As early dawn came the next day Winter slowly stirred from his sleep. Stretching his tired limbs, he had let out a long yawn and slowly scratched at his chest slowly. He had sat up from his makeshift bed of branches on the forest floor and had taken the early watch for the group, just after sundown, before being relieved by Rex, another of the Gorilla Guard. As he sat there in the silent, Winter reached down and furrowed his brows when he felt the ground empty beside him. Curiously he got up and started to look around himself, searching for the gun that was with him when he had slept, he was sure that he had it.
"Move. Slowly," someone said aloud, causing Winter to freeze.
Slowly, Winter looked over his shoulder and saw that Red was standing behind him, holding both his own gun and Winter's.
"Oh, I thought I had lost that," Winter signed in relief as he turned around and reached out. "Thank-"
"Sit. Down," Red ordered, cutting Winter off.
Winter flinched at Red's tone of voice but did as he was told nonetheless, albeit confusingly, sitting his haunches back into his brambled nest.
As he sat down though, Winter noticed that something was amiss. Peering past Red, he could make out the camp where the apes were all supposed to be, except the females, children and elders were all surrounded by several apes with guns, most of them chimpanzees. One of them Winter noticed was Grey, who seemed to be overseeing the group. But that didn't make sense. Why was Grey and the others ape warriors there? Were they not supposed to be back in the human city, fighting with Caesar?
Looking on, Winter noticed that separate from the females, children and elders were several members of the Gorilla Guard and some of the chimpanzee warriors that had stayed in the forest. He could see that three of them were definitely Juno, Jeanpierre and Andy, the latter seeming to be unconscious with a dark red spot on his head, indicating a pretty bad looking head wound. They all had their hands and feet tied with rope and they, too, were closely guarded by Rex and several other chimpanzee warriors.
"W-what," Winter tried to speak at first but swallowed and resorted to hand-speak instead. "What is going on?" He asked.
"Caesar. Has been. Defeated," Red informed Winter, seeing the white gorilla's eyes widening. "All. Of our. Brothers. Who stayed. In city. With Caesar. Died."
Winter could hear the words coming out of Red's mouth but they hardly seemed to make sense. Their entire army, with Caesar, dead? How could it be though?
As he thought on that, Winter couldn't help but remember the terrible human weapon that he saw strike near them several days earlier. Realizing that maybe the humans could have had more. Using it to kill Caesar and the other ape warriors in the city. Thinking on this, Winter quickly glanced on over to Juno and the other captives before turning back to look up at Red.
"Why… Why are they all tied up?" Winter asked.
Red huffed, anticipating this question as he shouldered both of the guns to his back, before signing with his hands instead.
"Ajax and the others betrayed us," Red signed. "Ajax joined with Jeanpierre and Andy with many of the warriors from the forest, as well as half of the Gorilla Guard."
"I-I don't understand." Winter gestured back.
"When Grey brought back the news of Caesar and the other apes' demise, they tried to take over instead," Red explained. "Ajax has run off and kidnapped the queen and young prince. He's hoping that by having the queen with him that the rest of the females with listen to him."
"But Luca put Ajax in charge with the other warriors here. I don't understand why he would-"
"Luca. Is. Dead," Red spoke out, cutting Winter off, seeing the albino gorilla go still. "And if we don't move, we will be too. And soon. The humans will not wait long before they come after us."
Winter lowered his shoulders and felt dizzy, confused by how fast everything around him was changing. Since they had found the humans still existed it had been like slipping down a steep and muddy hill. Going faster and faster, unable to stop, only until they finally crash at the bottom of it. But what awaited for them at the bottom was a mystery in it of itself.
Blinking, Winter cast his green eyes to where the other apes were being guarded before turning back to look at Red who glared at him with those acid colored eyes of his.
"Where… Where are we going?" Winter had asked after a long silence.
"I'm not sure," Red answered as he rubbed his chin, letting his gaze wander up towards the tree tops before they darted back down and landed onto Winter. "But Grey is our leader now. Do you understand? He is our king."
At this, Winter swallowed once before he turned his gaze on over towards the brown haired chimpanzee who stood in the distance. His dark green eyes looking over the females before he eyed their captors.
"I understand," Winter answered with a single head nod.
Winter then reached out to retrieve his gun from Red but the rusted haired gorilla didn't move to give it to him.
"I wish I could be sure about you, Winter," Red signed at the white haired gorilla. "But we do not know how many of the gorillas are with Ajax," Red explained as he gestured towards the few who were tied down with the others. "They fought us Winter. Urus fought us too. He fought a little too hard," Red gestured darkly.
Noticing this, Winter froze for a moment.
"Where… Where is Ursus?" Winter asked hesitantly.
"We had no choice," Red answered back simply before he frowned. "We had to kill him."
Seeing this, Winter's breathing quickened and he quickly lowered his eyes to the ground as his head turned to and fro. What had happened? It was now all crashing down on him. Were they not suppose to break their sacred law? Ape Not Kill Ape? But… Even if Ursus had fought them then they could have stopped him. But to kill him? This was... This was all wrong. But then again, Red told him that Ursus was a traitor right? But still…
Hearing a grunt in front of him, Winter looked back up to meet Red's acid colored eyes.
