Planet of the Apes: Caesar's Story

by Maurice

  Alexander was still looking around. After a moment, he came back with the picture.

  “Who was he?” he asked.

  “Will,” Caesar said. “Caesar father.”

  “Father,” Alexander said. “You were raised by humans. Then why—”

  “Apes not free,” Caesar sighed. “Saw how badly some were treated.”

  Alexander nodded. “Sorry,” he said.

  “Not you,” Caesar said.

  The human seemed to understand.

  Caesar slept. And while he slept, Malcolm went looking for the medicine, deep into the part of the City where Koba and the other apes were. Where Blue Eyes was.

  Blue Eyes Fools Grey

  Blue Eyes was still pretending to follow Koba. He told us later that he was confused about what he should do. He hated Koba now, but he was afraid of him. Many apes were like that.

  It was seeing us in our cage that finally made him understand, I believe, how wrong things had gone. That he had to do something.

  I told Blue Eyes to protect himself. Koba liked him now, the son of dead Caesar, now following Koba. It sent the right signal to apes who were still unsure. But if Blue Eyes showed any doubt, it might occur to Koba that the son of Caesar would one day be a potential rival. And Koba had shown what he was willing to do to stay in power.

  Apes captured many humans, but some were still free. Koba sent bands all over the City, searching for them. Grey told me later that Koba eventually intended to kill them, but first he wanted the secrets of their weapons and machines. Koba had no intention of returning to the forest, or any forest. He wanted to rule the City.

  Blue Eyes was on one of these patrols when he saw Malcolm.

  He was surprised. He assumed apes had killed Malcolm and the other humans, back in the forest. But Malcolm was there, hiding from one of Koba’s patrols. Blue Eyes slipped in behind him, as the other apes moved off in another direction.

  Then Malcolm turned and saw him.

  Blue Eyes lowered his gun to point at Malcolm. This man was responsible, wasn’t he? The one who brought the humans into the forest?

  Malcolm was shaking his head no. He looked scared.

  Blue Eyes couldn’t take it anymore. His father was dead. Ash was dead. And Koba—was not who he had believed Koba to be. He could not be both Caesar’s son and Koba’s follower. He began to walk away.

  “Wait,” Malcolm whispered. “Your father. He’s alive.”

  Blue Eyes didn’t know if it was true. The human could be lying to save himself. Without his help, Malcolm would probably still get caught. He studied the human. His eyes were so much like ape eyes. Could he tell if a human was lying?

  But if there was any chance it was true, Blue Eyes had to take it.

  With so many apes around, there was only one thing to do. He pretended to take Malcolm prisoner.

  The other apes screeched in the human’s face when Blue Eyes brought him into the street, but they let Blue Eyes keep his prize.

  Not much later they ran into Grey. Grey grinned.

  Good catch, he signed.

  Take to Koba, Blue Eyes gestured back.

  But Grey was watching him. Grey seemed suspicious.

  Blue Eyes pushed Malcolm in the back hard enough to make him groan. Grey looked satisfied and turned away.

  Blue Eyes continued on with Malcolm, until a chance came to turn, and turn again, until the sounds of apes and humans were far behind them.

  Caesar was awake when Malcolm returned with the medicine.

  And with Blue Eyes.

  It was the first moment of relief Caesar had had since the bullet slipped into his body. The first thing that had gone right. If everything else was lost, at least Blue Eyes still lived.

  The boy was carrying a gun, but as he saw Caesar he eased it gently to the floor and came to him.

  “Your mother,” Caesar panted. “Brother. Safe?”

  For now, Blue Eyes said.

  For now. Caesar needed to know more about that. What that meant.

  Blue Eyes was staring at Caesar’s wound. He spun in an instant, baring his teeth at the humans.

  “No,” Caesar said. “Not human. Koba.”

  Blue Eyes stepped back, eyes wide. He said later that some part of him already knew the truth. But it was a hard thing to know. It only made him feel more responsible.

  Caesar knew that he might die, even after Ellie worked on him. He could see that she was worried.

