Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

by Alex Irvine

  “Damn, monkey,” he said. “I guess I shouldn’t have shot you, but take it easy.”

  Then he was gone. Malcolm looked around. He stuffed a few vital things into Kemp’s backpack, which was the only one he could see. When he had stuffed the pack, he climbed up and paused before using the gorilla as a ladder. “You have a name?”

  It nodded. With one finger it wrote in the air, concentrating hard. Malcolm saw it spell out L-U-C-A.

  “Thanks, Luca,” he said, and climbed into the light.

  38

  Twenty minutes later, Malcolm and Kemp had been back down and up the ladder three times recovering gear. After the third trip, he motioned to the gorilla.

  “That’s it, Luca. Couldn’t have done it without you.”

  The gorilla eased the wall slab back into place. With a rumble, loosened debris fell to the bottom of the tunnel. A moment later, Luca squeezed through the opening the apes had dug around the side of the wall slab. Malcolm climbed up ahead of him and reflexively reached to give him a hand up out of the shaft. Then he caught himself, realizing how dumb it was for a human to lend strength to a gorilla.

  Luca worked his way up through the hatch—a very tight fit—and knuckled his way up the stairs and out of the powerhouse. Malcolm and Kemp followed him along the catwalk and up onto the logjam. Seeing Malcolm struggle with the heavy pack, Luca stopped to lift him up. He did the same for Kemp. They got back to the open, rocky flat near the edge of the impoundment, with the logjam and waterfall below. The waterfall wouldn’t last long now that the penstock tunnel was draining the impoundment. Before a few days had passed, the top of the dam would be visible again.

  The group of humans sat under the watchful eyes of maybe a dozen apes. One of them was Caesar, on horseback. He saw Malcolm and dismounted. Next to him, a younger chimp did the same, and then a baby—God, Malcolm thought, it couldn’t be more than a few days old—reached out and rode the young chimp’s arm down to the ground.

  He paused on his way to talk to Caesar, checking on Carver. Ellie and Alexander were bandaging his leg. Sticking out from either side of the bandage was a stick she had used as a splint.

  “Like this?” Alexander asked, holding the end of the roll of bandages.

  Ellie nodded. “That’s good.”

  He brushed a hand across her shoulders and ruffled Alexander’s hair as he passed them. Then he met Caesar.

  “Thank you,” he said. “You saved our lives.” Caesar nodded. Malcolm gestured toward the young chimp and the baby. “Your son?”

  Another nod.

  “Both of them?”

  This time Caesar came close to a smile of fatherly pride. Malcolm waved a greeting at the young chimp, who kept his distance. The baby dodged in and out of his older brother’s legs.

  “Well,” Malcolm said, “we got the water running. Now we just need to repair the generators, clear debris so the intake doesn’t jam, and we’ll be in business. I hope.”

  He was about to go on and explain the use of C-4, wanting to make sure Caesar knew why they’d had to use it, when the baby chimp bounded away from his brother toward the humans. He hopped on Ellie’s back, startling a short scream out of her. Then she saw it out of the corner of her eye and quieted, allowing it to climb over her shoulders and tug at her hair.

  “My God,” she said. “You just couldn’t be any cuter, could you?”

  It dropped down in front her, looking up at Alexander, who stopped what he was doing with Carver’s bandage to reach out and let the baby grab his finger.

  “Dad, check this out,” he said. Malcolm was watching. He saw Caesar was, too.

  Building trust, he thought. Maybe this would all work out.

  “Come on, wrap it tighter. It’s gonna fall off,” Carver said, irked by their attention to the chimp. Ellie shot him a look, but she went to work finishing the bandage. Nurses were used to the ill grace of their patients.

  The baby chimp swung from Alexander’s hand and let go, tumbling over toward the heap of supplies and gear. It poked into bags, jingled loose carabiners, and tugged the loose end of a coil of rope. Carver looked over at it just as it started to lift the latch on his toolbox.

  “Hey! Get away from there!” he shouted, lunging over to swat the baby chimp.

