When he had closed his tired eyes, Ray was thrusted into a world that was cold and dark. Plunging through that bottomless abyss that seemed to swallow everything with its giant maw. As Ray kept on falling he eventually landed onto his back with a thud. Groaning to himself Ray tried to peer at the darkness from where he lay but could not, for the life of him, see anything. Eventually a pale strange light filled his vision a light that was not warm nor inviting. Instead it filled him with quite the fear, reminding him of those glassy pale eyes of the dead that stared back at him. Slowly, Ray turned his head to the side and noticed something laying next to him. Strangely the thing looked very familiar, like he should know what it was.
With a blink, Ray then understood that he was staring at the outline of another ape, lying on his back, held down by strange flat brown ropes with metals in them. But to Ray's horror he could see that the ape's body had been thrusted with long metal needles, sticking out from their body, from its arms and legs to its eyes and mouth in a horrible fashion. The most terrifying part for him thought was that he could see and hear that the other ape was still alive, shaking trembling in pain and letting out whimpering noises. With a gasp, Ray tried to move away but soon found out that he was being held down by the same strange bindings as well. There was a soft gurgling noise to his left and Ray quickly spun his head in that direction, seeing another ape as well, this one with his torso and abdomen cut wide open with his entrails hanging on wires that were suspended in the air.
Ray heaved once and then made to cry out loud but found that his voice would come out. He tried again and again but for reasons unknown to him, his voice just wouldn't come. Then slowly a figure appeared over his vision, blocking the eerie light that shone above. Squinting his eyes up at the person, Ray's eyes grew wide. What he saw were familiar eyes, one looking green and normal, the other a milky white.
Koba.
The bonobo above Ray however seemed to sneer down at him, seeming to revel in his predicament. The scarred bonobo seemed to glance off to the side momentarily before he reached on over and grabbed at something. Ray's heart pounded within his chest when he noticed that Koba had brought a sharp metallic looking blade into view and stared back down at Ray.
"Now you will know," Ray heard Koba say, his voice echoing all around him, along with the painful groans of the other apes around him.
The bonobo then brought the blade down, inching it closer and closer towards Ray's face. Ray on the other hand screamed and screamed desperately, trying his best to free himself of his bindings and to get away from the crazed bonobo above him. With a final desperate cry for help, Ray closed his eyes tightly and screamed again.
This time a blinding flash appeared before Ray, dispelling the nightmare all around him. Images and sounds of his father praising him happily with the first spear that he had ever made. Images of him playfully tumbling in the dirt of their home with Blue Eyes, Ash, Lake, Maple and many of the other ape children, when they were all but younglings. Images and feelings of touching a stream of water for the first time and seeing the world that was beneath its cool surface. A world where crawfish walked on their many legs, fishes darting in and out of sight, shining brilliantly like the slivers of the sky. Images of him sitting with Blue Eyes and Ash as they all listened to Malcolm telling them stories at night, about human civilization in a time before. Images and feelings of Ray and the other's playing with Alexander at the beach, splashing within the surf and tickle-torturing the human teen. The warm feeling of his father gently holding him as he had fell from a tree and hurt his leg, crying desperately into the older orangutan's chest. But the older ape merely smiled warmly at Ray and gently rocked him.
"Remember son. No matter how much you leg hurt. It will always get better in the end," Hector would sign to Ray, letting out soft grumbles from his throat sac, to comfort Ray.
These wonderful vision that had suddenly showed up to Ray, felt like how an elder would remind him that no matter how much bad there was in the world, there were still many a good things too. That everything was not just pain and darkness but filled with with comfort and light as well.
Letting out a weary breath, Ray could now feel his consciousness return to him heavily tired body. With a few huffs, he willed his eyes to open slowly before he pushed himself up into a sitting position. As he looked around, Ray noticed that he seemed to be in a square like room that was not much larger than the cage he shared with Ash and Fox on that truck. He was curious to see that one side of the room was wide open and as he made his way towards it, he accidentally bumped his face into an invisible wall. Rubbing his snout in surprise, Ray reached out and felt his fingers being stopped by something that was solid and cool to the touch. He knew what this was, he had found fragments of it woods, but had found many more, especially within the old human world, where giant square like spires of it reached high into the sky.
Glass.
Pressing his face up to the glass, Ray tried to see what was on the other side. There were many other strange things out of the room, most he didn't quite recognize. They were all shiny, made out of either metal or glass and the smooth stuff that he didn't know what to make out of them.
Ray had let out a small squeak as one of the humans walked past him. He had quickly backed away and braced himself, thinking that the humans in those strange orange suits were going to hurt him again. Instead, they went about their business around the room, mostly ignoring him. Relieved at that thought, Ray now examined his body and noticed how much he hurt. He had found several sore spots around his body which stung in the center of it all. Reaching up, Ray had found out that he now had a bald spot where his hair used to be, the flesh there raw and sore as well. Letting out small gurgling noises, he couldn't help but feel groggy and even more sick than he was in the truck that he and the others had came in.
Lifting his head and letting his eyes wander, Ray could now see that both Ash and Fox were put in two similar chambers that he was in, both separated by a glass wall it looks like. He could see that Fox still laid in a heap, still under the effects of the terrible sleep they were put under. Ray however narrowed his eyes at the older chimp, knowing that Fox is pretty deceptive a lot of the times and was most likely just pretending to be asleep. Ray then silently turned his attention to where Ash was and huffed worriedly. If Ash were awake, he would likely make himself known but so far the white flecked chimpanzee have yet to stir nor utter a sound and it was concerning to Ray.
Ray then quietly turned his attention to the humans, watching them go about their business. Taking various things, talking among each other and completely ignoring him and the others. After a little while, the humans eventually left the room, leaving the apes there within their chambers. Big mistake. What the humans didn't know, was that Ray himself already knew that these glass were breakable and the moment they were gone he put his plans into action. Drawing his arm back and balling up his fist, Ray threw a punch as hard as he could, right into the center of the glass wall that separated him from freedom.