"Are you a traitor Winter?" Red asked slowly.
Winter blinked at Red, breathing heavily before he finally answered.
"I-I am not a traitor," Winter signed with shaky fingers.
"I hope not," Red gestured back. "Prove yourself. Prove that we can trust you. Only then, you can have your gun back."
With that said, Red turned around and knuckle-walked away, making his way towards Grey. Winter slowly got up and stood there for a moment, letting all of what he had just learn, sink in. Closing his eyes, he let out a weary breath before he decided to follow Red back into the group.
Making his way towards the camp though, Winter looked around and caught sight of Juno and Jeanpierre, the older ape trying his best to keep the unconscious Andy from falling over from where they sat. Upon meeting Juno's eyes, Winter paused in his path. Juno's eyes quickly darted from left to right before he met Winter's gaze once more and quickly shook his head. At this Winter didn't understand and made his way on over towards Juno but was abruptly stopped by Rex.
"I… I want to see how they are doing," Winter explained.
"No," Rex simply grunted out. "Go and guard the females," the older gorilla grunt-gestured.
With that, Winter backed away slowly, not before casting one last glance at Juno and then finally leaving them.
…
The next morning the forest group of apes moved out immediately, with the sun rising up in east. As the group moved, Grey couldn't but reminisce about the trip he had with Koba and Stone many winters ago, before the elk and deer had become so plentiful near their home. Back then he and the other two had been searching for a better hunting territory and was also on the lookout for new lands to settle. Koba had always believed that the apes themselves needed to move further away from the giant cities and the stain of the human presence in the world. The three of them had travelled outward for days, and there discovered a forest that dwarfed their very own. The trees were a bit different - not as tall - and the land was more mountainous. However there were rivers and lakes in plenty, and many deer and elk roamed there in vast herds. All sorts of other game were plentiful as well, a good area to settle. Far away from the likes of the humans.
When they had returned to Caesar and the rest of the colony with the news, Caesar had considered moving the troop, but had many arguments against it; it was much to far, it wasn't near the sea and its many resources, it was by their report colder as well. Taking also into the fact that he humans were killing each other off, Caesar hadn't thought the long trek for the apes at the time worthwhile.
During this, Koba had managed to hide his disappointment in front of Caesar and most other apes, but not from Grey. He could see right through the bonobo, seeing the slight indications of the bonobo's hidden anger by the slight twitch in fingers and smallest shift of body language. Later that evening while he and Stone sat by their bonfire, Koba had angrily signed to the both of them. Informing them that Caesar couldn't bear to move away from the sight of the humans and their city; his tender feelings for them wouldn't allow him to do so.
Back then, Grey and Stone had partnered up with Koba for that trip to search for a better home. It was not easy to get to know Koba. The bonobos in general were the most social of the apes, sometimes a little too social to the point where it got annoying to Grey and many of the other great apes of the colony. Not Koba though, he mostly kept to himself. Often times he or Stone would find the scarred bonobo alone, touching at his scars and looking off into the distance, as if he were seeing something that they couldn't see. But he would never tell them, even when they eventually became honor brothers.
"Grey?"
Upon hearing his name, Grey looked towards his left and met Cedar's confused eyes. Coming back into the forest and corralling the females and the rest of the apes into one big group and detaining most of the the ape warriors of the forest as well as half of the Gorilla Guard. It had hurt Grey to see such heartbroken stares from both his mate and child.
When he brought out a crown of vines and leaves, setting it upon Cedar's head and another crown made of a variety of flowers, setting it upon Maples'. It was then that Red had declared that Grey and his family were the new leaders of the colony with many of the ape warriors that had defected hooting out in cheer while all of the females, including his own two love, looking on with terror and uncertainty.
"Grey? What? Why are you doing this? Why is this happening? Why are you not speaking to me?" Cedar asked desperately.
Grey stopped and met Cedar's ivy colored eyes with his dark green ones and for a moment he almost frowned, wanting nothing to do but comfort her. However he hardened his face at her instead.
"It is better. This way," Grey answered, seeing the disappointed look from Cedar.
The brown haired male then felt a tug on his arm, causing him to look down and see Maple staring up at him with a angry frown upon her lips.
"Why do this father. This is not right," Maple signed angrily as tears streamed down the sides of her cheek.
"It is for your protection. For both of you and your mother. You should both be happy. You both are queen and princess now," Grey explained.
Maple angrily hooted once and took the crown of flowers from atop of her head that her father had made for her and threw it onto the ground, stomping on it with her feet. At this action the air fell silent between the whole group as all eyes were upon both father and daughter.
"I don't want to be princess! I want apes to be together. Not… Not like this," Maple signed angrily up at her father, gesturing to the other warriors and Gorilla Guard that were tied up.
At this, Grey however blinked at his child in surprise, never seeing such anger coming from her. He reached out for the younger female but Maple quickly took a step back, away from him.
