Planet of the Apes: Broken Chain

by rancorlover

…. Man, what is Man? Is it the thought that makes it who it is, or is the physical manifestation of one's genetic makeup? Can one measure one's worth by it? When does the thinking end, when does the 'being here' stop? Those who think, those who reason in this world are guilty of these acts. All are the same, even ones next door.

2. Chapter 2

Planet of the Apes: Broken Chain

Ch.2 Falling Star

POV: Malek

"...Yes, put him right here… level his head…"

What? What happened?

"...So I think it's still safe to eat…"

Eat?

"...So the plan is I play dumb… It's the role I was-!..."

Role? Are the Orangutans and Chimps putting on a play?

"...Hey, I think your nephew is coming through."

"Give him a few minutes, I'm curious about this stew…"

Uncle?!

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My eyes shot open, I was in a blanket with a makeshift pillow from another blanket.

It was night now, a fire was close by with a pot over it being held up by two rifles on each side with a stick to hold the pot up. A figure was close by with Uncle Drek. He was pouring in what was in the pot to a bowl in his lap. In that action I realized that my uncle was missing his left arm.

Ravagers! I will make them pay! But where are they? And who is with him?

I sat up from my spot to find out. They were about 20 feet away, which shouldn't have been too hard. It was.

My feet stumbled over a few divots in the ground, my head hurting worse with each one. Eventually, I made it up to the fire while holding my head. Unfortunately, the other person was hard to make out from the dark and head throbbing.

"Looks like your nephew is up."

That voice, I don't recognize it from our party…

"Good, take a seat Malek. We have much to talk about."

Couldn't help but obey. My seat was right next to my uncle on a rock that was moved by the fire. Across from me was the figure I had yet to get a good look at. The fire made it hard to look at, but I could see that he was wearing a gorilla under shirt. His face was hidden from me, even with the moon out.

"So your uncle tells me this is your first day as a soldier. Some introduction huh?"

If the ape was trying to be funny, I wasn't laughing.

"I'm not really feeling it…"

"Well why don't you fix yourself a bowl, Drex thinks it's pretty good with the carrots and onions. Could use more salt."

"I'll let him have mine. He may not like it, and I'm already full."

Uncle Drek proceeded to hand me his bowl, which I took hesitantly.

I don't think I can look at my uncle the same way again. One of his arms is gone! Doesn't he care?!

I grabbed a clean spoon from the set up and observed the contents.

Carrots, chives, and…

"Meat?!"

In ape city, meat was not in the market often. It could be consumed in small amounts, but it Wasn't part of the daily diet.

"Yes, nephew."

Please tell me they didn't get it from the-.

"And no, it isn't ravager meat."

… Well if it isn't ravager meat.

I took a spoon full expecting the worst, but it turned out pretty good. It went down easy with the vegetables.

"Well, what do you think?"

The mystery ape sounded mirthful in his question.

What's so funny?

I cleared my throat, "Well... it's a little sweet. And a little less fatty than what I had before."

"I'll take that as a win, it was my first time cooking horse. The vegetables helped make the flavor come out."

"Ah…"

...Wait.

My hand starts shaking violently with the spoon in my hand. Vomit just seemed to come up in my mouth as I rushed away from the fire and fell on my knees.

"Everyone's a critic I guess."

Ignoring the stranger's comment, my uncle got up from his spot and put his only hand on my shoulder.

"Easy Malek, it's alright."

I shoved myself from his grasp, "Alright? Alright?! You guys are eating horse! Why did you kill it when we already had food?!"

The stranger didn't care, "Well, technically the ravager killed it."

That's supposed to make it better?!

"And second of all, your uncle lost a lot of blood. He needed the protein to make more, and it just so happened we had some right here."

"But horses are for riding!"

Tears started to well up in my eyes, the thought of just slaughtering them for food was unthinkable.

Uncle Drek came back in the conversation, "Malek, what have I told you about the Forbidden Zone?..."

I tried to say, "A-any T-thing…"

My Uncle sighed, "Anything goes, Malek. We can't afford to waste anything out here. Especially how Ape City is with its food supply."