  It shrieked, and every ape within earshot was suddenly on high alert. The baby chimp scrambled away from Carver as he slapped at it again. Carver started to get to his feet and Caesar’s son, enraged, leaped in front of him and shoved him back, screaming a warning in his face.

  Caesar and Malcolm both stepped toward the confrontation, but Kemp got there first. He put himself between Caesar’s son and Carver as the baby chimp scurried away to cower behind the heap of gear.

  “Just take it easy—” he began.

  Caesar’s son shoved him, too, advancing toward Carver. More apes closed around them, picking up the alarm. Some of them picked up weapons, too—rocks and sticks, anything close to hand. Foster got in the way, saying something to Caesar’s son. Malcolm couldn’t quite catch it. The young chimp son bared his fangs and Foster took a step back.

  “Whoa, whoa!” he said. “Everybody just relax!”

  Then the unmistakable ratcheting sound of a shotgun pump cut through the shouting and everyone, human and ape, fell silent.

  They turned to see Carver, leaning heavily on his one good leg, wide-eyed and shaking. He held a sawn-off shotgun pointed at Blue Eyes.

  “You touch me?” he said. “You fucking dare touch me? I’ll kill you—”

  Before he got out another word, Caesar crossed the distance between them, ripped the gun from his hands, and smashed it into the man’s injured leg. Carver screamed and hit the ground hard, raising his arms to protect himself as Caesar held the shotgun by the stubby barrel, high over his head. One blow would break open Carver’s skull, and Malcolm could see from the look on Carver’s face that he knew it.

  “Don’t,” Malcolm said.

  Caesar turned to look at Malcolm over his shoulder, his gaze burning with anger at this betrayal of trust.

  “Caesar, please,” Malcolm said. There could not be a killing. All it would take was one, and it wouldn’t stop until either human or ape was wiped from the earth.

  For a long moment he thought he’d lost the battle. They’d made a deal and Carver had broken it. To Caesar it wouldn’t matter whether Malcolm knew or not, especially not when Carver had tried to hurt his baby. Caesar held the gun high, his breath coming in fast, angry grunts… then he turned and hurled the gun away, out over the logjam and the waterfall beyond.

  He took a step toward Malcolm, and Malcolm could see that Caesar was still teetering just this side of killing all of them.

  “I swear to you, I didn’t know he still had a gun,” he said.

  Stopping just short of physical contact, Caesar growled, “Humans. Leave… now!”

  He turned his back on them and went to pick up his baby son, leaving Malcolm to wonder just how the hell everything had gone so wrong so fast.

  * * *

  After that, there was nothing to do but get back to the campsite before one of the more aggressive apes lost his temper and went after them. Kemp and Foster helped Carver while Malcolm, Ellie, and Alexander stormed ahead. When they got to the camp, Carver limped over to sit by himself near the ashes of the fire, pointedly doing nothing while the rest of the team packed up their gear.

  Malcolm was nearly angry enough to kill Carver himself.

  So much for peace between human and ape, he thought. So much for trust. So much for humans putting the general well-being in front of their own prejudices. It was only because Caesar had more self-control than any human that Carver was still breathing. He could have easily gotten them all killed.

  And there was the spot Dreyfus had put him in, making Malcolm the focus of the whole dam project. Damn dam, he thought, very funny. He wanted the best for humans, he wished the apes well… but he also feared for his own safety. And what would Ellie and Alexander do if
he was gone?

  “No,” he said, to no one in particular. He stood up and started walking.

  “Dad?” Alexander said. His tone caught Ellie’s attention. She had just shouldered her backpack to take it to the truck, but now she walked after Malcolm.

  “Malcolm. Where are you going?”

  He didn’t stop. He knew if he stopped, she would talk him out of what he was about to do, and he couldn’t have that happen. He could not accept this outcome.

  He heard her call to Alexander.

  “Just stay here,” she said. “We’ll be right back.” Then she followed him through the forest, occasionally calling his name. He also heard apes in the trees, watching them. When they got to the gate where One-Eye had knocked him out the day before, Ellie finally caught up. By now she was freaking out and angry.

  “Can I ask what you’re doing?” she demanded.