Maple had instead glared intensely into her father's dark green eyes before she abruptly turned around and moved away, making her way on over to where Cedar stood. Grey watched as Cedar held onto their daughter for a moment before she turned back around to look at him. Grey lifted his hands and was about to sign to both Cedar and his daughter but thought better of it. Instead he held up a hand into the air and made eye contact with all of the apes around him.
"We move!" He bellowed. "To! A safer! Home!"
With that announcement from him, Grey nodded at Rex who nodded back at him before the gorilla and the rest of the defected warriors pushed the other apes along. As Grey watched the apes taking their leave and as soon as the group had wandered far enough ahead, Red had came up to him.
"Have you and the others found Cornelia yet?" Grey asked, keeping his dark green eyes upon the moving camp before finally turning to look at Red.
"No," Red answered with a huff. "She might be trying to go back to the human city, to tell Caesar. I have sent Olo and Sampson to try and cut her off."
"What about Ajax?" Grey questioned this time. "Have you found him?"
At this Red grunted.
"No, we have not found him yet. But he was wounded during the struggle. Might even be dead at this point. I sent Flint, Shell and Thorn to track him," Red huffed while he signed back towards Grey.
Upon seeing this, Grey turned back to look at the group of apes females, young and elders that were being moved, along with the ones that were bounded by rope. He quietly breathed through his nose before he slowly turned his head back around to look at Red.
"It seems like things are not going as planned," Grey gestured, noticing Red's hair bristling upon his shoulders from the corner of his eyes.
"Cornelia surprised us. Did not expect her to move so fast. She was suppose to be weak and I thought because of that, she would be easily made into a captive. With her and her son as our hostages, we could have easily disarmed the apes that were loyal and assert our dominance," Red grunted in frustration. "But we had to change the plan. And it seems to be working," he concluded.
At this, Grey eyed Red skeptically.
"That is unless Cornelia herself returns. Or Ajax for that matter," Grey countered.
"They. Won't," Red grunted out before catching himself and shrinking a bit, showing submission.
Grey's brows however furrowed and he turned fully to address the rust colored gorilla.
"What did you? What have you done?" He demanded with his teeth slightly baring.
"I anticipated your desire…" Red gestured back, his acid colored eyes glancing off to the side, avoiding Grey's.
"Desire? What desire?" Grey huffed.
"Like you say, if Cornelia or Ajax returns, it could ruin everything that we have been working for, it could ruin everything. We have already lost Ursus in the struggle and if there were to be another fight among us, it could be disastrous for our numbers," Red explained.
"You have given the order that they should be killed?" Grey signed.
"I thought that was what you would have wanted," Red replied. "It is unfortunate, but-"
"Ape!" Grey growled, cutting Red off. "Not kill ape," he finished the hairs on his hackles rising high and bristling in a menacing gesture.
Red cowered slightly but then paused and rose slightly up to meet Grey as well.
"That was Caesar and Koba's law," Red responded, "Caesar himself broke it when he dropped Koba and Pope at the human tower."
"Pope. Broke. That law. First," Grey growled, his shoulder dropping, hearing the truth in Red's hand signs.
"Maybe true. But does that matter now?" Red asked.
Grey breathed heavily through his nose as he eyed Red before slowly looking away.
"No. I suppose not," Grey signed with a frustrated grunt.
And the both of them were silent for a long while, only the sounds of the apes moving in the distance filling the air. Feeling that they needed to follow the others, Red made to move but was stopped by Grey who had reached out to take a firm hold on his shoulder. He turned slightly to look at the brown haired chimpanzee who was eyeing the group of apes.
"Know this," Grey spoke in a deep gruff voice.
"What is that?" Red asked.
Grey took a deep breath before closing his eyes and exhaling through his nostrils before opening his eyes finally and turning to look at Red.
"If Caesar loses his battle with the humans. If he and the other warriors dies, the humans may follow us to where we are going. Or they may not, if we go far enough away from them," Grey explained with Red nodding in confirmation.
Red was about to take his leave but was stopped once more by Grey again.
"But if Caesar wins, and comes to find us. There will be only one end to that for us. And when he and the other warriors do find us, we ape traitors will spend the rest of our lives running," Grey gestured with a stern look. "And when he catches us - and he will eventually - then we will die for what we did. From here on out. There is no turning back for us."
Once Grey had finished in saying what he needed to say, he left Red there all alone, as he followed after the group. As Red stood there though, his breath quickened as he looked down at the forest floor. For once, what Grey had said to him, instilled a little bit of fear. And if he was right and if Caesar and the other warriors did survive their fight with the human soldiers. Then they will spend the rest of their lives running from Caesar.
As he mulled what Grey had just said to him within his head, Red suddenly balled up his fists, hard enough to the point where the whites of his knuckles shown. Red huffed and looked back up from where he stood, determination set within his acid colored eyes. Caesar will not hunt him down if he somehow survives his fight with the humans. If Caesar somehow miraculously did then Red himself will find a way to end Caesar's life, when it comes to that. With that set within his mind, he finally trudged on after Grey and the rest of the apes.
