They Called Her Fay Wray

chapter 13

Time meant nothing to Koba. He no longer counted the days. Crouching in the back of yet another hard unyielding cage, he waited for the next round of pain to begin. Koba could not remember the last time he saw natural sunlight or smelled fresh air on his face or felt grass beneath his feet. His entire world consisted of his cage, long twisting corridors, and strange humans with bright lights around cold hard examination tables.

... and pain. Pain was never far away anymore. His life with Tommy was never pain free. It was Tommy's favorite method of punishment. It was his favorite method of amusing himself. but since they captured him after Tommy's death, things were so much worse.

In the earliest days of his exile, Koba used to wish he had not tried so hard to run. If he had surrendered easily, gone quietly the way Milo did, would he be in a better place now? Would he be with Milo—wherever that was? Or would they let him go back to Amanda and her family?

Koba touched his permanently damaged eye and winced with the memory of searing agony. What good would he be to Amanda anymore even if they sent him back? He was half blind himself so how could he protect her? He was useless to her now, but he knew that would not matter to his little Amanda.

Koba never regretted attacking that one man, though, the one who was going to hurt Amanda. He regretted not killing him, that was all. After all, if he was going to get in this much trouble and be hurt for the rest of his life, he might as well have killed the man and been done with it. Anyone who would hurt a child deserved to die. No, he was right to attack the bad man. It was probably a bad idea to attack the good man who tried to help, and Koba figured that was the unforgivable thing he did to make the humans punish him.

Does she ever think of me? Does she know when I hurt? Koba wondered. I don't want her to know how much I hurt.

Koba knew that Amanda was special. She could feel and hear and know things other humans did not know, and it worried him that she might feel his pain. He tried to keep that from happening. He tried not to deliberately think of his dear little blind friend, but sometimes, when the pain and loneliness got too bad, Amanda crept into his mind, and he could not stop the bittersweet memories. He remembered playing around the house and in the backyard. He remembered walking with her, guiding her around dangers and towards places she wanted to go, but mostly what he remembered was cuddling up with her in bed—he had his own bed and his own side of the huge room, but he usually curled up with Amanda in her bed. He remembered playing their tickle game, where they would tickle each other and see who could keep from laughing the longest. He always lost, but that did not matter. And he remembered brushing her long soft hair, and the one time he tried to braid it. He knew he had done a terrible job, but Amanda only laughed and hugged and kissed him for it.

And who took care of Amanda now? That was the question always in the back of Koba's mind, and while he hoped and wanted for her to find a new guide and protector, he also began to hate this unknown stranger for taking his rightful place.

The human footsteps were coming closer again. Koba sat up and forced a smile and signed to these humans, but as usual, they stared right through him. Did they not understand what he was saying to them? No, they just did not care. As the humans urged him onto the rolling hard bed and strapped him down, Koba did not struggle. He lay quietly and kept his thoughts to himself.

When I get out, and I will get out somehow, Koba vowed. I will find Amanda, and nothing or no one will take her from me again. If they know what's good for them, they better not even try! I will fight for her this time. I will kill if I have to.

With that thought locked firmly in his mind, Koba braced himself for more human given pain.

As Koba languished somewhere in the Gen Sys labs, Amanda was meeting one of her friends at the San Francisco Zoo. She entered the gorilla's enclosure to her usual warm and loving greeting by Luca and his immediate family, and after passing an inspection by the oldest female, the girl took a seat on a large rock in the center of the enclosure. The littlest gorillas and Amanda had developed a game where they would try to sneak up on her and touch her arm or shoulder and see who could run away before Amanda could grab and tickle them.