  “Son,” he said. He held out his hand.

  Blue Eyes gripped it.

  Family, he thought, as he closed his eyes.

  When he opened his eyes again, he knew where he was, but he couldn’t remember what was happening. He thought he was three again, wondered where Will was, why his chest hurt so much.

  He saw another chimp, and after a few painful breaths recognized Blue Eyes. He was holding the picture of Will and Caesar.

  Then he remembered Ellie cutting the bullet out of him. The oblivion, the emptiness that followed.

  Now he was filled again. With his son.

  I’m so sorry, Blue Eyes said. For everything.

  Caesar shook his head. “No,” he said. “I am to blame.”

  But Koba betrayed you, Blue Eyes said.

  “I chose to trust him, because he is ape,” Caesar told his son. “I always think ape better than human. I see now how much like them we are.”

  He let Blue Eyes understand that. Then it was time to swing forward.

  “Where Koba now?” he asked.

  On human tower, Blue Eyes said. Loyal apes around him.

  “And those who not follow?” Caesar asked.

  Prisoners, Blue Eyes said. Maurice. Rocket. More.

  He saw his son’s face well with sorrow.

  Koba killed Ash, Blue Eyes said. Fear makes others follow. But when they see you alive, they will turn from Koba.

  “Not if I am weak,” Caesar said. “Ape always seek strongest branch. I must do something to stop him.”

  Caesar’s Plan

  I expected my own story to end soon enough. Why Koba kept us alive even that long, I don’t know. Maybe he thought some who had lingering allegiance to Caesar might serve him if they thought we would remain unharmed. Perhaps he merely wanted us imprisoned to remind him of his victory. Koba was not a simple ape. He had once loved Caesar as much as he was capable of loving anyone. I think that when love twists into hatred, it can make for strange thoughts.

  More humans were dragged into the prison Koba had erected nearby. We waited. Rocket was like the shell left behind by the insects that whir in their season. Hollow. All life flown away. He would probably welcome death when Koba brought it around.

  The windows of the bus cage were damp and dirty. It was difficult to see through some of them. I heard a slight noise and saw someone outside of the bus was marking on a window with their finger. A circle, with a four-pointed star inside.

  I knew the sign. It was Caesar’s sign, the one he had marked on the wall when he first arrived at the shelter. The one that reminded him of home.

  Rocket saw it. It changed him a little. Brought him back to the world. Like me, he realized something was happening. Something hopeful.

  We looked around and finally saw Blue Eyes, hiding where our captors couldn’t see him. He signed for us to remain silent. But he told us everything we needed to know. That Caesar was not dead, and that it was Koba who shot him. By that time, it was no surprise to me. Caesar was alive, recovering, and he needed us. Blue Eyes told us the plan.

  We waited until near sundown. A new group of humans was herded down the street and pushed inside of a fence. The time had come ripe.

  We started smashing out the bus windows. Guards loyal to Koba rushed to the bus and began trying to beat us through the windows. The human crowd, seeing some of their tormenters leave, began pushing back against the guards.

  I snapped my chains and stuck my arms through the broken window, grabbing one of the guards. Then all of us began throwing our
weight first to this side, then to that, rocking the bus until it toppled over, crushing our guards beneath it.

  Ape had killed ape. There was no returning now.

  Blue Eyes climbed onto the side of the bus, which was now the top. He yanked the door open and we began to climb out. A guard in the wall shot at us. Blue Eyes fired back until we had all escaped.

  With the guards gone, the humans came out of their fence like a heard of wild cows. We used their numbers to hide our escape.

  As we escaped and Malcolm, Ellie, and Alexander took their rest, Caesar climbed back up into his old room. Everything was still there. The chessboard, his old toys. The machine that captured moving images. He turned it on, and it came to life. It showed him sitting in his chair. Will was teaching him the word for apple, and the word for home. He smiled at the memory.

  He had tried not to think too much about Will over the years. He usually dismissed the subject when I brought it up. But Will was his father, in every important way. And there, back in the house where they had lived together, he could no longer keep thoughts of the man at bay. To feel sorrow, to accept he would never see Will again.