…
When Feliz did not return in the evening of the very next day for them, Blue Eyes wandered restlessly up and down the stream, thinking and wondering on what was taking the human girl so long. Alexander and Malcolm both fared not better as they waited too. The both of them had taken turns keeping a lookout but from the most of it, everything seemed placid for the most part. But as the first sets of twinkling stars began to dot the orange rusted sky Blue Eyes had let out a huff and started off in one direction.
"Blue? Blue Eyes!? Hey!" Alexander called after the scarred chimpanzee whose dark form was making his way up the hill.
Both Alexander and his father quickly followed after Blue Eyes and saw the chimpanzee descending the hillside and jumped into some of the underbrush. When Alexander and his father finally reached the young chimpanzee, the angry teen quickly reached out and grabbed at Blue Eyes' shoulder.
"What are you doing?!" Alex hissed quietly at Blue Eyes.
"Take too long," Blue Eyes growled back, shrugging off Alexander's hand.
"Blue Eyes, listen," Malcolm quickly cut in as he reached out and hovered his hands in between the two boys. "I understand that this is taking quite a long time but we gotta trust in Feliz alright? Trust, remember?"
At this Blue Eyes seemed to calmed down slightly before he lowered his gaze and turned to look at the two dome like buildings that held his friends, the hair around his neck bristling. He then felt a hand being gently placed upon his shoulder, causing him to look back at Malcolm, partially seeing the man's face in the dark.
"Trust," Blue Eyes repeated quietly.
"How about this, we go a little closer to see what is going on. If we don't hear anything about Feliz then we come back alright? Does that sound good to you?" Malcolm asked, signing some of the words to the young prince.
Blue Eyes thought about it for a split moment before he silently nodded his head at the man.
"Okay, just a quick look and we come right back," Malcolm said aloud.
With that, the three of them continued past the power plant that paralleled the coast in the direction that they had seen Feliz strutting off to. As they neared one of the ridge the all stopped when they heard a sharp, metallic sound.
"Hold it right there!" Someone shouted.
The voice was definitely human sounding to Blue Eyes, of course, but not one he nor Alexander and Malcolm knew. Blue Eyes stood tall, but like the other two did not move. To Blue Eyes' surprise the human slowly rose out what looked like a dead bush.
"No, no, no, no," Blue Eyes could hear Malcolm say softly as the human approached them with a gun held in the ready position.
"Y'all better answer," the man ordered.
"W-we're friendlies. Please don't shoot," Malcolm responded with his hands raised, Alexander mimicking his father.
Blue Eyes however thought the gesture odd but was quickly distracted when the man had pulled something out from the side of his waist. Suddenly bright light was shone into their faces.
"What are you guys doing out here here so late- Jesus!" the man gasped in surprise.
Blue Eyes took this moment to drop on all fours and charged towards the human, knowing that it was a futile attempt, that he would be shot long before he reached the man. The light swung wildly, trying to follow him as he hurled himself forward, expecting the sound of gunfire and the feel the bullet take his life.
But the gun never fired; Blue Eyes had misjudged his leap, thinking that the man was much further away than he was, and thus hit him so hard, it knocked the breath out of the both of them.
Blue Eyes was the first of the two to recover from the sudden impact. With quick thinking on his part, Blue Eyes reached down and wrenched the gun away from the man's hands and then bore him back to the ground. Blue Eyes raised his hands and brought them down, hitting the man as he would another ape.
"Blue Eyes! No!" Malcolm called out, causing Blue Eyes to suddenly stop his arms on his fourth swing.
Panting heavily, Blue Eyes turned to look at Malcolm as he came rushing over and knelt down besides the beaten man. Bringing his arms close towards his body, Blue Eyes took a step back from both of the men, fearing that he had killed the human accidentally. Alexander had quickly gone over to Blue Eyes' side and stood next to him.
"Is he dead?" Alexander asked.
"It's okay. He's… He's alive," Malcolm confirmed after a few heartbeats.
"Hey! What's going on down there!"
The three of them turned their heads to see where the voice had came from only to see two more silhouettes, one of them armed. Blue Eyes, Alexander and Malcolm all stood stock still, knowing that they had been found out and was now at the mercy of whoever was approaching them. Their only choice now was to run and hopefully not get shot.
"Blue Eyes?" One of the silhouettes said aloud, confusing the three. "Malcolm? Alex?"
"F-Feliz?" Alexander answered back hesitantly.
Suddenly the teen girl came into view her curious face looking down at all of them.
"What are you guys doing down here? Sounded like a fight happened," Filiz said aloud.
"Fight," Blue Eyes confirmed, turning his head so that he was looking at the unconscious human a couple of steps away from them, next to Malcolm.
"Oh, crap! I mean, oh man. Did you guys kill him?" Filiz exclaimed.
"No. But Blue Eyes sure did a number on him. Probably won't wake up anytime soon," Malcolm answered.
Malcolm then turned to look past Feliz, seeing an older gentleman who was bearded with a good deal of gray coloring his hairs, before he finally eyed the girl once more.
"Who is this Feliz?" Malcolm asked.
"Got someone who wants to meet ya. All of you guys actually," Feliz answered in a matter of factly tone as she slung her gun over her shoulders.
