Carlos when Riley pulled her aside.
"Maybe it was Heroin." She started, assuming this would be about the unconscious bonobo, who was now restrained to one of the other beds in that room. "Or PCP, but I don't know how anyone could have gotten their hands on either one."
"Oh ask the right people and you'll find it somewhere. Users and dealers always have their ways." Said Riley dismiss fully. "I actually wanted to talk to you about what was found in that body."
Ellie stiffened. Between Carlos's attack and the aftermath of it, she had momentarily forgotten all about that body. "What did you find?"
"Firstly," Riley dug into her pocket and pulled out a plastic CD case with a DVD inside and handed it to her. "we found this in the man's gut."
Ellie looked the case over as she held it. Written in black sharpie read 'Rose' on one side of it. "Hmm...Rose?"
"Do you know what it means?" Riley asked, curiously.
Ellie shook her head. She could guess this was Will's work-which would mean that the dead man came from the Alpha-Omega base, though she didn't know what 'Rose' meant. "We'll watch this DVD later and see what's on it." She looked back at Riley. "Maybe there's something on it that can help us."
"Maybe it would explain why the body isn't the same person." Riley suggested.
Wait, what? Ellie frowned. "What do you mean 'isn't the same person'?"
"You idiots! Control your damn ape friends!" Came Aaron's angry yell, cutting through the still tense air.
Oh no, now what? Thought Malcolm. The last thing he and the others needed right now was more drama.
He wasn't expecting to find Aaron coming into the room, dragging a bloodied ape with him, when he turned his head. "What the-? What happened?!" He asked as he and Foster, Kemp and a few of the other apes rushed over.
Before they could get to them, Aaron let the ape fall to the ground. He was either unconscious or too badly hurt to stand on his own. "He killed someone, that's what! I just found him in the dog park like this!"
The accusation temporarily stunned Malcolm. Another one?
Caesar slid to Rocket and Luca's sides as he stared at the ape. Despite being covered in it, the blood didn't hide the fishnet scars.
Pope.
Of course he'd cause trouble. Caesar frowned, thinking back to how Pope learned of where he came from. Had that angered him enough to kill a human?
Koba stole a glance at his sister, who only stared at Pope in confusion. The scarred chimpanzee hadn't been involved in his plan to kill Caesar and go to war with humans, but Koba wouldn't be surprised if Pope had actually killed some human.
Most lab apes were like him and Dolly: Originating from a different place, like a zoo or ape research facility before being placed in the labs. Only knowing the sting of getting a shot before learning the torture of being a test subject. But not Pope, who had spent his entire life in labs. In some ways, the fishnet scarred chimp understood pain better than he understood freedom.
Koba knew bad things had been done to Pope, but he always believed that what the chimp suffered may have been worse than what he himself had gone through...Though only now did he begin to wonder just how much the suffering had damaged Pope.
"Well…Was it in self-defense?" Malcolm asked when he found his voice. He sounded meek, even to his own ears.
Although he asked in a non-challenging tone, Aaron looked at him as if he was ready to fight. "I don't know and I don't give a shit why he did it! He killed somebody!"
At this point, Luca was getting in-between them, not liking the hostility the younger human was showing. Some of the other apes backed away from them, Distancing themselves from Aaron in case he decides to attack.
Despite Aaron's aggression, Malcolm stayed calm. Forcing his own wariness down. "Ok, then how do you know he kill-"
"Because I found this with him!" Aaron suddenly pulled out a large, bloody knife from his bag, startling everyone in the room. He handed the blade to Dreyfus, who looked the thing over with a confused frown.
The room suddenly became silent. Rocket, Stone, Foster and Kempt put Pope on an empty bed and then just stared at his unconscious, blood covered form. Did he really do it?
Caesar only frowned at Pope. His mind already made up. That fishnet scarred chimp must have seen an opportunity to get revenge and he took it. I should have known you were trouble.
"Pope don't need weapon."
Caesar almost growled when he heard Koba's voice. Almost. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt this wave of anger towards the bonobo. He forcefully swallowed the noise down before he could utter it as he looked at Koba.
Koba's gaze was locked on Pope, frowning in thought before looking at the others. " Koba beat Carver to death. Didn't need weapon. Pope don't need weapon to kill either."
