By afternoon the apes had found themselves silently traveling through freezing snow, seemingly losing the track of the soldiers trail that they had been following. At this Caesar couldn't help but growled inwardly at himself for losing the army's trail, but that couldn't be helped, due to the weather they were in. They all soon found what looked like a spot with a giant red radio tower that jutted into the sky. Looking up at it, Caesar wondered that maybe if they were to climb it, they could pinpoint the location of the trail that they had lost.

"We need to climb," Caesar ordered to the others, sparing them a slight glance before making his way on over towards the cold metal structure and started to clamber up it.

Huffing, Rocket got off of his own horse and followed Caesar. Stopping by the tower, he glanced on back and noticed Koba silently following, with his head held slightly low. Watching the scarred bonobo, Rocket didn't know what to do or to say. What Caesar had said earlier, toward Koba, had affected him deeply. He couldn't help but frown at the thought of Caesar belittling Koba and pushing the other ape down. He knew that Caesar was acting out in spite and anger but sometimes it was a little much. Huffing, Rocket needed to do something about it soon, lest it leaded to some sort of altercation, or worst, physical violence.

"Come, Koba," Rocket spoke to the scarred Bonobo, who lifted his face to look his way. "Climb," Rocket indicated before hefting himself up onto the cold metal.

Maurice on the other hand gently got down from his own steed and spared the human child a glance. The child made to get down from the horse but Maurice simply held the girl in place and gently shook his head from side to side. For a moment, Maurice wondered if the girl would understand him and waited for her to react in some way. However, the child looked back and forth from where Caesar was climbing toward Maurice's gentle features and slowly nodded. The orangutan beamed lightly up at the girl and moved along, following the others.

Passing on by last was Luca who had stayed back to make sure that the horses were secured and not going to run off. Turning his head he met the little girl's stare and stopped momentarily in his tracks. He glanced at the curious looking girl before his eyes darted to the others, seeing that they were busy with climbing the tower before meeting the child's once more. Seeing her sitting there all alone with the horses made Luca himself worry for the child. Huffing he looked around and could see the child's stuff toy poking just slightly out of one of the sacks on Maurice's horse. Reaching over, Luca pulled the makeshift doll out and raised it towards the girl. The child stared at her stuffed doll and reached out, accepting it from the silverback. Looking down at her toy, she then offered Luca the sweetest smile she could muster, to which Luca promptly reciprocated with a couple of soft pants from himself. With that, the gorilla moved onward and followed after the others, up towards the top of the tower.

Once reaching near the top of the tower, the vantage point offered Caesar and the others an impressive view of the colossal mountain range stretching out endlessly around them, all blanketed with the white of the snow. To his disappointment though, the soldier's trail had gone cold, in more ways than one.

"Where did the soldiers go?" Maurice then asked as he looked around for any signs of the trail as well.

"Red said that they were going to the border," Caesar responded.

"Yes, but which way is that?" Luca had asked next.

At this, Caesar had breathed deeply, wishing he knew the answer to that question.

Far below the tower the girl sat atop of Maurice's horse, having craned her neck all the way back to see the apes in their perch high above. Growing slightly bored, she had looked back down to play with her doll, rocking it back and forth in her hands.

While the child was playing with her doll, neither she nor the other apes noticed as a furtive figure had crept out from the woods. A well-work green parka, complete with a fur-lined hood, concealed the figure's identity. Scuffed snow boots made little sound as the figure snuck up toward one of the unattended horses and quietly rummaged through a saddlebag. The figure's breath misted before their lips as they fumbled to extract several things from one of the sacks, only to clumsily drop a flashlight into the snow at their feet.

The figure had froze, looking back up at the child and around themselves to see if anyone had heard the flashlight hit the snow. The girl on the other horse however, simply remained focused on her doll, oblivious to the stranger's presence. Letting out a relieved sigh, the figure dug deeper into the bag and was rewarded by the discovery of a shotgun.

At the top of the tower, Koba was still quiet and kept to himself as the others were discussing on how to follow after the soldiers. He was half halfheartedly listening, still thinking on what Caesar had said to him and had taken the time to look back down. As he lazily stared at the horses and human child below, the fur on his body had suddenly stood on end when he noticed another figure, and intruder, rummaging through the sacks on one of the horses. Before Koba could warn the others, Luca had already beat him to it as the silverback had let out a spine-chilling roar that shook the air. Startled by Luca's roar, the girl had finally looked up from her doll, just as the figure, realizing that he's been seen, had leaped onto the back on the surprised horse and galloped away with their supplies.