…
Later that evening while the forest apes traversed into the darkening woods. Maple begrudgingly glared up at her father as she walked among with the rest of the apes. Turning her jade colored eyes, she could see her mother taking to her queen role very well, looking almost as if she had wanted that position all her life and that didn't help matters much.
How could Caesar had fallen? When her father had came back with many of the other warriors it looked a little bit too strange to Maple and the others when the apes all saying that Caesar had fallen. There would have been no such thing and Maple didn't believe it. But to hear father say it too, had hurt her. She knew when he was not sincere with his words because his eyes usually gave himself away and when she looked into them, they did. How? How could her father abandon their king like that and suddenly assume the position of leader?
Sniffing quietly, Maple reached up and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, doing her best to dry her eyes from the oncoming tears. Suddenly feeling a gentle set of hands upon her, Maple turned to the side to see Tinker, her beloved's mother, smiling sadly at her.
"He's lying," Maple signed closed to her chest, just so that Tinker could see. "He's lying about everything. Why?"
"I do not know, but I know that we cannot stay here," Tinker gestured back.
"What are you going to do?" Maple asked hesitantly.
"Cornelia is still out there, somewhere. I must go to her and help her," Tinker answered.
"But there is so many warriors and Gorilla Guards around us. How would you even get out of here?" Maple asked.
At this, Tinker paused as she walked silently with the rest of the female apes a frown upon her features. The young chimpanzee was right, even if she had wanted to leave, how would she do so without being noticed by the many ape guards and warriors keeping their eyes peeled on them.
There was a sudden sound, causing both Tinker and Maple to look up from their spot, seeing Oaka looking down at them from her spot on the horse. The heavily pregnant female looked around quickly before she turned back toward Tinker and Maple, beckoning them to come towards her. Both Maple and Tinker looked at one another momentarily before they both made their way on over to where Oaka and her mother were.
"I saw you both," Oaka signed, her hands very low so that the males around them couldn't see. "Planning to escape?" she asked.
"We must find Cornelia. She is needed here," Tinker gestured back.
"It's too dangerous. We don't even know where she might be," Lala - Oaka's mother gestured worriedly.
"She is our only chance in stopping my father and the rest of the apes," Maple gestured back.
Oaka seemed to ponder on that thought for a moment, thinking long and hard before she looked back down and smiled at the three of them.
"When I give signal, that is your chance to both get away. Understand?" Oaka signed with a knowing smile to her face, causing the other three females to look at each other.
Before the three females could ask what Oaka had meant by that the pregnant female suddenly doubled over and let out an ear piercing screech, alerting the forest group of apes. All eyes were suddenly on Oaka as she held onto her stomach and began weeping while Red, Grey and several of the other males came up to her.
"What is going on?" Red demanded.
"Stomach… Hurts. Baby," Oaka panted as she scrunched up her face, worrying the males.
As the males all turned their heads about, not knowing what to do, Maple and Tinker stared on as Oaka was holding her stomach. Then quickly the female signed the word "go," to the both of them and that was when they knew. Smiling in thanks to Oaka, Tinker nodded towards her before both she and Maple slowly eased themselves away from the sea of bodies and limbs as the pregnant female continued her ruse. As soon as they were out of the outer edge of the group, both Tinker and Maple quickly ascended into the trees and swung away quickly as every apes' attention was on Oaka.
They swung and swung as fast as their limbs would carry them within the darkening of the woods. Soon enough the two females stopped for a breath and looked behind them, noticing that they have not been followed.
"Where are we going to find Cornelia?" Maple asked in quick panted huffs.
"I know a place," Tinker responded.
And with that said between the both of them, Tinker quickly led the way, towards the one spot that Cornelia would most likely go for, followed after by Maple.
...
Blue Eyes wrinkled his nose at the smell of the elder human that Feliz brought with her. He smelt bad, like rotten fruit. He walked a bit erratically, and had a little trouble with his words when he spoke. Alexander seemed to have thought the same thing when he moved a little bit away from the elder human as well.
"Ugh, he's drunk off his ass," Feliz commented before she suddenly straightened out. "Shit! I mean shoot! I meant he's drunk off his butt - uh, booty? Whatever it is! Anyways, I found him in a bar. He's been talking a whole lot in there you know. Which is what led me to him in the first place."
Feliz then eyed the unconscious man on the ground.
"We should uh… Should probably do something about him though," Feliz suggested as she nudged the unconscious man with her foot.
"Right. Alex help me," Malcolm agreed as he bent down and started to tear the man's clothing into strips.
Alexander helped his father and they both quickly bound and gagged the man with the torn clothing before they lifted him up and carried him a decent distance from the site.
"What did you guys do to him?" Feliz asked, once Malcolm and Alexander returned.
"Blue Eyes tackled him," Alexander responded.
"Oh, you knocked him out cold?" Feliz asked as she turned to address the sky-eyed chimp who nodded after a moment, once he understood her. "Ha! Good job," Feliz finished.
"Alright Feliz, who is this man and why did you bring him here?" Malcolm asked, turning to look at the older man now.
