Sorry for the long wait everyone. Been very busy again but here is chapter 58 for you all!

Later on through evening the warm fire that was burning within the hearth of the fireplace had since died down to a few fading embers in the cold of the night. Just beyond the broken and cracked windows, the snow was still falling outside. The flakes of ice swirling gently in the night air as if they were glittering white fireflies. With many of the inhabitants within the ski lodge resort fast asleep, one particular ape had found himself having trouble following suit.

This ape, was none other than Koba.

As Koba leaned his back onto one of the beam structures just a stone throw away, he could tell that the others had fallen asleep around him. All exhausted by the many days of exertions and travels that they had undergone. With a quiet huff, Koba frowned, irked that his mind was not able to shut down and allow him some much needed rest. This, of course, was something that was not new to him. As he was still plagued by many a terrible nightmares, of things of long past, that would not leave him be. Reminding him of the terrible deeds that he himself had committed in his blind rage and hatred.

Taking a deep breath, Koba simply exhaled quietly and stared out at the falling snow, hoping that by simply watching the falling flakes, it would lull him to a deep sleep.

"Who is…" a soft voice suddenly spoke up, startling Koba from his thoughts. "Child?" The voice had finished.

His hackles raised and ready to fight, Koba rounded his head slowly to see who it was that had suddenly spoken. Knitting his brows together, Koba was just about to get up but then saw Bad Ape with the bright light of the moon, reflected from the surface of the snow, all curled up and speaking to someone. Confused, Koba craned his neck a little further and saw that Bad Ape was talking to Caesar, whom was looking down at the human child within Maurice's arms.

"I don't know," Caesar spoke up after a few heartbeats.

"But she with you?" Bad Ape asked, understandably confused as to why the human girl was with a bunch of apes and not with her own kind.

There was a long pause for a moment between the two chimpanzees and Koba thought if Caesar would ever answer Bad Ape.

"She has no one else," Caesar responded a moment after.

Koba could then see that Caesar was looking back down at the little human girl, a guilty expression upon his face. At this, Koba was confused as to why Caesar was showing such an emotion. Why did he look so guilty for? He had nothing to be guilty of, Koba had thought… but then it dawned on him. As it was just not so long ago that they had came upon the human child in that run down shacks by the seaside. And Caesar, was the one who took away that human girl's caretaker, or father, whatever that human was to the child. Leaving her all alone in the world. Was that the reason why Caesar had looked so remorseful? Or was it something else?

Bad Ape had then followed Caesar's gaze and he too stared at the little girl. A look of pity settling within the smaller chimp's big green eyes, causing Koba to unconsciously shudder.

"I see you look at her just now," Bad Ape spoke quietly as he rounded his head back in Caesar's direction, brows furrowed quizzically. "Look sad."

Caesar did not answer Bade Ape, but from Koba's perspective, he could see the hurt and pain within the ape leader's eyes, even within the cold snowy night.

"You have child?" Bad Ape asked this time.

As the prodding of questions continued, it riled the scarred bonobo greatly as Bad Ape was intruding so much with such asinine inquiries. The scrawny chimpanzee needs to learn when to hold his tongue and not invade so much into others lives.

"One," Caesar spoke up, gaining Bad Ape's attention and surprising Koba as well. "The other was killed by human," he said gravely.

The look of understanding and sympathy appeared on Bad Ape's face while Koba's throat and chest tightened as Caesar told the other chimp of what had happened.

"Soldier?" Bad Ape questioned a little further.

A look overcame Caesar who slowly glanced in Koba's direction. The scarred bonobo noticing this, immediately turned the other way, fearing that he was found out. Heart pounding within his chest, Koba waited for Caesar to say something to him… anything.

But he heard nothing.

Taking deep breaths, Koba was confused once more and slowly dared to look back to see what had happened. Instead of Caesar glaring at him or saying something about him, the chimpanzee leader had turned back toward Bad Ape and simply nodded once in the quiet of the night.

A pensive and solemn look overcame Bad Ape's usually comical countenance as he processed what Caesar had just told him. The smaller chimp's eyes then began to well up as a few sniffles escaped him.