With blinding and graceful speed, Koba was the first to reach the horses at the bottom. Following after him were both Caesar and Luca, who mounted onto their own horses, Luca taking Rocket's, and were already chasing after the thief in the green parka. Maurice was quick to make sure the girl was alright before getting on his horse and followed suit. Rocket on the other hand was the only one left without a horse and Koba stretched his arm out towards the bulky chimpanzee. Koba and Rocket knew well that with their combine weight, they weight at about as much or just a little bit over than what Luca is, therefore not over-cumbering the horse beneath them. Without a word, Rocket took a hold of Koba's outstretched hand and was lifted onto the brown stallion as they both chased after the others.

All of the apes wasted no time chasing after the stranger into the snowy woods, weaving through the tall evergreens and leaping over ravines and logs while striving to keep their elusive quarry in sight, even as he darted in and out of view. The apes knew that if they lost sight of the thief, they would never be able to find the stranger again, as the mountainous snowy region offered many places to hide.

Despite their headlong flight, the apes behind the thief were gaining traction. Breaking from the woods, the figure rode at full tilt up a vast snow-covered slope that stretched high into the mountains. A slash of gunfire sparked from the thief's shotgun, alerting the others to the danger. They all ducked, but the blast had missed them all by a wide margin, blasting a few branches and pine needles from a tree. Charging up the a stark white incline that dwarfed them all, the apes found themselves coming across a old broken down gondola. Another shot rang out an ricocheted off of the gondolas with a metallic ching. Either the thief was trying to scare them off or they were truly a terrible marksman. Whatever the case, Caesar was determined to not let this person go. Staying in pursuit, the apes followed the figure up to the top of the slope, where they came upon an unexpected sight.

Slowing down their horses, the apes came onto a large, rambling ski lodge that was built at the top of the snowy mountainside. Looking at the structure, the apes were quite impressed that even though it was exposed to the years and elements, it still stood firm. While observing the structure, Luca had grunted out and pointed.

"My horse!" he had signed.

And there it was, the stolen white horse, now riderless, wandered idly through the pristine ground before the lodge. Dismounting from his horse, as did the others, Caesar had then cautiously looked around for any signs of the threat from the thief but saw none. He cautioned them all to be careful and quickly pulled out his firearm.

"I think our thief went in there," Rocket signaled as he pointed at the scattered tracks that lead into the lodge.

Looking down at the tracks that Rocket had found, Caesar had then cautioned them all to proceed carefully while they followed the trail. Approaching a broken window sill, the apes all went in, one by one. Maurice on the other hand, decided it best for him and the child to stay behind, as danger lurked just a little bit further inside.

Entering the lodge, the apes marveled at how much bigger the interior looked from the inside. Surely this was a grand resort of some kind as it held a rather giant lobby, spacious walls, a giant stairwell, tattered furnishing, high ceiling and with glass chandeliers hanging all over, now all glazed over with a crystalline layer of ice. Snow gently swirled in the air, drifting down through a gap in the ceiling.

While looking about, Caesar looked down and spotted boot prints on the floor, leading themselves straight into the giant opening of a large stone fireplace. Turning back to look at the others, Caesar could see that Koba had noticed the tracks too and had a stern look about him. Rounding himself toward the others, Caesar nodded at both Rocket and Luca, who reciprocated before he slowly lead the group toward the empty hearth. Peering inside Caesar was quite frustrated to see that the fireplace was deep and dark enough to conceal whoever might be hiding inside it.

They all paused before the opening, their rifles all drawn. To the side, the apes noticed that there were canned food, firewood, and other supplies were heaped to one side of the hearth, while a thick layer of ash suggested that the fireplace had recently been used. Unamused by this, Caesar cocked his rifle loudly and leveled it at the fireplace with Koba, Rocket and Luca doing the same with their own firearms.

The air grew tense as the silent drew on and on between the apes and the thief. All of a sudden, the stolen shotgun was haphazardly tossed out of the hearth, landing with a thud at the ape's feet. They all glanced back into the hearth and next came out a pair of binoculars, landing next to the startled apes all glanced at one another before the sounds of crunching could be heard and they all focused their attention back into the dark hearth.

