* * *
Careful, Maurice thought. Don’t let the soldiers see you.
The fearful orangutan spied on the scene from around the edge of the camp’s towering front gate. He and Rocket and Bad Ape clung to the shadows at the base of the wall after creeping out from behind the nearby outcropping protruding from the plain. Maurice was torn by mixed emotions as he watched the girl come to Caesar’s aid; he was proud of her bravery and compassion, and found himself deeply moved by the sight, while also terrified for her safety. As she crossed the open yard toward the other apes, she seemed oblivious to the danger she was in, leaving Maurice to worry for her.
If the guards spot her…
25
Caesar watched with mounting anxiety as the girl communed with the apes trapped in the pen. Her back was turned to him, so he couldn’t quite see if or how the girl was communicating with the prisoners, but the longer she lingered by the pen, the greater the risk that she would be caught infiltrating the camp. His worried gaze swept over the guards posted by the wall; the soldiers remained unaware of the girl’s presence, but Caesar knew that she was tempting fate by remaining in view. She could be spotted at any moment.
And then…?
The girl could expect no mercy from the Colonel once he realized she was infected. The man had killed his own son and ordered his soldiers to kill their own families. He wouldn’t hesitate for a moment before having the girl put down like a sick animal, which, now that Caesar thought of it, might explain why that ragged deserter had been hiding out in the ramshackle oyster farm with the girl. Had he been a former soldier concealing the mute child from the Colonel and his troops? Probably, Caesar guessed. He felt a twinge of regret for shooting the man. Not that he gave me much choice.
After what felt like an eternity, the girl finally turned away from the pen and wandered back toward Caesar, cradling something in her small arms. Caesar squinted at the approaching child, unable to make out what she was carrying. Puzzled, he looked past her to the other apes, who were watching expectantly for reasons Caesar couldn’t quite grasp.
He was about to sign to them when the girl stepped up to his cage. She leaned forward carefully, as though trying to spill the contents of her arms through the bars of the cage. Curious, Caesar reached out to catch whatever it was—and a long stream of grain poured into his palms.
Food!
Surprised and grateful, Caesar looked up at the girl, then back at the apes, who were nodding in encouragement. He realized that the apes must have been hoarding the oats, perhaps to stretch them out in case they were not fed again, and had seen an opportunity to share their meager stores with him, using the girl as a conduit. A gorilla in the pen raised his hands and pressed his fists together.
Apes together strong, he signed.
A wave of emotion, even more powerful than his hunger for the grain, washed over Caesar as he hastily wolfed down the food. Pride filled his heart as, one after another, the other apes raised their fists as well, joining in solidarity despite their captivity. A smile lifted Caesar’s lips for the first time in too long; this was food for the spirit, not just for the body. He could practically feel his strength returning already.
He had never been so proud to be an ape.
The girl watched the exchange with interest. Her flat, hairless brow furrowed in concentration as her gaze swung back and forth between Caesar and the defiant apes. Uncertainly, she lifted her own tiny fists and pressed them together too. A smile broke out across her face as she successfully signed along with the others.
Apes together strong.
Caesar did not correct her. She had risked death to ease his suffering, and was in just as much danger from the Colonel as any of his people. She had earned the right to consider herself an ape.
Even if she could never speak the word.
* * *
Apes together strong, the girl signed, amazing Maurice as he and Rocket and Bad Ape watched from their hiding place. Deeply moved by the poignant scene playing out in the prison yard, he wasn’t sure what he was more proud of: his fellow apes’ perseverance in the face of adversity or the human girl’s loyalty to her newfound tribe. Male orangutans, by instinct, did not play much of a role in raising their offspring, but Maurice couldn’t have been more touched by the girl’s spirit and signing if she had been his own child. He resolved to keep teaching her to the best of his abilities.
Assuming any of them survived until dawn.