I tried putting my hands to my face to stop my tears.

He was right, no matter how wrong it was to me, I knew how regulated food was now. It would be a waste of supplies that we could barely spare.

The stranger put in his thoughts, "Well, now that is out of the way, let's eat."

"Yes Malek, there are more pressing matters that you have not noticed yet."

With that, Uncle sat back in his place and the shadowed stranger resumed eating.

More pressing matters?

After a good minute, I wiped what little tears I had and showed my face once more. The bowl still had steam rolling off the broth and gave me its aroma once more. It was then I knew I had to push my pride aside and accept it for what it was. I was a soldier now, I had to act it.

My hands moved to the bowl once more and I began sampling once more to get used to the flavor. As that happened, the stranger sat up and stretched after putting his bowl down.

"Ahhh, this reminds me of the times I went with my own uncle camping… Only we had Popcorn."

"Popcorn?"

"Yeah, it's a certain corn you can cook, and when it gets to the right temperature it pops in a puffy shape. It goes great with butter."

My Uncle put down his spoon and stroked his chin in thought.

"I don't think any of us had thought of cooking corn before, we just eat it raw."

"Humans almost always cook their food, it brings out the flavor that way."

Humans! Is he serious?!

"What good is that then?! What can we learn from such creatures?!

The stranger chuckled nervously and sat down. My uncle put his only arm over my shoulder.

"Careful Malek. We should not speak so loudly after having been hunted by Ravagers."

"But Uncle, they are monsters! You have heard the scripture, Man is a beast! They tear up nature, and they kill each other! They are dumb, unintellegent animals!"

For some odd reason, my uncle chose to remove his arm from me. He sat up and took a seat perpendicular to the stranger and me.

"Forgive my nephew, he doesn't-."

"Aww, it's alright Drek. You were like that earlier too. But what he said wasn't too far off the mark, I am ashamed to say. Most, but not all."

What?!

The stranger started to move closer to the fire.

Was he an orangutan that left the city in protest? Or a chimp scientist seeking forbidden knowledge? Maybe a rogue gorilla seeking to test his survival skills?

The figure's face moved in, and my mind couldn't comprehend.

"Ugly, aint it."

Man. It was a man. And it spoke!

"Uncle, this is a joke r-right?-"

I said no more as my thoughts moved as a whirlwind and I lost conscience...

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"...Well… That went well…"

"...Malek… get up…"

Huh?

"Get up Soldier!"

I shot up and yelled at the top of my lungs, "Yes, Sir!"

...Wait...

The command came not from my uncle, but the figure from before. He was close to where I was, still he was human.

"What's your rank, soldier?!"

"AHHHH!"

"THAT'S NOT A RANK IN MY BOOKS APE!"

I screamed again and jumped back from the man in front of me.

"WHAT'S YOUR NAME SOLDIER?!"

"I-I don't-."

"WELL 'I-I DON'T',YOU HAVE A LOT TO PREPARE FOR BEFORE YOU ENTER THE CORE!"

"WHAT CORE?!"

"THE CORE YOU SIGNED UP FOR!"

"WHAT CORE?! I DON'T-!"

"Easy Robert! He's awake now! And again, ravagers could be close! Please let him keep his sanity. Mine too."

He held his hand up laughing, "Fair enough."

My mind was churning so fast.

"What is happening now?! That's impossible! Humans can't talk!"

Uncle Drek came up with his arm and put it over my shoulder again.

"Malek, meet Robert. He saved my life, and yours."

"This is a joke, some elaborate chimpanzee experiment of a prank!"

The human proceeded to come close once more.

"Yeah, except I never met an ape who could talk. Except I have heard of one using sign language."

"What? What are you-?"

"Tell him Robert, tell him what you think."

"Right."

The man named Robert then took a seat back at his place by the fire, his face clearer than before now with the moon being out.

"You might want to take a seat for this one."

Begrudgingly, I only did so after Uncle took one. The man moved his bowl to the side and took something out of his rags and moved it in his hands. He then opened a long discussion that took about an hour.

