2016
The day the end of the world started is surprisingly unremarkable for Evie.
While the apocalypse is really getting warmed up, Evie is sitting - okay, hiding - in the library, trying (and failing) to pretend she is not eating her lunch. Propping a book up against her pencil case, she tries to sneak in some bites of the sandwich she is balancing on her knees behind the book. She knows she's not fooling anyone - the librarian's desk is literally in front of her table - but she goes along with the pretence anyway. The librarian lets her do it anyway, probably because he feels sorry for her. She's not sure whether she should be annoyed or touched.
She doesn't have lunch in the library because she's bullied or anything (but then Evie doesn't know anybody that hasn't been bullied at some point). She could sit outside with her 'friends' and eat lunch with them like she used to but she doesn't want to. She doesn't have the energy to go through the motions, pretend to listen to people that barely tolerate her and gossip with them. She wants to be by herself - she wants to go home.
Especially since Dad left.
She glances at the clock - three hours to go until she can go and pick up Amber.
Murmuring starts picking up in the library. From his desk, Evie can see the librarian leaning forward in his chair, staring at his computer, eyes wide. The murmuring rises into audible chatter from the kids in the library. Evie's mouth dries and she thinks somehow it has to be about her. Or, to be more precise, about Dad.
The library door abruptly bursts open with a forceful bang. Evie hears heavy, quick footsteps from the other side of the library and feels her heart speed up when she realises they're coming towards her section.
Evie tenses up, not sure what she should be expecting. It's about Dad, it has to be about Dad...
And then Danny pokes his head around from the opposite bookcase. His face is flushed and he's panting.
Now Evie is sure it's about Dad - Danny wouldn't be caught dead being seen with her in school otherwise. She gets up slowly, trying to ignore the nervous ache in her stomach.
"Danny...?"
"Finally! I knew you would be here!" Danny gasps between breaths. He grabs ahold of Evie's arm and pulls her along with him, out of the library.
"Danny, my stuff..."
"Doesn't matter," Danny says. "You have to see this! It's all over the news and Facebook. It's crazy!"
"Is it ... is it about Dad?" Evie says, managing to get the words out.
Danny stops suddenly, deliberately staring ahead, not looking at her. "No," he says acidly. "What makes you say that?"
"I just thought -" Evie stutters, feeling stupid.
Danny shakes himself off and keeps going, Evie in tow. "Come on," he says steering her into one of the classrooms, "you'll want to see this since you love monkeys so much."
The class's interactive whiteboard is lit up, switched onto one of the news channels. Danny and his friends sometimes sneak in here to 'study' - which actually meant watching YouTube - and of course, they're here too, facing the screen.
Evie wants to ask what the hell this is about when she sees what's on the screen.
Apes. Apes everywhere. Apes smashing though windows, apes breaking out of a zoo, apes climbing over cars. The news channel flashes through different pictures and videos of apes rampaging across San Francisco before transitioning to live footage of the Golden Gate Bridge from a helicopter.
The apes have made their way to the bridge, blocked off by a barricade of riot and firearms cops.
In total shock, Evie finds herself slowly getting closer to the screen.
The apes split off into three groups: Evie can see a group of what she assumed were orangutans and chimpanzees loping towards the sides of the bridge, quickly disappearing underneath while another group climbs onto the suspension cables, up towards the beams. The group of chimpanzees and gorillas that are still on the deck of the bridge charge towards a bus, knocking it down easily as if it were a toy.
"Holy shit," one of Danny's friends' whispers.
Unbelievably, the gorillas form up, pushing the bus directly towards the barricade. Even up in the helicopter, you can hear and see the shower of bullets pinging off the bus.
The news feed abruptly cuts off "due to violent and graphic imagery". Everyone groans, including Evie.
It's quiet for a few moments. Then Danny's friends start talking.
"What's wrong with them?"
"It's gotta be rabies. Monkeys don't do that."
"No, it's like that zombie shit - you know that British zombie movie."
"28 Weeks Later?"
"28 Days Later dumbass. Anyway, it's like that rage virus stuff that turns monkeys into zombies."
"What's going to happen to them?" Evie cuts in, painfully reminded of Mama. It's been months since they've seen Mama, Big Poppa or their baby. Evie doesn't even know if any of them are still alive. The zoo wouldn't tell them and banned them from ever going in again since their presence 'obviously' caused the gorillas' aggression. Its what Mom calls "hush-hush".