To Ray's surprise, instead of breaking, like he thought it would normally, there was only a loud wobbling sound instead. Ray then drew his arm back and punched at the class once more and then again and again, until his knuckles were bloody. Placing his forehead upon the glass, Ray slid down to the floor of his cell, lost in the despair of his situation. No wonder the humans were not worried in leaving them there, in those glass and metal rooms.
A few minutes later both Ray looked up from his spot when he saw two humans enter the room. One of them seemed to be female, wearing clothing the colors of a clear evening sky that left her hairless legs bare from the knees down. Her clothing were fastened with pretty metal buttons that looked rather curious to both of the younger apes. The woman wore glasses over her eyes, very much like some of the humans back in the city did, finally she was wearing that strange cloth on her face, like the other humans who had came to take them away from Carla, Feliz and the others. Standing next to the woman stood a older man, who was definitely taller than her. His hair was much redder than even Ray's body hair and he wore simple clothing that reminded Ray of what Malcolm usually wears; a shapeless shirt that covered him up to the wrists and waist over wrinkled blue leg-coverings.
"Ah! This one's awake! How are you?" the man said aloud in a rather chipper voice, as he approached Ray and smiled down at him. "You don't need the mask by the way," he finished, turning back around to look at the woman.
"Very well," said the woman, as she pulled the cloth down away from her face so that Ray could see her lips.
Something about the woman's body language, as alien and different as it was, suggested that she was the more dominant of the two. Her tone only confirmed it to Ray as he observed the two older humans.
"Tell me about them doctor," the woman ordered simply.
"Well," the man started as he gestured towards Ray. "This little guy here is an orangutan. The other two are chimpanzees. In terms of size and weight though, from what we've gathered mind you, the orangutan is pretty small. I'm guessing he may be an adult? But very young still. The two chimps however falls in the average range for young adults, as far as chimps go, from what I understand. Anyways, some of the lab notes aren't back yet, and what I really would like is an MRI of these fellas-"
"And these things are plague - free?" The woman interrupted the man, another sign that she was in charge.
The man faltered a moment, pausing, before he cleared his throat.
"No," the man answered. "They have the virus in their systems. But so do we and everyone else that is still alive."
"So it's identical to what we carry then?" The woman asked as she narrowed her eyes down at Ray who simply stared back.
"Well… It's very close but…" The man started.
"But?" The woman asked sharply turning to face him.
"Well they have some archaic traits? If that makes sense?" The man answered.
"What the hell does that mean?" The woman demanded in a fierce tone, even causing Ray to flinch at her voice. "Archaic traits?"
"It's nothing really," the man answered while waving his hands in front of him to the unamused human woman. "At least nothing to worry about. Anything with genetic information in it-your cells, my cells, a virus-mutates a little with each generation. You know? The mutation for the most part-"
As the human man continued on his long speech Ray glanced on over to both Ash warily, wondering why his friend had not awoken yet. He wondered if there was something truly wrong with Ash but then again, Fox had yet to budge as well but Ray could care less about the other chimp.
"-We can deduce that these guys are descended from the original population of infected apes," the man finished, causing Ray to look back up at him and the woman.
"And these things, their strain isn't dangerous to us?" The woman asked as she turned her cold eyes back down to Ray.
"No. Not to anyone alive at least. Perfectly harmless they are," the man told the woman. "The part of their code that had fatal effects on humans is the same as what you and I are already immune to. The mutations that serve as markers don't actually have any outcome on how the virus presents itself as and infection."
"I see," the woman said as she turned back to the man. "But you are telling me these two are from the same group that our… Friends up north in San Francisco are dealing with right now?" She asked.
"They could be," the man replied. "I could be more certain if I had an ape on hand that I know for certain was from up there, but the evidence is reasonably certain. It makes sense geographically, as well. There are no topographic boundaries that would prevent apes from that region from coming down here."
"But they never have before?" the woman asked.
"That we know of," the man answered back. "And maybe they never had reason to travel before as well. Maybe they no longer feel safe with that warship sitting off shore up there."
The woman lifted her shoulder and made a sound before she turned her cold brown eyes upon Ray, like she was searching him for something.
"Then they're smart?" The woman asked to which the man merely shrugged in reply.
"You insisted that we do the labs first. We haven't gotten around to testing their intelligence yet. I always thought the reports of their behavior were probably hyperbole - a result of the mass hysteria that happened years ago when the outbreak came about. Plus, I assumed that they all died out," the man finished.
"And what makes you think that?" The woman asked slowly, turning her dark sharp eyes to the man.
"Well, chimpanzees are for equatorial Africa, as so are the gorillas. Orangutans. They're from the tropics of Southeast Asia. And up there? In Northern California? It isn't the right environment for apes like them to survive. It gets much too cold for them and there are definitely not a lot of tropical fruits growing in the wild there as well. So the very fact that they're still alive suggests that they've probably adapted to life up there. And adapted very quickly to such a strange environment, much too quickly. They would have to do what we would have done and modify the environment to fit their needs.
"In what way?" The woman asked.
"You know. Build dwellings. Make tools. Use fire, in ways to cook food and provide a source of heat. Like how our ancestors did it," the man answered as a matter of factly to which the woman merely rolled her eyes at him.
"Were these two things found with any tools? Or seen using fire?" the woman asked the man abruptly.
"No. Not that I know of," the man answered.
"Aren't you an expert in this kind of field?" the woman asked slowly, eyeing the man.
"Me? Hah! No. Dear no," the man chuckled as he waved his hand and head while laughing lightly. "I didn't nor claimed to be. I'm just an epidemiologist by training. I did however get a minor in anthropology. If you have someone better to put on this, please do."
The woman's eyes narrowed and her lips curved up slightly into a grin at the man. "Primatologists are in short supplies these days," she informed. "I remember the one at the San Diego Zoo was hanged."
"For trying to protect the apes there," the man sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at both Ray and then at Fox and Ash. "I remember the hysteria back then. The irony, of course, was that the apes wouldn't have been carrying the virus at all - not unless they had caught it from humans who already had it."
