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

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚇𝙸𝚅

"We need to go." Soona whispers from beside you, Anaya following her while you just stare at the dark water swallowing up Trevathan's body. A gentle nudge on your arm brings your attention to Noa beside you, looking down at you with a solemn expression.

"It's okay, come on. We need to go." He reassures you and you nod, realizing you need to put it behind you and focus right now. With a deep breath, you follow the three apes down the bridge and to the cliffside, your breath hitches at the sight of the violent waters rapping against the jagged rocks.

Images of Raka flash through your mind but you shake your head to rid your thoughts, knowing this isn't the time to feel guilty. The waves crash against the cliffside and against the four of you, the three strong apes holding their ground decently but you don't have as much luck.

A particularly strong wave slams against your body, pushing you against the rocks and you grunt, trying to ignore the pain where bruises are starting to form. You feel a hand on your arm pull you up, and you look up to see Anaya smiling down at you. You let him help you up and he keeps a hand on your back to guide you, ready to help in case you fall again.

You stop and turn to Anaya, giving him the 'thank you' sign and you look up at a ledge in the cliffside, blinking your eyes to try and mediate the sting from the salt water spray. "We need to go up there!" You shout over the roaring waves as you point up, looking to the three apes.

The three glance at each other worriedly and Soona is the first one on the cliff, her strong arms skillfully pulling her heavy frame. Anaya is the next to go, following closely behind Soona. You glance at Noa, who holds a hand out to you and when you take it he guides you onto his back.

You cling to his shoulders tightly, trying your best not to slip off from his damp fur. The sound of the waves slowly recedes as you all climb higher up, Anaya pausing for a moment to face Noa. "Easier than top nest." He says playfully and you see Noa smirk a bit.

Your heart races as you finally reach the top of the cliff, Noa grunting as he pulls up your combined weight. Soona reaches out and gently grasps your arm, helping you off Noa's back and onto the cliffs ledge. It surprised you how quickly the apes have taken to helping you, and you decide to think more on it later.

The three of you walk into a large circle with broken and rusted pieces of metal jutting out from the sides. Anaya takes the torches that he was carrying off his back and strikes a rock over them, lighting one and using it to light the others.

You each grab a torch, the room around you becoming illuminated by the soft glow of the flames. You begin the trek through the hallway, the apes following closely behind you. Reaching something that you could only describe as a large hole, you all pause, looking down into the abyss at your feet.

"Oops..." Anaya says cheekily before tossing his torch into the hole while Soona scolds him. The torch hits against some railings and other things before finally making a clunk sound.

~

After navigating your way through the extensive tunnels of the vault you reach a pair of doors and push your way through, walking out into a vast room. It looks like other human made ruins you've come across, except it doesn't have any vines or plants growing abundantly. The lack of vibrant flora crawling over each wall and railing settles an uneasy feeling in your stomach, the room seeming dull and bland compared to the lush greenery in the forests.

"Echo's built, all this?" Soona asks in awe while Noa just nods. Ignoring her comment you scale some stairs to the second floor, looking around and finding something written on a wall.

You walk up to it, studying the symbols and recognizing a few of them, this is what your mother wanted you to find. You reach into the neckline of your shirt, pulling out the paper she gave you that you've kept hidden all this time. You unfold it, looking for the first set of symbols to find and you do, seeing an arrow pointing down the hallway to your right.

"This way." You whisper to the apes, who all turn to follow you down the hall. Holding the paper in your hand and looking at all the numbers on the doors you pass, you finally find the right one, slamming your shoulder into it as you force the lock open.

"Wait here." You tell them and you step inside the room. Opening some cabinets and finding nothing but stacked papers, until you open one and come faced with all different kinds of guns. You glance at the apes, wondering if they saw, but they're busy looking around a different room. You quickly shut the doors and move on.

Finally you open a cabinet that looks like the drawing on your paper, and you find the small red box that you gently pull out of its slot and slide into your pocket. You pick up your torch again about to leave but you pause, glancing back at the gun cabinet.

~

"I got it, time to go." You say once you find the apes again, all of them curiously inspecting whatever human thing they found while they were waiting for you. They all leave the various objects behind and follow you out of the room.

Walking through the vault you pass big machines with ovals on the side and long metal pipes sticking out of the front. You're not sure what they are but they still give you an eerie feeling, somehow sensing that they are weapons of destruction.

You reach the control board of the main door, bringing your paper out once again for guidance. You press a button and a blaring noise sounds, echoing off the vast walls of the vault. Holding your hands on the lever, you turn to Noa who is watching your movements closely.

"We'll have to move quickly, you go to your clan while i set off the bomb." Noa looks at you apprehensively but nods, and you pull on the lever, all of you moving in front of the vault doors as they begin to creak open.

word count: 1107