Longest chapter yet. I think...
Heaving out a tired sigh, Caesar turned to face the sea where the winds were gently blowing in from. The morning sun was just barely up and behind him, casting tall dark shadows from the human buildings. There was little fog that covered the glittering blue sea but Caesar, as well as any other apes could see the ship in the distance.
The humans ship was small in the distance, gleaming faintly upon the horizon. Caesar himself had taken the ship's retreat as a sign of their victory, but now as he stared at it from afar, he was unsure. The object was now very far away from them, out of reach from their rocket launchers that they had taken from the humans. Letting his golden-green eyes fall down towards the shore, he could see the humans continuing to build. After their first run at the beach, Caesar himself had decided that it was best to attempt another. As now the human had fortified the beach with a wall of wire and sheet metal. He had even been informed by the scouts that they have seen the humans planting things within the sands as well. Caesar himself didn't know what those things were, but they were lots of them, and he was certain that they were dangerous for him and his apes. While in the middle of his thoughts and planning on how to save the apes from these human soldiers, Caesar had heard the oncoming approach of both Maurice and Luca.
"Humans soldiers still down there?" Maurice observed, nodding towards the human fortifications down by the beach.
"More so than ever Maurice," Caesar answered the older orangutan. "More humans came from the ship. In the little boats. And they continue to build."
"The human soldiers are planning to make their camp bigger," Luca gruffed. "Spreading out. Into the human city."
"Yes," Caesar answered heavily, closing his eyes.
"Caesar," Luca grunted, causing the chimpanzee to face the gorilla. "We should attack the humans again. Push them back like last time. While these other human soldiers are in the city."
Caesar followed Luca's gaze, spotting a sizable group of the armed human soldiers that moved cautiously up a street in the distance. Such patrols had been more frequent as the days had gone by. Caesar himself had resisted confronting them, mainly because most of the human soldiers were far from where either his warriors or the wounded, females and children were camped.
He knew what these little parties of human groups were. Not only were they scouting but they were all waiting for a reaction from him and the apes. So that they would know where they were all getting at and possibly locate their ape sanctuary. This is why he had decided to try and misdirect the human soldiers instead. Leading them as far away from the buildings where their wounded, females and children were located at by sending out small parties. The small band of apes were ordered to attack and then quickly withdraw, leading the humans as far away as possible.
He then thought about Koba, Malcolm and his family, wondering how they were all doing during all of this. He hadn't had the time nor the expense to be able to go back and check in on them at his old home. Maurice had spoken to him about going by himself to check in on them but Caesar himself had refused the older orangutan from doing so, the streets being much too dangerous with the human soldiers patrolling them. And he couldn't risk telling any of the other apes, knowing that if they were to find out that Koba was still alive. Who knows how some of the apes will act, upon knowing this information. Many of them already blaming the bonobo for thrusting them into this senseless war from what he's seen and heard, even when he had informed them that Pope was the mastermind behind it all...
With a sigh, Caesar had only hoped that Koba wasn't giving Malcolm and his family too much trouble, knowing how he is. But he promised that he'll go get the bonobo, once he has seen the females, young ones and wounded to safety first.
Blinking, Caesar noticed a couple of dark dots moving along the side of a building - Spear, Tola and the others. That must be the first troop that were sent out today to divert the humans. And as Caesar, Luca and Maurice watched, they all heard the echoes of gunfire erupting in the distance.
…
Red huffed as he bounded across the pavement with Rex, both running down the street and glancing upwards to see Pongo looking down at them. They had all paused when they heard the start of the gunfire in the distance. Glancing to the others Red puffed out his chest and resumed towards his destination a giant building that stood tall, not too far from the building where their wounded and females were at. Red and Rex both climbed up the stairwell and quietly slid inside, onto the fourth level of the place. Once inside they waited until Pongo finally hopped in and joined the both of them.
"Did the hiding human see us?" Red asked Pongo, as the chimpanzee was just about to glance out the window, where he crawled in from.
"Yes. Human saw us," Pongo answered.
"Good. Then let. Us leave," Red announced as he turned around and quickly descended the stairs.
Taking one last glance outside of the window both Pongo and Rex followed after the red-haired gorilla and exited out of the back of the building.
...
Blue Eyes waived his weapon towards the wolves, but the creatures were hard to hit, always in motion, weaving in and out of the tall grass. This had been a terrible idea, to go in after Ray but both he, Ash and Rocket couldn't just let one of their members become food to these predators and so they jumped in after the bright haired orang. Rocket yelped as a burst from Blue Eyes' gun came near the older chimp. Gaining a quick scowl from his honorary uncle, Blue Eyes shrink away slightly, realizing that if he wasn't careful, he was more dangerous to the older chimp than the wolves were. He still wasn't used to the gun as it moved when the trigger was pulled back, like it had a life of its own. Always jumping and sometimes not doing what he had wanted when he fired it.
In the middle of his thoughts a gray form streaked into the periphery of his vision. He swung towards it, but the predator danced away. Behind him, Blue Eyes could hear Rocket letting out a bark as one of the wolves ran up to the older chimpanzee and nipped at him. There was another reporting sound of gunfire and soon they were rewarded with the sound of yelping from one of the wolves.
"You guys okay!" Malcolm heaved, appearing from the tall grass along with Alexander, smoke trailing slowly from his gun barrel.
