Jordon snapped awake and wiped the sweat from his head in the days since Caesar's stint he found himself unable to sleep memories of hearing Trish screaming in agony down a phone had been plaguing his subconscious mind since they'd found her and although he constantly reminded himself that she had been giving birth when the apes escaped the memory of hearing their friend in pain was one that would stick with Jordon and the others for the rest of their lives sitting up he checked his phone and saw that it was twenty to one roughly the same time Trish's waters broke groaning he sat up and looked at his girlfriend who was for the moment sleeping peacefully
Yawning he slipped out of bed and left the room going downstairs he took a moment to marvel at how steady their lives had become down in the kitchen he found an old photo from a Christmas long forgotten they had got matching jumpers and gone to a place that took family photos he remembered laughing and joking with his friends and the more he remembered the more he understood that they were not friends but family and as much as it saddened him he felt like they had lost a member of their family when Caesar struck out on his own some six days ago to lead his kin to freedom he chuckled quietly to himself as he found himself drawn to the TV curiosity getting the better of him he chose to cruise through a couple of news channels for something to do
Making sure the sound was down he was unsurprised to find most of the facts of the events on the bridge were not being reported and everything north of the bridge had been closed off someone he suspected was the police had gone to extreme lengths to keep people from going up to the woods all but the most essential road had been entirely closed off with concrete bollards there had been statements issued by the mayors office and the chief of police to say that numbers of escaped apes which had been close to five hundred and thirty had been greatly exaggerated and the number was actually closer to forty three than anything else
Jordon smiled to himself when the image of Trish briefly flickered across the screen curious to know what people thought of her Jordon risked turning up the sound "what about this woman here now many people said that she was helping the apes but I don't think that's the case cause as you can see if I zoom in yes as you can see she's wearing maternity clothes that appear to be wet so I suspect she was one of the many unfortunate people to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time" the news reporter commented Jordon sniggered and took out a glass of milk from the fridge
"Yeah right cause that's what we want you to think" Jordon muttered turning the sound on mute he went to the window it was still dark outside and Jordon was half expecting a pig or a cow to jump over the moon so much had happened in such a short time shaking his head at the comments Mark had made when he first saw Sofia he turned around and his smile evaporated when he heard Beth jump out of bed upstairs "Jordon Jordon" she shouted
panicked Jordon dropped his glass on the counter and ran to meet her at the bottom of the stairs "what is it what's wrong" Jordon asked eyes flying wide "it's Trish she said Marks missing" Beth exclaimed as she hurtled on a pair of crocs Jordon's mouth went dryer than bone at the thought of the implications "Missing what the hell are you talking about" he asked as they ran out of the door "come on we'll find out more when we get there" Beth stuttered
as the land rover pulled up to the improvised FOB Mark sighed loudly wondering how long it would be before he wound up six feet under his head raced with the memory of seeing his six day old daughter being held at gun point in the trashed nursery the Anvil mercenaries had gone as far as to make it seem like he had gotten drunk and lashed out in rage it was a miracle they didn't wake up the baby as they trashed everything he could remember it clearly he had been feeling sad and had crept into Sofia's nursery to find the shameful sight of Travis GreyStoke holding a gun to his daughter gently he had snatched her back at the same moment as GreyStokes henchmen appeared as though from nowhere
They had threatened him that if he didn't go with them and recapture Caesar and the rest of the apes he could watch as his future wife their daughter and their friends died painfully in the same way Will had and to top it off they would leave him alive to live with the aftermath as the car rolled to a stop he was shoved violently out of the back and frog marched into a military style tent where he was briefed by GreyStoke on what he'd have to do "your going to be our Trojan horse you know the apes best they trust you your going to find out where they're hiding and draw them out so we can capture most of them" Travis stated bluntly Mark scoffed and shook his head
"Not happening i wouldn't help you even if my life depended on it Trish would never forgive me and I sure as hell would never forgive myself so how bout you take that statement and your gun and shove it up your ass" Mark said defiantly the cuffs on his wrist jingled uncomfortably as he sarcastically waved his hands as he spoke GreyStoke rolled his eyes and turned a laptop screen towards him Marks heart dropped to the very pit of his stomach as he watched Trish cradle their screaming child while crying asking why he would do such a thing Marks eyes filled with sorrowful tears as he realised they were not giving him any choice
Above Them Mark closed his ears to the sound of a helicopter taking off presumably to do a sweep of the woods regret fell on him like a piano dropped from a crane as he silently Apologised to his adoptive son deep in the Muri woods Caesar and his second in command Rocket had just made it to the very top of the towering redwoods when they heard the sound of an approaching helicopter alarm bells rang in Caesar's head the sweeps were becoming more frequent over the last day or so and to make matters worse the early morning fog was drifting away from them toward the ocean making way for the sun to expose them "find six and meet me at the edge of the group we need to lead them off" he signed to Rocket
The virtually bald chimp nodded and hurried away to carry out Caesar's orders meanwhile Caesar climbed down to the middle canopy where most of his troop were resting loosing no time he swiftly sought out Maurice and found him resting with other orangs in the centre of the group "humans again" the orang signed Caesar nodded and looked around at the troop who were rallying themselves at the mere sight of him "keep everyone calm stay as quiet as you can and move them deeper into the woods thicker brush" Caesar ordered Maurice nodded and spied Rocket running around below them like a headless chicken
"What are you going to do" Maurice asked as the others crowded closer "me and Rocket will lead the humans as far away from the rest of you as we can then explore our furthest boundaries find out where the humans are and how many are hunting us" Caesar replied gravely Maurice nodded and called out to the others to follow him satisfied that his friend would keep the group out of harms way Caesar scrambled down the tree to the ground where those who were too injured to move were resting the sight of the mass of gorillas orangutans and chimps lying helpless on the foliage infuriated him
But he was careful to hide his rage as he touched the ground he started walking among them when a smaller female came bounding up to him Caesar recognised her as one of the many who had doubted him after their first failed attempt to gain their freedom as she offered her open hand in submission Caesar had to remind himself that she had taken it upon herself to care for and nurse their fallen kin "we need to move helicopter approaching" Caesar signed the shocked look on the females face made Caesar regret that there was no time to rest "we can't move many too weak" she protested Caesar shook his head and added an edge to his signs "I don't like it anymore than you but we don't have any choice if they catch us they're going to kill us"
At that thought the female lowered her eyes to the ground and whimpered quietly Caesar grunted for her attention and offered her a consoling hand "we will be ok" he spoke aloud to get his point across and unlike with the humans it seemed to comfort her rather than shock her above them Rocket called out to him the group Caesar had asked him to gather was waiting for him at the edge of the main troop Caesar gave the female one last pat on her shoulder before sending her away to carry out his orders
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Editors note: hi guys thanks for reading the first instalment of our story pt 2 hope you enjoyed reading it if you haven't read PT 1 you can find it on my profile feedback is appreciated as always more instalments coming soon
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Our story pt2
ActionJoin Trish as she recounts the strange period of her life in which she takes on unimaginable responsibility loses beloved friends and is forced into unspeakable turmoil that pushes her to the very limit of her emotional endurance This book is the s...