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"So… This isn't your world?"

"Well, maybe. We share the same language verbally, and this planet has life that can support me. Last time I checked, the planet I'm from is the only one that is able to support it from what we have discovered. And I don't remember having a spaceship."

I cleared my throat as I asked, "What's a spaceship?"

"Either I'm in the distant future, or…"

"I'm sorry, but what is a spaceship?!"

The man sighed while rubbing the back of his neck.

"It would be hard to believe, I mean you all still use horses."

Uncle Drew wasn't having any of it.

"It's hard enough to believe that a human is talking. I'm sure nothing you tell us will be far fetched."

"True… Alright, ya ever watch the birds that fly ever so high?"

The man proceeded to tell a wondrously absurd tale, talking about man learning how to fly and other advancements, as such claiming they had been to their moon. Ours was broken 8 years ago by an unknown event, it's also when the shortages started...

"Even if that were true, why fly?"

The man only laughed, "Why not, the thrill of flight is awe inspiring. To see what the world looks like, to see the stars. Not to mention you can go faster than any other method by flying. Why, we could travel around the world in about a day."

Uncle choked on some water he was drinking,

"I'm sorry, around?"

A sigh escaped that man, "I won't get into that debate if you do not know. Especially if I'm already grasping at straws from you."

He sat down and poked the fire with a stick while throwing some dried twigs.

"Besides humans, what is Ape City like?"

It was absurd, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have to describe something that everybody knew.

"Well… it's a city."

The man shook his head side to side.

"A city can mean a lot of things. Can you tell me more? I'd need to prepare myself for the plan."

Plan?

My Uncle answered, "Ape City is the capital of all of our villages, it has a few buildings. A temple, a market place, an outside auditorium, and zoo and science academy, of which most is based on the study and research of human anatomy as of late. If you're lucky, you will be placed in the lab, they atleast treat them 'nicer' I hear."

The creature sighed for what purpose I didn't know.

"Ok, so when we enter the city I wouldn't have to worry about being watched all the time?"

"No, you would be seen as an animal as long as you don't talk."

"And you take my stuff?"

"Yes, we won't be searched. They will want to examine you."

I finally found a moment to interrupt, "I'm sorry? What?"

He turned to me with a stern look. "We're going to help him, Malek. He needs to find his way home. Or at least find a way to live."

"But why? If the other ape's find out-."

He cut me off sharply, "They can't! Then we may be banished from Ape City… or worse."

I gulped, "Again, why help him? He already sounds mad talking about other worlds and flying."

Uncle disagreed with me still, "We have to, he saved us… we owe him that."

I didn't need to say anymore, he made it clear the matter was closed. If uncle said we're going to bring the human with us, then we're going to. But I still didn't like it.

"Now I recommend we get some sleep, I will watch first for a couple of hours, then Robert, and finally you Malek. It's going to be a day's journey on foot and we need to make the best of our time."

Again my uncle was correct, but was he right about the human?

I won't sleep on his watch…

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To my shame, I slept on his watch. The sun was now rising. Warming the sands of the waste as both my uncle and the man slept. While I was still trying to make sense of it all.

What will happen if they find out?

Gusts of wind sent shivers down my back as I thought more about it. It went against everything we were taught in school. The city would riot at this revelation and we would destroy ourselves.

We should leave him and be done with it!

But my uncle's words rang in my ear, holding me back.

The man stirred awake, "Morning already?"

His arms reached for the sky as a little popping was heard.

"That's the stuff."

He turned to me and gave a sigh, "You know I was really hoping this was all an illusive dream. One you can't control, but wake up from eventually. But last night I dreamed like I normally would."

I had nothing to say to that, this man was obviously crazy.

"You're mad."

He only laughed at my proclamation, "We're all mad here. Now, where is the berry bag? My stomach has the rumbles."

In my head I scoffed, but answered. "Let me get my uncle up first."

It was too late.

"I'm already awake with your bantering. Give him the bag, he won't eat it all."