  “I’ve got to make him understand,” Malcolm said as they passed under the arch.

  * * *

  Ellie hadn’t seen it before, and now that she did, she figured out where they were going.

  “Oh, God,” she said. But she stayed with him and they walked on. Ape alarm calls sounded in the trees, relaying ahead of them to the looming gate of the ape village. Before they reached it, apes appeared closer to them, spears in hand. He was counting on the hope that they wouldn’t kill him and Ellie without Caesar’s go-ahead, but he wouldn’t be able to count on that for long.

  “Uh, Malcolm?” Ellie said. She was looking at a pair of apes who now stood right in front of them, spears ready.

  Malcolm raised his arms, just as he had the last time. He wasn’t as afraid this time around, maybe because he had nothing left to lose but his life, which was in danger whether he did this or went home… Or maybe because he was starting to understand the apes a little better, and thought they would respect this show of courage.

  He looked up at the trees, deliberately ignoring the armed apes directly in front of them, and spoke out firmly, but not aggressively.

  “I need to talk to Caesar.”

  39

  Caesar had returned to the village still undecided about whether he should have killed the human or not. Twice he had given the humans a chance. And twice they had betrayed his trust.

  He did not blame Malcolm, but Malcolm led the humans. If they did not follow his leadership, then Caesar could not speak to Malcolm as a leader. If the humans did not have a leader, there was no way to avoid a confrontation that was driven by fear. These thoughts stewed in his mind on the short ride back. He could not see a solution other than separating ape from human forever.

  They would have to live without their lights.

  His thoughts had been broken off when he saw the two midwives standing outside his dwelling, waiting for him with fear plain on their faces. He pushed past them, already knowing Cornelia was the source of their worry. Who else could it be? Blue Eyes and the baby had been with him.

  When he saw Cornelia, he knew with terrible certainty that she was going to die. She looked around without seeing, making meaningless noises and rolling her eyes. They were yellow where they should have been white. The midwife with her saw Caesar enter and immediately signed.

  She does not hear what we say. She will drink no water. She burns.

  Blue Eyes and the baby had followed him in then, and Blue Eyes went to his mother, carrying the baby, who sensed the adults’ concern and squeaked his own. He clung to his brother’s hair and looked around in fear.

  Caesar went to Cordelia. He stroked her head as he always did. She did not appear to notice. Resignation overwhelmed him. He realized that he had begun a deathwatch when he entered his dwelling, and he resolved not to leave until the last breath left Cornelia’s body.

  The humans could wait.

  Or so he thought until a pair of apes entered a short time later, followed by another pair—each grasping the arm of a human. Malcolm and his woman.

  Caesar rose from the bedside. This was the last time the humans would intrude.

  * * *

  Malcolm saw the look on Caesar’s face, and he started talking because he knew he would only get one chance.

  “If we go back to the city now, men will come back here with more than just a few guns. Men I can’t control.”

  “Let them come,” Caesar growled. “Apes will be ready.”

  “Ready for what, a war? I know that’s not what you want,” Malcolm said. “You’re too smart for that. There must be another—”

  “No!” Caesar roared. “Do not trust you.”

  I don’t blame you, Malcolm thought. He was about to say as much when Ellie shrugged off the grip of the chimp holding her arm and walked toward the bedside, dropping her backpack from her shoulders and reaching into it. Their chimp escorts caught her immediately, pinning her arms as Caesar and Blue Eyes both turned to intercept her, as well.

  Ellie kept her focus on the ape on the bed. Malcolm was no expert on medical issues of chimpanzees, but he could tell she was in bad shape.

  “She’s sick,” Ellie said to Caesar. “I can help her.”

  Malcolm saw a chance.

  “Caesar,” he said. “Ellie was a nurse.” Caesar looked at Ellie. He hadn’t spoken to her before, and Malcolm saw him taking her measure, the way he had taken Malcolm’s the first time they saw each other across the river.

  “Nurse?” he said, trying to prompt the other apes. “Hospital?”

