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

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚅𝙸𝙸

The tall grass sways at your legs and arms around you, sitting in a small field while the apes behind you talk, you twist your ring that your mother gave you on your finger.

"She saw, what i saw. It was in her eyes..." Noa mumbles to Raka from behind you. "She...reacted." He says, sounding almost surprised. These apes must really think humans are no smarter than the average squirrel, huh?

"How?" Raka responds to Noa in his deep baritone voice. "How ape would..." Noa says inquisitively, glancing in your direction. You look back at him and hold his gaze for a bit. You think your moment in the observatory last night changed something in the ape, as he doesn't look at you with disgust anymore, instead now just curiosity.

"If she comes she must ride." Noa instructs Raka as he mounts his horse. You look back down at your fingers that are still twirling your ring. You smile softly to yourself, excited about the idea of being back on a horse.

Gentle chuffing and cooing noises come from beside you, you look up to see Raka walking up to you, his long fur swaying with every step. "Horse." He points behind him to his horse. He looks at you with kind eyes and mimics a horse snorting, making you smile a bit at his playfulness.

~

The feel of Raka's soft fur in your hands is somewhat calming, you twist it around your fingertips as you hold onto him to not fall off his horse. "And then there's the given, very short arms. Humans can only rely on their feet to carry them places." Raka was currently listing the design flaws of humans compared to apes.

You stay silent, not caring too much for the topic of conversation when something up ahead catches your eye. Small high pitched hooting and chuffing sounds come from a grazing horse, but oddly enough, this horse has stripes. Zebras. Something your mother taught you about, but you had only ever seen pictures of them.

Noa slides off his horse, Raka helping you down gently. The three of you stare in awe at the whole herd of zebras drinking from the stream and eating the grass. You do a double take when you see something emerge from the tree line. Humans, but not like you, they look more...primitive.

They have knotted hair and are covered in mud and their clothing is made of animal skins. They crouch down in the river, cupping their hands to the water and bringing it to their mouths as they drink, they look more animal like than human.

Before you had lived with humans that could still talk, humans that were still, well, human. Seeing your own species stripped of its intelligence left a bitter taste on your tongue. You stare sadly, unaware of a certain ape watching your expressions closely.

You don't notice Raka's and Noa's conversation behind you, until Noa was on his horse and crossing the stream. You look back at him, about to follow him when Raka wraps a long arm around your side. "They are like you, would you like to join them?"

He asks softly as he guides you to the other humans. No, you thought, you would not like to join them, you'd like to stay with Noa! You struggle against Raka's guidance until the deafening sound of a horn blows loudly in the distance, the shrill noise making your stomach turn.

The masks.

You freeze, every muscle in your body tense and ready to spring into action. A large silverback gorilla on a horse makes his presence known from the bushes when suddenly, a flurry of motion ensues. The humans are being chased through the stream while the thundering of horses barrels through, knocking humans down and dragging them by ropes.

More apes are at the other end of the river and you realize they've cornered you. Thinking quickly, you make your way up the small hill and run as fast as you can through the forest, your legs pumping furiously in a desperate attempt to not be caught by one of the masked apes.