by Maurice
Eventually Caesar came.
“Humans attack your sons!” Koba snarled. “You let them stay? Put apes in danger! Caesar love humans more than apes. More than your sons.”
Koba was all insolence. His tone, his stance, the way he bared his teeth. Everything he did was a challenge to Caesar.
It was more than Caesar could take. He shouted a war cry and hurled Koba to the ground. He beat him with his fists; he choked him and slammed his head against the cold metal floor. It was a shocking sight, and I feared Caesar would kill Koba. It had been a long time since any ape attacked another.
But Caesar didn’t kill Koba. He stood over the fallen Koba, panting.
“Ape not kill ape,” he said.
Koba may have been more surprised than any of us. He seemed to not know what was happening. I think it was even worse for Koba because it happened in front of humans. He clambered up and crouched, offering his hand.
“Forgive me,” Koba said.
Caesar touched his hand, and Koba darted away.
That night Caesar tried to talk to Blue Eyes, but the boy wouldn’t listen. He went to Koba instead.
Your father doesn’t trust me now, Koba told him. You need to protect him. His love for humans makes him blind.
I know, Blue Eyes told him.
As long as they are here, Koba said, I fear for Caesar’s life.
The Lights Return
The next morning, we went back to help the humans finish. When I arrived, the young one, Alexander, gave me a book. He had seen my interest in his books, as well as the drawings and writing he made himself. He told me it was his thanks for defending him and his father.
We sat and read the book together. That book, both its pictures and words, was the seed of this one. I had already written parts of our story in pictures at the school and inscribed our most important ideas using human letters. But in the book Alexander gave me, I began to see the possibility of something much greater.
The work at the dam was finished by sundown, and machines hummed and whirred. Malcolm thought the machines were fixed but couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t until we began riding back that we saw the result.
Not too far from our village was an old human building. It was a place their cars went for fuel, and when we first discovered it, it had also had food inside. But for ten winters it had been quiet and dark.
Now it glowed with light. One of the humans went inside, and music began. I had almost forgotten the sound of human music, but now memories of it came back. I hadn’t liked music; I associated it with my time in the circus, and later in the shelter. But this felt different, hearing the music in our woods. Music that apes and humans together had brought back to the world. It felt like a good thing.
Caesar looked at the lights. Then he offered Malcolm his hand, in the manner of humans. As he had offered it to Rocket, so long ago.
“Trust,” he said.
Malcolm took his hand, and they shook.
Trust.
Caesar meant a lot by that one word. Not simply that he trusted Malcolm, but that Malcolm must be worthy of that trust. By giving them their lights back, we gave the humans more power, power they could use against us if they chose to. Malcolm was to see that they did not.
I could see Malcolm understood Caesar.
After that, the humans came into our sanctuary by invitation for the first time. Caesar led them up to the high place and gestured at the horizon.
“The lights,” he said.
And they were there, for the first time in many winters. Blue Eyes and those of his generation had never seen them. For them, it was as if stars had descended to earth.
It was a good night. Until it suddenly wasn’t.
What Koba Did
After Caesar dominated and shamed him at the dam, something broke in Koba. It had been damaged for a long time, this thing. It would never have fully healed, but if the humans hadn’t returned—if Caesar hadn’t worked with them—it might have stayed merely injured. Koba might have lived out his life with us as his family and died of old age surrounded by those who loved him.
But instead this thing in him shattered, and he decided to kill Caesar.
Koba never told Caesar about the guns in the human city. He told Grey and Stone not to tell, either. After his fight with Caesar, he went back to the gun place. Grey told us that again Koba played the fool, lulling the humans into letting down their guard. Then he took one of their guns and killed them.
Carrying the gun, Koba returned to the village. As we admired the lights with Malcolm and the others, Koba climbed up the cliffside, like a spider, full of venom, bent on doing harm. Meanwhile, Grey and Stone set fire to our village. The village we built together, to protect our children. But no one saw them do it. It was part of Koba’s plan.
And then we heard a single, loud gunshot. We saw Caesar stagger. Saw him fall from the cliff.
Then all was confusion. Apes were screaming, jumping about. Blue Eyes found the gun on a crag and brought it up to show everyone.
Human gun! he shouted.
I didn’t know who shot Caesar. For all I knew, it was a human. But I also knew Malcolm, Ellie, and Alexander weren’t to blame.
“Run,” I told them. I spoke aloud, to make certain they understood.
Koba lost no time. He took the gun from Blue Eyes and stood on the council stone.
“Humans kill Caesar!” he yelled. “Burn ape home! Go—get them! Apes must attack human city. Fight back! Come. Fight for Caesar!”
He sent the females and young into the woods and prepared the males to attack the human city.
He embraced Blue Eyes. We will avenge your father’s death, he told him.
Koba’s War: River’s Tale
The elders used to tell the story of the Day and Night of Flame, when the humans tried to destroy us with fire. But for me, fire had always been friendly. It warmed us, cooked our food. Fire was like a member of the family.
But now it was eating our home. Koba said the humans did it, and that made sense. Ape fire was peaceful. Human fire was destructive.