"I… had… child," Bad Ape finally confessed, his voice full of raw emotion and sorrow, tears silently falling down from his eyes.

Curiously, both Caesar and Koba focused their attention on Bad Ape who had just revealed something quite personal to him. There they both could see Bad Ape reaching into the blanket that he was wrapped in and pulled out the stuffed toy crocodile from earlier, holding it close to his chest, cradling it to his body with tender hands. Watching Bad Ape hold onto the stuff toy, neither Caesar nor Koba needed to ask what had become of the child; the solitary chimpanzee had already revealed the fate of his fellow apes, many a years ago.

Humans had killed them… even his child.

The longer Koba stared at Bad Ape the more he could see that the little chimp's old memories that were long buried, haunted him still. A look that Koba himself was quite familiar with. Seeing Bad Ape, wrapped in his blanket, looking so vulnerable and exposed. Koba now had a new view of the little chimp and he now understood why Bad Ape acted the way he did. Regretting on how he had treated and hurt Bad Ape earlier.

"You think… you will find him… at human zoo? With soldier?" Bad Ape continued after he had silently collected himself.

Caesar turned his gaze on Bad Ape for a long while and mulled the thought over within his head. Would the Colonel be there? Was what Rex told them a lie? There really was no way of knowing.

"I don't know," Caesar answered. "Maybe."

A look of determination overcame Bad Ape's features as he too seemed to be mulling over something within his mind.

"Then… maybe I take you," he finally spoke in a hushed voice.

Hearing Bad Ape's resolve, Koba finally rounded his head silently back around and stared outside at the falling snow. His heart ached after hearing the two chimpanzees and they now both had something in common with each other. A mutual understanding and now Bad Ape has agreed to lead them to where the Border Facility was. Letting his gaze look up at the sky, Koba's eyelids slowly closed as sleep finally came for him.

…

Rubbing his temples, Nicholas glared tiredly at the closed pot of water in front of him, waiting for it to cool down. It's been a day and he and Maxwell were taking turns in keeping watch of their new charge. At this, Nick thought it'd be best that he make a saline compound for the their injured charge. Honestly, he should have gotten to doing that first, but with everything that was going on, it had just simply slipped his mind.

"What you got there?" Maxwell asked as he walked on over from behind and eyed the boiling pot of water.

"Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I'm good," Max answered.

There was a drawn out silence between the two men before Max cleared his throat and tilted his head at the pot again.

"Just some saline I'm making," Nick responded, causing the other man to frown.

"And what is that used for?"

"It's for an iv drip. You know… the bags of water that they hang by a patient's bedside."

"Right..."

There was another long drawn out silence between the two before Nicholas heaved out another sigh and turned fully to face Maxwell.

"So… what do you want to know about me first?" Nick asked.

Max turned to look at the medic and hummed to himself as he crossed his arms and leaned onto a wall.

"Well… piecing everything slowly together. I figured you were not exactly from where you say you were, when you first showed up," Max said aloud. "Are you… from here?"

Nick took in a deep breath and turned his head slowly away from Max, eyeing the boiling pot of saline.

"Yes, my home is… was actually here. In the heart of San Francisco, where we thought that the last remaining humans were still alive. For nearly twelve years I lived here, with the community of what I had thought was the last humans on earth… glad to know that I was wrong though."

At that Nick could see a thoughtful look upon his companion for a moment before Max shook his head slightly.

"Why didn't you say anything, Nick? Weren't we buddies for nearly two years?"

At that, Nicholas lowered his head and stared at the ground in front of him.

"Would you still have trusted me if I had told you?"

"..."

"You remember clearly what they did to those people who came from San Francisco, right? They were known as the crazies and were quickly put down, to not spread panic. To keep the people safe they said. You really think I would have let you or the other soldiers know about Helena and I after that?"

At this, Max shamefully turned away as well, while tightening his jaw a bit at the mere mention of what had happened to the other people from San Francisco, prior to their meeting.

"I'm really sorry I didn't tell you, Max. I really am. But you've heard and seen to what happened to those people before. Stories about people in San Francisco fighting against the terror of apes who overtook the city. Tales of the plague coming back to wipe out the rest of humanity in the form of said apes and the soldiers doing their best to fend them off. Do you think I would risk that? That anyone else would allow me, my wife and unborn child to live, after hearing that we too were from San Francisco and were on the apes side?"