"Our friends up north says that the apes are organized and dangerous," the woman cut the man off once more, turning to glare back down at Ray. "I want to know just how smart they are."
"Did you tell our "friends from up north" about these guys?" The red haired man asked.
"No," the woman answered simply. "All indications are that they really are out of Base McChord and that they represent some remainder of the legitimate-"
Ray himself was starting to dislike the way the human woman kept on glaring down at him, a look of disdain upon her face. Eyeing him like he was beneath her. That glare she was giving him, was more or less a challenging one and apes usually rose up to such a display. If he were only out of his this cell cage right now. But he sighed quietly to himself, he had to remember that this was not the time to be doing nor thinking of such things. Especially in their current predicament.
"-What are they asking for?" the man voiced, snapping Ray out of his thoughts.
The woman seemed to hesitate at the question.
"You know I have clearance," the man said.
"They're asking for Gas," the woman answered sharply. "They just don't want to beat these damn animals. They want to exterminate them."
The man had a look of shock written all over his face, as did Rays, but luckily the woman's eyes were upon the man instead. Ray himself didn't understand this "exterminate" word but by judging from the man's reaction, it was not good for the apes.
"Oh… Wait, I had thought the council decided against to ever using that stuff again," the man breathed.
"Indeed. But we didn't get rid of it either now did we? Why do you imagine that is?" the woman said slowly back.
The man lowered his gaze towards the floor, looking quite defeated.
"Yeah, I know…" he said slowly.
The woman shrugged her shoulders and promptly turned back to look down at both of the apes once more. "In the meantime, we haven't admitted to having it, of course. But an alliance with these people could be fruitful for us. A war with them could prove devastating, destroy everything that we've been working for. We must proceed with caution but leave all options open. I want to know more of what is going on before we even commit any resources or take sides," the woman stated as she met the apes' eyes. "We need to know a lot more."
…
The plan for the apes of the forest was to move further into it, away from all of the fighting in the human city, as Caesar had suggested. Any abled warriors was to stay behind and distract the human soldiers while the rest of the colony that held mostly the females and their you, with the elderly and many wounded were to traverse deeper into the woods. They of course were well protected by mainly the gorillas of the Gorilla Guard and a few of the warriors that were already here.
As they moved on, Winter huffed as he shouldered a heavy bag onto his back and hefted along with the apes. It was a slow pace as usual as they all had to traverse quietly as quietly as possible while they waited for many of the elderly. As soon as they made the time to rest, Winter sat down beside the edge of the group and heaved out a deep breath, letting his mind wander to Luca and the other apes back within the human city. As he sat there, his mind had also wandered on back to a particular ape as well - Glade, wondering how the bonobo was faring. Hoping that he was doing alright.
There was a slight shuffle of sound, causing Winter to snap out of his thoughts and turn quickly, just in time to see Juno go wide eyed and freeze up as well. Upon seeing who it was that had approached him, Winter heaved out a deep breath and relaxed his body, settling back down on the forest ground.
"You scared me," Winter gestured.
"Did I?" Juno asked as he moved to sit next to Winter. "Did not mean to."
The two apes sat there for a long while, just in silence as the other gorillas, who were not carrying things, patrolled the area. As Juno looked on, he then turned to look at Winter and reached on over to tapped the white gorilla's shoulder.
"How are you doing?" Juno asked.
Winter blinked and slowly looked around before he took in a deep breath.
"Very tired," Winter gestured back.
Juno nodded understandingly, knowing well that they had been on the move constantly and had hardly any rest at all.
"How are you?" Winter asked, causing Juno to blink in surprise.
"I would be happier if I was out there, fighting with my father and brothers," Juno lamented but heaved a sigh instead.
"Really? But it is so dangerous out there. Fighting with the humans," Winter signed uneasily. "And even if you did stay back. How would you…" Winter trailed off.
At this, Juno noticed that the younger gorilla was eyeing his withered left arm and he couldn't help but make an angry frown at Winter, surprising him.
"You think because I have this, makes me weak?" Juno accused.
At this line of questioning, Winter widened his eyes in alarm and quickly shook his head.
"No, no, I just-"
"You just like Tola," Juno spat in anger as he turned his head away.
At this Winter lowered his hands and lowered his head slightly, knowing well that he hand hurt the older ape.
"I'm sorry Juno. It's just…" Winter tried to think of something to say but nothing was coming to mind.
"It's because of my arm. My weak arm that I cannot do anything. Be like other apes. Do what they can do. Be strong," Juno growled while he signed.
At this Winter blinked, noticing something very familiar the way Juno was lamenting about his condition.
"But," Juno spoke this time, catching Winter's attention. "My mother. Tells me. I am strong. My father. Tells me. I am strong. Bryn and Oaka. Tells me. I am strong. Glade. Says. I am strong," Juno said slowly.
Juno then turned his head slowly to meet Winter's gaze.
"I never understood what they mean. Sometimes I do, but most of the time I still don't," Juno signed slowly. "Because I am different."
Winter frowned in on himself and thought long and hard of what Juno had just told him.
"Me too," Winter answered back. "I am different too. I hate my white hair. Not dark, like yours. I always get spotted." he explained. "Other apes never take me to go hunt with them or they always find me first in our games. Makes me feel. Not useful. Weak too."
Juno tilted his head at Winter as he listened now understanding that the white gorilla had it pretty rough as well. Just like he had said, his white pelt stood out quite a lot in the forest and was always the first one to be spotted within the colony. Maybe that's why Glade understood the both of them so well. As oddities among apes.
"But, Luca says that I am strong. Glade says that to me too," Winter continued. "Glade told me that different. Is sometimes not weakness. But something good. But I still do not understand."
At this, Juno couldn't help but smile at Winter, confusing the white gorilla.
"You don't understand Glade? I've been friends with him longer than you and I still don't understand him," Juno gestured as he reached out and nudged Winter's shoulder playfully, the gorilla hesitantly smiling back. "But I know why Glade says it to you," Juno signed with a big smile.
At this news, Winter perked up.
