He was right, and the gorilla soon died. They butchered it while the rest of its family looked on. None of the apes really seemed to know what had happened.
The thing that had just looked down at him was not like that. The fierce intelligence, the will and purpose, were all there. And they were far from childlike.
That was him, he thought. The leader.
“They went for it,” Corbin said.
Clancy was just staring at the apes as they quickly receded from view.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen one, since we started this whole thing,” she said. “A live one, I mean. I was starting to doubt they really existed.” She turned to Malakai. “Did you see…?”
He nodded.
“It’s amazing. I wish I could just study this… this… whatever is happening. It could change everything we know about apes. About ourselves.”
“Whatever,” Corbin said dismissively. “Which way?”
“Where’s the capture team?” Clancy asked.
“We call them in when we find the herd,” he said.
“This way,” Malakai said. “Quickly.”
He heard the choppers in the distance.
Suddenly a group of chimps went racing off in front of them, screeching at the tops of their lungs. A couple of the men shot at them with their tranq guns, but he didn’t think they hit any of their targets.
“Ignore them!” Malakai said. “They’re just trying to distract us. Push on.”
“The choppers think they have them spotted,” Corbin said, holding one hand up to an earpiece. “But they want visual confirmation from the ground.”
The apes in the trees buzzed at them again, but this time no one fired.
“There are signs everywhere,” Malakai muttered, looking around, seeing the remains of nests, the scuffed areas. “They were here, not long ago. A lot of them.”
“They’re on the move again.”
“Yes,” Malakai said, “but this time there are too many for them to hide their movements.”
The helicopters were already there when Caesar arrived, yet they weren’t doing anything, as far as he could see.
Maurice had the troop in motion, but some still were not moving very quickly. Caesar was raging at himself for letting his own tricks be used against him, and terrified that more apes would be killed. What’s more, it was abundantly clear that the men on foot would find the troop this time, and soon.
With a shiver, he realized that he didn’t have a choice. He had misled the humans as much as he could. After the battle on the bridge, he hadn’t wanted to fight again. He just wanted to be left alone. But that wasn’t going to be possible.
Overhead, the helicopters turned and began to fly away. Caesar watched them, wondering why. But without the helicopters…
It could be a trick.
He didn’t have a choice.
He started moving through the troop, picking out the strongest and fastest.
Malakai noticed that he no longer heard the sound of the helicopters. He couldn’t decide if that was a good or a bad thing.
Corbin had noticed it, too, and was on his two-way, arguing with somebody.
That’s when, looking up, Malakai caught the motion in the trees, a glimpse of rust. Then another, this one black, surely a chimp.
“They’re here,” he said, his voice low. The treetops were rustling violently now as the branches above them filled with apes. He saw the orangutans first, moving almost like giant spiders above them. Then more chimps were there, frenetic, bouncing from tree to tree, screeching.
Tens of apes, maybe more than a hundred of them. Realizing what was missing, he shifted his gaze to look through the boles of the trees, searching for the ground troops. And there they were, the gorillas—not acting as gorillas should, but prowling, moving from the cover of one tree to the next.
“Do not shoot,” Malakai said, softly.
“Oh, shit,” Flores gasped, suddenly understanding the situation.
“They’re just apes,” Corbin snarled. “Keep it together.”
“Where’s the friggin’ air support?” Kyung demanded.
“It’s been recalled,” Corbin said. “I can’t get a straight answer as to why.”
“They’re recalling us, too, right?” Flores said.
“They said for us to proceed at my discretion.”
“If you tranq one of them, you’ll have to fight them all,” Malakai said.
“I’ve called everyone else in. They’ll be here in ten minutes.”
Malakai continued searching through the trees, watching the numbers grow.
“That could be a very long ten minutes.”
“Yeah,” Flores said. “And another, what, fifteen guys? Maybe if more of us had real guns, instead of Sleepy Joes…”
He looked significantly at Corbin, the only one carrying a real assault rifle.
Overhead, one of the orangs made a long call, and that set off the chimps, who began screeching even louder. Sticks began pelting down. Not big ones, but lots of them.
Malakai watched the nearest gorilla. It was staring at him as if it knew everything he had done in his life. It did not have the dull intelligence he remembered. Like the chimp he had seen earlier, this ape was different.
Clancy saw it, too.
“It’s not just one of them that’s smart,” she said. “It’s all of them.”
“I say you’d better use your ‘discretion’ to check our asses out of here, Corbin.” Flores said, his voice edged with panic.
“They’re just monkeys, damn it,” Corbin snapped.
“Don’t,” Malakai said.
As he said it, a group of chimps seemed to explode out of the mid-canopy. For an instant, the one leading them looked as shocked as anyone. Then a gunshot detonated, so near it set his ears ringing. One of the chimps screamed and tumbled from the tree, falling almost at Corbin’s feet. Before anyone could react, another chimp leapt down, knocking Corbin to the ground and sending his rifle flying.
The newcomer was a nightmarish customer, with one milky eye and a visage filled with sheer malevolence. It was a kind of face Malakai was all too used to seeing, had seen many times on people whose hatred for another tribe or religion transcended all rational bounds. Everyone seemed frozen as the ape slouched toward Corbin. In that moment, it could easily have torn the mercenary’s throat out.
But instead the one-eyed chimp backed away, although it seemed reluctant.
The cacophony from the trees suddenly cut off, leaving them with a surreal silence that was almost claustrophobic. Flores started to pull his weapon up, but Malakai slapped it down.
“Are you insane?” he hissed.
The half-blind ape went over to the wounded one and pulled it up. He lifted it onto his shoulder, all the time staring at Corbin and the others. Then he turned his back, as if daring them to shoot him, before swinging unhurriedly into a tree and climbing away, carrying his fallen comrade.
“Let’s… get… the hell… out of here!” Flores said.
Malakai picked up Corbin’s gun, keeping the barrel carefully pointed to the ground. He reached out a hand to Corbin, who ignored it and scrambled up under his own power. The apes had remained silent. But suddenly from the midst of them came a single screech.
And the rest seemed to explode—the chimps screaming, the gorillas growling threats, the orangutans hooting with what seemed to be derision. But Malakai hardly noticed them. It was their unity, their singleness of purpose that sent prickles down his spine. One glance at Clancy told him that she felt it, as well.
“Yeah,” Corbin said. “We’re out.”
For a long moment, Malakai wondered if that was even an option anymore. But as they backed away, the apes just watched them retreat.