"Oh right. This is Armand," Feliz introduced.
"Well then, I'm Malcolm. This is my son Alexander and over there is Blue Eyes. We're friends of Feliz," Malcolm introduced all of them to the newcomer.
Armand smiled warmly at both Malcolm and Alexander but when he laid his gentle eyes upon Blue Eyes, the older man's face turned sorrowful. Then he raised his hands.
"I'm sorry," Armand signed to Blue Eyes, causing the chimp to widen his gaze.
Everyone watched Blue Eyes with curiosity, a look of pure shock overcoming the young ape's features before he slowly relaxed and he too raised his hands.
"Sorry for what?" Blue Eyes asked in return, hoping that the elder human could see his hand signs the dark and with what little the light from the buildings provided.
"T-they brought me in to translate for your friends," Armand replied, signing and speaking at the same time so that everyone could hear him. "Both of my parents were deaf, so I had to learn to speak with my hands growing up. I didn't know what was going to happen, I swear."
This didn't sound good at all to the small group as they watched Armand explaining to them.
"What happened?" Blue Eyes continued. "How are they?"
Armand paused and his eyes unfocused a little before he looked away for a moment and then turned back.
"Which ones?" Armand asked.
"Ash and Ray," Blue Eyes breathed. "Chimpanzee. Orangutan."
Armand sighed and slowly shook his head side to side.
"They're both not doing too good," Armand answered. "They hurt the both of them. Hurt them a lot, and I was there, and I didn't-" he paused for a moment gather his breath before continuing. "They wanted your friends to tell them secrets about your..." He paused yet momentarily again, as if thinking of what to sign and say next put merely shrugged his shoulders. "Your people," he finished.
Blue Eyes felt a cold chill running down his backside upon hearing this from the human elder.
"How bad were they hurt?" Blue Eyes asked in quick sign.
"I can't be sure. I'm not a doctor. But I don't think they did anything permanent though," Armand responded, not meeting Blue Eyes' gaze. "Not yet, anyway," he finished softly.
"What did they do to them?" Malcolm suddenly asked, causing the older man to look his way.
"They… They threw them into the electric chair," Armand answered desperately.
Upon hearing this, Malcolm and the others faces lit up around Blue Eyes but then the chimp noticed Malcolm's eyes furrowing into that look of anger. A look that he hasn't seen on the man before.
"What are they going to do to them?" Alexander asked this time.
"If it's anything from what we've learned so far. Nothing good," Feliz answered as she crossed her arms, a deep frown set upon her lips.
"What. About. Fox?" Blue Eyes asked quietly, rounding back to face Armand.
"Him? He fought a little harder," Armand replied. "In doing so, they hurt him more. But he's still alive."
"Why tell us this?" Blue Eyes questioned Armand this time.
Blue Eyes watched as the human elder took something from his jacket, a bottle of clear liquid, and took a long drink from it. Once Armand was done, he had whispered something aloud to which Blue Eyes didn't quite catch. But he reeled back slightly as the human's breath smelled, more than ever, of foul decay.
Armand then wagged a finger between all of them.
"If you have men or women who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity," Armand started. "You will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow man."
Armand then met Blue Eyes' gaze before he turned to look at Feliz, Alexander and finally Malcolm.
"No?" Armand asked.
"Is that from the bible or something?" Feliz asked, placing her hands upon her hips and leaning forward slightly.
"That's a quote from St. Francis if I can recall," Malcolm slowly, causing all heads to turn towards him. "I'm not much of a historian but I do tend to pick out some historical figures myself. St. Francis being one of them. A man who was full of compassion and love," he finished.
"Glad we have something in common," Armand spoke quietly.
The older man's eyelids drooped as if he was very tired, or looked like he was about to go to sleep. But then he sat back and his eyes seemed to blaze open, shining brightly from under the moon's light.
"Why am I telling you all this?" Armand snapped, turning to look at Blue Eyes who jumped back from him a little. "It's cause I'm drunk. And I'm mad. I didn't want to be dragged into all of this. Wanted nothing to do with it. Just leave the rest of my life peacefully you know. Or what's left of it…" Armand continued.
Everyone looked at each other uneasily but then Armand heaved out a sigh and tilted his head upwards.
"I came down from L.A. The things I saw there, the things people do to each other… We did this to ourselves, you all know that, right? They called it the Simian Flu, that is. And people are so stupid, so they thought that those poor apes had caused it, but knew deep down that they didn't. Men made that virus and they wanted something to blame, anything to make themselves feel better. This is our sin, not theirs. Ours."
With that finally said the older man had brought up his hands and covered his face with it, shoulders shaking. At this everyone didn't know what to do. Malcolm though walked on over and knelt down next to Arman and placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder.
"It's okay. This was in no way your fault," Malcolm reassured.
"You don't understand," Armand spoke through his sobs. "They hurt them. They hurt them so much. And I didn't do anything, except did what they told me to do. Just my job… Because I've got no goddamn soul, you know? And now I have to go with them, because no one up there knows how to sign, either, and watch it all happen again."