With a grunt both Blue Eyes and Rocket nodded at the two humans as they turned to watch as the wolves were retreating as one of their own was wounded. Rocket had then suddenly rose to his full height and quickly looked around frantically.
"Where Ash!? Ray!?" Rocket asked, his eyes wild and looking about.
"We left Ray with the horses! We thought Ash was with you guys!?" Alexander answered.
As they all stood there, panting, the four of them turned to look at the bison herd, sweeping across the river, with Ash, Ray and the horses nowhere in sight. While they all stood there, Rocket seemed to have perked up as the sounds of the bison as their stamped continued. Blue Eyes quickly went up to the older chimpanzee and tapped Rocket's shoulder, followed by the two humans.
"What is it?" Blue Eyes had asked.
"Do you hear? Listen," Rocket signed back.
Seeing Rocket's hand-signs, Blue Eyes, Alexander and Malcolm paused but could only hear the bison and their stampeded across the river. Blue Eyes turned back to the older chimpanzee and shook his head at Rocket. Rocket blinked back once before he gestured to his own gun then pointed to his ears and finally indicated to the bison herd again. Blue Eyes then focused more as he looked to where Rocket had pointed at. Even though the bison were loud in crossing the small river, he could now make out the distinct sounds of gunfire in the distance.
"Gun sounds," Blue Eyes said quietly.
"Yes," Rocket answered, his eyes looking about again in case the wolves came back for them.
"You guys think that is Ash and Ray?" Alexander asked.
"Don't know," Blue Eyes answered, unsure.
"I just hope they're okay," Malcolm spoke up this time, turning to face both Blue Eyes and Rocket. "Sorry, we shouldn't have left Ray with the horses."
Turning back to the stampeding bison in the distance, Blue Eyes and the others could now hear the gunshots in the distance, that weren't theirs. Hearing these gunshots either meant that Ash and Ray were protecting themselves from the wolves. Or maybe it meant that there were humans around or that their attempt to lose the apes following them had failed. Whatever the situation was though, once the bison had all passed onto the other side of the river, the four of them quickly made their way there.
Rocket looked around frantically while Malcolm had looked both upstream and downstream of the river for any signs of their younger companions and if lucky, horses. Blue Eyes and Alexander however had both decided to stick together and travelled down the stream of the riverside. Soon enough Alexander had called out to them and they all quickly rushed on over to where the human teen was kneeling at.
"What did you find Alex?" Malcolm breathed haggardly.
"I… I think I found Ray's gun," Alexander spoke up as he reached down and pulled the weapon from the churned muddy ground, now broken.
As they all watched the broken gun within Alexander's hand, Rocket quickly bolted off, surprising the others. They watched as Rocket looked around frantically before the chimpanzee stopped dead in his tracks and seemed to be staring at something. Confused, Blue Eyes, Alexander and Malcolm turned to look at each other before the followed Rocket. Coming up to the chimpanzee they all now understood what had caused Rocket to stop. There in the overturned ground laid what was left of one of their horses, dead and crushed by the bison herd.
Without a word spoken between them, Rocket bolted off again, to where the horse's trampled carcass was at before he stopped and looked around, desperation set within his wide green eyes. He had then let out a series of singular calls and waited a moment for a response. But nothing came. Rocket then repeated the calls once more.
"What's he doing?" Alexander asked.
"Calling... For Ash," Blue Eyes answered in a sad voice, recognizing the parental call from Rocket.
Now understanding of what Rocket was doing, Alexander turned back to look at the older chimpanzee and hearing the desperate calls from him.
It was about a few seconds more before Malcolm left the two younger boys and made his way on over to where Rocket stood. Blue Eyes and Alexander watched as Malcolm gently placed a hand upon Rocket's shoulder and seemed to be speaking something to the bulky chimpanzee, soothing him. A moment later, Malcolm had quietly walked back to where the two youngsters stood.
"We're going downstream… Hopefully will find the others there," Malcolm informed simply.
At this both Alexander and Blue Eyes looked warily at one another before following Malcolm as he led the way.
The four of them travelled slowly and quietly before they all noticed crows circling far off in the distance. Seeing crows was often a good a sign of mixture, as it meant that there was usually a carcass or body of something dead involved. In this case the four of them worriedly glanced at each other, wondering what they were going to find once they got to where the crows were, hoping that it wasn't the bodies of their two members.
Nearing the crows, the team of four had let out a unified breath of relief as they came upon the carcass of one of the bison. Approaching it, Blue Eyes, Rocket, Alexander and Malcolm could see that the creature's intestines laid in a pile nearby, with many of the large bones still there, including the skull. Malcolm however approached the carcass and reached out to touch the dead animal's head, a look of confusion upon his features.
"This bison wasn't killed by the wolves," Malcolm said darkly.
"Humans," Rocket said slowly, causing all heads to turn towards him, noticing his face going dark.
"You're right Rocket. Humans," Malcolm answered, moving to stand back up.
"How do you guys know?" Alexander asked, not getting on how the two older members were able to get humans from all of this.
"See there? There's a bunch of the meat missing from the animal," Malcolm indicated.
"Horns. Cut off. Too," Rocket spoke up as well as he approached the carcass to look at its head.
Looking around, Blue Eyes then noticed that there were several tracks nearby that distinctly did not resemble those of apes but that of humans for sure.
"Human tracks here!" Blue Eyes announced, causing everyone to converge to where he was.
"Good find Blue Eyes. Now we know that there's definitely some humans around here," Malcolm answered before he straightened his back and looked around them. "But where?"
