They removed the spear from Ziro's chest and Jayda removed the poncho to wrap his body. They decided to put him up in the branches of a nearby tree to keep it from any animals. None of them could move the body of the massive gorilla, so Brutus put a few ferns over his head.

Jayda stood at the bottom of the tree as the apes carried Ziro up. She felt useless so she looked around until she spotted a knife sticking out of the pack they removed from Ziro's back.

She returned to the trunk and began stripping away the bark until she had a space about the size of the writing tablet at Julius's hut. In large letters she carved Ziro's name as neatly as she could, going deep into the flesh of the tree. Franklin and Brutus returned to the base with Jayda and noticed the monument.

"Now his name will continue living in the tree," Brutus said solemnly, and Franklin nodded.

"I didn't want this," Jayda said hoarsely, the tears beginning to flow all over again, "I never wanted it to go this far."

The apes looked at her and she felt sick. What would they think of her now? It was because of her that Ziro was gone, and she'd found her voice that never left.

"There's nothing we can do for him now," Brutus said quietly.

They stood in silence, feeling anxious to move on, but none of them wanted to leave Ziro behind. A crack of a twig from somewhere set all of them on edge, they surveyed the area, but only a lone buck was making his way through the trees. Still, they felt the need to disappear, to hide from any other dangers that lurked behind anything.

They shouldered the bundles and stopped once more before departing that place.

Franklin and Brutus walked together and Jayda lagged behind, she tried to keep the tree in her sight for as long as possible, but soon they descended into a dry creek bed, and it was gone.

They hiked in silence, the crushing pain in each of their chests grew ever tighter and heavier. Eventually, they could hear the sound of water from somewhere up ahead. They emerged from the trees on the top of the short, steep cliff where Jayda had first seen Ziro and Brutus standing.

Jayda leaned over the creek and washed the gorilla's blood from her arms and face and the apes used the time to wash their hands and splash water onto their faces as well. Franklin brought out a waterskin and filled it upstream in the current. Brutus and Jayda searched their packs and found that Franklin had packed waterskins for them too. Once they were finished Brutus stood and scanned the surrounding forest.

"Where do we go from here?" Brutus asked.

Jayda looked around and turned downriver and pointed. They followed the river, carefully staying away from the slippery banks.

—

Brutus's mind was whirling so fast he couldn't keep a single thought straight.

Ziro… She can talk… What about Franklin?…Dead…I was right…Alone… Ziro …Dead… Why didn't she talk before?… Ziro… Dead… Mother and Father… Banished… Talking… Dead

He tried silently screaming at the thoughts to make them stop, but like a flock of birds, they only swirled faster. He kept looking over his shoulder into the woods, trying to see any signs of someone else.

Ape shall not kill ape

The most sacred law, and Anthony broke it, aiming for the human or not. He couldn't get the sight of Ziro falling back into the undergrowth or Jayda attacking the gorilla out of his head. She looked so wild— dangerous.

He could imagine what apes in the past dealt with hordes of humans as smart as Jayda. He also couldn't help seeing the images of Anthony throwing the spear and the shaft being buried deep into Ziro's chest. Both sides were horrifying to see and imagine on a large scale. War didn't look good on anyone.

The sky was growing darker and he knew that they'd have to stop soon, but he knew allowing himself to stop would give his chest permission to hurt and grief to wash over his body again.

He looked back at Jayda and saw she was scanning the woods. After a few minutes, she pointed to a collection of large bushes nestled in a circle of thick trees. The trio followed the human and she signaled for them to stop and she set down the pack.

She bent down and pushed a young, fragrant bush aside.

A tent-like room was formed from the branches of the bushes and the human dragged the pack inside after her. Brutus and Franklin followed and soon they were all three hidden in the thicket, leaning against their packs for support.

With the branches so thick around them and a vented opening above their heads, they risked the light of a single candle from one of their packs. The small flame provided only a bit of heat, but the light that shone was warm and inviting. Despite the light however, Brutus felt the familiar tightness in his throat and he fought to keep back tears. He looked up to see Franklin staring blankly into the fire and Jayda quietly letting tears fall down her cheeks. They shared the silence, the grief connecting them in ways no words could describe. The thoughts seemed to pass through them as one, the horror of the day washing over them over and over like a wave on the lakeshore.

Suddenly, a growl from one of their stomachs made all of them jump. They looked at one another before Brutus reached into a bag and brought out a fruit for each and Franklin found a bag of dried meat and distribute it.

—

Once each of them had finished eating, Franklin looked curiously at Jayda and broke the long silence, "Could you talk the whole time or was it only recently?"

Jayda figited, she knew this question was coming, but she still wasn't ready for it, "It was safer to be silent."

Franklin nodded, he understood more than most what would happen to humans who were considered dangerous– Anthony was proof of that. Brutus nodded too, but he didn't seem completely satisfied with her answer.

"Why were you afraid? You were safe with your friends," He asked.

Jayda didn't meet his eyes, "I didn't…trust you, not until later. Not until we fought side by side."