Slowly, the image of a green coat-the thief-emerged from the dark hearth. The figure made no sudden or aggressive moves on their part as they approached. The fugitive kept their head low, which hung remorsefully, still hidden by the hood of the parka, with their hands held up in surrender. The apes all frowning, still waited for the figure to raised their head so that they could see who and what they were dealing with. As the figure raised their head, a look of surprise overcame all of the apes features. Their thief's face, revealed that of a nervous, apologetic face of… an ape.

An adult male chimpanzee, in fact, although the chimpanzee was not exactly an impressive specimen of their breed. Small and timid-looking, he was at least a foot shorter than either Caesar, Rocket or Koba, the latter being that of the bonobo species who was usually a tad shorter than their stout chimpanzee cousins. The chimpanzee's small, rounded head boasted more skin than hair, much like Rocket. While the ape's ears were very much oversized, even by chimp standards. His scrawny frame was practically lost in the parka, which appeared to be a few sized too large for him.

"Bad a-ape," the chimpanzee said hesitantly, putting on a sheepish smile as his bright green eyes darted between all of them.

At this Rocket and Luca glanced at each other in bewilderment, while Caesar and Koba merely kept their gaze upon this new ape. They all was not entirely sure on what to make of the little odd chimp, whom they all did not recognize as one of the apes they had liberated from the city years ago. The matter of fact is though, it was hard to regard this chimp as a threat of any kind, given his demeanor. The chimpanzee then offered a sheepish smile at the others as they regarded him.

"Bad Ape," the chimp repeated once more in a soft voice.

Rocket was the first to act as he lowered his gun and approached the new chimpanzee.

"Who are you?" he signed.

"What are you doing here?" Luca followed up just as quickly.

The smaller chimp tilted his head in confusion, as though he didn't comprehend the questions that were being asked of him by both Rocket and Luca. Simply peering at the gestures with a baffled expression.

"I… don't think he understands," Luca signed to the others after a few heartbeats.

Caesar was getting that impression, which flummoxed him to a degree. He had grown so accustomed to all apes knowing sign language that it felt rather strange to encounter one who did not.

"I don't recognize him," Rocket signed, confirming to Caesar and the others their own conclusion of the ape. "He's not one of us."

"Are you…"

All heads now rounded towards Koba as he had suddenly spoke up instead.

"Alone here?"

The chimpanzee blinked lightly in Koba's direction and quickly nodded his head in response to the question.

A solitary ape, living alone in the frigid mountains? Caesar himself was trying to imagine how that could have come to pass when a creaking noise behind him caused all heads to turn toward the lobby's stairway, where Maurice and the human girl could be seen standing there. They peered uncertainty, at the others, and their peculiar new acquaintance. The girl, the apes could see, was shivering badly from the cold. Her thin clothing was very much ill-suited to this altitude and climate that they were all in. Humans, generally had no natural protection against the cold. The thought had bothered Caesar, vaguely, that he had not given this much thought until now, regarding the girl's condition.

The new chimpanzee noticed the girl, too. He started to lowers his hands, drawing them near the button part of his parka, causing Rocket to notice him. The bulkier, nearly hairless chimpanzee raised his rifle suspiciously, but the small chimpanzee simply glanced back up at the others, his eyes darting over to the girl for a moment and then back towards them.

"Cold," the chimpanzee spoke.

The ape then continued in what he was doing and removed the clothing, revealing a thing frame, held the parka in one hand before he pointed a finger on over toward the shivering girl.

"Cold," the ape repeated once more.

The apes all turned to the little human girl and slowly all rounded themselves back to the chimp in front of them with interest.

…

"Hurry it up!" a voice shouted, followed by the sound of a whip cracking.

Winter hissed as his pelt was struck by the lacerating whip, sending blood flying through the air and marking white of his fur, as well as the snow beneath him a crimson red. He faltered momentarily at the sudden pain, nearly dropping the heavy stone in his hands. Luckily though, Winter held firm as he huffed and passed the huge chunk along.

How could things could have turned out so wrong for them?