"Well that's a pile of stinking bull-crap!" Feliz's voice suddenly piped up, causing everyone to look at her. "You say that you don't have a soul? Yet here you are, weeping for others who were hurt and tortured. Doesn't that mean something? Right?"
"Empathy," Alexander spoke up this time. "Empathy for others."
Upon hearing this, Armand seemed to cry more but not out of sadness from what Blue Eyes could see. Something more, something that didn't look sad but more happy. A strange emotion to him.
"Thank you. All of you. For the kind words," the man whimpered.
"Armand, where are they taking them?" Malcolm asked this time, turning to face the older man. "Where are they taking Ash, Ray and Fox?"
"They're going back up towards San Fransisco I heard," Armand finally answered after recovering enough to do so. "Taking a boat they said. Tomorrow morning."
Hearing this, Malcolm turned to look at the other three who all turned heads among themselves.
"You are all planning to rescue them, aren't you?" Armand asked suddenly, causing everyone to look his way.
"Only rescue Ash and Ray," Blue Eyes corrected, gaining looks from his other human companions.
Upon hearing this, Armand scrunched up his forehead, stood up, walked on over towards Blue Eyes and leaned in very close to the youngest member of the group. Looking at the chimp's face, as if he were searching for something.
"I translated for all of them you know," Armand spoke and signed as he leaned back, away from Blue Eyes. "Fox, too. I know something about what went down between you guys. This civil war you are all having," Armand explained, noticing the hairs on Blue Eyes' body standing on end. "Look. I do not pretend to understand all of it. But when I was talking to your friend Ray, I noticed something. He talks about all of you apes as if you are one species. But you aren't. I know I don't look like much now, but there was a time where I know things. Chimpanzees and orangutans are very different from each other, are they no?. You all can't interbreed, right? Make children together. As a chimp yourself, you are much more different from an orangutan or a gorilla than I am from any human on Earth."
Blue Eyes tilted his head slightly to the side, trying to understand the human elder's different usage of hand-speak and regular speak but the old man continued.
"But humans are one species… And yet we still managed to carve each other into groups of pure hatred and mutual exclusion based on skin tone, whether our hair is frizzy or straight, what we eat, don't eat. And especially in what we believe in. We made slaves of one another and even fought terrible wars over that stuff because for us, even the fact that we're all the same species wasn't enough to create a sense of solidarity. Because something in our heads is better at dividing things up than putting them together. I used to believe we could change that - I really did." Armand said slowly in a sad voice before he met Blue Eyes' gaze once more.
"But for you, you and the rest of the apes. You've all had a different start. You're are all new. Still very young. You all don't have to go down the path that we humans did. And from what I can see, you all were doing okay only until a few months ago. Until you met us again. And I think you've all stumbled somewhere," Armand explained this time, dropping his hands, not noticing Malcolm looking away in shame at his words. "You've all discovered vengeance and retribution, and those are very easy things to like. To let it consume you. They call to your nature, just as they call to mine… Because we are cousin species," Armand explained, now noticing Blue Eyes perking up. "But that is the wrong road to go down on and I implore you to not do so. For your sakes."
Once Armand had finished. Blue Eyes stared back at the elder human for a long silent moment before a deep frown found itself upon his face.
"What else is there?" Blue Eyes signed and spoke out with a growl. "When someone has has tried to kill your friends, when someone tries to kill you, what else can you do?"
"Forgive them," Armand replied in a gentle voice.
At this Blue Eyes couldn't help himself as a grunt of disgust emerged from within him while he bared his fangs.
"I understand," Armand said slowly. "I know it is very hard to do this. A lot harder than what hatred offers you. But look, Fox is hurting. He once understood his world, but now he doesn't anymore. He needed some answers, and he took the first ones that someone had offered to him. And I believe that is what made him do what he did. But I can see, he loves your people, you apes, as much as anyone. You and him, you have that in common. And a lot more I bet."
"I don't want to understand! What Koba was feeling! When he tried to kill Ash!" Blue Eyes snapped angrily at Armand.
The air suddenly became silent as everyone stared at Blue Eyes now, who was huffing and puffing, his sky colored hues brimming with tears. Alexander and Malcolm turned to look at each other for a brief moment before finally turning their heads to both Armand and Blue Eyes.
"Who is Koba?" Armand asked curiously.
Upon realizing on what he had just said, Blue Eyes stared back at the human elder with big wide eyes before he quickly drew in on himself, wrapping his arms around him. What Armand had said, about forgiveness and how to be empathetic towards others. Blue Eyes understood what the human elder was saying, but it was just so hard to forgive. Especially when it comes down to what apes had did to hurt others. While imagining Fox being hurt and placed within the cage, he for some reason, had seen Koba instead and had twisted the two together within his mind. And even after all this time he thought he had felt sad for his uncle Koba. Now though, he knew what it exactly was. A deep seeded rage that had built up when he felt betrayed by the older scarred bonobo, spurring on his sadness and blaming and cursing Koba, Pope, Fox and the other apes who followed them for what they had done to disrupt their peaceful life.
"My dear boy. What ever is the matter?" Armand asked gently in a soothing voice.