Considering that Koba and Dolly were friends with Pope, Caesar would have expected a better defense than that...But come to think of it.
"Koba right." Rocket met Caesar's eyes and the eyes of all the humans. "Pope strong ape. Apes use arms to kill."
The humans all went silent, mulling over this new possibility. Only Dreyfus noticed that Aaron had strangely gone quiet. His eyes studding the group intently. At the corner of his eyes, Dreyfus spotted Tori glaring at Aaron, possibly noticing the same thing.
"...But if Pope didn't need a weapon to kill, why did he use a knife?" Asked Kemp.
"Forget that, where in the world did he get that thing?" Foster dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. "See this? This is what everyone carries nowadays. It's easily concealed and easy to carry." He pointed at the bloodied knife Dreyfus still held. "That's a full kitchen knife, the kind they use in horror movies. Something you only carry if you're gonna cut something up-or stab someone." He added as he put his pocket knife back.
Foster was right. Malcolm had a kitchen knife in his and Ellie's and Alexander's place, but they only used it for cutting meat. They didn't even bring it with them when they went to the forest.
"What is wrong with you people?! He killed someone! He needs to be put in jail for crying out loud!" Aaron suddenly yelled, making everyone jump.
"Now hang on Aaron-" Dreyfus tried but Aaron won't listen.
"Shut up!"
For a second, Dreyfus didn't believe he just heard that from one of his own followers. Sure he'd been told to 'shut up' before by Tori and the others, but never by someone who agreed with him.
The angry human suddenly looked at the apes in disgust. "We were right ten years ago, you animals deserve to be locked up!"
The growl that was originally intended for Koba suddenly erupted at Aaron instead. Caesar would have lunged at him too if it weren't for Luca being in the way.
"Aaron-!" Malcolm didn't need to look at any of the apes to feel their anger.
"No! They're murderers! They're killing us off and you're letting them get away with it because you're all buddy-buddy with them!" Aaron's face began to turn pink as he ranted. It almost looked like steam was coming out of his ears. "It's a cover up! It's-!"
"There was no murder!" Ellie's voice suddenly cut through Aaron's rant, silencing him and all the apes angry growls.
Malcom froze. He blinked as his brain tried to comprehend what he just heard. "What?"
Ellie was pale and wide eyed, horrified and shocked at the news herself. "Riley just told me the body parts belonged to different people and two of those limbs were female!"
Forgetting all about Aaron's outburst, the room feel into silence. First came the shock, then the true horror of what this meant sunk in.
"...Holy shit!" Foster exclaimed as chills ran up and down his spine. "It was a set up!"
A's/N: Oh boy, lotta stuff to explain here! X3
Why don't we start with Red. So I read Revalations and the War for The Planet of The Apes novalization and not much about Red is ever talked about. What we do know is he followed Koba and disliked Caesar-which of course led to him manipulating Grey, endangering the females and children so Caesar would send them back into the forest, attempt to kill Cornelia, make other apes hunt her down, try to kill her (again) while she was in the middle of helping another female ape give birth (which was actually kinda sh!tty of him), killing Grey and then joining the Colonel and becoming a Donkey. Nothing more on him, but I get the sense that Red disliked Caesar even before the events in Dawn.
So here's my theory: Red may have lost a family member to humans (either a parent, sibiling, other relative, love intrest or maybe a friend) and wanted revenge for that loss ever since and then Koba declares war on the humans and that instantly makes Red follow Koba and when Caesar kills Koba, that makes Red turn against Caesar (and it could also be that he secretly blamed Caesar for that loss-either because Caesar failed to save that person or that human wasn't killed/punished). You guys may see this theory play out in the story as we go.
To be honest, I came up with the kitchen language idea while doing the dishes. XD I hope you guys understood the dialogue between Will and Tanoddah (it was so awkward to write up!) if not, I can write up a basic guide for what means what. ;)
I guess Preacher is kinda like a spy now too...Though all he does is listen and think. XD
And Carlos is having troubles...Any ideas who Magdelene is? X3
Meanwhile, Pope and Dot get in trouble...and there's Skullfaces in the city...Sending you creepy Halloweenish vibes here!
And yes, Aaron is another bully!...Annnnddd Cliffhanger time! XD It looks like our favorite guys are in a bit of mystery here! XD
Thanks for reading and please review! :D