The warm glow in his chest turned to ice, however, as he spotted the Colonel and his lieutenants heading toward Caesar and the other penned apes, who did not yet appear to be aware of the soldiers’ approach. The humans conferred with each other as they walked across the camp, apparently engrossed in conversation. Rocket stiffened beside him, having clearly noticed the Colonel and his men as well. Maurice gestured at the girl, who was still standing right outside Caesar’s cage. He could not imagine that the ruthless Colonel would tolerate any unwanted intruders aiding the apes.
If the humans see her, Maurice signed, they will kill her…
* * *
Footsteps crunching across the frozen yard alerted Caesar barely in time. Spinning around inside his cage, he saw the Colonel and his officers coming towards them, accompanied by Red and a few of his fellow renegades. Only ten feet away and closing, the humans appeared to be deep in discussion of some vital issue or another, keeping their attention elsewhere, but it was only a matter of moments before they or the turncoats spied the girl.
Unless…
Caesar grunted urgently at the girl and gestured for her to hide herself behind the guard tower’s nearest leg. Responding quickly, she darted behind the long steel leg and pressed her small body against it just as the Colonel and his men paused along the route passing Caesar’s cage. None of the humans were looking their way yet, but Caesar averted his eyes from the girl to avoid betraying her presence by mistake. He was suddenly grateful that the girl was mute; her silence was the only thing that might save her.
He kept quiet too, hoping to avoid attracting the Colonel’s attention, but fearing that the girl was bound to be discovered before long. Quiet as she was, she was deep behind enemy lines. The odds were not on her side.
Angry shouts from the direction of the wall came to the girl’s rescue, distracting the Colonel and his lieutenants. The Colonel lifted his head, scowling at the commotion, and Caesar looked to see what was causing the disturbance. Was this good news or bad for the apes?
A squad of five soldiers, toting pistols and rifles, marched toward the Colonel. The guards were in an agitated state, shouting at an unseen prisoner in their midst, who was hidden by the humans’ bodies. They roughly prodded the captive with their weapons. Although grateful for the distraction, Caesar couldn’t help wondering what the uproar was all about. Had one of the enslaved apes attempted to escape, or was another human showing signs of the virus?
Caesar hoped for the latter.
As the soldiers neared, he eventually managed to peer through their ranks. His heart sank as he saw who the prisoner was.
Rocket.
Outnumbered and held at gunpoint, the chimpanzee held his head high as he was brought before the Colonel, who cast a suspicious look at Caesar, no doubt suspecting that the other chimp had braved the camp on Caesar’s behalf. For himself, Caesar was dismayed to find his friend in the hands of the enemy. As the girl’s arrival had already suggested, it was obvious that Rocket and the others had not fled the region as he had ordered, but what about Maurice and Bad Ape? What had become of them?
He longed to question Rocket, but that was impossible with the Colonel looking on and the girl hiding only a few yards away. Caesar endured the Colonel’s scrutiny while praying that the madman’s gaze did not drift toward the tower leg concealing the child. Bad enough that Rocket had somehow been captured; Caesar did not want the girl’s summary execution on his conscience.
Getting no reaction from Caesar, the Colonel examined Rocket from a safe distance. Scratches on
the human’s neck reminded Caesar of how close he had come to killing the man before. The Colonel nodded at Red, indicating that he should take custody of the captive chimp, and Red knuckle-walked toward Rocket, who bared his teeth and gums at the renegade ape.
Red glowered back at Rocket. There had been a time, Caesar reflected, when the two apes had been allies, united in a single tribe under Caesar’s benevolent rule. But Koba’s revolution had torn apart that unity, pitting ape against ape. The bad blood left over from that bitter conflict was still very much in evidence in the almost palpable hostility between the apes as Red attempted to restrain Rocket’s arms, provoking a sudden violent response from Rocket, who thrashed wildly, throwing off Red’s grip and butting his head into the startled gorilla’s face. Red stumbled backwards, clutching his head, before launching himself back at Rocket in a rage.
Snarling, the apes battled viciously, pummeling each other with their fists and rolling across the ground, while the soldiers stood by, keeping their guns trained at the grappling apes. A few of the humans laughed callously, enjoying the brutal spectacle, while others looked on apprehensively. Bets were made on which ape would come out on top. The other turncoat apes circled warily, uncertain whether to come to Red’s aid. Caesar suspected that they didn’t want to get shot by mistake if the humans lost patience and opened fire on both apes. He was actually surprised that the soldiers hadn’t done so already.