"You mean not until we proved ourselves willing to die to protect you," Brutus said dangerously quietly.

"I never intended to go this far," Jayda said defensively, "I was thinking about how to tell you last night, but everything happened so fast…"

She trailed off, tears forming at her eyes, but she wiped them away and silence fell over the group again. After a while, Jayda began asking about another subject.

"Who is the lawgiver?" Jayda asked, "I've heard that phrase a few times, I thought it might be your leader, but it seems older than that. Julius mentioned him a lot."

Brutus and Franklin looked at each other. This was altogether unexpected, the Lawgiver was basic, important knowledge that young apes learned from the beginning, but they supposed that the human hadn't grown up with such stories.

"Long ago, at the beginning of time around the Great Awakening," Brutus began, "there were two brothers. Both were strong and mighty, one was named Caesar, the other, Ko."

"Why was it called the great awakening?" Jayda asked.

Brutus shrugged, "it's just what it's called, scholars have speculated, but no one can find a clear answer, I suspect it's around the time that humans and apes switched their abilities to speak."

"Oh," She said before she was quiet again.

"Anyway, the two brothers were leaders of the tribe. they were peaceful and Caesar established the first laws; Ape not kill Ape, apes together strong."

Jayda thought about this for a moment then she asked, "What happened to the brother?"

Brutus shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, the tribe had an enemy, humans."

"These ones were different," Franklin cut in before Brutus could continue, "they were more dangerous."

"So," Brutus seemed to be getting annoyed at the constant interruptions, "the brothers disagreed on what they should do. Caesar wanted to talk to them, make good relations. But Ko, he had been hurt by them and wanted to fight, but Caesar said no."

Brutus made his voice darker, "Ko was too angry and tried to kill Caesar, but only wounded him enough to take over the tribe to lead them to war."

"Caesar rose up and killed Ko, then led the apes to victory in the war and humans became dumb."

That's one way to tell it, Jayda thought.

She remembered something about her first home, long before the wooden one where her mother was killed. The humans there were always afraid, always hiding from something. She remembered how they couldn't go outside, nor could they let anyone in. So she must've done something really horrible if she and her parents had to leave. It was soon afterward that her parents couldn't speak, the question was why.

"Do humans have history?" Franklin asked.

Jayda thought about how to answer that.

"It's fuzzy," she started, uncertainly, "my family started like me, but over time they lost the ability to speak. I don't remember much about my mother, but I remember watching my father being able to say less and less."

She delved deeper into her memories, "I remember a place where there were others, they taught us never to go out and never to speak, but they made me and my parents leave, I don't know why."

The apes processed this information for a while, the reality was that they were growing more uncertain at their guess that an ape was teaching these humans how to be more apelike. It was also true that they weren't thinking that humans were intelligent enough for this. Jayda and her parents were smart, yes, but most humans weren't like her and the thought never crossed their minds that a group of intelligent humans would have survived after Caesar— most likely she was a human mutant.

—

They eventually blew out the candle and curled up to try to sleep. The bushes poked their backs and legs as they tried to get comfortable, but the darkness and the constant sounds of wildlife felt more imposing without Ziro there.

Jayda clutched her stomach. It was queasy from the horrid feeling that'd plagued her from the moment she saw the life flicker out of Anthony's eyes.

I killed somebody

She curled tightly into a ball and tried to ignore the cold tentacle that was still slithering down her spine and into her stomach.

Jayda found herself picking at the bandage around her arm and peeling back the wrapping. The skin had knitted nicely over the cut and amazingly it seemed almost healed. She unwrapped her arm and tested the one on her forehead. The skin felt raised and rough from a scab, but otherwise seemed alright. Ape medicine was truly remarkable.

She wrapped the used bandages into a ball and buried them under a thick layer of dirt and leaves under the bush. The other two didn't stir at her shifting, but she also noticed that they seemed unusually still for sleeping forms, like they were holding their breath.

Jayda thought of things that helped her to fall asleep.

Suddenly, a tune from long ago came to her mind. It was one her father sang sometimes, but he couldn't remember where he heard it. She began to hum softly. When she didn't get a reaction, she tested a few words;

"Hmm hm hm hm

Bahum bahum hm hm

Take a load off Fanny,

Take a load for free,

Take a load off Fanny,

And put the load right on me"

She couldn't remember any other words so continued to hum what she could until she faded into silence again. She heard a shift and looked over to see the apes' eyes glistening in the single ray of light from the moon coming into their thicket.

"That's nice," Franklin whispered, "where'd you learn that?"

"My father," she answered in a low voice.

"Was he taught by apes too?"

"No," she replied honestly.

"Oh," he whispered again, "it must've just been you, huh."

She didn't answer, but continued to stare upward into the bushes, breathing in their sweet fragrance.

"Can you sing it again?" He asked sheepishly.

Jayda did, letting the tune hum through her chest, trying to distract herself from the horrid feeling that still lingered in it.

Eventually they both drifted off, leaving Brutus the only one awake with the tune still swirling in his mind.

