My Little Bird | Blue Eyes (Under minor grammatical editing)

Chapter 13

Fog swirled around me, dark as smoke. Sounds were all around me, muddled and overlapped to the point where I couldn't make out one mutilated voice from the other. It blared around me, echoing in a deafening cacophony. My heart rate picked up and my breathing quickened as my eyes darted around, paranoia dripping icicles of fear into my stomach. The fog parted in front of me and ashy colored figures with smudged faces and features flocked around in front of me. They rushed to and fro like a flock of birds. Fear infused and induced tears brimmed in my eyes, and all of a sudden my body got hot. Heat cocooned me to the point where I thought I had been placed in an oven.

But suddenly a thunderous boom sounded, and a rush of more hot air came crashing over me, knocking me off my feet like a rogue wave. I hit the ground with a frightened cry as pain shot up from my tailbone to my spine. The ashen figures returned as the smoky fog swirled around my waist and a new set of sounds rang out. The figures dissipated and left two, standing facing each other with a ten foot distance between them.

"Rain!" My name was called out in a youthfully deep, husky voice that almost made me dizzy with the way it pronounced my name. The figures then dashed at each other, and when they met in the middle they embraced. The smaller of the two was picked up and spun around before being placed back on its feet and hugged again. Before any more could happen, the figures dissipated into wispy vapors. The charcoal colored fog moved in again, like ornate oak doors to a mansion, shutting luminously closed, locking away the buildings secrets.

Then a voice rang out, louder than the rest. "Daddy!" A girl breathed. But as soon as it came, it was gone and I was left trying to get to my feet. The earth started shaking and trembling like a leaf in a windstorm. I staggered about, arms fanned out trying to balance myself out, but at one point the earth seemed to tip like a boat riding a lopsided wave, and I tumbled to my side. When the earthquake stopped its rumbling, the smell of fire burned my nose with its acrid scent, and I looked around fearfully for the source of the flames. I could see nothing, but was distracted by a scream that was not human. It was oddly familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint the memory in which I'd heard it before. I couldn't figure out the epicenter of the scream either, and I hopped to my feet, afraid that the creature that had sounded the angry call would find me. More screaming filled my ears, and like the first, they were not human. But the screams didn't just project anger, many resonated fear and frenzied confusion. I covered my ears and ducked my head, thinking that somehow if I couldn't hear it, the sounds would disappear. My hands did nothing to help, but suddenly, all the noise ceased and I wondered if the ringing in my ears meant I had gone deaf as my hands dropped to grip each other in front of my chest.

Then, a deep, almost booming tone growled the word. "Run."

The smoky fog cleared again like the opening of the curtains at a play to reveal another, single ashen figure. In its hand was a black object, and it didn't take me long to recognize it as a gun. I gasped and took a step back. My heart skipped a beat the moment before the barrel lit up and a loud BANG! sounded.

I could still hear the echoes of the gunshot in my head even as I snapped awake. My chest heaved and my heart pounded and when the blood stopped rushing in my ears, I found that I could still hear the echo, though barely. Then the air was filled with shrieks and screeches, and I jumped out of my hammock, almost tripping over a blanket when doing so, and approached the vines that divided me from the rest of the colony. I pulled back the hanging vegetation to peek outside, and quickly dropped it away with a gasp when a dark blur sped past, down the spiral staircase of the Home Tree. I poked my head out again and seen a figure that, coming from that direction, could only have been Caesar lope out the village gates, along with a large wave of males rushing after the king. That's when I realized the gunshot sound hadn't just been in my nightmare, the apes had heard it as well.