All eyes were on the savage brawl, even the Colonel’s. Seeing an opportunity, Caesar furtively signaled the girl to make a run for it. It pained him to make use of Rocket’s solitary struggle, but perhaps some good could come from the violence. There was nothing he could do for Rocket right now, but the girl at least had a chance to get away.
Responding quickly, she darted away from the tower and crossed the yard to the crumbling multi-story barracks along one side of the canyon. She kept low, ducking behind heaps of accumulated rubble and debris, as she sprinted for the wall and safety. Caesar forced himself not to track her progress with his eyes.
Keep going, he thought. Don’t stop.
The two apes still fought, with neither gaining an advantage. The gorilla was bigger and heavier than the chimpanzee, but Rocket made up for the difference with his guts and ferocity, despite knowing that he would still find himself surrounded by enemies even if he prevailed. Caesar had battled Rocket himself, years and years ago, and knew just how fast and hard the wiry chimpanzee could hit; he hoped that his friend could keep on fighting long enough for the girl to make it past the wall, even as he yearned to go to Rocket’s aid. The vicious battle reminded him of his own frenzied one-on-one clashes with Koba, before the rebel ape finally fell to his doom. Caesar felt as though that ugly history was replaying before his eyes, but even more pointlessly.
Apes should not fight each other.
The human commander frowned, clearly growing impatient with the ape-on-ape violence. Drawing his sidearm, he took aim at the warring simians. Fear gripped Caesar, remembering how the Colonel had gunned down Percy without remorse yesterday.
No! he thought. Not Rocket, too!
The Colonel pulled the trigger. A shot rang out, the sharp report cutting through the guttural snarls and barks of the apes. Both Red and Rocket froze at the sound—as a cloud of dirt and ice erupted where the bullet slammed into the frozen ground. Caesar gasped in relief.
A warning shot, not a kill shot.
But the interruption gave Red a chance to get the upper hand. Taking advantage of his greater strength and bulk, the gorilla forced Rocket’s face into the ground, pinning him. Rocket struggled to break the hold, and might even have succeeded, but the Colonel walked over, gun in hand, and stared down at Rocket, who was smart enough to know that the Colonel and his soldiers were the real menace, not the malevolent ape on his back. The foul odor of gunpowder hung in the air like an unspoken threat.
“How many of you are out there?” the Colonel demanded. “Are there others?”
Despite the guns surrounding him, Rocket kept silent. His face betrayed no hint of fear, only stubborn resolve. Caesar knew that no power on earth could get Rocket to betray Maurice or even Bad Ape. This was hardly the first time Rocket had risked death for his fellow apes. He could not be threatened into talking.
The Colonel must have sensed this, too. Scowling, he stepped away from the pinned chimpanzee and addressed his soldiers.
“Sweep the area,” he ordered, then nodded at Red. “Put him in the pen.”
The Colonel walked off, turning his back on the apes. Red abruptly sprang to his feet and grabbed Rocket roughly by the ankle, starting to drag him across the icy ground toward the pen. Rocket flailed wildly, but Red had him where he wanted him, on the ground and off his feet.
And then the other turncoats joined in.
Caesar watched in horror as the renegade apes piled on Rocket, beating him into submission. Hooting and jabbering like the savage beasts they once were, they showed the downed chimpanzee no mercy. Simian fists rained down on Rocket, hammering him relentlessly, until the outnumbered ape stopped resisting. Caesar winced at every blow. The apes in the pen stared aghast, or else looked away from the barbaric onslaught.
Red unlocked the gate of the pen. The enclosed apes backed away from the entrance as the turncoats seized Rocket’s battered body and hurled him roughly into the enclosure, where he smacked to the ground at the feet of the other apes. Barking out at them, warning them not to interfere, a traitor chimp shackled Rocket to the chained apes. Red waited until Rocket was securely fettered, then savagely kicked him one last time. Rocket grunted in pain as the kick collided with his ribs. He lay crumpled on the ground inside the pen.
