eyes of the forest - a kingdom of the planet of the apes story

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙸𝙸𝙸

Panting as you make your way back through the woods, you see your cloak laying in the sand. You slide down the hill and dust it off before slipping it back on. Remembering you dropped your water pouch in the creek, you make your way to the stream to look for it when you hear the ape not far off behind you.

Instead you decide to keep running to put some distance between yourself and the large primate trying to kill you.

~

After walking almost the whole day you collapse against a tree, exhaustion weighing heavily on your body. Confusion swims in your mind as you question why you helped the ape. Part of you knows it was extremely illogical and the other part knows it felt like the right thing to do. Sighing, you reach in your bag for your pouch, feeling thirsty as sweat drips down your forehead.

You inwardly groan as you remember you had dropped it. Deciding it was too much effort to make a new one you go back to the creek to look for it. To your surprise it was sitting up on a rock.

You know you dropped it in the water, so how did it get here? Did the ape put it here? You look around, wondering if this might be a trap. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary you approach your water pouch.

It was now full of fresh water and looked dusted off. You look around suspiciously before dropping the pouch in your bag and running off again.

~

Noa lay on his bear pelt bed that night with his thoughts racing. Why would a human save an ape? Human's don't think about anyone but themselves...But still, he couldn't think of any other reason for why you did what you did.

He hated to admit it, but if it wasn't for you he wouldn't be here right now. There was no way he could make it up that cliff by himself, and when the apes did notice he was missing, who knows if they would even think to check there? Or if he could hold on long enough to be rescued...

The fact that the human saved his life left a sour taste in his mouth. Unable to get any sleep, he decides to work on the post he was fixing for his mother's stand. Whittling away at the long piece of wood, he slots it nicely into a hole in another piece before tying them together with some dried sinew.

Bringing his contraption outside he inspects the broken hanger on his mother's fish stand. Noa slips his carved piece into a notch and hooks the branches in the right spot. To his delight, it works, the fish dangling nicely again. He smiles to himself, feeling a small wave of pride. The feeling is short lived as a noise from the fish tent behind him makes him spin around, his senses on high alert.

~

Your stomach growls at you angrily as you empty the last of your water into your mouth. It wasn't very filling and you were still hungry, but it was all you had. Checking your traps twice over, and still finding nothing you groan, knowing your best bet would be to steal from the apes again.

You don't like stealing, but that fish was the only food you had managed to get in days. You begin your trek back to the ape colony, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of your stomach the whole way there.

Once more you waited until it got dark to sneak into the village. Hiding behind a large shrub your stomach growls at you and you sigh. Under the cover of darkness you creep out into the clearing, heading into the same tent as the night before.

Making your way to the back of the tent you slip two fish off the hooks, putting them in your bag. The smell of cooked fish begins overwhelming your senses, you pick up a third one and bite into it, the tender meat melting in your mouth.

You became so lost in the delicious taste and feeling of the warm fish filling your empty stomach, you didn't even notice the ape that entered the tent until he coughed.

You spin around on your heels, accidentally dropping the half eaten fish you were holding, alerting the primate to your location in the tent. You sneak behind some other racks as he creeps closer to where you are.

Your heart pounds in your ears, your breathing heavy and uneven as every instinct in your body screams at you. You know the apes are big, even a small one could easily tear you apart with its bare hands. And this one doesn't look like a small one, either.

His emerald green eyes finally lock onto yours, and you took his moment of surprise as an opportunity to shove into his chest with all your might. He barely stumbles back, as your bodyweight does little against his strength, but it was enough for you to make it out the tent opening.

Your pulse rings in your ears, nearly giving you a headache as you sprint as fast as you can back into the woods. To your relief the ape doesn't follow you, but you continue running just in case.

Exhaustion catches up with you, and you grip your knees as you pant heavily. You had run all the way out to the cliffside, you can hear the ocean waves crashing against the rocks on the small beach.

You sit down in the sand, catching your breath and looking up at the night sky. You listen to the sound of the water as you pull out a fish from your bag and eat a little bit of it, since the other one mostly filled you up.

You decide to cure the second one so it would last longer. You bring it out to the water and use a stone to chip away at the salt rocks. Once you have enough salt you cover the fish completely and set it on a ledge to cure.

You find a little indent in the side of the cliff and decide it would be a good enough place to sleep for the night. Laying down on the sand, the weariness your body was facing quickly takes its toll on you and you feel yourself drift off into a heavy sleep.

word count: 1058