Max glanced slightly at Nick and could see the turmoil within the other man's eyes.

"I'm sure as hell know that I am not going to say anything while I'm surrounded by folk who seek to eradicate these apes and our lives for this so called peace. A nuisance and disease these apes supposedly are. They… they don't know a damn thing about these apes! Hell… maybe I don't know a damn thing too… but I do know one thing," Nick continued and stared Maxwell straight in the eyes. "These apes saved Helena and I. The ones that wanted peace at least. They saved the other survivors too, leading us all out of the city, safely and wants nothing more of this war, more than we do. All they wanted, was peace and yet we still perpetuate war."

Max heaved out a deep sigh and glanced out of one of the broken window, staring out at one spot in the city that looked like it was blown to bits, a long time ago. Rounding back to Nick, Max could see the other man with his head lowered, staring at the ground again.

"Look. I know I've kept secrets from you but you have to understand. I did it so that Helena and I could survive. To keep the apes safe… for whatever my words are worth. If… if you're going to do something. Then I ask… please leave Helena and my kid out of this. The apes too, especially that other-"

Max then walked on over and stopped right in front of Nick, causing the other man to look up at him at the unexpected action.

"What do you think I was going to do?" Max asked his eyes narrowing, surprising Nick for a moment. "Did you think was going to turn you in? Or shoot you and that ape in the other room?"

"No… I-I…"

"I don't care about that shit, Nick! I just wanted you to trust me enough to let me know what was going on," Max cut the medic off. "Didn't I just say that we were buddies? For almost two years, Nick. I could care less of why and what you did to protect you and your family. And I could care less about the apes too. But how am I supposed to help you when you don't let me know what is going on?"

"Max?"

"You think I like what they did to the people from San Fran? No, I don't. I didn't understand it nor did many of the other guys," Max answered. "Of course everyone was scared of the Simian Flu. That was what caused all of this," he continued as he waved a hand around. "But if anyone had an ounce of intelligence within them. Then they would know that it was not the apes who are to blame, but us humans instead."

Hearing these words coming out of Max, to say the least, shocked Nick quite a bit and intrigued him. Was he so caught up in all the fears of the world that he had failed to recognize the other man's thoughts in all of this?

"Y-you don't blame the apes for all of this?" Nick asked hesitantly.

Maxed heaved out a deep breath and stared Nick in the eyes.

"I did."

"What… what happened?"

"Lets just say my uncle was a good man… a kind man who saw more than what others could see and after he was taken from me… well. Life has a way of changing your perspective on things," Max answered slowly.

"I'm sorry, Max."

Max simply held up a hand to stop Nick.

"It's whatever. I just want us to both understand that were standing together on equal grounds in this. No secrets and no lies. We're brothers in this world and have only each other to rely on. We gotta stick together."

Nick blinked once and slowly lowered his gaze, huffing silently and nodding in agreement.

"You're right, Max. Thank-"

Before Nick could finish what he was saying, there was a loud scream and the sounds of crashing in the other room. Both men stood up quickly and glanced at one another before rushing off towards the other room.

…

Along with Rocket, Luca help guided the horses toward the front of the ski lodge that they had rested in. In the morning air the sun had since risen and the snow had finally abated. With that in mind, Caesar was very much anxious to get off to an early start on the journey again. Luca himself was not entirely sure what had prompted Bad Ape's change of heart, but he wasn't going to start asking questions as to why. He just hoped that they were all doing the right thing chasing after the Colonel. He understood why Caesar was hunting the Colonel, and he blamed himself for not seeing the danger posed by Rex's cowardice and betrayal. However, he still worried for the apes that they had all left behind. Would As and the others be able to lead the apes to safety on their own? Without their leader to guide them? He just hopes that nothing of ill will befalls the apes while they are away. Not only was he worried about that but he also was hesitant of the toxicity of, or relations between both Caesar and Koba as well. Even if Koba was half of the problem that caused all of this, Caesar, from the looks of it, still blamed the scarred bonobo for everything. Even when Koba was already trying so hard to amend for his past deeds that was not entirely his fault. At least, Luca and the others knew well that it was not entirely Koba's own doing.