"But what about germs?"

The man waged his head, "My hands haven't touched anything less than what you have."

Fearing an outburst from uncle, I stopped myself from getting into an argument and just threw him the bag.

"Hey! Not so hard now."

He put his animal paws in the bag and pulled out a handful of nuts and berries, then tossed it back to me gently.

"That's how you do it."

Which was all he said as he munched down like the animal he was.

But Uncle says otherwise! I don't think he is ever wrong, except for this.

Speaking of Uncle, he came up from behind and whispered, "Eat up quick. We don't want a search party to find us if we don't return at the scheduled time."

That would be bad. It's bad enough we have a human, but what would happen if his cover was blown if they catch us heading back and he was talking.

"Hey!"

Our conversation was cut short. The Man was pointing in the distance.

"Is that what I think it is?"

It was a cloud. A big one. Floating across the ground… Towards us.

Drek took charge, "Quick! Pack up everything!"

Nobody wasted time, as time was short. There was no doubt about it, a sandstorm was approaching, a big one. We were ready to run within a minute, but where?

"Quickly! We got to find shelter!"

"Wait, didn't your party bring tents?!"

"We did, they were on some of the horses that ran off!"

"Well don't wait for me then, you two lead the way!"

"Try to keep up Robert! You too Malek!"

We made our way as fast as we could, but it was no use. After ten minutes of running, the storm was upon us. Sand was blowing every which way. Beating across our bodies with every moment. Blocking our sight as I gripped on to someone, not caring who. (Even if it was the Man.) The winds howled on our ears, louder than the Ravagers. I almost didn't hear my uncle's yell.

"THIS WAY! I SEE A CAVE!"

I couldn't say anything even if I wanted to, the cloth that covered my mouth did nothing to protect against the elements like I hoped.

As I followed the leader, the sand subsided. My eyes could see, and I first saw the order we had our hands in. The man held onto Uncle's hands, and I held onto the man's. I soon rushed to take them out of his grasp.

We were safe from the storm, but it wasn't done yet.

"Are you all alright!"

"Hold on! I need to flush out the sand in my ears!"

"Good, Malek?"

"Uncle! Don't you think we should leave him now? He's just going to get us in trouble! He's an animal, a dirty stinking animal!"

"HE'S NOT!"

His face was nothing like what I had seen before, I was frightened by it.

"I'm sorry Malek, but he isn't an animal. An animal doesn't have a conscience of that amount, an animal doesn't care for another as we can. An animal doesn't know right from wrong, or make choices not based on emotions. Robert has already shown those qualities and more than some apes that I have known."

No he's lying, right?

"I thought like you did, but he did more and more to surprise me. He saved me, medicated me, buried our dead and showed resourcefulness. And now… now he makes me question my faith…"

"Uncle?"

"If he is what he is. Then why aren't the others… I need answers, we need answers. And right now he is the key. And as of this moment… We are at odds with Ape City now. It hides something, something I swear I will find."

It was preposterous, us against the city?!

"But what about my father, won't he be able to do anything about it?"

"Your father especially must never find out. He would-. He would take advantage of this in a way that would work against us. No, we don't know who to trust."

"THERE!"

Our attention was grabbed by the man.

"Got it all out now. So what's up?"

"Up?"

"The situation. We wait out the storm, explore the cave, or do we try again?"

Uncle Drek gave his answer swiftly, "Wait out the storm for sure, you would be crazy to trek out in it. But as for the cave, it wouldn't be a bad idea. Here, I packed some of the wood for fire, give me some time."

Within a few minutes he had a fire for torches, only two of them.

"Don't we need three?"

"Someone needs to stay here for an exit. You and Robert should explore while I check what we saved."

I didn't argue, not this time. But why did it have to be a man that we found?

"Come on kid, let's check it out."

Kid?!

I still said nothing as we walked deeper into the cave.

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He was ridiculous, waving his stick around like a new toy. Total fascination with the flames like some pyromaniac.

Why Uncle let him keep his gun on him is beyond me.