  Caesar looked from Ellie back to Cornelia. She hooted something and then coughed, hacking up an ugly-looking phlegm. Caesar signaled to the apes that were holding Ellie’s arms. They released her and she went to the bedside. From her backpack she took a small case and opened it. It held several small glass vials and a pair of hypodermic needles. The sight of the needles provoked a reaction from the older apes. God only knew what they’d been through when they saw needles before, Malcolm thought.

  Sensing the reaction, Ellie showed all of the apes a needle and a vial in either hand. “It’s okay,” she said. Caesar came closer to her, close enough to stop her from doing anything to his mate, if that’s what he decided. “Antibiotics,” Ellie said. “Medicine. It will make her better.”

  Caesar hesitated. Malcolm took another chance, stepping forward and carefully placing a hand on Caesar’s shoulder.

  “Maybe I don’t get to say this right now,” he said, “but I’m going to anyway. Trust.”

  Caesar looked at him, then at Cornelia, then at his sons. He nodded.

  With the smooth quickness of long practice, Ellie drew several milliliters of fluid from the vial into the syringe. She injected it into the sick ape’s arm as Caesar watched. They all watched her on the bed, struggling for life—except Caesar’s older son, who was watching Malcolm. He looked confused and hostile. Malcolm had a pang of sympathy for Caesar. That kid was probably a handful.

  “One day,” Caesar said, still looking Cornelia. Then he turned to Malcolm. “You stay one day.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Malcolm saw the older son’s reaction—incredulous anger. He nodded to Caesar, dipping his head to convey gratitude. But one day wasn’t going to be enough. There was no way five people could get all the necessary work done.

  “We might need more time,” he said carefully.

  “One day,” Caesar repeated. Then, after a pause, he surprised Malcolm again. “Apes will help.”

  40

  Caesar’s offer was not without conditions, as it turned out. Number one was that Carver be removed.

  “How about we just put him in the truck until we’re done?” Malcolm suggested. Caesar went along with this, as long as there was no way for Carver to take the truck back to San Francisco himself. This made sense to Malcolm. Who knew what stories Carver would spin if he made it back without the rest of them? He would have a hundred men with rifles marching up the valley within a day.

  So when he came back to camp with Ellie and a dozen or so apes—including Luca the gorilla—he immediately addressed h
is top priority.

  “Carver,” he said, “pack up your shit and get out of here. Foster, you mind helping him back to the truck?”

  “What?” Carver was incredulous.

  Foster picked up Carver’s toolbox and shoved it into his gut so Carver had to grab it.

  “Malcolm’s trying to keep you alive, asshole. And he’s trying to get electricity back on in the Colony so we can take a hot shower for the first time in ten years.” Then he pointed. “Walk.”

  Carver took in the hostile glares from the assembled apes. Malcolm had never considered the possibility that he would just refuse to go, but for a moment it looked like that was exactly what was going to happen. Then Carver started walking. He also started talking.

  “This is bullshit!” he said as he got to the edge of the camp.

  “You knew the deal,” Malcolm said. “You broke it. You’re lucky to be alive. Now shut up.”

  “I don’t take orders from monkeys!” Carver screamed, but he kept going, limping away into the woods with Foster next to him carrying the rest of his gear.

  Poor Foster, Malcolm thought. He’s going to get an earful all the way back. Then he turned to Caesar. “Okay?”

  The chimpanzee leader nodded, and signaled to the assembled apes. They came forward and picked up all the gear and tools they could lay their hands on.

  “Oh,” Malcolm said. He hadn’t expected this. “Okay. Thank you.”

  Alexander was watching the apes work, awed by what he was seeing. The orangutan from the day before slowed down as it passed him with an armload of gear. Alexander started to back away, but Malcolm saw him figure out that the orangutan was looking at the comic book in Alexander’s hand. Boy and orangutan looked at each other. Then the orangutan moved on, getting back to work, and Alexander stood even more amazed.

  Malcolm wondered if the orangutan was a comic-book fan. It wasn’t impossible. People gave apes all kinds of stuff in the shelters and sanctuaries, not to mention the labs. But it was a question for later. Right then, there was work to do, and fast. One day was a tight schedule, even with an ape labor force to count on.