Red snorted in disdain.
Locked away in his own cage, Caesar felt a growl forming at the back of his throat. He had never thought he could hate another ape as much as he’d hated Koba at the end, but Red had proven him wrong about that. Even Koba, at his worst, had always been on the side of the apes—at least from his own twisted, hate-crazed perspective—but Red? He brutalized other apes in the service of a human who wanted to exterminate Red’s own kind.
He made Koba seem like a hero.
After locking Rocket up with the other captives, the turncoats departed, leaving their fellow apes behind. Caesar stared ruefully at his injured friend, tormented by the bars and distance separating him from Rocket, who slowly stirred himself and staggered to his feet, bloody but unbowed. The chimp’s face was bruised and swollen and torn and bleeding; Caesar had never seen him in worse shape, not even when he had been mistreated by humans back at the primate shelter. That he was still standing after taking such a beating, and from other apes no less, was a testament to the chimp’s indomitable nature. He leaned against the bars of the pen, looking back at Caesar, and smiled.
Feeling better? Rocket signed.
Caesar’s jaw dropped as it suddenly occurred to him that Rocket might have let himself be captured on purpose—to give the girl a chance to escape undetected? Certainly, the commotion Rocket had set off had kept the Colonel and any other human from discovering the girl, saving her life.
Clever, Caesar thought, and crazy too.
Caesar managed a slight smile. He nodded at Rocket. The food and water the girl had brought him had indeed restored him to a degree.
Good, Rocket signed. Then we can talk about escape.
He brought his fists together.
Apes together strong.
26
The morning came too early as far as Caesar was concerned. As before, the soldiers paraded in formation as they mustered themselves before the Colonel’s tower, even as the caged apes dreaded the day to come. The assembled soldiers looked reverently up at the tower, waiting for their leader to step out onto the balcony above them. Caesar expected another disturbing ritual such as he had witnessed yesterday, with the soldiers once more declaring themselves the Beginning and the End. He frowned in anticipation.
I do not need to witness that again.
&n
bsp; The sound of a metal door swinging open broke the expectant hush. Surprised soldiers shifted their gaze to the base of the tower, where the Colonel emerged unexpectedly. Instead of surveying his troops from on high, he stood directly before them atop a low flight of steps leading down to the ground.
His attire was different as well. Instead of his usual rumpled fatigues, the Colonel was decked out in his full dress uniform, complete with a single-breasted coat, gleaming brass buttons, and matching trousers. Freshly polished medals glittered upon his chest. Crisply pressed green fabric looked practically brand new, as though the formal uniform had barely been worn before. Caesar wondered—and worried—about what might have prompted the Colonel to dress up for the occasion. He exchanged wary looks with Rocket. Was something momentous on the horizon?
Whatever this means, it cannot be good for apes.
The Colonel gazed out at his soldiers, studying their puzzled faces. He took a deep breath before addressing them in an oddly reflective tone.
“For two years we’ve fought relentlessly against these beasts, and when we are done with them, we will bring an end to their kind. But now we find ourselves on the eve of battle… against our own kind. So you may ask: who is the real enemy, who are we fighting here? And I’ll tell you. It’s not the apes. It’s not the men who are on their way here right now to altercate with us. The battle we’ve been waging all this time is against ourselves.”
He paused to let his words sink in, descending the steps to walk among his troops, just as Caesar had often walked among his own people in challenging times, such as after the human raid on the apes’ trench. The Colonel glanced briefly at Caesar in his cage, making eye contact with the captive ape leader, before continuing to speak to the devoted men and women under his command.
“They say we are inhumane,” he told them. “Indecent. They call us a death squad. But they’ll never understand our sacrifice. How agonizing it has been to do what must be done, even as it tears away at our very souls. Because there are times when you must abandon your humanity in the fight to save humanity. All of you have shown the courage to do that… and now we must take the fight to them, or this hellish trial will all have been in vain.”