While still caught up within his thoughts, Luca then noticed the human girl emerging from the ski lodge resort and made her way out into the open area. The small child had let out a series of small giggles as she twirled about in the snow with her arms raised. Watching the small child, Luca was reminded of the little ones and seeing how often they would play joyfully with one another, not a worry in the world in the circumstances that befell all of them. Unbeknownst to Luca though was the smile that was slowly forming upon his lips as he watched the little human girl play in the snow.

Rocket had too noticed the child and was curiously glancing back and forth from his friend to the girl curiously. Knowing that they had to move soon, Rocket gave off a small grunt to catch his friend's attention. Hearing a small sound behind him, Luca rounded himself toward Rocket who was staring back up at the silverback curiously.

"I'll… watch over the horses here," Rocket gestured as he took the reins from the gorilla.

Luca grunted in thanks and decided to move away, toward the human girl. The child had since stopped spinning and was staring up at the bright pink flowers of a tree that had grown up through the snow of the icy mountain. The rosy blossoms provided the only trace of color in the stark white landscape, so it was perhaps no surprise that the human girl was captivated by the bright pink flowers, which were out of reach of her small arms as she stared up at them.

But of course, they were not beyond Luca's reach as he strode up to the human girl and panted aloud, catching her attention. The girl turned around quickly and gasped in worry as she sighted Luca's big frame. The two stared at one another for a few heartbeats before Luca himself reached upwards and plucked a single twig of pink flowers off of the tree. Looking down at the girl, Luca then lowered his arm and gently slipped the flowers behind one of her ears. His reward for this notion was a incandescent smile which radiated from the human girl as she reached upward to touch at the flower by her ear and looked up at him. Luca smiled kindly and offered a few soft pants.

The moment between the two was cut quite short when Luca heard the approaching footsteps of the others behind him. The silverback hastily straightened and assumed a more imposing posture as Caesar and Maurice exited from the lodge. Slightly embarrassed by his moment of sentiment, Luca hoped that Caesar had not seen him toying with the flowers and quickly marched pass the ape leader. Theirs was a serious mission after all, dealing with matters of life and death and justice. It would not do for him to look weak or softhearted at a time like this. However, Luca did steal a glance back and was met with a soft beaming smile of the human child, who watched him go. That in itself was enough for Luca to offer a smile back before making his way on over toward the horses.

Luca noticed that Koba was the third to emerge from the lodge and was already making his way on over to both him and Rocket. Watching the scarred bonobo climb onto his own horse, Luca had turned back toward Caesar and Maurice, wondering if they were ready to resume their quest. Assuming that their new guide had not changed his mind again, which seemed likely. Luca wondered briefly to himself if the sad, silly little chimp had given them the slip, but then the said ape suddenly emerged from the ski lodge and joined them.

Bad Ape was dressed for the trip, in a manner of speaking. Ill-fitting snow boots covered his feet, a blue vest covering most of his torso, while a striped wool cap of sorts rested on his balding head.

Luca himself resisted the urge to laugh while his companions, Caesar included, stared blankly at Bad Ape, who was clearly unaware of how ridiculous he appeared. Giving a thumbs up to them all Bad Ape then slowly approached the horses.

"He looks absolutely ridiculous," Rocket commented, while Koba merely grunted and frowned on top of his own horse.

The smaller chimp looked speculatively from horse to horse, wondering who he was to partner up with. He had glanced up at Koba whom the scarred bonobo bared his fangs in return. Getting the idea that the bonobo did not want to ride with him, Bad Ape continued forward.

Thinking quickly, Luca grunted and pointed at Rocket and his own horse, whom the nearly chimpanzee had not mounted yet. Beaming at Luca's direction, Bad Ape made for the horse before the bulkier chimpanzee could protest. Seeing Bad Ape already clumsily scrambling up onto his steed, Rocket huffed and shot Luca a dirty look, appearing utterly crestfallen.

"Friend?" Bad Ape could be heard as he stretched an arm out toward Rocket who groaned and took it, hefting himself onto the horse as well.