"Man! I feel like a Dungeon explorer with this thing!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about, and I'm not a man."

The man looked back at me confused before bursting into an annoying chortle.

"Wha-? No, that is just an expression. But I guess you have a point, I should have just said ape."

"I don't care-."

The man's free hand slammed into my mouth, covering it. His face was contorted into something unrecognizable, at least for me.

In a whisper, he asked, "Hear that?"

His voice gave it away, fear.

I answered back in a whisper when he lowered his hand, "Hear what?"

Nothing, I swear I heard nothing. And then I did hear something. Scraping, scraping across the ground. And it was getting closer.

Both of us rushed to a side wall that held a crevice and hid our lights the best we could.

Clicking was added to the scraping, more like a cackle. It grew more and more. Just when we thought it was upon us. It stopped. After what seemed like an eternity, we moved slowly from the wall. We looked over the other's shoulder in the other direction. Nothing.

"What was that? Ravagers?"

"No, at least I'm not sure. I've never heard them make that noise. But I hadn't heard their sounds until yesterday."

No sooner had I said this a thud was heard behind us. When I turned to look, my mind went into a frenzy. I felt a thousand insects all over my body, I couldn't scream if I wanted to. It hurt, hurt so much. The human fared no better, but unlike me he was still standing and swung his torch in the direction we heard the noise. Revealing a figure that was unlike anything I had ever seen. It hurt, it hurt so much to look upon it. It's head was enormous, at least the top part, the lower part was skinny, and a bony beak that reached well past its body. It had a big set of claws for its feet, but no arms. But the one thing I recognized most was it's skin… it was the same as the Ravagers who attacked us just yesterday.

But my eyes closed from the pain I felt, it was unreal. A shout from the man could be heard, I opened my eyes to see what had happened. I saw he was still standing, taking his gun for a charge.

"Take this you Thanksgiving Reject!"

My eyes closed again when he charged the monster, I couldn't look, it hurt too much. But I heard the creature's shrill. It's claws broke through the air as it made each swipe. A scrunching noise was heard, and the shrills stopped.

The pain subsided, now only chills remained. I opened my eyes expecting the worst, and saw the man standing over the abomination. His gun's blade was lodged into the skull of the thing.

"Y-you got it?"

"Think so! It's not breathing. Are you alright?"

He walked over to me with an outstretched arm to help me up. I didn't give it another thought as I took it.

"I think so. How did you-?"

"Move?"

His voice was rugged.

"I don't know. I know you mean alot to your Uncle, so I thought of that. Besides, I wouldn't leave someone to die like that. Not while I could help."

He moved on willpower alone?

"Ok. Then what is it? You said something about a reject?"

"It looks like a Turkey, or atleast a terrible imitation. Way too big, it has skin like the Ravagers, wing appendages, big beak, and Big brain… Is it a brain?"

He then went over the fallen monster and poked at the bulbous sack on top with his gun.

"Hang on, I'm going to cut into this."

"What?! Why?!"

"We need to know what we're up against. And you've never heard of this creature before, this is the perfect time to take a look… EWWW! IT HAS EYES ON IT!"

Sure enough, it had eyes on the sack. Lots of them. I wanted to puke, but I was still famished and had nothing to upchuck.

The human moved the back of the blade along one of the eyelids and opened one of them. I felt a familiar sensation on the back of my neck. Much weaker, but still very present.

"That's it!"

"What's it?"

"Don't you see Malek! It's the eyes! Watch."

He let it drop, and it stopped as soon as it closed again. He was right!

"Come on! Let's get out of here. Oh wait!"

The man bent down and broke a leg off the creature with the bayonet and a strong pull. It crunched as ligaments we're separated.

"We got proof, now let's get out of here Incase more show up."

No sooner had he said that, more cackling like before echoed the cave.

Neither of us said a word as we made a run back to Uncle.

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"Ah. Malek, Robert, what took you two so long? The storm just died down enough that I think-."

"We got to go Uncle! Robert and I ran into a monster in the cave and now more are on the way!"

Robert and I ran down to each of our bags and rushed to check them before putting them on our backs.

