Birth of the Planet of the Apes

The Attack

It's been over a year since the apes had attacked the colony in San Francisco. After the weeks it had taken for the meager force of 'soldiers' to arrive, the apes had all but disappeared from the tower. Some believed the rumor of human reinforcements were what drove them out; others thought the apes simply wanted to return to their homes in the woods. Either way, the city was silent.

The soldiers, or more like men with guns, armored vehicles, and a small amount of training, had taken control of the colony. Malcolm was not a fan of the change in atmosphere. Even though Dreyfus had been a chief of police, he wasn't as 'structured' as these new men were. With their curfews, strict searches and check-ins, and their obvious authoritarian control over the regular man, the colony had become a compound.

However, even with all the changes, Malcolm had to admit that they were keeping the peace. Food was strictly regulated into necessary portions, with growing children and the elderly receiving the best quality, water was plentiful with their desalination machines, and, to everyone's surprise, the power remained on.

The apes may have disappeared but they had left the dam alone. Malcolm hoped Caesar was the one who gave the order to leave it, because if there was anything the humans needed, it was power.

Malcolm had just received his lunch from outside one of the much needed food coolers when his son, Alex, came running up to him, clearly flustered.

"D...dad..." he stuttered, "You've got to come here...they...the soldiers..."

"Woah woah woah, Alexander. What's wrong?" Malcolm asked, putting a calming hand on his shoulder.

Alex took a few breaths before he managed to talk clearly, "They killed one dad! An ape!"

Malcolm's eyes shot wide, "Take me there, now!"

Alex led his father to the edge of the colony, the twenty-foot barbed-wired walls looming like thorned vines overhead. There was a large group of people massed around a radio tower, running around in hysteria and shouting all sorts of profanity. Malcolm could just see the strawberry-blonde head of Ellie crouching over a mound of black fur.

He ran over to her and the dead ape, pushing through many opposing men to do it. She had a mass of soaked cloth on its abdomen though its purpose was of no use. The ape had died when it hit the ground, its head twisted up in an abnormal position. Ellie was crying hard, her fondness for the apes, especially after healing Caesar, was stronger, Malcolm thought, than even his.

He crouched beside her, rubbing her back to try and calm her down, "He's gone, Ellie."

"I...I know...I just..."

Malcolm looked over the ape. He was and older chimp, probably a scout of some sort he assumed, not one he recognized.

He turned up to the nearest soldier, "Who did this? I need to speak with him, now."

The soldier turned his head to the opposite side of the circle of people, "Parker shot it, sir."

Malcolm looked at the soldier in question, a younger man, probably in his early twenties with eyes still as wide as saucers.

"What happened?" he said, his voice a little harsher than expected.

"It...was coming right at us," Parker said, shaking, "Screaming and yelling like it was insane or something! I...I just reacted."

"Was it alone?" Malcolm asked, more quietly this time. This boy was as much a soldier as he was a movie star.

Parker nodded along with a few others.