"You know why Glade says it to me?" Winter inquired. "Why?"
Juno tilted his head confusingly at Winter and narrowed his eyes.
"You really don't know. Do you?" Juno asked.
"Know what?" Winter signed, now more curious than ever.
At this Juno pant hooted in laughter and waved his hand.
"Not my place to say. I'll let Glade say it to you when he sees you," Juno signed, still laughing.
"What? Why?" Winter questioned, now frustrated at the older chimpanzee who was still quietly pant-laughing at him.
Before Winter could prod more out of Juno the sound was given for the group to move again and Juno quickly stood up, stretching himself all the while.
"Time. To go," Juno grunted as he extended his limbs while letting out a deep sigh. "Come. let us go with others."
With that, Juno started to walk away and stopped before he turned around to look at Winter. The albino gorilla on the other hand, hefted the heavy bag back onto his back and slowly followed the withered arm chimp as they traversed silently once more through the forest.
…
Growing up in the colony, Ray had recounted how he and many of the other apes had grown up with the sun, moon and stars. Each of these wonderful things in the sky measured out time in their own different way. Back in the colony, Ray could remember well that the sun itself counted for the days, and the stars counted for the nights. The moon however was much more complicated, because it did not rise and set with the days or nights, but per to its own time. Much like a scarred bonobo he knew well. Shaking the thought away, Ray remember that Maurice, as well as many of the older orangutans were very much interested in these sorts of things, much more so than the bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas. The only other ones that were as much interested with these were the humans, Malcolm and his son Alexander. The older of the two who seemed to have a much more vast knowledge about the suns, stars and moon itself, boggling Ray's mind quite a bit.
At the thought of those two humans, Ray couldn't help but frown to himself, wondering where they were now. Or even where Blue Eyes and Rocket were at as well. Was Malcolm still in the town with Carla and Feliz? Were Blue Eyes, Alexander and Rocket still waiting for them out in the unknown? Or looking for them? He didn't know for sure, but wished he did.
Turning his head and letting it lean onto the glass wall, Ray eyed the two cells that held both Ash and Fox; Ash's own cell, empty. Staring at Ash's empty cage, memories of what had happened came rushing back to him.
After the woman and man had left them alone, Ray paced himself around his cage a little while until Fox slowly got up from his side. The two made eye contact but merely scowled at each other before they ignored the other and went about their own business. Ray didn't know how long it was but his legs were starting to tire from going back and forth from within his cage. It was then the orangutan and older chimpanzee noticed Ash stirring from his sleep finally. Ray had stopped in his pacing and pressed himself up onto the glass of his cell, happy to see that Ash was finally waking from his deep sleep.
Ray lightly tapped at his glass to get Ash's attention but then something didn't feel right to him. He watched as Ash slowly got up from his spot from the ground onto shaking legs. The chimpanzee then propped himself with one arm onto the wall beside him as his shoulders slowly rose up and down with deep heavy breaths. Furrowing his brows in worry, Ray turned towards Fox, seeing that the older chimp was now curiously watching Ash from his side of the glass wall as well. Rounding his head back to where Ash was, Ray could see that the older chimpanzee was now holding his head with his free hand, looking as if he were in pain. Ray had then try to hoot once, to get Ash's attention, to see if his friend was alright. But then all of a sudden, Ash had doubled over and unleashed a torrent of his stomach contents onto the ground beneath him, surprising both Ray and Fox. Once Ash was done spilling out his inside, he started to gag and cough loudly, wiping at his snout with the back of his free arm as he heaved haggardly. Then like before, Ash's body convulsed again as he let loose yet another stream of his stomach contents onto the ground before immediately collapsing onto the floor of his cage with a loud thud, unconscious.
At this point, worried for his friend's condition, Ray hooted loudly from within his cell at Ash. Fox on the other hand, stood up slowly and made his way on over towards the glass wall that separated both him and Ash from each other, looking down at the unconscious younger chimp.
As Ray had continued to let out his alarming cries, the humans came rushing back into the room and noticed one of the apes had was laying in a pile of its own filth. They spoke loudly to each other before the human with the bright red hair came back in and started barking order to the the others. They opened up the glass door to Ash's cage, picked up the unconscious chimp and placed him onto a cart before pushing him away. Ray however did not stop hooting all the while as he watched the humans carting away Ash's unconscious form, wondering on what they were going to do with him. The humans quickly sprayed Ash's cell with water, cleaning it effectively before they all walked away, leaving just Ray and Fox alone once more.
That had been a long while ago and Ray didn't know how long has been for him, as it was hard to tell time because they didn't see the outside. The strange lights were usually lit when the humans were in the room and off when they were not. However the light were on more often than they were off and Ray couldn't help but feel agitated by these things and became confused as to how long they had been imprisoned for.
After they had taken Ash away, Fox had kept to himself at first, and Ray had little desire to talk with him. But as time went on and Ash did not return, he began to despair, finding out that he was feeling lonely without Ash there to keep him company or make him laugh. So after quite some time, when Fox hand spoke to him, Ray immediately lifted his head up to give the older chimp his attention.
"Understand now?" Fox asked.
"Understand what?" Ray asked in return.
"Why Koba was right and Caesar was wrong," Fox gestured with a frown.
At this Ray had been giving it some thought while he was locked up in this place.
"I think I understand Koba better," Ray answered finally after a little bit of silence. "Understand all of the elders better. Listening to their stories is one thing but to experience it… Is another," Ray slowly signed before he cocked his head at Fox. "What is it that you understand Fox? You were born in the woods, like me too."
"I understand that humans are bad," Fox answered with a frown.
"Because they put us in cages? Koba put Rocket and Maurice in a cage. He put humans in cages too. How are humans bad and Koba good?" Ray countered.
"It is not like that. Besides, not about bad or good. It is about survival," Fox waved his hand dismissively.
At this, Ray couldn't help but frown at the older chimp.
"You were the one who used the word bad," Ray pointed out. "If the word doesn't mean anything, why use it at all?"