  As he thought about that, someone approached. The little chimp in Caesar thought it might be Will. It seemed as if it should be. But it was Malcolm.

  “Who was that?” Malcolm asked. “On the video?”

  “A good man,” Caesar said. “Like you.”

  Just then, Caesar heard hooting outside. He went to his window. Where he had once seen human children playing, he now saw us.

  He came down and embraced us. Now we were his army. A very small army preparing to fight a much bigger one.

  The trouble was getting to the tower where Koba ruled. It was the highest spot in the area, and the top part of it wasn’t enclosed by walls. It was just girders and beams. Malcolm said it wasn’t finished, that humans stopped building it when the disease came. Perhaps that was one reason Koba liked it. He was unfinished, also. He had not grown right.

  Malcolm said he could get us there through underground tunnels. Once more Caesar placed his trust in a human. But Malcolm had earned that trust.

  We told Caesar what had happened, that Koba sent for the females and the young. Including Cornelia. He was abandoning the woods and moving the entire troop to the City.

  There could be no more delay.

  Malcolm led us in tunnels beneath the City. Caesar set the pace, but it was a pace I saw he had trouble keeping. He was weak. I worried what would happen when he met Koba. If we even got that far.

  Before we reached the tower, someone in the tunnel began shooting at us. We took cover, and in a whisper to us, Malcolm told us to go up the nearby stairs.

  “They will bring you out and up under the street, okay? Go.”

  “Thank you,” Caesar said.

  “Trust,” Malcolm said, an echo of Caesar’s words in the woods. A promise.

  As we left, I heard Malcolm tell the human down the tunnel that he was coming out, and not to shoot him. I hoped all would go well with him. But we had our own worries.

  The stairs took us to just below the tower. There were no guards in sight; we had slipped beneath them, as Caesar hoped. Caesar found a ladder and began climbing.

  It wasn’t easy for him. This was not the Caesar we knew: strong, unstoppable. This did not seem like the Caesar who could beat Koba. But we went with him. He told us this was his fight. That any of us could leave if we wanted.

  We did not. Any of us would have died for Caesar.

  As we climbed higher, the apes above began to notice us. They began to call and hoot-pant alarm.

  We went in front, with Caesar behind us. More apes came to challenge us, but we stood firm, shoulder to shoulder. Gorilla. Orangutan. Chimps. Caesar wanted to be close before the others saw him.

  When it was time, we let him through.

  Caesar and Koba Fight Again

  Now Caesar looked strong. He stood like he used to, his commanding gaze sweeping around all those apes on the tower. This was the Caesar they all remembered. He showed no sign of pain, injury, or exhaustion.

  All of the apes fell silent. None of them attacked. They waited to see what happened as Koba descended, a gun clutched in his hands. Caesar walked out on a narrow beam and waited for Koba. Below him was nothing but a drop far greater than the fall from the cliff he had survived.

  For long moments, Koba’s mouth worked. Sounds came forth that were not words.

  “Caesar has no place here,” he finally grunted. “Apes follow Koba now.”

  “Follow Koba to war,” Caesar said.

  “Apes win war! Apes together, strong! Caesar weak.”

  Your father stared at him. Saw his doubt. Smelled the human alcohol on his breath. I remember a story Koba told me, about a man who drank that stuff all the time. Sometimes he made Koba drink it. It hurt his throat and nose, but it also made him feel good. He said it also made apes—and humans—stupid.

  “Koba, weaker,” Caesar said.

  Koba looked at his gun. Considered it. Dropped it.

  The fight began.

  Koba started strong. He battered Caesar, but from somewhere Caesar found strength he shouldn’t have had. He later told me it came from us, from those depending on him.

  They came together again in a confusing flurry of blows. Koba sought to throw Caesar from the beams, but Caesar gripped him and they both fell, crashing into a platform below. Caesar fell clear, but Koba plunged into a cache of metal rods. When he stood, he clutched his side; his face showed pain. I saw blood. One of the rods had stabbed him.