Blue Eyes however turned to look at his honorary uncle and could see the worry look within Rocket's eyes. Reaching over, he placed a gentle hand upon the older chimp's shoulder, causing Rocket to glance his way.
"Ash and Ray. Not here," Rocket huffed before he eyed the tracks and stood up slowly. "Humans. Went that way. We follow," he announced.
"Wait, is this a good idea?" Alexander asked to which Rocket huffed and flared his nose, turning to look at Blue Eyes who nervously looked around.
"What do you think Blue?" Malcolm asked.
Blue Eyes didn't know what to think. Sure, he was made leader by his father in this expedition to find them a new home, but he was so unsure of himself that he didn't know how to answer the others. For all he knows, Ash and Ray could be nearby, laying in the grass and suffering. But then they would hear them, right? Unless they were both unable to make any sort of noise.
Heaving out a sigh Blue Eyes couldn't help but remember when his father was speaking to his mother once, telling her about feeling something on his shoulders that wasn't there. It didn't make sense to him then and had asked his father about it, the older chimp explaining it to him, saying that it was a human expression about responsibility. To Blue Eyes back then, that word had only the most minor of relationship to him. But now, Blue Eyes fully understood what his father had meant back then, the sense of having something heavy on his shoulders that was not there.
What would his father do in this situation? Feeling a hand being placed upon his shoulder, Blue Eyes looked upwards and was met with Alexander's face, a small smile upon his lips.
"Its okay buddy, take your time," the teenager spoke quietly.
"I going." The nearly hairless chimpanzee had spoken up, causing the others to look at him, Rocket meeting Blue Eyes' gaze.
With that, Blue Eyes decided that Rocket was right, they need to find these humans and maybe, just maybe they'll find Ash and Ray as well.
"Then we follow the human trail," Blue Eyes finally said, turning to look up at both Malcolm and Alexander, both nodding in agreement.
…
Eventually as mid afternoon had set in, the fight in the south portion of the city was over; Caesar could just make out the group that was headed by both Spear and Tola, breaking into all directions.
"Do you think they killed any human soldiers?" Maurice asked Caesar, to which he shrugged.
"It doesn't matter," Caesar answered. "The human city is big, and there are not that many of them out on the patrols. Now they will only look in the wrong place for a while."
"But they will eventually find us Caesar," Maurice pointed out, turning to meet Caesar in the eyes. "What then?"
Caesar did not answer Maurice, pausing for a moment. To him it had seemed better to stay silent than admit that he was not so sure what will happen. What if they did eventually find them? What then? Just a second more, Caesar then perked up when he had heard a sudden, strange sound, kind of like a rumbling noise within the air. Maurice and Luca heard it as well, and they began turning this way and that, searching for the source or the strange noise.
After a moment of looking about, they had all heard Luca making an alarm call, lifting his face up towards the sky.
Following Luca's gaze, Caesar narrowed his eyes, unsure of what he was seeing. Up in the sky there was a thing stream of white smoke that had come out of the ship in the distance, but instead of going straight up towards the sky, he noticed that the strange object had bent slightly leading the trail over the city. Glancing closer at the strange long piece of object in the sky, Caesar could see the thing growing longer as it rose into the sky.
A sudden realization came into Caesar and the hairs on his neck and arms stood up. The object that was flying into the air, leaving that white smoke trail, the end of it had suddenly blinked out and was beginning to fall, leaving the white stream like cloud behind it. The thing that was falling was small and dark, like a spear, heading straight towards the city. Caesar had then looked about quickly to see where the object was targeting.
And then he knew.
"The females!" Caesar snarled, turning to look around him at the others. "The children! The wounded! Cornelia!"
Not too long after those words had escaped his mouth did Caesar and the others watch with horror as the spear like object hit a building, turning it into light and then pillars of smoke and fire. At first there was no sound and all was silent, but then it reached them, a thunder like noise that no storm has ever made.
…
Huffing and puffing, Koba raced through the empty flaming streets within the dark of the night. His good eye wildly looking about, seeing bodies upon bodies of both apes and humans that were strewn about, all mortifying to look at. He however knew that whatever those bodies were, of the apes form the colony, were now beyond saving. But he needed to continue, continue onward and find the others whom are still alive.
Approaching an intersection within the human city, Koba quickly looked around himself, to pinpoint where he was at. Glancing towards his left, Koba could now make out the giant human tower that was now leaning slightly in the distance. That was where he needed to go. With his destination in his sights, Koba huffed as he propelled himself forward and quadruped as fast as his limbs will carry him up the street towards the human tower.
As he reached the base of the tower, Koba stopped dead in his tracks, eyes going wide at what he saw. All laying about were the bodies of many of the apes from the colony, the old, the sick, the wounded, the females and even their children. All laying about, lifeless, with their glassy faded eyes opened staring off in various directions. Breath hitching, Koba slowly made his way through them, turning his head to and fro, meeting all of the glassy gaze of the apes whom he had come to known as part of his family. Heart pounding within his chest and ears, Koba desperately moved about to see if there were any apes that was still alive. Standing up on his feet, Koba reared back and let out a call into the dark of the night. But he was only met with silence and the crackling of the dancing flames around him.