Ray watched as Fox bared his fangs slightly but lowered them into a angry frown. But like Ray himself, he figured that maybe Fox was lonely too, especially since the humans took Ash away, leaving just the two of them together. Back in the woods, apes were never far apart from each other, always grooming or being groomed in the process. Talking with each other, telling stories, making drumming noises with each other and play fighting. Together. But now, all they had now was each other.
"What do you think they are doing to him?" Ray asked turning to look at the door where the humans hat taken Ash.
"Don't care," Fox responded as he crossed his arms.
At this, Ray tilted his head at Fox. He could clearly remember the surprise in the other chimps eyes when they both watched Ash vomiting within his own cell.
"I think you do care," Ray gestured.
"And what makes you think that?" Fox asked with a part of his lip lifting to show his teeth.
Ray however simply stared at the older ape, knowing why Fox should know why he cared.
"You think because I stayed around with Ash makes me care about him? He attacked me remember?" Fox angrily signed at Ray.
"Only because you were biting me," Ray shot back before gesturing to his forearm where the bite marks were still healing.
"Because you punched me!" Fox signed and barked, slamming his fist onto the glass of his cage, leaving behind the wobbling sound it made to echo all around them.
At this Ray lowered his head a little. Fox was right. He did attack first in his rage and therefore Fox retaliated. But Fox was out there to kill them, right? So he had to. But then if Ash hadn't intervened, he wouldn't have gotten hurt.
Lifting up his head a little, Ray met Fox's angry green eyes, teeth open bare.
"You are right… I did hit you first. I am sorry," Ray signed, surprising Fox a little.
Upon seeing this from Ray, Fox's mouth slowly closed into a frown instead.
"Never mind. No use in us fighting each other. When they bring Ash back. Let's get out of here. Then you can try and kill me," Ray signed.
This caused Fox to deepened his frown and hardened his glare at Ray before he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.
"Then how do you suggest we escape?" Fox signed back instead. "I saw you try to break your cage. It did not work," Fox indicated by pointing at Ray's knuckles that had long since dried.
Ray glanced down at his hand before he looked back up at Fox.
"I had thought we can break the glass. I guess I was wrong. Do you have ideas?" Ray asked.
Fox placed a palm onto the glass barrier of his cell and slowly dragged his hand across it, narrowing his eyes all the while.
"Seems like these only open from outside. When humans came to take Ash. I saw them doing something to open his cage," Fox concluded.
"Then one of us must get outside somehow," Ray signed back.
Fox made a dismissive sound and waved Ray off.
"Did you not hear what the humans said?" Ray asked. "The humans on the ship. They asked these humans for help. For some kind of weapon. If they come to fight Caesar also-"
"Does not matter what happens to Caesar," Fox interrupted the younger orangutan. "Apes will be safe from harm."
At first Ray didn't understand what Fox had meant. Then it hit him and Ray felt as if he had swallowed a cold lump of mud.
"What?" Ray gestured back. "What do you mean Fox? That apes will be safe?"
Upon seeing Ray's questioning hands, a chagrin look overcame Fox's face and he quickly turned away from the orangutan. Ray however huffed quietly within his cage as he watched Fox turn his head away from him. What were Pope and Koba's followers planning? How many of them were there?
"Fox-"
In the middle of his signing towards Fox, Ray was interrupted by the door to the room opening, causing both him and the older chimpanzee to look in the direction. The red haired man then burst into the room and stood there, staring at the both of them with an expression that meant nothing to on the face of an ape, but which clearly expressed something to humans. The red haired man turned his head back and forth from Ray and Fox.
"You both are using sign language," the man breathed. "You're… You're both talking to each other!"
Ray huffed to himself, wondering how he and Fox had been caught when the humans were not there or even how the man could know that they were talking to each other. Ray blinked and then thought to himself, realizing that it probably didn't matter how the man came to find out that they were hand speaking to one another. The only decision for them now was whether to keep silent or speak up, and the only reason to choose one or the other was if it increased their chances of an escape.
Fox was right - when they were even allowed out of their cages, they were both bound in chains of metal or rope. He suspected, too, that the other doors in the strange place was locked. Even if they tried to slip out of their bindings and subdue the humans within the room, they were still trap in this otherworldly strange place. So leaving the situation as it stood now, for the both of them, and wherever Ash was, they had no chance to escape. Even if they wanted to.
"Yes," Ray signed to the man.
"And you can understand what I say? What I speak?" The man asked Ray.
"Some only. Some of your human words I do not know," Ray signed back to the man.
Ray turned to look at Fox but could see that the older chimp had his head down low and baring his fangs. Ray frowned in return. He knew that what he was doing might jeopardize in what they were planning but maybe they can trick these humans somehow. Besides, he figured that they were going to be found out one way or another anyways.
"Well damn," the man muttered. "And I don't know the first thing about sign language. Naturally. So I have no clue what you're saying," the man hummed to himself as he stood there, rubbing his chin, looking down at Ray.
The man then made a noise and held a finger up into the air.
"Hang on. I'll be back," the man said excitedly before leaving the room in a whirl.
After the man had left them alone, Ray wondered to himself what had just occurred. What was puzzling to him, was how the man had known that he and Fox were conversing with each other while they were not in the room? Obviously the human man had some way to see them while they were alone. A peephole or something. Were they always being watched? It seemed likely. In all that time that they were both in the glass cages, this was the first occasion that he and Fox had actually hand-speak to each other, and they were noticed immediately.
It was a little bit later before the man returned with a bag of things in his arms. The woman that was with him the first time he visited was also with him.
"And I don't have the real stuff," the man continued. "But this is some of my granddaughter's things. Luckily I decided to keep these things for strange, or rather wonder occasions like these!" The man announced as he slipped some of the things into Ray's cell through the strange opening. "That should do."
Ray slowly walked on over to look at the things and noticed that there was a box that had holes of different shapes on it, accompanying it were some brightly colored pegs, also in various shapes.
"Can you put the right shapes in the right holes?" The man asked Ray.
Ray however looked the things over, wondering if there was some sort of trick involved. It was rather a silly question. But as he looked back at the two humans, seeing them continue to watch him, he decided that they were serious.