That had been a close call!

…

Huffing and puffing, Grey lifted the heavy stone over his head and offered it to the ape above him. Looking behind him, he could see that the apes were all severely tired and ready to collapse at any moment. If nothing was done soon, they would all die due to being overworked or not getting any sustenance to re energize them. Yes, apes in general were stronger than the humans but just like the humans they were living creatures too and need to eat and rest. But given on how the human soldiers had been treating them so far, the option of getting food and rest was out of the question.

Curiously though, Grey had then looked down at the chains that bound their limbs together and took a hold of them. Maybe if he and the other apes could figure something, they could release themselves from these chains. It might take them a long while, as they were not as well versed with human contraptions but if they all pulled their heads together, then maybe they could figure out something. If he could recall, the humans used a set of small metal sticks to unlock these heavy chains. They would either need to silently pickpocket the human soldiers who had them or they would need to invent some kind of tool to release the locks. The question is… how?

"Finding way. To escape?"

At the sound of the familiar voice, the hairs on Grey's body all rose up and he slowly rounded himself to whomever had spoken up. As Grey turned fully to see who he thought he had heard, his eyes widened in slight horror when he saw a tall looming figure, decked in rusted colored fur. Complimenting the red fur was none other than those familiar acid green colored eyes that glared right back at his own dark ones.

"Red?" Grey breathed.

"Grey…" Red responded as he looked the older chimpanzee once over. "You. Still live," Red asked pointing at the chimp's abdomen, noticing the old wounds that had since healed.

At this, Grey bared his fangs at the gorilla.

"Thought. You died," Grey hissed.

Red frowned and approached the brown haired chimpanzee with a look of indifference on his features.

"How apes. Treat you. After they know. You traitor?" Red asked.

Grey blinked up at Red but set his features into a stern glare.

"Apes treat me better than they would an actual traitor," the brown haired chimpanzee gestured back with his fangs slightly showing.

Suddenly Grey felt a large hand taking over half of his face and slamming him roughly into the ground beneath him. The world spun around him for a moment but Grey reached up and tried to pry Red's heavy hand off of his face as it was crushing his skull into the frozen earth.

"We. Could have been. Safe," Red hissed back. "Could. Have protected. Apes."

"Your way. Wrong," Grey grunted back.

At this, Red applied more pressure, causing the chimpanzee beneath him to cry out in agony.

"Hey! What's going on there?!"

Red glanced up and removed himself from Grey, who quickly brought his hands up to hold his head.

"Ape. Not working," Red responded to one of the soldiers.

"Well, deal with it then, Donkey!" the soldier shouted back.

At this, Red glanced back down at Grey who was slowly rising from where he was struck down.

"Is that. What Red. Is. Now?" Grey spat out. "Slave. To humans?

At this, Red bared his ivory fangs at the brown chimpanzee who seemed to only sneer in return.

"Red is no longer an ape but a human's pet," Grey goaded. "Less. Than ape-"

Before Grey could finish, Red had pulled his arm back and punched the chimpanzee right in the snout, causing the brown haired simian to collapse into a heap on the ground, unconscious. Growling, Red reached down and unlocked Grey's bindings and took a hold of the ape's leg before dragging the unconscious chimp behind him. As he dragged Grey's body a loud series of cries had caught Red's attention, causing him to glance up to see Maple trying to make her way on over towards both him and her father but was held back by the others.

Red remembered the brown haired female greatly. She was the one who had etched bite marks right into his arm that day when he was about to kill Grey. Unconsciously, he touched at the scar that was hidden underneath his red fur as he glared at the angry female. Huffing through his nostrils, with fog rising up into the air in front of him, Red kept his eyes upon the raging younger female as she struggled in the arms of the other apes who prevented her from charging at him. After a few more moments Red turned away from Maple's futile struggles and continued onward, dragging Grey's limp body behind him in the snow.

As Red continued forward, one thing kept on sticking out within his mind as he dragged Grey along through the frigid ground. It was something that the chimpanzee had said to him a long time ago…

From here on out. There is no turning back for us.

Indeed there was not turning back for either of them. Grey had made his choice and Red had made his. From here on out, there was truly no turning back for them.