Huffing and puffing, Koba was just about to let out another call once more but stopped when he noticed a figure at the top of the steps that lead into the human tower. From his vantage point he didn't know if it was human or ape but he cautiously approached the figure nonetheless. As he neared it, Koba could tell that the figure, whose back was turned towards him, was that of an ape, who seemed to be slumped over a few forms on the ground. Blinking, Koba tilted his head as he thought he could recognize the forms. Nearing them though, Koba's eyes widened when he saw that the forms belong to that of Cornelia, his honorary sister and her two children, Blue Eyes and Cornelius, all seemingly lifeless, with their glassy eyes staring up into the dark heavens above.
"You killed us," a voice spoke up.
Upon hearing the voice, Koba froze and turned his sight onto the back of the slumping ape who was turned away from him. Huffing to himself, heart pounding within his chest, Koba approached the other ape, now recognizing the form.
"C-Caesar?" Koba breathed hesitantly.
When the ape didn't respond, Koba walked closer to the other chimpanzee and slowly reached out. The moment he placed his hand upon the other ape's shoulder, the figure suddenly turned around and slammed into him, knocking him off of his feet and onto his back. Grunting, Koba was just about to get up but was stopped as a heavy body landed on top of him, preventing him from doing so. Koba snarled, turning to look up and see who it was, but gasped and bit back a scream.
There staring back at him was Caesar, except it wasn't Caesar. The thing that was on top of him had Cesar's face but its eyes, it's eyes were lifeless, distant and glassy. Its body had many bullet holes embedded within it and a large open wound that revealed the innards within. Scared for his life, Koba tried to free himself but the creature on top of him tightened its grip onto his arms, painfully so, enough to cause him to cry out in pain.
"You did this! You killed all apes! Killed me!" the thing that was Caesar but not Caesar yelled into Koba's face, it's rancid breath filling his nostrils and burning his eyes.
"N-no! I-I… Koba did not do this!" Koba panicked as he tried to free his arms from the thing. "I-I…"
"But… Koba did…" the creature on top of Koba spoke, in a terribly sad voice, sounding very familiar.
Upon hearing this, Koba froze up and turned his gaze back onto the creature his brows furrowing.
Koba then felt a few warm droplets hitting his face and he could now see the sorrowful face of his Caesar looking back down at him, shedding tears, even if it was damaged.
"Caesar?" Koba whimpered out.
"Why did Koba do this?" Caesar sobbed.
"Koba does not know. Koba is sorry," Koba answered, his own eyes becoming wet.
The dead ape then suddenly however pant-laughed, dark oozing blood flinging from its mouth and landing onto Koba's face, shocking him.
"Sure, Koba is sorry," it gurgled. "Koba did this. Koba killed. Everyone," the creature that looked like Caesar answered, leaning down to look Koba in the eyes with its glassy ones. "Join me…"
The moment the thing finished what it was saying, a part of the creature's face slowly slid off with a wet slurp, revealing another face. Instead of Caesar's, Koba saw fishnet scars that ran over the left side of the dead chimpanzee's face as it bared its fangs down at him in a menacing grin.
"Pope!?"
"Koba…" Pope answered softly, lowering his face until his forehead touched Koba's.
At this Koba struggled harder within Pope's grasp, but the chimpanzee held strong.
"No! No!" Koba shouted, shutting his eyes tightly.
"Yes. Stay here. With me," Pope's voice whispered into Koba's ear. "Forever…"
"No!" Koba roared.
"Wake up!" a voice called out.
"No!" Koba shouted back.
"You need to wake up!" The familiar voice repeated.
"Leave Koba alone!" Koba whimpered.
"Koba! Please wake up!" The voice spoke louder this time, strong and gentle.
With a gasp, Koba's eyes shot open and gasped for air, eyes looking around wildly to see where he was. When he felt hands touching his arms he immediately pulled his limbs closer towards his body, shrinking away at whoever was touching him.
"Koba please! Be calm" a gentle voice spoke aloud.
Blinking, Koba turned his head towards the right and could see the human nurse - Ellie staring worriedly at him.
"Caesar? A-apes..." Koba panted, pushing himself into a sitting position and looking about.
"It's okay Koba. You are safe now. It was just a bad dream," Ellie spoke gently, reaching out and placing a hand upon Koba's shoulder, causing him to snap his head at her.
Koba huffed and puffed a few moments more before the hair on his body started to lower themselves and his breathing slowed down. Seeing this, Ellie had let out a relieved breath and pulled away from the frightened bonobo. It had frightened her when she had started to hear screaming all the way from the back room, thinking that Koba was being attacked by soldiers that probably had found them. Thankfully it was only a nightmare and Ellie had woken the thrashing bonobo up from whatever terrible dream he was having.
As they both sat there in silence, Koba closed his eyes tightly and tried to push away that horrible image of a very dead Caesar looking at him. Who had then morphed into Pope. He's never had these kinds of dreams before and it frightened him. Huffing quietly to himself, Koba had then reached upwards and grabbed at his head with his hands, pressing the ends of his nails into his scalp in hopes to rip those terrifying images from his memory.
Panting quietly in his sorrow and fear, Koba then felt a hand placing itself upon his shoulder, causing him to turn and face Ellie, her face full of concern.
"A-Apes all dead… C-Caesar… Caesar dead. M-my fault," Koba whimpered, his eyes wide with tears falling from them.
Unexpectedly Koba was quickly embraced by Ellie, who rubbed her hand gently down his back, careful to not irritate the large scar that was there.
"It's going to be okay Koba. It's just a bad dream," Ellie reassured soothingly to the scarred bonobo.