"This? This is what you brought me here for?" The woman asked as she watched the orangutan placed the right shapes into the holes before she turned to face the man. "You brought me here. To watch this ape put some shapes into a box? Couldn't any ape do that?" the woman deadpanned.
"No you don't understand," the man spoke quickly, "they-"
"Easy."
At the strange grunting sound, both the man and woman went very still and then turned slowly to look at Ray. Ray had wanted to laugh at seeing such strange expressions from the two humans but he kept his tongue.
"Did-did you say something?" The man asked quietly.
Ray quickly glanced in Fox's direction who was now fuming before he turned his gaze back to the two humans.
"This easy," Ray told them.
He then pulled the pegs to the thing out and tried to put the one with three sides into the hole with the four shapes indention.
"This easy. Can see. How fit," Ray explained.
It was then Ray had remembered something Koba had told him and the other young apes once, evidence for how stupid humans were, at least from his point of view. The bonobo had explained to the young apes how the humans thought a chimp's grin of terror was funny to them, how it made humans believe apes were laughing.
So… He grinned like a scared chimp at the two humans. In response though, both of the humans made similar expressions in return as well. It was absolutely terrifying to see these from the two humans. It wasn't like he hadn't seen these kinds of expressions before. Malcolm and Alexander would often smile like this. But when those two had smiled or did the scared chimpanzee grin, their smiles were full of warmth, which was easily read within their eyes. But these two humans though, Ray couldn't see anything warm within them at all, and it really did scare him to his core.
"I can't believe he's talking?" The man exclaimed.
"Indeed. It is," the woman replied before she straightened herself out and took a step closer to Ray's glass cage. "What is your name?" She asked slowly.
"Ray," Ray answered the woman as he pointed to himself. "Your?" He asked the woman.
"Jesus God almighty. I can't believe this," the man swore from behind the woman.
"My name is Messenger. Commander Abigail Messenger, if that means anything to you," Messenger answered before she turned her head slightly to her male companion. "This is Doctor Horn. Who you've already met."
"They're talking," Horn continued to mutter to himself.
"Now," Messenger continued on before she faced Ray again. "Can you tell us where you're from?"
Ray paused a moment to think on it. Wondering if he should tell this Messenger human anything at all or make lies. But that was probably a terrible idea.
"Forest. Big trees. Far away," Ray explained.
"Forest?" Messenger repeated curiously. "Have you heard of a place called San Francisco?"
"Human home," Ray said, remembering what the humans had called their city of glass and metal, the place with no trees.
"Humans live there?" Messenger asked.
"Yes," Ray answered.
"And why have you come here?" Messenger questioned again.
At this line of questioning, Ray had to think on it. He still wasn't used to these human vocabularies even if Malcolm and Alexander tried to help him with it. But he got the jist of it at least, but he shouldn't really tell them that they were looking for a new home.
"Truck?" Ray explained as he made moving gestures with his hands like wheels. "Truck. Bring here."
"Oh, seems like we got ourselves a smartass here," Horn said in a unamused voice.
"I mean before that," Messenger continued as she raised a finger up towards the doctor to silence him. "Before the people of Esperanza found you. What were you doing?" She pressed.
Ray wondered that maybe he should tell them parts of the truth.
"Search," Ray huffed.
"Search? Searching for what?' Messenger asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Just search. Not know what," Ray explained with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Told you, quite the little smartass here," Horn continued, causing Messenger to turn and give him a stern look.
As the human woman turned back around to look at him, Ray reached up and touched at his neck.
"Talk, hard," Ray explained before raising his hands up to show them, "Hand talk. Easy."
"I see," Messenger said as she took a step back before turning towards Horn. "We're going to need to find someone who knows sign language.
Messenger then turned her head slowly towards Fox and met the chimpanzees gaze.
"He can talk too? All of you? Even the one in the infirmary?"
The one in the infirmary? What is an infirmary? Ray didn't know what it is or what it was but he knew for sure that this Messenger human was referring to Ash.
"Friend? Friend hurt? Sick?" Ray asked in quick huff. "Where?" He met both of the humans' eyes.
"Answer the question. Can you all speak or not?" The woman demanded once more in a low tone.
Ray blinked up at her and huffed before he lowered his head and slowly nodded.
"Yes," he answered.
"I see…" the woman voiced as she turned towards her male companion and shared a look that contained some information between the both of them.
They both turned to look back down at Ray.
"One more question. And then I'll tell you about your friend and let you rest," the woman said slowly as Ray looked up at her, his eyes slightly wet. "You apes. What do you want?"
"Survive. And peace," Ray answered softly.
Messenger seemed to consider Ray's words for a moment, her dark brown eyes searching him again. And when the human woman got enough from what she needed from him, she immediately turned to her male companion.
"What is the status of the one that was put in the infirmary?" She demanded, shocking Horn out of his thoughts.
"The uh… Ahem! The chimpanzee seemed to have had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia that we administered to him several days ago," Horn explained.
"And his condition now doctor?" Messenger pressed.
"He still has a minor fever but nothing too serious. My lab workers are watching over him for the time being," Horn sighed. "Does that suffice?"
Messenger slowly turned back to Ray.
"There's your answer. The other one is fine for now," Messenger explained.
With that said both of the humans turned around and left the room, leaving both Fox and Ray alone once more.
Huffing, Ray lowered his head to look down at the colorful shapes around him before he lifted his head up and turned to look at Fox, who had an angry frown upon his face.
"Had no choice," Ray signed to the fuming chimp.
"You have doomed us all," Fox gestured back, shaking his head slowly side to side.
…
He couldn't remember where he was nor what he was doing. He did however remember the nightmare he had while he was sleeping. When his eyes had closed, Ash had found himself being dragged by the scruff of his neck on ground. At this, he suddenly panicked and cried out for help as he flailed and tried to get away at whomever was dragging him. Before long he suddenly saw a familiar face coming into view, a face of an ape's.
Koba's.
