"Looks good, Tonto." Burke ignored the dirty look from the colonel, and appreciatively shook the pole hovering at Tala's side. It had taken Al about an hour to build an A-frame drag sled for the horse, and now Zana was lying on the platform like a huge swaddled ape baby. They had used half of their blankets for her; the other half was protecting Tala's back from getting rubbed sore by the poles. Apache now had to carry all their stuff, which meant that Al had to walk on foot again; he had made himself a new crutch for the occasion, while he was deforesting the area.

Crutch or not, they'd be travelling at snail's speed, but then the sled was slowing Tala down, too. Zana would've needed a helicopter ride to the next hospital, but under the circumstances, it was the best they could do for her. Burke ambled to Tala's croupe and peered down at the ape. "How you're doin'? Are you comfortable?"

"I'm fine," Zana whispered. "Light hurts."

Girl had a concussion; she'd bumped her head several times. Burke bent down and pulled the edge of the blanket down until it covered her eyes. "There. We'll take you to a doctor now. If you need anything, jus' holler."

Galen had the map, so he took point; it also afforded him the luxury of not having to look at any of them. Al followed on his crutch, and Burke with Apache was last. It didn't take long for that order to shift, though, as Al fell back, his limp now more pronounced.

Galen showed no indication of slowing down. Burke stopped, scratched his head, and surveyed Apache's load. "Wait a sec, Al, I'll take off a bit of our stuff, and you get on his back."

Virdon leaned on his crutch and wiped his sleeve over his face. "You can't get as much weight off him as I'll put on," he gasped. "And he's already packed to the max."

Burke stared at him for a moment, at Galen, steadily marching on, then pushed the rope into Virdon's hand. "Don't run off together."

Galen just flicked him a glance when he jogged up to him, so he grabbed Tala's halter and forced her to stop. "Al can't go on, he's falling behind."

"What do you suggest?" Galen asked. "Should we set up camp?"

Burke bit down on his first response. "If you take a part of Apache's load, and I take another one, and we put a bit on the platform with Zana-"

"No."

Burke forced a smile on his face. "Okay, fine, then you 'n I just take on a bit more, but Al needs to be on Apache's back."

Galen said nothing, but also didn't move.

"See, Galen," Burke said after a moment, "I really get that you're majorly pissed off at Al. Way I see it, you got two choices here: reshuffle the load so he can ride, or..."

"Or?" Galen leaned against the pole sticking up at Tala's shoulder and pierced Burke with a glare.

"Or you give back the disc an' we say our goodbyes here," Burke said calmly. "Of course, there's a fifty percent chance that it'll be you who'll meet Urko at the border." He smiled. "And I have all our remaining grenades."

Galen just sighed and shook his head, then pushed away from the pole and walked back to Apache. "Just to be clear, I'm not keeping you for your grenades," he muttered and grabbed one of the bags.

"It's because of my good looks, admit it." Burke grabbed another one. It was heavy. "Goddamn, Galen, what did you hide in there? Boulders?"

Galen just grabbed the bag and dumped his own into Burke's arms. It was lighter, but not much. "I'm keeping you because Zana would be pissed at me if I sent you away. That is the only reason." He abruptly turned around and strode back to Tala, grabbed her rope and tugged her on, not waiting for the humans.

"Saddle up, Al." Burke patted Apache's withers. "The master is in a terrible mood today."

"He's got reason to be," Virdon murmured while he climbed on the gelding's back.

Burke shrugged internally, as the heavy load on his back didn't allow his shoulders any movement anymore, and took up Apache's rope. "Yeah, you fucked up big time. So did I, when I let myself get captured. There'll come the day when the big ape there will fuck up, too, so there's no reason to bend over and take it from now until judgment day, Al. I know your kind is big on repentance and stuff, but there's something like too much of a good thing, ya know?"

"My kind?" Virdon sounded slightly miffed.

Good. Better than sounding so damn dejected and... and meek all the time. Contrary to some people, Burke didn't believe that the meek would inherit the Earth. The evidence all around him backed him up on that assessment.

"Ye faithful, Al."

Virdon coughed, and Burke grinned. I'll get you back on track, old man.

"So, what was that about the grenades?"

"Ah, I just pointed out to him that in a conversation with Urko, I'd have stronger arguments than him."

Virdon made a noncommittal sound behind him. "And how many arguments do we have left?"

"Two."

"You better organize your arguments real quick, Pete - seems we'll have that conversation soon."

Burke tripped over a stone and steadied himself against the horse's shoulder. Up on Apache's back, Virdon had a wider view than him. "You can see him?"

"Him and three of his goons."

Burke's heart was pounding in his chest. I'll get you good, you bastard. You have no idea what I'm bringing to the table this time. Aloud, he just said, "Better get down before he shoots you off the horse. You know how these people are about humans 'n horses."