…Put the load right on me.

—

Gareth was pacing in his wife's office, chewing the end of his fingernails. His wife, Claudia, was sitting in her chair, her eyes red from crying. A gorilla from the search party had brought back the news of Anthony's body as well as a report on discovering Ziro's resting place.

There was debate among the council about what happened, but the majority's opinion was that the human had somehow killed Anthony and Ziro and was now forcing Franklin to be a hostage, but they still wondered what side Brutus was on.

Claudia had been questioned by the council and she told them everything that Brutus had asked her the day that he disappeared.

A search of the hut revealed non-ape clothes hidden in a closet and human hair lingering in the bed by the window. Human footprints were also found leading away from the hut.

They theorized that Julius was keeping such a human with intelligence at his home and had tried to cover the human's and Brutus's escape by turning himself in.

"I don't believe it," Gareth said, turning again, "I don't believe that Brutus would do something like this. We taught him better."

"I don't think he'd be responsible for Ziro either," Claudia said, "they've been like brothers since they were small."

"But all the same, Brutus and Franklin are still out there in the forest with a dangerous human," Gareth's voice changed pitch as the anxiety rose in his chest.

Claudia rose and rounded the desk to embrace her husband, he was easily put into histarics when they were alone together and she found processes of calming him from her experience with studies of humans.

While she was head of the human research division, she also often got the brunt of his stress from the immensely important job he had to do. He was an ape of action and she knew he couldn't stand waiting around for more bad news, but if he did anything rash then his position would be in danger.

"We need to understand how it came to this point," Claudia said, slowly releasing her husband, "if we know anything about our son, he doesn't do anything without a good reason."

"I'm going to have a talk with that orangutan," Gareth gritted his sharp teeth.

—

Morning dawned colder than the one before and the sun seemed to rush to fill the forest with light. The three left in the small caravan were entirely exhausted, taking as much sleep as their bodies would allow. Franklin woke first and in doing so, nudged Jayda awake.

She woke up with a start and began brandishing her fists. She slowed down when she realized where she was, she wasn't used to falling asleep that deeply and yet she didn't feel as rested as she should have.

Franklin and Jayda looked at each other, Franklin noticing Jayda's wild hair and the human noticing the ape's fur sticking out in all directions.

They both looked around at Brutus who was still dead asleep. They glanced at one another and Franklin held up his water skin. Jayda nodded and the young ape dribbled a bit into his hand before flinging it onto Brutus's face.

Like the morning before, Brutus shot upright and looked wildly around.

"That's enough my frie-"

He stopped, seeing only the other two with him. The reality washed over him once more and he turned away from the others. Franklin and Jayda looked guilty at each other, remembering just the morning before when Ziro had done the same thing.

He pulled out another collection of fruit from his bag and passed it to the others. They ate in silence, occasionally sipping water from their waterskins.

All three of them were quiet when they secured their bags and left the thicket.

Once they were outside, Brutus turned to Jayda.

"How far is it to your home?" He asked.

"About two days walk from the waterfall," she said, giving them an extra half day in her mind.

They set off, the human and two chimpanzees. They found a stream and filled their water skins again, unsure when they'd find another again. Jayda led the line with Franklin behind her and Brutus bringing the rear. With Franklin's inexperience with the forest they had to go slow, pacing themselves so as not to over exhaust the young ape. Even so, Jayda admitted to herself that their small group moved faster than the group of humans when the herd decided to move.

The cold morning gave way to a cool day and Jayda felt goosebumps forming on her arms under the thin orangutan tunic, but she didn't allow herself to miss the poncho.

Suddenly, a shifting in the undergrowth revealed a short, bushy tail and long fuzzy ears. A large rabbit was disturbed from it's hiding place and it bounded out of their way. Jayda watched it go and suddenly a question came to her.

"Brutus," she said, turning to look at him and nearly stumbling over an exposed root.

He lifted his head at his name, but didn't stop.

"Yes?"

"What do you think happens after apes die?" She asked sheepishly.

Brutus turned back to stare at his feet in front of him, thinking hard about his answer.

"I've been taught that the world beyond isn't too different than this one," He said, "It's just opposite, our spirits go beyond into the tree of rest where our ancestors are."

"Tree of rest?"

"A tree full of stars that are the souls of the dead, where the branches are roots, and the roots are branches. A place where the living are dead and the dead are living."

Jayda tried to picture it, like a tree turned upside down with the roots jutting outward being covered with stars. It would be an impressive sight.

"What do you think, Jayda?" Brutus turned the question on her, "what do humans believe?"

She looked up to the sky that was peeking through the canopy, pondering, "I've been taught that the spirit goes to a waiting place for a day of judgement from God, depending on how good or evil you were in life is how peaceful your waiting is. I just hope that day of judgement hasn't passed already, maybe it's waiting for all the sentient humans to die out, the ones capable of making informed decisions."

"So you're not the last one?" Franklin asked.

Jayda pause, Brutus stumbling before he ran into her.

"I don't know," She muttered.