The scarred bonobo sneered menacingly down at him before the stronger ape bent down and picked Ash up within his arms. Ash then tried to scream again for help before he was suddenly thrown over something and fell. He fell and fell, further down towards the ground and went he hit it, he suddenly jolted awake with a start.
Breathing heavily, Ash narrowed his eyes as blinding light shined down on him, hurting his eyes and head. Turning his head to the side slowly, Ash felt his stomach trying to push something up through him and out of his mouth, but luckily nothing came through. As he laid there though, wherever he was, Ash could distinctly hear voices around him, and feel hands touching him. They touched his chest, arms, legs and head. All talking fast and incoherently. Too tired to understand what was going on around him, Ash closed his eyes once more and the next time he woke up, he found out that he was still laying down on something soft.
Ash lifted up his head but doing so, caused the world to spin around him and he quickly laid it back down with a small huff. As he tried to reach up and hold his still pounding head, Ash soon found out that his arms were tied down, not surprising him. Tiredly, he let his head lolled around to see where he was at. It looked like the humans had taken him somewhere else, away from Fox and Ray. The room was very white with strange lights up in the ceiling. It also had a window towards his left which also brought in the sun's rays as well. Ray? Where is Ray and Fox? Closing his eyes and letting out a huff, Ash groaned to himself as his mind was assaulted with pain yet again.
Along with the pain, Ash found himself shivering, feeling cold all over. Panting lightly, he turned his head around to see if there was anything to help warm him up. The sound of a door opening, caused Ash to turn his eyes to whoever had just came into the room. A human. A human woman to be precise, who adorned herself in an outfit that had the colors that were a little bit darker than the sky, more like the colors of the sea. Her dark hair was tied into a small bun that sat atop of her head. It was very curious for Ash to see the human to wear her hair like that but he kept quiet.
"You're awake?" The woman said aloud in surprise, her dark eyes wide.
Ash didn't respond to her, knowing well that they well that they must keep quiet. Play the dumb animal to these humans, lest they do horrible things to them. But he couldn't stop his body from shivering and the human woman seemed to take notice of that. She quickly disappeared from the room, leaving Ash there in the silence for a moment before she returned with a piece of cloth in her arms. She looked hesitant at first as she eyed him but she quickly threw the blanket over his shivering form.
Once the blanket was around him, Ash looked down at himself and then back up at the woman, who curiously stared back. He thought long and hard for a moment but then decided to offer her a genuine smile. Upon seeing this the woman's curious face quickly melted away, replaced with a warm smile of her own.
"Linda?"
At the sound of a new voice both of the room's occupants turned their heads to see another human poking his head into the room, curiously looking at the both of them.
"What are you doing?" the man whispered.
"He was cold. So I gave him a blanket," Linda spoke back in a hush.
"We're supposed to leave that animal alone. You could get in trouble with Horn," the man said back.
At this the woman stiffened and the woman turned to look at Ash once more before she nodded slowly to the other human. Ash curiously watched as the human walked away from his bedside and approached the door, taking a hold of it. The human, called Linda stopped once and turned back to look at him again, offering him a kind smile before she stepped out of the room, leaving him alone once more.
"Thank. You," Ash said quietly aloud as he slowly closed his eyes, letting sleep tak a hold of him once more.
…
The next time Horn and Messenger came back into the room, they had another human with them from what Fox and Ray could tell. This newcomer was male, tall, with silver colored hair that was worn in a braid. The man looked polite; he didn't try to make eye contact with them immediately, and when he did, he didn't hold it for too long. A little bit earlier they had taken Fox out of the room to somewhere else. He didn't know what the humans were planning on doing but it was surely not a good sign if they were separating them.
"Start with that one over there. The orangutan," Messenger said to the man.
"May I sit down?" the old man asked. "My old legs don't work so well, these days."
Messenger pulled a chair with wheels over and presented it to the man. The man thanked her before he gently settled into it. Ray eyed the interesting contraption, a chair with wheels on it. It was so odd yet the human with the grey hair seemed to use it like it was natural for him. The new human still looked rather uncomfortable though, from what Ray could see, under the stares of both Horn and Messenger over him.
"Shouldn't we be wearing some kind of gear? I heard-"
"The lab area is perfectly safe," Horn reassured as he cut the older man off.
"Okay then," the man sighed.
Ray watched as the man slowly moved the strange chair with wheels around so that he was now facing him.
"How are you?" the man signed.
No matter how many times Ray had seen the humans try to hand-speak, it was alway humorous to him, especially for Ash. Mainly because it was so odd and strange to see humans do it. They had try to teach Alexander before. He was very slow at first but had caught on quickly with just the basics. Oh he missed having Alex around.
"In a cage," Ray signed back.
The man blinked, then took a long and slow breath.
"Okay then. This is for real, huh?" The man said aloud, turning to look at both Messenger and Horn.
"Just talk to it," Messenger said in an annoyed voice. "Ask it about where it's from. How many of them are there."
"It just - do you mind if I just wrap my head around this first?" the silver haired man asked.
"There's no hurry I suppose," Messenger said.
After a little bit, the human who could sign turned back to look at Ray and offered him a gentle smile.
"Hello. My name," the man signed before he switched to speaking instead. "Is Armand."
"My name is," Ray signed first and like Armand, grunted out his name, "Ray."
"Ray," Armand repeated, before switching back to his hands. "like a sun's stream of light?"
"Yes," Ray grunted in response.
"That's a good name. I like it," Armand signed with a smile on his face, his eyes full of warmth and kindness to them.
"I like it too. My father gave it to me," Ray signed back happily.
"Well, all the better then," Armand signed back with a warm chuckle to his voice. "My father named me as well."
Hearing a cough by his side, Armand turned to look up at Messenger who gave him a look and he paused momentarily, confusing the orangutan in the cell.
"What has been happening, Ray?" Armand asked.
"They," Ray's eyes quickly darted to both Messenger and Horn before finally landing back onto Armand's kind ones. "Have been asking me questions," he explained.
Upon seeing this, Armand's brow furrowed worriedly before he continued.