Koba froze up for a moment as he was being held by the woman, not sure of what to do. Slowly though he wrapped his arms around Ellie and buried his head into her, allowing his tears to fall as his body shook.
"There, there," Ellie continued as she held onto the sobbing bonobo, not giving a care in the world that her shirt was becoming wet from the ape's tears.
All that mattered to Ellie now was to take care of her charge and that was what she was going to do.
While the both of them had sat there in the silence, they had not expected to see a brief flash in the distance. Separating from each other to glance outside and then each other momentarily. Koba and Ellie did not expect the sounds of a very loud explosion reaching them. Causing the both of them to scream and cover their ears as they were both met with the awful noise that was loud enough to shake the whole house as well.
…
The traveling group was following the trail of hooves that were left behind by the humans. While trailing after the two chimpanzees in front of them, Alexander and his father couldn't help but look at each other in worry. Both Blue Eyes and Rocket had become quieter than usual when finding out that they were missing Ash, Ray and their horses. All that was left on each and every one of them were the guns they all carried and whatever small bags of morsels they had.
Knuckle-walking slowly Blue Eyes glanced on over to where Rocket was slowly pacing himself, noticing that the older ape had been quieter than usual. Not that Rocket had ever been the most communicative of the older apes, but he seemed and looked so lost, green eyes staring into the distance and head perking up when he had thought he had heard a sound, only to lower his head once more in silence. Blue Eyes was worried Ash and Ray too but he couldn't put in perspective of what Rocket was feeling. This was the third time that Ash had disappeared on Rocket or was injured by something. The first was of course when they had first seen the humans in the forest of their home, second was where Ash was almost thrown off the balcony and now Ash was gone and the older chimp couldn't help but feel lost because of it. Suddenly Blue Eye looked past Rocket as both Malcolm and Alexander caught up with them.
"Hey," Malcolm spoke up, causing the two apes to look at him. "Ash and Ray are okay. Probably just lost," he finished.
Rocket had stopped in his tracks, causing the rest of them to stop as well and look at him. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before he brought his hands up.
"Maybe," he signed, breathing deeply.
"Hey look," Malcolm spoke up, walking up to the nearly hairless chimpanzee and reaching out a hand, placing it onto Rocket's should. "Don't beat yourself over it. This wasn't your fault or anyone else's."
"They could be. Dead!" Rocket shot back, shrugging Malcolm's hand off of him and baring his fangs. "I am Ash. Father," he growled. "I… I did not. Protect… My son… Am bad. Father..."
As Rocket deflated his shoulders and lowered his face he felt someone walking up to him and touch his shoulder, causing him to turn and see who it was.
"I miss Ash, too," Blue Eyes signed, huffing slightly.
Seeing Blue Eyes sign this, Rocket lowered his head so that his eyes could no longer be seen.
"You're not a bad father," Alexander spoke up, walking on over to where both Rocket and Blue Eyes stood. "I've seen how you've been protective of the other apes. You are not a bad father Rocket. But there was nothing we could do at the time," he consoled.
"Ash," Rocket signed before lifting his head up to meet everyone, his eyes wet. "So little. When he. Was born. Could hold him. In one. Hand. Like you," Rocket said mournfully, turning to look at Blue Eyes.
Upon hearing this, Blue Eyes could feel his throat clutch when Rocket turned to look at him. Huffing, Blue Eyes shook his head and quickly embraced his uncle as his tears finally fell from his own eyes. The two stayed like that for a moment before Malcolm took in a deep breath and turned his attention towards the sun. He then glanced back at both Rocket, Blue Eyes and Alexander before making his way on over towards them.
"I believe Ash and Ray are still alive," he said slowly, causing the two apes to look up at him.
"What makes you say that dad?" Alexander asked.
"Just call it a father's intuition," Malcolm answered back, turning to look around them. "We haven't found a single body yet and this horse trail is still fresh. So I'm betting that our two members are with these people and we," Malcolm stopped to met both Rocket and Blue Eyes' gaze, "are going to do whatever we can. To get them back," he finished.
…
Rousing from unconsciousness, Ray winced as he breathed, each breath into his lungs had hurt, and each exhale felt like it was his last. He knew that he was awake now but for some reason he couldn't see anything.
Confused for a moment, Ray tried to recall what had happened to him and could vaguely remember the brown cows, no bison, Malcolm had called them. With that the memories of the wolves dashing through the tall grass, the wild gallops of the horses in the canyon of the horned bisons, the fall into the river, the dark figure that saved him and then the decent back into oblivion. With everything coming back to him, light started to pop up within his vision again and all of the pain as well, causing him to groan quietly.
Ray felt himself in motion, a familiar one at that. Breathing quietly, he could feel the gait of a horse underneath him. Did someone find him and put him onto one of the horses? Realizing that he was laying belly down upon the horse, Ray grunted and cracked open an eye, seeing the ground, covered in fern and leaves, passing him by. Oh good, Blue Eyes, Rocket, Ash and the others had found him, put him back onto one of the horses and continued on their journey.
That was a relief for Ray. Now, all he had to do was let them know that he was okay, and everything will go back to the way they were. Hopefully without getting a good scolding from Rocket. Those were never fun…
As he made to move, Ray realized that his wrists were tied together. That's odd. He then tried to move his legs and noticed that his ankles were tied as well, connected by a long rope that were tied to his hands, tightly beneath the belly of the horse that he laid upon.