"He won't shoot me from a distance." Virdon's voice was flat. "He wants to be up close for the kill. To see the light go out in my eyes."

Burke could see them now, a heap of horses and riders waiting for them on the horizon, dark shapes before the setting sun. I'll make him see the light, if that's what he's so interested in.

"Since we're ignoring ape rules now, take Betsy, too," he said absently.

"We don't have any ammunition left."

"'s long as you don't tell anyone, we'll be fine."

Before him, Galen had slowed down, allowing him to catch up until they were side by side. "Give me the rope," the ape murmured. "I assume you need your hands free for our... negotiations." He regarded Burke with an ironic glint in his eyes. "So, what is your strategy?"

Kill them all and move on.

He handed Galen the rope and nestled his belt pouch open without taking his eyes off the guards. "Let me do the talking. And then run like hell."

Nobody spoke a word while their little caravan approached. Urko had positioned himself directly before the rising sun, forcing Virdon to shield his eyes from the glare. In a shootout, Urko would hold a deadly advantage. Of course, Urko being armed, while Virdon didn't have any bullets in the magazine of his gun, was an even deadlier advantage. Everything depended on Burke and his grenades.

Maybe their trip into the city had at least been good for something.

They came to a halt, Burke falling to a parade rest that conveniently shielded the grenade he was holding from Urko's view.

"Hello, Pete," Urko said friendly. "Been missing you."

"I see you found a new horse," Burke said, equally friendly. "Is it as good as the old one?"

"Well, I'm never averse to trying new things," Urko said, showing his teeth. "How about you? Ready to try out new things with me and Vanda?"

Virdon could see Burke's shoulders tense, but his voice stayed calm. "'m afraid I won't be able to make time for you, I'm all booked out."

"Ah, yes." Urko made a show of discovering the drag sled with Zana on it. "Well, I'm willing to wait here until you've buried her. And then we'll take the rest of you home." He nodded in Zana's direction. "What happened? Found something that took a bite out of her?"

"Found some interesting things in there, yeah," Burke said casually. "Like these." He lobbed the grenade over the guards' heads, and Virdon grabbed Apache's reins harder in preparation of the horse's reaction.

The guards hadn't the sense to do that, but then again, they weren't familiar with grenades. To them, it had probably looked as if Burke had thrown a stone, and not even at them, but the explosion behind them set their horses rearing and bolting. Two of the guards were thrown off, and Urko and the other guard had to fight hard to stay on their horses.

When the gorilla had finally brought his jittery horse under control, Burke was holding their last grenade in the air. "This grenade is activated," he told Urko. "The moment you shoot me and my fingers slide off, it'll explode. And as you just saw, the blast radius will take out you an' your goons, too."

Urko was watching Burke like a snake. "It'll kill you, too. You and all your friends."

"Guess it will." Virdon thought he could hear Pete smile. "But if we go with you, we're dead anyway. Seems to me you've got more to lose here. I heard you've got family back in town."

The guards shifted. Apparently, they had families, too.

Urko remained unmoved. "My wife knows that the day will come when I won't return. That is the life we both chose."

"Huh," Burke said thoughtfully. "Think today should be the day?"

The sun was climbing higher in the sky, hanging directly behind the gorilla's head now, and its glare had intensified so much that his contours were blurring as Virdon squinted at him. He heard the horse make a step. Urko's hulking shadow was moving towards them.

"Why not?" he heard Urko's voice from the white inferno. "It'd erase your existence, that blight on this world, wipe out the threat to apekind. I'd say it's worth it." He leaned down to Burke, face to face. The other guard who still had his horse came to his side.

"We'll be together in the white wastes till the end of time, Pete," Urko growled. "So do it. Blow us up."

He called your bluff, Pete. We're dead.

And then Urko dropped from his horse.

He fell into the dry grass without a sound, without trying to catch his fall. Virdon stared at his prone figure for a moment before it dawned on him that the guard who had sidled up to him had knocked out his leader. Apparently, not everyone was as eager to die today as Urko.

"You done some half-assed job there, buddy," Burke muttered. "As soon as he wakes up, he'll have your head."

"I doubt it," the guard said. "The prefect will be too pissed off for what he did to her humans to allow that. You sent that medicine to my friend, boy?"

Virdon saw Burke take a step back in surprise. He seemed to know that ape. "I did. Heard his wife threw it away, though. Because a human brought it."

The guard rubbed his face, but said nothing.

"So... what now?" Galen asked.

The guard shrugged. "We'll return to our prefecture. As far as I'm concerned, you were rightfully employed by our prefect, so we have no reason to arrest you."