"Ravagers?!"

The man shook his head fast,

"Worse! We can talk later, run now!"

The old gorilla rushed to put out the tiny fire and worked on his own things.

Less than a minute later, the shrills could be heard.

"Now or never!"

Uncle was in front of the cave, "Follow me!"

We ran, ran for as long as we could. Not looking back. Not that I would want to.

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It was evening again, all of us exhausted. After an hour of running, we felt that we had given it enough of a good distance from the monsters. Our path passed through a dune that was familiar to me, it meant we were almost home, half a day out. But my mind was on something else.

"Uncle?"

I made sure we were out of earshot of the human.

"Yes Malek?"

"I understand now."

"Understand what?"

"I understand why we should help him."

He didn't laugh, or make a witty remark, "And why is that?"

"He helped me, when he could have rid himself of me, or you. He chose to stand and fight that monster when I couldn't do anything. He's not an animal, and I'm sorry that I thought that."

He looked back to me and smiled.

"I'm proud of you Malek."

Those words were what I hadn't heard from any other family member, just Uncle. And I loved them each time I heard them.

"But I think I'm not the one to apologize to."

His words now brought me back to the ground. It was dreadful, but he was right. I stopped for a moment to let Robert catch up. He was struggling with energy like us, the moon seemed to reflect off his skin. It was something I believe the scientists referred to as perspiration, a means of cooling the body.

Humans are the only known animal to do that… No, he's not an animal.

"Robert, I want to apologize."

"Apology accepted."

"Now I-... What?"

"I accept your apology. It's probably hard enough for you to be asking for it, no need to drag it out more."

"But… I treated you like you were those things we ran into back at the cave. Doesn't that bother you?"

The man stopped walking, "You know what? I stopped caring about that stuff a long time ago. 'Why me?' 'Why am I so alone?' 'Why am I an outcast?'"

Uncle stopped too, he wanted to listen to his speech. It was the first time he sounded somber in his voice.

"Those were the things that I cried myself to sleep with. Not every night, but once in a while. I was rejected by almost all of my 'peers' at school. Always wondering if it was truly something I did. I let people walk all over me, and I didn't want to find ways to get under people's skin… But a lot of that was beaten out of me years later. Now I only see dimly in the mirror, what I was and I hope to hold on to that kid from long ago."

He paused before he continued.

"Let anyone say what they will about me. It's meaningless in the end, as long as I can come out, it's ok. And if I can change someone to be a friend, that's even better."

He walked up to me with an outstretched hand, "I hope that I can be both of yours."

It was odd, I wasn't repulsed by the gesture. My hand slowly reached out for his, and we gave a firm shake.

Uncle chuckled, "Now that that's settled, let's stop here for the night."

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It was late the next day when we made it to the outskirts of the border. Uncle Drek was going over the plan again.

"So we'll hold on to your stuff in the meantime, just continue to do your best to imitate the other humans."

"And how do they act?"

"How do the Apes act on your world?"

Robert hunched over and started making ooo's and ah's with his mouth.

Uncle sighed at his display, "That will have to do, and we better take what's left of your clothes and replace them with rags."

"... Alright."

"We'll need to put this rope around you."

"Fair enough."

"And we'll need you to be careful how much you sell yourself as a dumb animal. If anyone outside this circle finds out, you risk execution."

"If I get found out, I'm pretty sure I'll be facing something worse than death."

"Then I shouldn't have to elaborate further. -"

A sound of thunder came over our heads. Our heads turned above and saw a bright light soar across the sky. It went further into the forbidden zone and was soon out of sight.

"W-was that a falling star?"

"I don't know what that was, Malek."

"Whatever it was, it was slowing down… And no doubt anyone watching for you saw it."

"Right, no time to investigate. Come on, let's go."

I obeyed my uncle and followed close, but that falling star was in my mind. Robert was suspicious, like he knew.

Could it be what he said earlier, flying… No, it's nothing.

I decided to put my thoughts to one thing now.

Civilization, and what "father" would say.

End Chapter