Blue Eyes however had gone silent and slowly turned his head away from the human elder and everyone else, his nose slightly flaring. Alexander had then chose this moment to walk on over to where Blue Eyes stood and placed a hand upon his shoulder.
"A lot… A lot has happened," Alexander explained, turning to look at Armand. "They've been through much."
The air around them grew silent momentarily once more before Armand himself took in a deep breath and let out a sigh.
"Well… What we do - or don't do - are the only things that really matter now. And I'm so tired of not doing," Armand spoke up meeting all of their gazes, a fiery determination set within his own. "If you all are planning to help the apes. I can help too, do what I can. But we must act soon."
At this, Feliz made a face and leaned back away from Armand a little.
"You're drunk as sh-ah, stinking drunk," Feliz said aloud.
At this Armand couldn't help but let out a small hearty laugh.
"Sister, I can't think of a better condition to be in right now," Armand answered back.
"Where are the apes now Armand? Do you know where they took them?" Malcolm asked.
"Last time I saw them. They took them away… Most likely thrown them back into those wretched holding cells again," Armand answered turning his head slowly towards one of the domed shape buildings.
…
When he finally came to, Ash slowly opened his eyes and tensed up his body momentarily at the tremendous amount of pain that radiated all over him. Breathing in quick breaths, Ash noticed that he was laying on his side and was about to lift up his head when he felt a gentle hand being placed upon his shoulder. Looking up, Ash's eyes widened when he saw a human's face and with a whimper, he tried to move away from her, but his body wouldn't listen to him.
"Sh sh sh, it's okay. It's okay now. They're not going to hurt you," a soft voice caused Ash to settle down, if only slightly.
Looking up at the human, Ash squinted his eyes at her, at least he thinks he knows it was female as his vision was still blurry. But as soon as it focused, a familiar face came into view and Ash blinked slowly, recognizing it as the woman who had gave him the blanket.
"What did they do to you?" Linda said quietly as she stroked down the frizzled hair on Ash's arm.
It didn't go unnoticed to Linda as she noticed the chimp would tense up everytime she had touched him, or by the fact that he whimpered slightly everytime she moved her arm, anticipating as if she were going to hurt him in some sort of way. Seeing this coming from the chimp, hurt Linda's heart dearly but she simply smiled at the wounded chimp with her mouth closed, remembered reading that showing teeth was a sign of aggression towards chimps, so very long ago.
And the two stayed like that, Ash laying down on the cot while Linda merely sat there and kept him company.
It wasn't long until another person slowly entered the room, causing Linda to look up and away.
"How is the one you were taking care of?" Linda asked quietly.
"He's fine. I guess. Would growl at me though. I think he would have attacked me, given if he weren't so wounded already," the other man responded as he leaned his back onto the counter.
"How about that one?" the man asked, tilting his head to the chimp on the cot.
"Still in a lot of pain…" Linda responded slowly, turning to look down at Ash.
"Is that why he's not in a cage?" the man asked, earning a scowl from the woman.
"They don't belong in there and you know that!" Linda said sternly.
"Okay, okay. I get it. But remember. These guys are still apes. Probably not fully grown yet, which is most likely why they're not in cages for now," the man warned. "Well except that bigger one."
What did they do to them Lou?" Linda asked instead.
"I don't know," Lou answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "They wouldn't tell me. Just told me to fix'em up and get them ready."
Ash tiredly watched as the man stretched his arms into the air, letting out a long yawn.
"Is that why you're here?" Linda asked with a frown, not turning to look back at the man.
"Would you prefer someone else?" Lou asked.
"No…" Linda responded slowly. "Where are they taking them Lou?"
"Like I said, I don't know," Lou responded.
As the man named Lou spoke, Ash moved his head and could see the human taking something from the counter and sticking one of those sharp things into the other, drawing some liquid into it. Once he was done the man walked on over and Ash couldn't help himself as he started to make whimpering noises.
"It's okay. It is okay," Linda shushed Ash as she reached out and gently held onto him.
"Should we tie him up?" Lou asked hesitantly.
"No!.. No. Just make it quick and painless as possible," Linda said softly.
"I promise I will not hurt him. Just a pinprick," Lou responded.
If Ash did have the strength though, he would have done his best to scramble away at the strange man walking towards him with that sleepy pin in his hands. However Linda's voice of comfort, kept him there, causing him to look up and meet her dark brown eyes. Then to his surprise the human spoke aloud to him in some other tongue that he had not heard of before, keeping his attention. Before he knew it, Ash felt a slight irritation on his arm then his eyes started to droop slightly and he tried his best to keep them open. However the last thing he saw was Linda's smiling face, as she reached out and gently touch his head. With that last notion his world faded away and was once again taken to the world of dreams.
Characters introduced in this Chapter...
Apes
Sampson - Ape grunt.
Olo - Ape grunt.
Ape OCs
Lala - Oaka's mother (not her official name but we weren't given one. Please correct me if I am wrong)
Human OC's
Lou - Linda's friend that works with her. (Named for Lou Wagner from the original Planet of the apes movies. And he played Lucious, Lisa's teenage nephew from the films.)