Virdon was glad that they wouldn't have to bomb their way out of this situation, but resolved to grill Galen about jurisdiction and the apes' chain of command later. He had thought that as the head of police, Urko would outrank Kanla.

The guard waved for his comrades to collect Urko, but Burke stepped over the body. "Nope. He's not going anywhere."

The chimp regarded him for a moment, and Virdon wondered what he saw in Burke's face. "You've been given a chance to escape, boy - don't be stupid. I can't let you kill the Chief General."

Burke didn't move. His hand tightened around the grenade until the knuckles went white.

"Let me talk to him," Virdon said.

The guard stared at him for a moment, then turned his horse and nodded to his comrades to retreat. Virdon slid down from Apache's back and handed the rope to Galen. The ape tugged at Tala's rope and moved out of hearing range, too.

Virdon stayed where he was.

Burke didn't look at him. He was staring down at the unconscious gorilla.

"Pete."

Burke shook his head, still staring at Urko. "He's not gonna stop until we stop him, Al. You know that."

"I'm not going to let you kill an unconscious man. Or ape."

"Just imagine he's Hitler. Unconscious or not, doesn't make a difference."

Virdon took a step towards him. His leg was dragging a bit, but the pain was manageable. "You really want him to win?"

Now Burke did turn his head to him. "Oh come on, Al," he said, annoyed, "spare me the bullshit, will ya? It's not about winning anything. It's about surviving this genocidal maniac. In case you've forgotten, it's not just us he wants to erase from the face of this planet, but every other human, too! I'd be doing us all a favor!"

Virdon took another step towards him. "What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?"

A muscle ticked in Burke's jaw. "And stop preaching to me. I don't believe in souls."

Virdon stopped. "Do you believe in honor?"

Burke didn't answer, just took a deep breath.

"I know he took much from you, Pete," Virdon said softly. "Don't let him take that, too."

For a while, they listened to the wind rustling in the trees. Then Burke pocketed the grenade and bent down to the ape. When he straightened, Virdon saw that he had cut loose Urko's ammunition belts. He threw them at Virdon's feet and turned back to the ape.

"You're right, Al." Burke straightened again and stepped away from the body. "I should start taking back the things he took from me." He held up a knife. "Starting with my ANSA knife." In his other hand, he was holding the sheath that he had cut off Urko's belt a moment ago.

Virdon picked up the ammunition belts and began to load Betsy to hide his relief, and also to be on more equal grounds with the approaching guards. As soon as he was finished, though, Burke took the gun from his hands, and worked the lever. The guards stopped at the sound.

"It was empty," the mounted guard blurted out. Then he laughed. "Well played!"

Burke didn't smile. He was aiming at the guard's head. "So here's the deal. We'll go our separate ways, alright. Put down your weapons."

The guard stared at him for a moment. "Haven't we been there before? My comrades have your friend's head in their sights. If I die, he dies, too."

"I'll let you take Urko," Burke ground out. "An' that's a big sacrifice for me. But I won't let you take him and your weapons, and take up pursuit."

"I told you we wouldn't arrest you," the chimp said, irritated.

"An ape can tell a human anything, doesn't mean shit," Burke snapped. "You put down your weapons, and you'll get Urko. Or we'll find out who's faster with a gun." He lowered Betsy until the barrel pointed at Urko's head. "So, you have my friend in your sights, an' I have your general in mine. Who's worth more, monkey? He, or a human?"

They stared at each other.

Then the chimp dropped his gun. Behind him, his comrades did the same.

Burke stepped back a bit and nodded to him to take Urko. "Al. Take those guns."

With a sigh, Virdon limped over to collect the guns. "One for each of us, hm?" he murmured to Burke when he returned to his side. "You don't think that'll paint an even bigger target on our backs?"

"For now, it'll force them to return to base, instead of coming after us," Burke murmured back, without taking his eyes off the guards who were struggling to lift Urko's body on his horse. That chimp must've hit him hard, Virdon mused.

Said chimp reined in his horse and glowered down at them. "I strongly advise you not to stop before you're out of the prefecture," he said. "That means skipping the next town, as tempting as staying there might be for you." He flicked a meaningful glance to Zana's still body on the drag sled. "You'd be doing yourselves and me a favor." He spurred on his horse. Virdon turned slightly to follow them with his eyes.

"How fast do you think they'll be on our trail again?" he murmured.

Burke shrugged. "If he waits for his comrades on foot, not that fast. And I guess they'll have their paws full when Urko wakes up." He turned away and started to walk over to where Galen was already urging on Tala.

"So you really want to keep all those guns?" Virdon called after him.

Burke turned around. "Damn right I do. Face it, Al, these apes have called a war on us.

"An' you don't win a war by going in unarmed."