"Isn't it obvious?" Danny says, rolling his eyes. "They've probably got ape rabies or something. They're going to slaughter them. Shoot 'em up. Just like -"
"Shut up Danny," Evie hisses before she can stop herself, storming out of the class and leaving Danny with his mouth open and his asshole friends laughing at him.
Later, Evie is walking home with Amber from school.
Amber already knows about the apes - everyone in her school was talking about it too. Some kid was showing it on his phone at lunch, watching it on YouTube. Unfortunately for the kid, his phone got taken off of him when teachers noticed the crowd of kids ringed around him cheering and whooping as they watched a silverback gorilla hurl a cop from his car and off the bridge.
Evie checks for news on her phone. It turns out that the apes made it across the bridge and managed to get into somewhere called Muir Woods. Amber's happy for the apes but Evie's not so hopeful - there have been reports that groups of armed men are going into the woods. And Evie knows they're going in to kill.
Are they really going to do that? Amber signs, thinking over what Evie told her. Kill them all? Like Mama?
Evie flinches. We don't know that Mama's dead, Evie signs half-heartedly. They might have just put her, Poppa and the baby somewhere so they can be safe.
Amber gives her a look. She doesn't believe her.
It's not fair, Amber signs. I wouldn't want to be in a cage all time either.
Cage? Evie asks. You mean zoos?
Amber nods. Mama called the zoo a cage.
Yeah, I remember. She used to say she was bored all the time.
But why do they need to hurt them? Amber insists. All they want is to be free.
I know. But I guess apes being free would scare people. Evie paused, picturing Mama, Poppa and their baby riddled with bullets. Good for them.
In the end, Caesar agreed to take the troop back to the village. It wasn't the smoothest of decisions - Koba, in particular, was incredibly hard to convince. He was angry and for good reason; though Koba didn't like to share the specific details of what humans had done to him, it was obvious to Caesar that he had suffered enormously. But Caesar trusted Maurice, and it wasn't often that Caesar went against Maurice's advice.
Like Maurice, Caesar had made his decision as soon as he saw the baby orangutan in the human girl's arms. Seeing the small infant nestled against the girl's chest stirred emotions and memories Caesar had long since tried to forget. He'd felt a painful pang in his chest as he remembered Will caring for him when he was young, holding Caesar to his chest whenever he was scared or sad in the same way the little orang was held.
Caesar thought he had long since accepted the true, callous nature of humanity and their inevitable decline into violence and extinction. But deep down, he still held hope. Will, Charles, Caroline - they had been good people and loved him as one of their own. Was it so impossible that there could be other humans out there in the world that cared for and helped apes, treating them as equals? Caesar refused to believe that. But he also knew he would have to convince the others that this was a wise decision, not one purely made from love for humans.
Assuming the troop didn't know sign language, Caesar made his case to his friends: The girl is obviously cared for by these apes. The baby alone is proof of that. I do not think that the girl could have somehow tricked all these apes into lying for her and bringing her here. What advantage would she gain? Why would she take in a baby that is not her own if she didn't care?
Mentioning the baby seemed to convince most of them; Caesar spied Luca physically softening as he laid eyes on the girl and the infant.
Koba, true to form, would not be persuaded. "Could have - stolen baby - from mother!" he said contemptuously, outrage coating each syllable. "Kill child's mother!"
Travis hissed and Caesar could hear other apes in the group growl quietly. "Killed by human, yes - not Eve. We try to save mother - but she shot by soldier. Eve - mother to baby now," Travis snapped.
Koba's face twisted in disgust at the mention of Eve being the child's mother. He clearly wanted to say more but Caesar silenced him with a look, holding out a placating hand to Travis.
It seemed Caesar would have to be blunt. Koba, he signed, I know you do not trust this human. But she is clearly sick from the disease that has been killing the humans. She doesn't pose a threat. He paused, phrasing his words carefully. She is dying. She is going to die. She will not be able to harm us.
Caesar saw Koba look the human over at his words, taking her blanched face and bleeding nose with grim satisfaction.
Caesar didn't know everything about the sickness, true, but he knew that humans were dying in large numbers. Before the Rise, the woods would have been teeming with humans walking and exploring. These days, there was barely any sign of them. The apes considered it a rare find if a single human was seen on foot near the woods, let alone driving in a car. Based on that and the girl's condition, he was fairly certain of what would happen next.
It would be a mercy, Caesar said, trying to sound rational rather than empathetic.
Koba sighed, finally relenting. I do as you command, Koba conceded, holding out his palm in apology for his earlier defiance. Caesar swiped it quickly, taking Koba's acceptance while he still had it.