Far worse than that, the humans had also killed Caesar. But in some ways, it was almost a relief. Koba and others taught us to hate humans. It didn’t make sense that Caesar would help them. By then we had all heard the story of how the human attacked you, Cornelius, and your brother. It was hard to hold this in our heads and still obey Caesar.
Now we didn’t have to. Caesar was dead, murdered by the very humans he had helped, and Koba was there to tell us what to do. And we did it.
I remember how rage overcame my fear as we ran down to the human city, to the place of the guns. I didn’t like anything about that place. The very smell of it made the hairs of my neck prick up. The hard corners, the metal, the strange stone, the great hollow above were all terrible and unfamiliar. Koba gave us the weapons. I saw him give Blue Eyes one.
I didn’t want one. I wanted to fight the humans with my spear, like an ape. But he said if we didn’t use the guns, we would die.
Making a gun work was simple enough. You just pointed it at what you wanted to kill and pulled a small switch. But then the gun made a sound louder than thunder, and it pushed back, bruising my shoulder. I fell over backward the first time I fired it. In some ways I was more frightened of the gun than of the humans we planned to fight with them. Even now I wish the battle had been spear against spear.
Koba had been to the City before. He knew where to go. We moved quietly until we were close. Then we got ready to charge.
Apes mounted on horses went first. They ran up the street, shooting their guns. The humans shot back from their big square house and from barricades protecting their gate.
At first, I thought Koba and his apes would ride all the way to the gate. I was on foot, firing my gun. I didn’t know if I was hitting anything, because bullets are invisible when you shoot them.
But then the horses began to fall. They tumbled forward, crushing apes beneath their weight. Apes fell, too, br
oken by bullets. Remember that we weren’t used to fighting. Most of us grew up during the long peace. Our charge, which seemed so mighty to begin with, began to break apart. Apes found whatever cover they could; the gorillas dragged the wounded to safety.
Now my rage was fading, and fear was coming back. The humans were too good at this. We were going to lose.
Already the number of dead staggered me. Until then, I had seen only a few dead apes, killed by age or disease. Now there were already more than I could count. I couldn’t believe it was real.
I saw Koba was still on his horse. He had a gun in each hand and was trying to start the charge again. Something exploded, and fire was everywhere. Apes burned like torches. Some kept running, not knowing they were dead.
But others got up and followed Koba. One of the gorillas hurled something burning at the humans, and it, too, exploded. That either killed or sent fleeing the humans guarding the doors to the building. Koba led us forward.
Then something started shooting at us from behind.
It was a machine, something like a car or truck, but armored like a giant turtle. A man on top of it was shooting a big gun stuck to it. But the machine also had a very big gun that was making more explosions. One of those hit something near me, and for a little while I didn’t know anything at all. When my vision came back, I couldn’t hear anything. But I saw Koba, on his horse, riding straight at the turtle machine.
It seemed impossible that he didn’t get shot. I waited, thinking that in the next heartbeat he would fall from his horse. Instead, he leapt from his saddle onto the machine, beat the man on top to death, then dove into the hole in the top of the thing.
Meanwhile, the gorillas were battering down the gate to the human fortress.
The machine continued in the way it had been going, only now Koba was using the gun stuck on top of it to kill humans. A few minutes later it hit the gate, finishing the job the gorillas began.
We were inside.
The humans with guns were either dead or gone, but there were hundreds of them that were unarmed. They were screaming, trying to get away. But Koba didn’t want them to get away. He wanted us to catch them, make them prisoners. Put them in cages, as he had been caged.
How Ape Killed Ape: Spear’s Tale
I remember Blue Eyes. He looked bewildered, staring around at all the dead apes. Ash started to follow Koba, but Blue Eyes stopped him.
I stopped, too. I was starting to feel sick. My arms and legs were shaking. I began helping with the wounded. Human and ape screams filled the air.
Caesar was dead. Now many of us were dead. More than I could count. How had attacking the humans made anything better? But I told myself that if we hadn’t fought, we would all be dead. The females and the little ones, too. That was what Koba said, and I believed him. I had to. It was the only way any of it made sense.
Koba saw me tending the wounded and ordered me to come with him. He found Blue Eyes and Ash, too.
Many of the humans fled to another building. Koba led us after them. It was a big place, with steps leading up, something like those that went up to Caesar’s dwelling, but made of stone.
One human was guarding the others, swinging a heavy metal club at Blue Eyes and Ash. I was behind them. I had my gun, but it didn’t occur to me to use it then. I was still trying to understand what was happening. Why were we capturing the humans? We had beaten them, killed many. What use did we have for captives?
Koba came up behind the man, took his club away, and shoved him down. Then he handed the club to Ash.
“Kill him,” Koba told Ash, pointing at the human.
Ash looked unsure, but he walked toward the man, who just kept saying, “No,” over and over.
Go ahead, Ash, Koba said. Make humans pay.
Ash looked submissive, but he stopped.
Caesar wouldn’t want this, he said. He dropped the club.
For a moment, Koba just stood there. Then he put his arm on Ash’s shoulder, as if making a friendly gesture.