  Now they were both wounded.

  Koba took up one of the rods and came after Caesar, wielding it like a club. Weaponless, Caesar was at first only able to evade Koba’s furious blows. Koba pushed him back.

  Finally, Caesar stumbled upon a sheet of metal. He held it as both weapon and shield.

  They stood there, facing one another.

  “Trusted Koba like brother,” Caesar said.

  “Caesar brother to human,” Koba snarled, and struck at him.

  Caesar blocked with his shield.

  “Koba fight for ape! Free ape!” Koba yelled.

  He beat at Caesar, again and again, until his weapon lodged in a metal plate.

  “Kill ape!” Caesar accused. “Koba fight for Koba!”

  Koba screamed, yanked his weapon free, and came at Caesar again.

  “Koba belong in cage,” Caesar said.

  He knew what that would do to Koba. That it would enrage him so much he would lose control. Koba drew back for a killing blow. Too far back. He exposed his fresh wound, and Caesar punched it. While Koba was stunned Caesar hit him again, knocked his club from his hands and began raining blows on the other ape.

  They parted again. Both looked weaker, but then Caesar stood straight.

  Koba slammed into a scaffold of wood and steel. It toppled, destroying the floor they stood upon, sending them both into space once more. This time, each of them caught a rope, and they continued the fight swinging through the air.

  Then the tower shuddered beneath our feet. Everything swayed, and fire and smoke boiled up from the hollow core of the building. All the human work around us began to collapse. I thought the entire structure might be falling, like a heart-rotted tree in a strong wind.

  If things had gone differently, it would have.

  Below us, humans were placing bombs at the roots of the tower. They knew most of the apes were up above them, perched on the beams. They knew if they knocked the tower down, they would kill most of the apes.

  These were the humans who had called out to us, whom Malcolm had answered. And while Caesar fought above, Malcolm had his own fight below. Fortunately for us, he won. The explosion happened before all the bombs were in place.

  Still, much of the half-finished tower collapsed, taking the apes with it. Many who had survived the battle with humans died, crushed by wood and metal.

  Caesar forgot about the fight. Apes were hurt, i
n danger. He ran about, lifting wreckage from those pinned beneath. Blue Eyes helped him. Rocket, Luca, and I did, too. Soon, all of those who were able began assisting the wounded.

  All but Koba. Koba didn’t care about any of us. He found a gun and began shooting at Caesar, unconcerned that there were other apes around him. One of his bullets hit Furaha, giving Caesar time to find cover. And that is how Furaha died, protecting his king.

  It was too much.

  Other apes began throwing things at Koba, who was below us shooting up. Koba responded by shooting at all of us. A bullet grazed my head. Fortunately, my skull is thick, but still I collapsed from the pain and shock. Luca and Rocket tried to help me, and Koba began shooting at them, too.

  Caesar came out from behind his shelter. He saw Koba would kill us if he didn’t do something.

  He hurled himself toward Koba, who was dozens of ape-lengths below.

  Koba saw him but didn’t have time to bring his gun around and shoot. Caesar crashed into Koba with such force that for a moment he was stunned himself.

  When he regained his feet, Koba was hanging over a precipice by one hand, trying to pull himself up.

  Caesar stood over him, staring down at this ape who had once been one of us. Once been our friend.

  Koba stared back at Caesar.

  “Ape not kill ape,” Koba said.

  Caesar reached down. He took Koba by the arm.

  I know he was torn in that moment. That ape should not kill ape was our sacred law. Koba had broken it, but it might be repaired. But not if Caesar broke it.

  He looked around him, seeing what Koba had wrought. Rocket, without his son. Me, wounded by Koba’s bullet. Countless other dead and injured.

  He turned back to Koba.

  “You are not ape,” Caesar said.

  Then he let Koba go. Koba screamed in rage, and then he was gone.

  Why We Stayed in the City

  We descended the broken tower, down into the building the humans had used for their colony. It was now full of apes. Caesar had returned to them; he had shown his strength. They welcomed him like the king he was.