That wasn't right. Trying to raise his head, Ray winced as he felt his neck hurt, like it was on fire. However, as small as his head had lifted, it gave him enough vision to see that there were several more horses in front of him, including the one that he was riding. But then he noticed whoever was mounted on the nearest horse to him wore boots that did not belong to Malcolm nor Alex.
"I think it's awake," a high pitch voice spoke up, causing Ray's eyes to widen and the hair on the back of his neck to stand.
"He," another voice corrected the first.
Ray noticed that the second voice was lower than the human who had spoken up first. A bit of a chesty rasp to it, reminding Ray of a gorilla of sorts.
"He's a male," the second human finished.
"Who cares, it's a monkey. What does it matter?" the first human spoke up, causing Ray's breath to quicken slightly.
"He's actually not a monkey," a third voice spoke up, correcting the first human this time.
From what Ray could tell this third voice had a nice sweet tune to it, almost musical in a way.
"He's an ape. An orangutan actually. There's a difference. Like that one over there. He's a chimpanzee," the third voice finished, causing Ray's eyes to go wide.
Who else was caught with him? Blue Eyes!? Rocket!? Ash!? If they were how come they were so quiet? Then again, they must have been knocked unconscious too. Or worst…
"Ah, whatever. I don't still see how it matters whether they're boys or girls. They're just going to burn them when we get back into town," the human with the high-pitched voice said aloud, causing Ray to heave out a relieved breath, as she practically confirmed to him that the other ape was not dead.
"They're not going burn them, Feliz. They're harmless," the third song like voice replied. "Besides, would you like it if someone didn't care if you were a boy or girl?"
"Ha! If someone were ever so bold I'll give them a thing or two before even making that wrong statement… But aside from that, Gram used to tell me the monkeys were hiding out in the dark, ready to snatch my soul," the first voice named Feliz answered back.
"Your Gram had a wild imagination and you were a difficult child, still are actually," the third voice countered with a chuckle to its voice.
Ray had thought he heard a "harrumphed" sound coming from this Feliz but wasn't sure. And had thought he heard a small "I'm not a child," which prompted the other two humans to chuckle softly around him.
"Hrm… Have to admit though. I was picturing something a lot scarier from this one. He just looks like a big, red, hairy, ugly baby. The other one on the other hand..." the voice belonging to Feliz spoke up.
"That's the one awake is it?" the third voice spoke up again. "Hang on. Let's see him."
Ray felt the horses coming to a stop. He then saw a pair of booted feet landing a few distances away from him, onto the ground. A few heavy heartbeats later, a face slowly appeared into his vision, causing him to hold his breath. The face belonged to a human of course, with light brown skin and dark calming eyes. The long hair on the human's head was equal parts in black and silver, tied back so that it looked like that the tail of a horse.
"Hello there, little fellow," the human greeted with a warming smile. "I'm Carla. And who are you?"
Seeing the warm inviting face of this Carla, Ray had to think for a moment, unsure if he should trust her or not. But she looked nice enough, seeming to give the same type of air much like Malcolm and Alexander did. So, he tried to sign a "hello," but of course he couldn't, with his wrists tied together.
"You… Don't think he understands you, do you?" the voice belonging to Feliz spoke up, to which Ray could still not see as he tried to crane his head around.
"Well, he might," Carla replied, straightening herself back up and turning to face this Feliz. "He didn't get here from Borneo, you know. And that one over there, he didn't get here from the dense tropical forests of Africa. They must have escaped from a zoo, or something. Or perhaps both of their parents did - they both don't look too old. Must mean that there's a breeding population around here somewhere."
"Are you saying that those two have the same parents?" this Feliz asked.
"Oh dear no," Carla laughed merrily. "I don't think chimpanzees and orangutans can interbreed like that. Not that I'm aware of anyways."
"First two I've ever seen around these parts of the area," the second voice spoke up again. "And I've been coming up this way to hunt for about four to five years now."
"This far up north?" Carla asked.
"Hrm… Not quite, I guess," the second gruff voice replied. "Always have to go a little farther up north every single year."
There was a pause.
"Anyways, Feliz has got a point, though. Ain't these things supposed to spread the plague and the like?" the second voice finished.
"Oh Jack, the plague has long been gone," Carla answered calmly.
"You know that for sure?" Jack asked.
"Yes, it's gone," Carla answered.
Ray then felt this human - Carla reaching out towards him, stroking her hand down his hair. He had tried to shy away from her but there was only so much he could move. Besides, it didn't feel bad and Carla was very gentle.
"Well, what are we gonna do with them?" Feliz piped up.
"I'm not sure," Carla answered turning to meet Ray's eyes with her dark brown ones. "It's not everyday that you come across and orangutan and a chimpanzee together. Both knocked unconscious within the mud. It would be a shame to not pick them up, for all kinds of reasons," Carla finished, returning her smile upon her face as she looked down at Ray.
"Yeah, probably good eatin," Jack said aloud.
"Ah, gross. They look too much like people to eat," Feliz said aloud.
"Jack…" Carla reprimanded, turning away from Ray and facing the other human.
"What? There's some people that eat other people," Jack defended himself.
"Well, I'm not one of'em. And hopefully you too… Anyways, there's not much meat to him, is there? That red one? The other one on the other hand," Feliz trailed off.
"That depends on how hungry you are," Carla replied with a sigh. "Besides, these two are definitely off limits. No one is touching them. As long as I'm around," Carla spoke up.