But then Ash screamed. Koba pulled him, struggling, up the stairs by the hair of his neck. When he reached the high place at the top, he hurled poor Ash over. He hit the ground with an awful sound, and he never moved again.
For all of the years of my life, every day at Maurice’s rock, we heard these words.
Ape not kill ape.
Apes together, strong.
Knowledge is power.
And yet we had all just seen ape kill ape. The world was shucked inside out like a skinned squirrel, and nothing we thought we knew was true anymore.
“Caesar gone,” Koba said. “Apes follow Koba now.”
Blue Eyes pretended to be loyal to Koba so he wasn’t put in a cage. I pretended, too.
How Ape Caged Ape
When Rocket heard about Ash, I was with him. At first, he didn’t believe it. He had to see the body. It had to be some other ape.
When he saw the broken body, the life since fled from it, he lost his mind.
Where Koba! he roared.
But Koba’s supporters were ready. They seized Rocket. They seized me, too, although I did not resist. Then they took us to Koba.
Rocket was still trying to fight when they brought us before him.
He made a cage from a big human car—a bus—and put us in it. Rocket, me, Luca—any ape he thought might remain loyal to Caesar. Ape had killed ape. Now ape had caged ape.
What Happened to Caesar
We all thought Caesar was dead. We heard the shot. We saw him fall.
But he wasn’t dead. He lay below the cliff, his mind moving in and out of darkness. He heard the distant shouting, smelled his village burning.
Mostly he remembered Koba, on the cliff, pointing the gun at him. Even then, he didn’t believe what was happening. Even when the bullet pierced his body and agony sped through him—even then he couldn’t believe Koba would shoot him.
Now he dreamed of Koba’s eye, so full of hatred. Hanging on the cliffside, Koba almost hadn’t looked like an ape at all.
Caesar knew he was dying. He didn’t have the strength to rise. Worst of all, he knew he had failed. He had failed because he had believed—believed through to his bones—that apes were better than humans. Humans had all but destroyed themselves, while apes worked together to survive. Ape would not kill ape.
That was over now. That illusion was shattered. Apes were no better than humans. They were doomed to repeat all the mistakes of humanity, and maybe even invent their own. Caesar knew what Koba was doing. No one had seen Koba but him. The other apes would think a human had shot him. And they would take revenge for his death. Koba would see to that.
His eyes lost focus, but he could tell it was morning as the light came through the leaves.
He thought he was dreaming again when he saw the human woman, Ellie, staring at him. But when she started calling for Malcolm, he realized she must be real.
The humans lifted him up and put him in the back of their truck. Ellie put his hand on his wound and told him to press. She told him to rest.
“My son,” he managed to say. “My family. Where?”
“I don’t know,” Ellie replied.
He closed his eyes. He heard Malcolm ask if Caesar would live. Ellie wasn’t sure.
“I don’t understand,” Malcolm said.
Someone needed to know, Caesar thought, in case he died.
“Ape did this,” Caesar told them.
As they drove into the City, Caesar saw smoke rising. It reminded him of long ago, when he saw the City burning. But then, humans had been fighting humans. Now apes were fighting humans.
He wondered if it was over yet. Who won? Koba found a gun somewhere—did he have more? Or did he lead the apes against guns wielding only spears? Were his sons alive? His wife? Any of them?
Malcolm and his family saw the smoke, too. They were unsure what to do.
But Caesar knew where he was. Much was different; weeds and vines had invaded the streets. Windows were broken, a
nd a few buildings lay in ruins. He was torn. He wanted to go to the smoke. Find out what happened. But he knew he was too weak to do anything. If apes had triumphed, Malcolm and his family would be at risk. If the humans won, they would kill Caesar or take him captive.
They needed a safe place. A place where he could heal. To scout from.
He led them through the now-strange streets of the City until they came to the house he knew so well. From the car he could see his old window, his portal on the world.
He remembered the young ape, so innocent of how terrible the world could be, looking through that glass.
When they carried him in, he almost expected Will and Caroline and Charles to be there. They weren’t, of course. The house was empty. But Will’s things were still there. The chairs. The piano. The pictures.
Malcolm and Ellie laid him on the couch where he used to sit with Charles, where the old man showed him the funny stories and pictures in the paper he read each morning.
Alexander saw the picture right away. It stood with several others on a shelf. A picture of him and Will. Of the only father he had ever known.
“Dad, look,” Alexander said.
They stared at the picture.
“You used to live here?” Malcolm asked.
Caesar nodded. He didn’t have the strength to explain.
Ellie said she didn’t have the medicine she needed to heal Caesar, that it was back at the human colony.
“I’ll go,” Malcolm said.
“It’s not safe,” Ellie said.
He looked down at Caesar. “He’s the only one who can stop this.”
After Malcolm left, Caesar turned to Ellie.
“Tell me,” he said.
She told him what she knew. How the apes believed a human shot him, as he already suspected. How Blue Eyes found the gun and raised it up, and how I told them to run. They did run, in the dark, through the forest, but they heard the apes overtaking them. They managed to hide and stayed hidden all night. Ellie didn’t know what the apes did after their escape, but it looked as if the village had burned completely.