It is decided then.
As he made to go, Maurice put his hand on Caesar's arm and subtly pointed him to a gorilla in the troop. A young male gorilla's stricken face stared back at him and Caesar's gut twisted.
The male had understood everything they were saying.
Caesar wanted to say something, anything, to soften the blow but the gorilla looked away before he could find the words.
Getting back to the village was slow. Travis insisted on going slowly, taking the utmost care not to jolt Eve. The apes were also slowed by the troop's gear, most of it bagged and crudely shoved into a rusting shopping cart. The cart was pushed along by an exasperated silverback, who was struggling to navigate the cart across the bumpy and treacherous forest floor. The troop had an odd mix of things in the cart: pairs of sunglasses, cans of food, a large metal club, books, children's toys, human clothes and army-issued bags made up some of the many things rattling inside. The younger male gorilla wore a purple sports rucksack that Caesar suspected belonged to the human.
As they went, Caesar took stock of the troop, learning their names.
The young gorilla was named Sugriva. The three other gorillas were mountain gorillas, which was strange as mountain gorillas usually weren't held captive by humans. They had been taken from the wild and put into the lab directly. They comprised of the silverback (Jambo) a female (Kali) and their infant son (Bear).
The two teenage bonobo sisters were Yolanda and Olive. Both, Caesar noted, appeared to be very close to Eve, often checking on her throughout the journey.
The three orangutans (a young mother, her toddler and an older, unrelated male) were Lily, Autumn and Kopral. Kopral's injuries were the most horrific among the troop: both of his arms were missing, having been burnt right off to his shoulders during his time at the lab, though Kopral wouldn't say any more than that. Despite his injuries, Kopral was still able to walk on his back legs and appeared to be quite happy. Caesar admired the orangutan's strength and determination.
The largest group in the troop was the chimpanzees: including Travis, Bad Ape, two teenage males (Rama and Eshu) two adult females (Gaia and Harley) and a mother and her little boy (Star and Grape).
The wolf was a dog supposedly (Caesar wasn't sure if he completely believed that). The 'dog' - Luna - was a stray husky that Eve had found and taken in years ago. Caesar wasn't sure if he wanted to bring the 'dog' into the village at first. Caesar did not have a good history with dogs - he didn't like dogs and dogs didn't like him. It was bad enough when they'd always bark at him on his walks with Will. Nowadays, without their owners to feed them, packs of hungry dogs from the city would prowl through the woods looking for food, sometimes attacking apes. Despite the fact that apes were better protected from the dogs now the gorilla gate and guard were established, it didn't make Caesar any fonder of them.
However, Sugriva insisted that Luna come with them. She had been trained very well by Eve and himself he argued, able to understand commands in both sign and spoken word. Sugriva even demonstrated this for Caesar, signing for Luna to sit, which she did, tail wagging happily. She was tame and only aggressive when provoked or being protective, Sugriva persisted. Caesar eventually relented, sternly warning Sugriva of the consequences if the dog attacked any of the apes. Though Caesar tried to tell himself that he allowed the dog to come with them due to the problems that would arise if he didn't, the truth was that he did out of guilt for Sugriva. The dog was trotting at Sugriva's heels now, occasionally glancing up at Eve.
As it turned out, the ape-monkey was a siamang gibbon called Banshee.
"Eve say gibbons are apes like us!" Bad Ape explained with surprising cheer to Caesar. "So they smart like us too!"
Travis snorted. "So she say..." he mumbled to himself under his breath. "I still say ... it's a monkey."
The said-monkey was watching them from his perch on a nearby tree, swinging from tree to tree as the group progressed.
"He doesn't talk much. Or talk with hands. Doesn't talk at all actually..." Bad Ape trailed off.
"Because it's a monkey," Travis said bluntly.
Banshee, deciding to demonstrate his excellent sign language skills, stuck his finger up at Travis, his teeth flashing into what suspiciously looked like a grin when Travis snarled at him.
"He doesn't speak ... at all? Why he ... with you?" Caesar asked.
"Oh no, no, no, no. Just screams sometimes. So we call him Banshee. Like the screaming ghost, Eve says. He follow us when we get out of bad place. Lab. Don't know why." Bad Ape's face brightened. "We get out of bad place and find you. So you save Eve now!"
Caesar winced. He and Maurice shared a grim look.
"We can ... try," he said hesitantly, not wanting to outright lie. To avoid saying anything else, Caesar urged his horse onward, away from Bad Ape and the others and towards the village.