It had only been merely days ago when the exodus was led by Ash, in the absence of their king and generals. Assisting Rocket's son were Grey, Andy, Oak, Percy and Spear, all whom rallied around Ash. While traveling toward their new home, they had not expected to have been suddenly attacked by the human soldiers. So much for Caesar leading the soldiers away, Winter had thought.

Caught in the open, many of the apes were killed during the sudden attack. Guns… they were undiscriminating, as they struck down the strong. The old… even the young. No matter what the apes had done during the shootout, they couldn't fight and defend at the same time, with so many of their females and children unable to protect themselves.

After what seemed like and eternity, Winter, along with the rest of the apes were all chained together. He remembered the humans savagely ripping the children away from their mothers and were all thrown into a cage of some human vehicle. The cries of the little ones as they reached out for their parents were indescribable. The fathers of the children had leapt into action to take back their young ones. Many were hurt in the process. Others lost their lives.

Winter remembered seeing Tinker, Lake and Maple valiantly fighting off the men who had tried to get at the two little ones who clung to the older female. He remembered seeing Ash angrily hooting for the humans to stop and had received a punt from the butt end of a rifle to his head, causing him to fall to the ground with a loud thump. In the end, they had manage to get to Cornelius and Cinder as well, holding down the three females and tossed the two little ones in with the rest.

The humans had won this fight and began to march the apes all northward without food or water. During their march, Winter had seen a few of their members falling down to the ground and couldn't get up, either due to fatigue and or wounds that were not healed properly. Some of the apes had tried to help them, but to no avail. They all observed then, as a few of the human soldiers walked on over to see what was going on. At first, Winter and the others thought that maybe they would help the fallen apes, by placing them in the vehicles. Instead the humans had taken out their knives and cut the throat of the apes who had fallen. The humans then laughed and said something along the lines of "saving bullets."

Eventually they all made it to the dreaded place after days of walking without much rest. After that, the apes were all quickly put to work. At first many of the warriors and a few other apes had refused to do so, these included both Spear and Andy. But that was a mistake as the human quickly made an example of ones who do not listen. The apes who had refused, were tied to a pole and were repeatedly whipped over and over again, with red staining the ground beneath them, seeping into the wood and snow. However, that didn't seem enough and many still refused, their combined will strong and unbreakable. It was only when the apes were shown their little ones in a giant pen, all crying and reaching out toward their mothers and fathers, with the humans pointing their guns at them, threatening to shoot them, did the apes finally falter and agree to work.

The apes who had refused to work were made to work the hardest as they were constantly watched over and would be whipped every few often. After that, the humans and turncoat apes decided to randomly whip any of the apes within their vicinity.

Just as he was about to hand the stone off, Winter froze momentarily as he turned to the ape next to him. There stood Coral, Ajax's sister. Her belly round with child, belonging both to her and her late mate, Kilo. As he saw her face, Winter could see that the female's eyes were still quite red and puffy, due to her crying. If he had remembered correctly, during the sudden attack, Kilo had used his body to shield Coral, protecting her and their unborn child. It was there and then, where Coral witnessed her beloved losing his life to protect her and their unborn baby.

Winter could remember well, Coral's anguished cry as she held onto her dearly beloved as he was one of many that they had lost that day. Now both of them stood there, both having lost their loved one, with no one else there to comfort them. Now all Coral had left, was the life in her belly. The life that represented both her and her beloved Kilo's love for each other. One that she needed to protect.

Seeing Coral being made to work so hard like this, Winter couldn't help but feel sympathy for the pregnant female. What would Glade have done if he were here? At that thought, Winter couldn't help but laugh at himself. Of course the bonobo would have gone out of his way to help the others, whoever they may be. A selfless bonobo, who was only happy when other apes around him were content. Something that was the complete opposite of what Winter usually was, and what made him love Glade so much.

"Winter?" Coral took a moment to gesture up at the white furred gorilla, snapping the male out of his thoughts.

"Hey! What's the matter there! Move it!" One of the soldiers shouted from behind.

Coral's fearful eyes darted towards the source of the noise and she quickly gestured for Winter to hand her the stone again. Taking a deep cold breath, Winter took a step forward, past Coral and handed the heavy object to the ape at the pregnant female's other side.

"Every three," Winter strained under his breath as he quickly reached behind him and accepted another stone.