"Have they hurt you? Hurt you and your friends?" Armand asked.
Ray took in a small breath and met both Horn's and Messenger's eyes once more, the both of them simply starring, not understanding the conversation that both he and Armand were having.
"Some," Ray signed back warily.
"Do they hurt you while they ask you questions?" Armand signed this time.
"No," Ray answered. "Before. Poke me with something sharp. Hurt. Put me and friends to sleep. Woke up. Hurt all over. Shaved hair. Here," Ray pointed out to Armand by showing the older human the bald spot on his head.
"Alright," Messenger interrupted the two by stepping in. "Enough of that. From now on, I want to know what you're asking him and what his answers are, understood?"
Armand looked sideways at her, before slowly turning his gaze back towards Ray.
"Did you understand that?" he asked while signing and speaking at the same time.
"Yes," Ray responded.
At this, Ray noticed the silver haired human taking a deep breath before he continued.
"Are there a lot of people, um apes, like you? Where you are from?" Armand spoke and signed.
"Lots," Ray answered. Armand repeated him aloud to the other two humans.
"Hundreds?" Armand asked.
"Many hundreds," Ray signed.
"All of them orangutans?" the older man asked.
"Apes. All kinds," Ray replied. "Orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas. All together."
"Really?" Armand asked with a smile. "That's wild."
"Wild? Like animal?" Ray asked, not certain what the man had meant.
While traveling with Malcolm and Alexander those two would also allude the wilderness as wild, so that word confused Ray when Armand had said it. Armand however let out a laugh.
"No. Wild can mean - amazing. You know amazing?" Armand asked.
"Yes," Ray answered with a small pant-hoot of laughter.
He remembered how he, Ash and Blue Eyes had learned several new words from Alexander on their journey. Those being as 'cool' or 'awesome' and 'amazing.'
"Human lights are amazing," Ray continued.
"How fascinating," Armand said aloud as he lowered his hands.
"And what is so fascinating?" Messenger demanded.
"Oh. he made the sign for 'human' and then 'light.'" Armand explained with a joyful smile. "Makes me think of a human shining, you know, like a lightbulb," he explained turning to look up at Messenger's annoyed face.
Armand sighed and lowered his head slightly.
"What he means are 'electric' lights as opposed to something and natural as sunlight. This little one made up a sign. Must mean that he's probably never seen electric lights until just recently," Armand continued explaining.
"And what is the sign for 'electric light'?" Messenger asked in a sharp tone.
"It's just 'light.' Or rather was just 'light,' back in the day. What it means, thought, is that he's not like a parrot, or whatever. He can make up new words or signs in this case, when he needs them."
Armand then faced Ray again and smiled at him. It was a genuine big smile and was sort of alarming for the young orangutan. But that gentle twinkle within the man's eyes seemed to soothe him a bit.
And for a long time, both Ray and Armand just talked to each other. The older human was slow at first, but he quickly picked up speed with Ray. Some of the older man's signs were different as well, but Ray was quick to adapt to them as Armand had adapted to his. It was fascinating to Ray. Armand seemed to know quite a lot of signs that Ray did not, with most of them having to do with human things and not apes in general. So different, yet the same.
While they spoke to each other, Armand had to ask Ray himself many questions.
Many of the questions that were relayed to Armand from Messenger back to him were questions about the apes and battle between the apes and humans. For some reason, they seemed to know a good deal about what had happened. Must have been a human thing or something. He had recounted Malcolm telling him and the others that humans had strange machines that allowed them to talk to each other while they were not there. So ray was careful to not actually lie about anything, while still holding back a lot of what he knew.
The questions kept on coming and when he was finally asked about the war, Ray had been thinking on what to tell them.
"We apes thought the humans were all gone. Elders watched them from afar, fighting each other. After a while, we didn't see them anymore. All gone. Almost forgot about them. I was born in the forest and never saw a human. But then they came. Came to make the human lights again." Ray explained.
"A hydroelectric generator, apparently," Messenger inserted, turning to talk to a new person, a short man dressed in blue like her, except that his clothing was different. "We got that much from the San Francisco people before we lost touch with them."
"And you tried to stop them from turning the lights on?" the man demanded with a scowl.
"This is Admiral Edwards," Messenger introduced calmly with a smile.
"No, we help humans turn on lights," Armand said aloud as he watched Ray's hand signs.
"Then what happened, then?" Edwards asked. "Why did the apes and humans fight each other?"
"Pope and Koba," Ray said softly before switching back to hand-speak. "A trick from a chimpanzee and hatred from a bonobo. Both were treated poorly by humans, before. They both did not want to help humans, so they started war. Apes and humans died. It was a mistake, and our leader killed both Pope and Koba. Now apes only want peace." he explained.
"And yet you attacked the ship from Base Lewis McChord. So much for peace talk," Edwards said in a low voice.
"Apes were attacked first. Apes only wanted to be left alone," Ray gestured back.
"Really? Your friend tells us a different story." Edwards responded. "Who is Caesar?"
Upon hearing this, Ray froze. What was Fox telling them? What is he saying? And why did he tell them of Caesar?
After a brief silence the new man closed his eyes and simply nodded.
"Okay," Edwards said after a few more seconds. "If that is how it's going to be Prep him. Prep them both."
"And the one in the infirma-"
"That one too!" Edwards cut Horn off.
Upon hearing this, Armand's face changed to that of worry and he quickly looked at all of the others around him.
"W-what's going on? What do you mean prep them?" Armand asked hesitantly.
"You, are under contract. Your job is to ask those things the questions, not me. Do your job." Edwards said sternly.
Characters introduced in this chapter.
Revelations
Abigail Messenger - Second command from Diablo and a "wonderful" person from what we've seen in this chapter. XD
Doctor Horn - The "good" doctor from Diablo.
Admiral Edwards - The supposed Leader of Diablo.
Armand - A citizen of Diablo who is probably the only person who knows sign language.
Original Characters
Linda - a Nurse who works at Diablo and is named after Linda Harrison from the original Planet of the Apes movie.