Caesar's Pearl 2 Chapter 7
After the apes left for the woods the entire Colony erupted into chaos.
The arrival of the apes had caused a major panic, a fierce clamor. Literally everyone was shouting trying to make their voices heard, wanting to know what was going to happen, if the apes were going to come back.
Most of all the biggest fear was if there was going to be another outbreak of that plague again. This especially ran with those surviving families with small children. If the disease did start up again then the children would become the first victims of it. They were all terrified and justifiably so after all they'd been through.
Dreyfus needed to handle this before a riot broke out and lives were destroyed in the crossfire.
Dreyfus quickly made his way back to the catwalk so that everyone present could see him. He was tossed a megaphone in order to be heard over the rabble.
It took a lot of effort, but Dreyfus finally managed to get them all to settle down enough to the point where he could get a word in.
"Everyone! Everyone you have to calm down! Everybody! Everybody! We're all immune! Please we're all immune or we wouldn't be here," shouted Dreyfus.
"How did they find us?"
"We…," began Dreyfus, hesitating, "we found them."
"You knew they were out there!"
"What if they come back?"
"Yeah!"
"If they come back…If they come back they'll be sorry they ever did," proclaimed Dreyfus. "Now this city may not have the manpower it once did, but it has the firepower. Those stockpiles left behind by FEMA, the National Guard, we have it all. Look…I know why you're scared. I'm scared, too, believe me. But I recognized the trust you've all placed in me. We've been through hell together. But you all know what we're up against. We're almost out of fuel. Which means no more power…which means we could slip back to the way things were. That dam up there was the answer. We just had no idea they were up there, too."
"So what do we do now?"
"Yeah!"
"We find another way because that power is not just keeping the lights on. It's about giving us the tools to reconnect to the rest of the world. To find out who else is out there. So that we can start to rebuild and reclaim the world we lost," stated Dreyfus.
Malcolm was reeling his head practically spinning. Malcolm refused to relinquish the satchel to anyone keeping it close to his person as proof that what actually just happened wasn't some sort of delusion. But this shock was, also mixed with fury.
After the apes had left the entire human colony was thrown into a full-blown panic. To quell their rage instigated by fear Dreyfus had told them that even if they couldn't get to the dam to fix it, so they'd have power once their last drop of fuel ran dry, there are other alternative power sources on hand. He outright lied to them, but that wasn't all. In providing the colony this rallying point to fall behind he turned Malcolm into a martyr. If by some chance Malcolm didn't find an available power source by the time their present fuel was gone he'd be facing down a mob out for blood not Dreyfus. Needless to say Malcolm didn't appreciate nor approve of the blame that would be directed at him now should this venture fail and he didn't like it.
As Malcolm was patiently waiting in a separate hallway to intercept Dreyfus and speak to him he had an idea. It's crazy, but he had a feeling it might succeed if handled carefully. He just didn't know how well it would run by Dreyfus. Speaking he heard the man climbing the steps to his level. He sat there listening until Dreyfus stepped into his line of sight.
"That was a great speech," said Malcolm, making his presence known. The look on his face revealed he felt the contrary.
Dreyfus stopped at the top step. He knew exactly what Malcolm was upset about. He expected this the second told everyone Malcolm had found an alternative power source ready to use if they couldn't get to the dam.
Standing from his seated position, leaning against the concrete wall, Malcolm said "There is no alternative power source. That dam is our only option."
Considering that piece of information, Dreyfus stated "Well, then, we fight them."
Rolling his eyes Malcolm scoffed hugging his son's satchel tight to his chest. Voice trembling, Malcolm said "We can't fight them. They have an army. You think we can just hand out a bunch of guns and go after them? We'll be massacred."
"Then what are we supposed to do," retorted Dreyfus. "We're two weeks away from running out of fuel. Maybe three tops."
"I know," muttered Malcolm, nodding, acknowledging the predicament.
"And once that happens I won't be able to go out there with a bullhorn and calm everybody down," said Dreyfus. In a sense he wasn't wrong. If the mob outside couldn't be quelled there'd be an unstoppable riot on their hands. "We need that power to get the radio transmitter working. It's our only chance of reaching the outside world. We have to find other survivors."
"Yeah. Yeah, there's not that many of us left," said Malcolm, sullen. "We can't afford any more casualties."
"We founded this place, you and I…," said Dreyfus, "on the idea that power would lead us back to the life we once had. If we can't stick together maybe we can't survive."
"I know," whispered Malcolm. "I lost everything. The idea of losing what little I have is…" All Malcolm had remaining dear to his heart was Alex. His voice trailed off not even able to speak the very prospect of losing his child after his wife.
Dreyfus had nothing to say to that. He'd lost children to the plague too.
"I want to go back up there," said Malcolm.
Dreyfus was already shaking his head, no, eyes wide. He'd figured out what Malcolm wanted to do.
"Listen to me. Give me three days. Let me talk to him. If it doesn't work then we do it your way," requested Malcolm. "We have to be careful how we handle this. He wants to protect his family, we want to protect ours. If you threaten his family he will retaliate."
"And what if it backfires? What if he gets violent," spat Dreyfus, listing all things that could go wrong one bit at a time. "I mean, how do you know that he'll even understand you?"
In answer Malcolm held out the satchel, saying "He's more than just an ape." The leader didn't have to bring back his sons possessions, but he did anyway. Such a good faith gesture wasn't to be dismissed and both of them knew it.
Slowly, breathing heavily, Dreyfus said "I'm going to take some men up to Fort Point. I'm going to go through the armory. I'm going to see what's still working." There was a slight pause. "Three days. You're not back in three days we're going to go up there and we're going to kill every last one of them."
Only a three-day deadline to create some kind of peace treaty preventing all out war. Sure no pressure there, right?
Malcolm was going to have to work fast and he knew he needed one other persons help to do it.
Margo's.
"I want to take someone else up there with us," said Malcolm.
"Who," asked Dreyfus.
"Margo," said Malcolm.
Dreyfus had almost forgotten about her.
Practically everyone witnessed that little scene she caused with the ape leader outside and those who didn't were soon informed. Word was quickly spreading about her past apparent association with the ape leader and it was not passing over well with the rest of the Colony. The very factor that Margo lived alone separated from the Colony didn't help matters. This merely gave them all reason to believe that she visited the apes on a regular basis with no one else watching at secret rendezvous. Dreyfus was going to have to do something about that.
Fortunately for Margo she had vanished immediately after the apes retreated so no one got their hands on her just yet.
"That's not a good idea," said Dreyfus.
Malcolm countered "Why? Because she knows him? Dreyfus, that's exactly why she should go up there with the team? She could be our way in."
"Malcolm, if you do this then you could be heading into a trap. I mean, how do you know she wasn't keeping their existence a secret from us," scowled Dreyfus.
Shaking his head in disagreement, Malcolm said "You can't fake that type of reunion."
Malcolm was referring to the emotional encounter Margo had with the ape leader. He was right. There's no way Margo could've faked that, it was far too real.
Dreyfus conceded Malcolm's point, but there was a very big condition attached.
"Fine if you can find and manage to convince her then Margo can accompany you. But if she shows any signs of betraying us to those animals you shoot her," ordered Dreyfus.
Authors Note:
Looks like Margo's going to be heading out on a little trip.
There are going to be some treats coming your way in the next chapter or two.