At first Coral didn't quite understand what Winter had meant as she accepted the stone from him and passed it on. However, everytime she would reach out for the third heavy stone, Winter would simply leaned past her and hand it to the ape next to her down the line. It was then she understood that he was relieving her of such a burden, if even by a little. Knowing this, Coral looked up at Winter as fresh new tears welled up from her. Ever since her beloved Kilo's death, her own world had fallen apart. She would think that maybe she would not have the strength to go on living. But everytime she touched at her belly, she knew that she had to. Luckily for her, Winter had decided to help her and she was sincerely grateful for that.

"Thank you. Winter," Coral said under her breath.

Regarding Coral for the briefest of moments, Winter simply nodded at her and continued as one of the rocks were handed to him.

…

Caesar and the others found themselves sitting by a toasty fire, as it crackled within the hearth, combating the cold that was invading the lobby from outside. Accepting the hospitality of Bad Ape, so the chimp calls himself and have no other name, the apes simply warmed themselves before the flickering flames. Bad Ape's parka was now enveloped by the human girl, who was no longer shivering from the cold. While they all sat there, the apes had took in the impressive hoard of scavenged supplies lying in heaps around the fireplace. Dry goods, canned foods, and a treasure trove of miscellaneous tools and relics suggested how this Bad Ape, had managed to survive on his own for so long.

"I see girl, I think you human," the smaller chimp explained as he indicated to the child, before his face lit up. "But you ape! Like me!" he exclaimed happily.

Understandably excited to be in the company of his own kind, Bad Ape grinned at Caesar and the others, until a sound came from the side and he noticed the girl picking up a shiny silver trinket from his hoard. Giant green eyes lighting up, Bad Ape reached on over and retrieve the item in the girl's hands.

"No, put down," Bad Ape said gently as he returned the item back to the pile, while Maurice comforted the child.

"How long have you been here?" Caesar asked, once Bad Ape had returned to his spot.

"Long time," Bad Ape answered immediately. "Long, long time."

At this Caesar sat back and pondered on the thought. Before anything else could be said though, a thought seemed to have struck Bad Ape and he quickly scurried away from the group to rummage through what looked like a makeshift hammock nearby. He then returned to them all, bearing a small stuffed animal, fashioned to resemble a scaly green crocodile. He handed the plush toy to Caesar and sighed wistfully.

"Home," Bad Ape said as he pointed to the stuffed animal. "Old home."

Puzzled, Caesar inspected the toy. Turning it over, he found a partial answer embroidered on the belly of the crocodile:

Sierra Zoo.

Looking back up at Bad Ape another question popped into Caesar's head.

"Are there more like you? More apes from zoo?" He had asked.

"Dead" Bad Ape answered immediately, cutting Caesar off. "All dead. Long time," Bad Ape continued in a solemn voice as his eyes glanced at everyone in front of him. "Humans get sick. Ape get smart. Then human kill ape. But not me. I run."

Listening to Bad Ape's story, Koba couldn't help the frown that was forming on his face and the hairs on his body to stand on end. To have escaped the vengeful humans, and to have survived so long on his own, was an impressive accomplishment that suggested that there was more to Bad Ape that meets the eye. If what Bad Ape was telling them were true, then he was as much, just like them. Survivors in a cruel human's world.

"You learn to speak?" Koba inquired this time, causing Bad Ape to look his way, next to Rocket.

"Listen. Human…" Bad Ape indicated with a few gestures. His face suddenly contorted with mock fury as he mimicked an angry human, shaking his finger at empty air. "Bad ape!" the chimpanzee said this time. "Bad Ape," he repeated softly as he pointed to himself an endearing smile upon his features.

Bad Ape's act broke off as he noticed that the girl had reclaimed the gleaming Chevy Nova emblem from his junk pile. He then reached out and took it from her again.

"No. No touch," he said as he set the item down once more. "T-that's mine…"

While speaking, something had caused Bad Ape to remember something else and he quickly rushed away without another explanation, leaving the other apes bemused and perplexed by their excitable host, who had suddenly tripped while he was running.

"I'm okay!" Bad Ape exclaimed before the all heard him get back up and begin to rummage through his hoard of things.

"Amazing," Maurice signed in wonder toward the others as he continued to watch Bad Ape. "Always thought that we were the only ones. Wonder if there are more in the world? More apes like us."

"Possibly, but who knows," Luca chimed in with a grunt. "We have only always known just our own."