The gorilla guard was waiting for him at the gate as he rode in. He signed quickly to them, ordering them to let everyone in before riding ahead to the heart of the village, where Cornelia and Blue Eyes were waiting for him. He dismounted from his horse briskly, rushing to his wife.
All I ask is that you trust me, Caesar signed to her. Cornelia's eyes widened in worry but before she could ask him what he meant the others started arriving.
Hoots of fear and excitement sounded across the village. The apes had never seen other apes from the outside world; it was generally assumed that the Colony were the only apes who were Changed due to the mist Caesar had given them. To see other intelligent apes was a shock to them.
Then shrieks of alarm began to go off. Evidently they had seen Eve and Luna.
Slowly, the rest of the group made their way into the courtyard. Travis was clutching Eve tighter than ever, striving to shield Eve from the apes' stares with his body. He cautiously scanned the apes, alert for any sign of danger. Clearly Maurice hadn't won his trust completely.
The apes climbed down from the village walls, crowding around Travis and trying their best to get a look at Eve. Some were so young that they would have never seen a human in their entire lives. Blue Eyes was straining to look too, even clambering onto his mother's back in an attempt to see the funny-looking creature.
Travis drew back, baring his teeth in fear and anger. Luna flew to his side at once, hackles raised.
"GET - BACK!" Caesar roared and the apes shrank back, sheepish.
Cornelia stepped forwards, eyes huge with shock as she took in Travis, Eve and the troop. Cornelia glanced at Caesar questioningly.
Human brought apes here. All from a lab. Human is very sick, Caesar said by way of explanation.
Cornelia regarded Travis and Eve, spying the baby orang. Her face set determinedly and for a moment Caesar wasn't sure what she was thinking.
We need Tinker to gather the healers, Cornelia said. Her condition is very bad and the baby is distressed.
Caesar sucked in a breath, relieved his wife was of the same mind as him. It was one of the many things he loved about his wife - her constant and reliable warmth and selflessness.
The baby orangutan, who had been lulled to sleep as it gently swayed in Eve's arms, was now very much awake, squirming against the blankets wrapped around it. Its face, already an unusually bright shade of pink, flushed with blood and outrage, its limbs flailing out from the blankets. Its mouth opened and closed, working up into a cry.
The female gorilla, Kali, rushed to the baby. I - take - baby - girl, she signed, her movements drawn out and clumsy. Hungry.
"You ... feed baby?" Caesar inferred, guessing Kali was unused to sign language.
Kali nodded, relieved he understood. Smoothly taking Bear from her arms and placing him onto her back, Kali held out her arms, waiting. Taking great care, Cornelia scooped up the baby and passed her to Kali. Caesar thought the baby would have been soothed by being in an ape's arms, especially one with mother's milk. But as soon as the baby was taken from Eve, her vividly red face crumpled and she let out a piercing squeal. Although Caesar was a father himself, he could never get used to such tiny, fragile things being able to scream so loudly.
Kali, unfazed, kept a firm hold on the shrieking baby girl and hugged the infant to her chest. "Only ... come ... for ... feed," Kali managed in a thick, husky voice, acknowledging the confusion on Caesar's and Cornelia's faces.
Curious, Caesar mused. Why would a baby ape shun a mother ape that feeds her over a human girl that cannot? He wanted to ask Kali more but Cornelia was calling Tinker and the healers over. It would have to wait.
Tinker, closely followed by the other healers, jumped down from the upper deck surrounding the village, recoiling when she saw Eve and Luna.
This girl needs help, Cornelia said coolly, answering Tinker's quizzical look. We need to go to the Shelter.
Tinker accepted this without question. Led by Cornelia, Tinker and the healers steered Travis and Eve into the Shelter, the large, airy hut the apes used to house the sick and wounded. Luna darted in after them. The other apes went to follow but Cornelia stopped them. Stay here, she said kindly. We will do everything we can to help her. We will find you all somewhere to stay.
Only Caesar caught the flash of gloom in Cornelia's face as she closed the fur flap to the Shelter.
You did the right thing.
It was nightfall and Caesar and Cornelia were lying side by side in their nest, Blue Eyes snuggled up beside them. Neither of them made out as if they were going to sleep - their minds were still pulsing with everything that had happened today. Blue Eyes hadn't wanted to sleep either, chattering excitedly to his parents: what was that, who was that, what is it, why is it here, why does it have such a big nose? Eventually, Cornelia had coaxed Blue Eyes into sleep, stroking his face soothingly until he couldn't fight it any longer and closed his eyes.