"Well, you should get back on your horse, Carla. I know I heard somebody else shooting back there before them buffalo stampede all over the place. And those four horses we have here, definitely belonged to somebody. Whoever it was though, I don't fancy running into them anytime soon. Especially with just one rifle between the three of us. It's dangerous enough out here as it is," Jack warned.
"Alright, Jack," Carla replied and was about to turn and leave before stopping in her tracks, turning back around to look at Ray. "Think we should make him more comfortable?"
"He'll be fine until we get back to camp. In the meantime, let's just hurry outta here," Jack answered.
As the sun was slowly going down with the sky, the group of humans that Ray and whoever else was with him were with finally reached their supposed camp. Eventually Ray was finally taken down from the horse, but his bindings weren't cut to free him. Instead the three humans tied him to a post near one of the house that lined up the place.
At last he finally got to see his other captors. Based on this Jack's voice, Ray had pictured the human man to be big, sort of like their gorillas, but he was more like an orangutan. The man didn't have much hair on his head, but he did have big long arms and a wide mouth. Feliz is probably the youngest of the group, probably no older than Alexander. Her hair are the colors of the golden daisy flowers that Ray would often see, falling to just slightly past her ears. She also wore a funny looking blue outfit that covered most of her body, held onto her shoulders by straps, and a black garment underneath that left most of her arms bare. It also looks like she was the one that was carrying the rifle between all of them too. The other two held bows within their hands.
After watching Feliz tying him to the post, Ray perked up when Jack grunted along with Carla as they lifted another body off of one of the horses and set it onto the ground with a plop.
"We've got to be gentle with this one. He's wounded remember," Carla spoke up.
"This one is pretty heavy Carla. I think he can take a small fall," Jack answered.
Carla and Jack then gently dragged the body on over towards the other post just out of reach from Ray. As the other ape came into view, Ray gasped quietly to himself when he saw that it was Ash, both his arms and legs tied as well, just like him. Ray then noticed what looked like a bandage wrapped around Ash's head and one around his right arm. Once the two humans had finished with tying Ash to the second post they took a step back away.
With that between them, Ray quietly watched as the humans had left both he and Ash, making their way towards some tables nearby. With a huff, Ray quickly turned his head and tried to approach Ash's body with as much as the rope would allow his body to go. From what Ray could see, Ash was still very much unconscious with that bandaged around his head. What had caused Ash to receive such a wound though? Ray wondered to himself. Then it dawned on him. The moment when he had seen that shadowy figure reaching into the river and pulling him out of it. Was that Ash? It then would make sense how the chimpanzee had received such a head wound and he couldn't help but huff sadly at the thought as he looked down at Ash's unconscious form.
Ash had saved him.
Frowning to himself, Ray turned his head to watch as Jack, Carla and Feliz all got busy around the tables. Ray noticed that aside from their five horses, they had also two of their own as well. Two of their horses though were loaded with strange brown leathery bags. When they unloaded the contents from the bags however, Ray could see chunks of meat spill out, which were brought on over to the flat wooden tables before being cut down. He observed with curiosity as Carla and Feliz placing them into boxes of what looked like white little sand a few others they placed away and the rest of the smaller ones were skewered with sticks and placed over a fire.
"Strange you know?" Carla suddenly spoke up as she continued to cut at the meat.
"What is it?" Feliz asked as she chopped away.
"Normally orangutans are solitary creatures. Usually sticking to their own. But that one over there? We found him along with that wounded chimpanzee. Kind of interesting don't you think?" Carla asked.
"What, like they're traveling companions or something? A chimp and orangutan?" Jack said aloud in a amused voice.
"Could it be possible?" Feliz asked, turning to look at Carla.
"Who knows. But that's life isn't it? Just full of wonders and mystery," Carla replied with a smile.
"Bah! All life's ever given me were a bunch of headaches," Jack said aloud before letting out a hearty laugh that was soon joined in by the other two.
As the humans continued talking to each other, Ray noticed movement to his right, causing him to turn his head quickly. He watched with anticipation before his heart leaped up into his throat and a smile engulfed his face as Ash slowly rose from unconsciousness. The older chimp moved and frozed momentarily, seeming to tense up in pain before he continued to pull himself up into a sitting position. Ray could then see Ash shaking his head slightly to get rid of the drowsiness before the chimp looked down at his bindings and that rope that connected him to the wooden post. Ray watched as Ash curiously tugged at his bindings before he slowly glanced around, his big green eyes stopping upon the humans and the hair on his body standing on end. The chimpanzee glanced in Ray's direction and then met his eyes, calming slightly when he was sighted, probably reassured to see a familiar face. Ash was about to open his mouth and say something but Ray quickly shook his head in alarm.
"Hey look! The other ones now awake!" Feliz announced, causing both of the apes to freeze, as she got up from her spot and walked towards them. "How's your head?" Feliz asked as she stopped by Ash who shied away from her.
The girl did not look amused before heaving out a sigh and turned to look at both of them.
"You both want something to eat?" Feliz asked, wiping the back of her bloody arm across her brow while she spoke.
Ray did. He hadn't eaten since the day before and his stomach was rumbling. But he knew that he shouldn't answer this Feliz. Ash however panted and nodded at her, causing Ray's eyes to widen in alarm.
Feliz's smile instantly vanished from her face when she saw Ash nodding, her jaw dropped open.
"Did you guys see that?" Feliz said in a shocked voice.
"See what Feliz?" Carla asked from the cutting table.