"During our travels, we never encountered any other apes like us," Rocket signed next before turning to look at Koba.

"Maybe humans killed them all. Like Bad Ape says," Koba responded in a low disgruntled voice.

Maybe and maybe not. Caesar himself had deliberately exposed the apes in his colony to the virus that elevated their intelligence, but perhaps the virus, spreading through the human population, had affected other apes as well? He knew that in due time, the apes that they had liberated from the zoo, who were not exposed to the virus, eventually became intelligent as well. It was a staggering idea to contemplate. For all Caesar knew, there could be intelligent apes all over the planet by now.

Panting, Bad Ape came bounding back into their midst.

"Eat! Eat," Bad Ape said enthusiastically as he poured out brown plastic packages onto the ground in front of them all. "New friends!" Bad Ape continued happily. "Special day!"

While Bad Ape was joyfully exclaiming aloud, Caesar had picked up one of the scavenged packets and turned it over in his hand. The packaging bore and official military seal:

California Border Quarantine Facility.

The word "border" leaped out at Caesar as he read the labeling on the package.

"Where did you get this?" Caesar asked quickly.

Already chewing a mouthful of the morsels, Bad Ape did a half swallow before answering.

"Bad place," he said in a hushed voice, bits of food flying out from his mouth as he continued. "I find long time ago. After zoo, I look for food… I find human zoo. Zoo for sick."

While Bad Ape was telling Caesar of his tale, most of everyone had paused to listen to him.

"Big walls," Bad Ape said as he raised his hands to indicate as such. "Big walls. Sick human climb. Bad human kill. And then, a-all get sick. A-all dead now for a long time… long time."

After hearing of what Bad Ape had just told them, everyone was looking at each other worriedly, all except Caesar who kept his eyes on the smaller chimp.

"Bad humans?" Caesar echoed Bad Ape. "Soldiers?"

"Soldiers," Bad Ape repeated as a solemn look overcame his features, recognizing the word.

"A deserted military camp!" Rocket signed. "On the border."

Luca then grunted aloud, gaining all of their attention.

"Maybe the Colonel and the troops are going there?" The silverback had chimed in.

At this it was clear to Caesar that this place that Bad Ape spoke of was worth investigating. Maybe it was the "border" that Rex had told them about.

"Is it far?" Caesar turned back to Bad Ape. "Can you take us?"

"Human zoo?" Bad Ape questioned as he comprehended Caesar's question before he reacted with alarm to the very idea. "No, no go back there. I-, everyone dead. I co-, I come here. Very safe here. Never go back."

As much as Caesar sympathized with Bad Ape's distress, he needed the ape's help if they were going to catch up with the Colonel.

"Please. You must take us!" Caesar said as he reached out a took a hold of Bad Ape.

"No! No! Can not take!" Bad Ape shouted as he fearfully shoved Caesar's hand away too aggressively.

This notion did not sit will with Rocket, who lunged towards the other chimp in anger, to grab at him. Caesar however had stepped between Rocket, to prevent the bulkier chimp from hurting Bad Ape. What Caesar had not accounted for, was their new companion yelping, as he was roughly slammed to the the side of the hearthen fireplace, held onto by strong hands.

All turning to look, they saw Koba holding onto Bad Ape. Fearful for his life, Bad Ape reached up to pry the bonobo's hand off of him but the bigger ape's grip held firm, while baring his fangs all the while.

"You are going to take us!" Koba growled to the frightened chimp that he held onto.

"Koba!" Caesar growled out, causing the bonobo to slightly twitch in his direction.

Bad Ape grunted from the sudden attack but reached up and took a hold of the bigger bonobo's arms and shook his head side to side quickly.

"Cannot take! No! No!" Bad Ape repeated as his fearful big green eyes darted around until they lit up and then he pointed off in one direction. "Look. Look. Look. More snow. Can not go. Must stay," Bad Ape continued as he adjusted in in his attacker's grips.

Koba, along with the others glanced outside of the lodge, seeing that the scared chimp was speaking the truth. It was indeed snowing heavily outside and they all turned back to look at Bad Ape who was still being held onto by Koba.

"Koba," Caesar spoke up once more in a warning tone. "Let him go."