She is a human but she is a human that helped these apes, Cornelia continued. They care for her very much. I can see that. It would have been wrong to turn away such a sick, vulnerable girl. Human or not.
Caesar cupped his wife's face lovingly, grateful for her support.
I can't imagine what they suffered. They were all so ... sad. Sad and afraid.
Caesar agreed. When the girl had been taken into the Shelter, the remaining members of the troop had huddled together in the courtyard, eyeing the village apes apprehensively. Some of them were visibly cringing, trying their hardest to stay as far away from the other apes as possible. They seemed well and truly lost and Caesar's heart ached for them.
They had eventually succeeded in housing all of the troop. The Colony had already been expanding the village and so had several huts to spare. As Caesar and Cornelia had decided that families would be prioritised, Jambo, Lily and Star were given their own huts. The chimpanzee girls, Yolanda, Olive, Gaia and Harley shared a hut between themselves. As none of the other huts was finished yet, the rest of the troop were spread out between other apes' houses. Maurice was the first to offer up his home nevertheless he only had space for one other. Kopral, the elder orang, accepted Maurice's offer instantly, quite keen on staying with someone near his own age and species.
The two chimpanzee boys, Rama and Eshu, were taken in by Khan as his sons Bryn and Tola had recently moved out, and thus could spare the room.
Travis, Bad Ape and Sugriva hadn't been lodged yet. Travis flatly refused to leave Eve, stubbornly sitting at Eve's side, propping her up against his chest and thumping her back when she coughed. Bad Ape was much the same - while everyone was distracted housing the troop, Bad Ape had slipped off to the Shelter, plopping himself next to Luna guiltily. He hadn't wanted to move either and insisted he was okay sleeping in the Shelter. Sugriva said that he would stand guard.
Tinker was practically spitting at the thought of three apes and a dog in the Shelter but Cornelia allowed it - she could see how attached they were to Eve. The one thing she was strict on was that the baby girl stayed with Kali. Cornelia felt it would distress the baby more to see her mother-figure so unwell.
Banshee was nowhere to be seen. As soon as Eve had been taken away, the gibbon, ignoring the rabble in the courtyard, casually walked up to the nearest tree on his creepy, gangly legs and climbed high up into the branches. The troop were unperturbed by this. He just did that apparently.
How is the girl? Caesar asked. He didn't expect good news but it would be cruel not to ask.
Eve, Cornelia corrected gently, is the same as when we found her. Her nose bleeds and she coughs up blood too, thick blood. She still sleeps. She raves sometimes. Her eyes open and she talks but we don't think she is really awake. Her eyes ... her pupils are red with the blood. So much blood Caesar ... She shivered.
Caesar slid a comforting arm around his wife's shoulders. There is not much we can do for her. Her sickness has already killed many of the humans. She will not live.
There is hope, Cornelia said, undeterred. We were able to get her to drink without choking her. She drank some of the broth we gave her too. So she must be still aware, even just a little. If we can get her to drink and eat, she may be able to recover.
I am not sure if any human has recovered from the sickness, Caesar admitted.
None of us knows. Eve is the only one that probably does. But as long as she is breathing, I will do my best to help her. For them. For the baby. Cornelia paused. They need her.
The troop are safe with us now Cornelia. With other apes. If the - Eve - dies we can support them. Kali can care for the baby or another female orangutan can. They can live good lives without her.
But I don't think they can. I've seen the way they look at her. Those three in the Shelter especially. Apes look at you the same way.
Caesar fell silent. He knew what Cornelia was saying was true - he had seen himself how adrift the troop looked without her. They needed Eve. They would be broken if she died, Caesar was sure.
But what would they do if she lived? What would he do?
Notes:
Thanks for reading my third chapter and, as always, feedback is appreciated.
We'll be hearing from present-day Eve soon but not just yet - the next chapter will be looking at how the apes (especially Koba) react to her being there as well as Tinker and the others trying to save her.
My OC Kopral is a recent addition that I made based on the real-life orangutan of the same name that has been in the news recently. Kopral was sadly held captive from a young age and had his arms burnt and eventually removed by an electric fence as he was trying to escape his captors. Fortunately, he was rescued by the Orangutan School and has learnt to forage and climb with just his legs. I recommend looking it up if you want to know more.
And, yes, I named the baby chimp Grape. I couldn't help myself.
Stay safe everyone :)