"That one nodded to my question. The dark haired monkey with the white freckles," Feliz stated, pointing a bloody finger at Ash, whom was now nervously looking back up at her.
"Wait, stop the presses!" Jack paused, waving his arms into the air. "Ask him what the square root of sixteen is."
"What are presses?" Feliz asked.
Jack however bellowed out in laughter before going back to working at cutting down the meat on the table. Feliz on the other hand narrowed her eyes and turned back around to glare at Ash, who shrunk back a little further away from her. Her eyes then wandered on over to where Ray was, causing him to shy a bit away from her as well before she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, turned around and went back to the wooden tables. Feliz took two thin strips of meat from the table and walked on over towards Ash first.
"Open up you," Feliz said and Ash did what she asked, by opening his mouth. "Damn, see! He understands me!" Feliz pointed out.
"Feliz! Do not swear," Carla called on over from her spot by the cooking fire. "I told you. Apes are smart. Of course, he knows when you're going to feed him," she finished.
Feliz made a sour looking face before turning back to look down at Ash and offered him one of the strips of meat in her hand. She then walked on over to where Ray sat and gave him the other one.
"I'm onto you. The both of you," Feliz said slowly, narrowing her eyes and pointing her finger to both of the apes who simply stared back at her while slowly chewing at the raw meat that was given to them.
Taking a deep breath, Feliz straightened herself out and looked down at them once more.
"Can you two understand me or not? She asked curiously. "Blink your eyes if you understand me."
Both Ray and Ash however merely made chewing motions with their mouth and stared up at the girl, Ash even tilting his head at her, causing Feliz's demeanor to soften a little at the display.
"That's not fair," Feliz frowned at Ash who then tilted his head the other way at her while still chewing the piece of raw meat within his mouth.
"What's not fair Feliz?" Carla asked as she came to stand next to her.
Carla then looked to where Feliz was staring at Ash and the woman beamed down at the chimp before looking back to her companion.
"Now ain't he adorable looking. Well, the both of them are," Carla finished as she turned to look at Ray as well who shied away from her smiling face.
Watching the two apes simply stare back at her, the bottom portion of her eyes twitched and immediately Feliz made a disparaging sound.
"I still don't' know what we're going to do with the both of them," Feliz said aloud while throwing her arms up into the air, to which Carla simply turned her head to look at her.
"I remember years ago, those guys in Diablo put out the word that they were looking for some apes," Jack announced as he went on over to wash his hands.
"And willing to pay," Carla snorted. "Disgusting, that lot. That was nearly ten years ago, when they were all still looking for the cure to the Simian Flu. I'd doubt you'd get any takers these days," she finished with a wave of her hand, shaking her head all the while.
"What if they try to kill them?" Feliz asked, turning to look at both Jack and Carla. "Back in town? Or take them from us? We may not be afraid of these monke-of these apes, but a lot of people still are," she said aloud.
"Well… I guess we'll just see when we get there, hrm?" Jack hummed as he rubbed the bottom of his chin and looked up at the afternoon sky. "Until then, there's no use worrying about it now," he finished.
Ash and Ray however were not amused when they had heard that there was a high possibility of being killed, causing the both of them to glance at each other's way momentarily during the exchange between Jack, Carla and Feliz.
When night finally fell upon the camp, Ash and Ray tried to work at their bindings, but they couldn't get them loose, no matter how hard they tried. Ash was still too weak to properly tug off the rope and the bindings were too intricate for Ray to work at. So instead the two sat there in the dark, unable to sign to each other and glancing over at the sleeping humans by the campfire.
While sitting there, scratching at his post, Ray perked up when he had thought he had heard a voice and glanced back around to look at the humans, only seeing them sleeping soundlessly. Curiously, Ray went back to scratching at his wooden post when he heard the voice again and knew that someone was speaking to him. He then turned around to look at Ash and saw the chimpanzee's dark form.
"Ray?" Ash's voice could barely be heard.
"Ash," Ray responded just as quiet.
"Who humans? What do?" Ash asked.
"Don't know," Ray answered sadly. "Are. You. Okay?"
The both of them paused momentarily when they heard a groan and turned to see one of the humans moving in their sleep before settling back into slumber.
"We. Have to. Be quiet," Ray signed limitedly so that Ash could see him, seeing Ash's shadowy head nodding back at him in confirmation.
Ray huffed out in relief before he perked up again.
"Are you okay Ash?" Ray signed worriedly.
Ray could see Ash looking about himself for a moment before he nodded back.
"I'm sorry," Ray gestured, hoping Ash could see his sincere apology.
Ray could then see Ash's shoulder shaking before the chimpanzee shook his head and waved a hand in the air. A gesture that meant that it was nothing. Seeing this, Ray couldn't help but smile in return at Ash. Of course Ash would be the one to say that it was nothing, especially when it comes to helping another ape.
"What do we do Ray?" Ash signed in the darkness. "I can't get loose."
"Me too… But I have an idea," Ray signed back as he turned to look back at the post he was tied to.
Oh boy! So many things going on in this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this newest chapter as much as I had fun writing it.
But I gotta introduce the new human characters from Revelations to you guys and gals. So here it goes.
Jack - a hearty hefty fellow of the new group of humans.
Carla - The nice one from the group of humans.
Feliz - The hardheaded sharpshooter gal from the group of humans.
In other news. Happy Readings everybody and I hope to see you all again in the next chapter.