Huffing, Koba eyed the timid ape beneath him before he grudgingly released Bad Ape, eliciting a sigh of relief from the chimpanzee, who acted as though he had just received a stay of execution. Bad Ape then grinned happily at the falling snow outside, which he seemed to think had come to his sudden rescue.

"You eat, you rest. Stay here with me," Bad Ape then continued while he beamed at the other apes, the first he had seen since the early days of the plague.

Caesar glared at Koba, who simply stared back, for a moment before he grimly rounded his gaze out at the falling snow, which gave no evidence of letting up anytime soon. As much as he would hate to admit it, Bad Ape was right to a degree; they could not set off for the camp on the border for the time being.

Relaxing from the sudden outburst, Bad Ape noticed that the girl was still eyeing the silver emblem by his hoard of things. Looking down at it, he then picked it up and handed it to the little one.

"Here, you keep," he offered to which the child happily accepted.

Bad Ape then turned back toward Caesar who had rounded his gaze back on to the group.

"She keep."

Caesar gave Bad Ape a stern look but couldn't help sympathizing with the lonely ape, who had lived in a solitude for so long. If he could recall, twelve years since the rise of their own, and without seeing another of your own kind, was a rather long time. He could only imagine what it must mean to Bad Ape to spend time with other apes again.

Now, if they could only persuade Bad Ape to lead them to the border.

…

As night fell and the apes were all corralled back into their prison, everyone sauntered down onto the cold frigid ground and sulked. Even though it wasn't said among the apes, Ash could definitely see it in their faces as he looked upon them. They were losing hope. Losing hope and faith in Caesar. Some even becoming angry that the ape king had abandoned them to their fate. Ash was very much fearful of this, as he too was starting to lose hope and faith in Caesar… and his father.

How could they? How could they leave when the apes needed them the most? He knew that his dear uncle was hurting deeply. But they all hurt too and Ash just couldn't see why Caesar would try to stray away on such a dark path. Along with that, his father had also abandoned the group of apes, leaving their care all under him. What could he do? He couldn't help himself, lest lead the apes. Oh why did he even accept this responsibility.

Lost in his thoughts, a hand had gently wrapped around Ash's own, causing the chimp to lift his head to see who it was. With the light blaring all around them, Ash could see the face of his dearly beloved, who smiled sadly at him.

"Maple?" Ash breathed quietly, his breath fogging into the frigid cold air.

Maple's smile spread softly evermore and she gently cupped Ash's face, before bringing their foreheads together.

"Do not fear, Ash. We will get through this," Maple signed as she pulled her head back.

"How?!" Ash snapped all of a sudden. "How are we supposed to get out of this? Caesar asked me to lead the apes and look where that got us? More apes dead. Others suffering and who knows what else had happened to Spear and the others. We are nowhere near our new home and the human soldiers are just using us!"

Ash huffed and puffed as he signed at the brown haired female and simply stared into Maple's eyes. Eyes that somehow still shone brightly, even in this dreaded situation that they were in. Closing his mouth, an apologetic look overcame Ash's features and his nose twitched before he suddenly reached out and hugged the ape in front of him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," He said softly as he buried his head into Maple's shoulder. "I failed you. I failed everyone."

Ash then felt Maple pulling away from him and she gave him a stern look.

"You did not fail us Ash. You did your best, given the situation of what has happened and nobody blames you for it," Maple signed back. "I know I don't blame you. But you must still remain strong for the apes who are losing hope," she gestured to the others.

Ash followed Maple's hand and could see that most if not all of the apes, had their heads lowered. Their shoulders were down and a gloom casting a cloud over all of them.

"Then… what do I do?" Ash asked Maple.

"Show them, Ash. Show the humans. Show the apes. Show them who we are. That we will overcome this and keep on living. No matter what it takes," Maple signed to her beloved. "You understand?"

Ash thought on Maple's words for a long while, mulling it over within his head. The more he thought on it, the more her words did make sense to him. No matter what difficulties or atrocities that had befallen them, the apes kept moving on. Persevering through the most worst of times and something like this, even as bleak as it was. Was no different.

Looking at his beloved Maple again, Ash breathed deeply through his nose and nodded.

"I understand," he said softly.

At this, Maple smiled up at the bulkier male, her eyes shimmering as they became wet with her tears. The both of them embraced each other once more and from there on, fell asleep in each others arms, knowing that they must move forward and overcome this. To show that apes together, were strong.