Birth of the Planet of the Apes

Insubordination

Alex had been listening to Ellie and his dad argue for a few minutes now from the hallway outside their hotel room.

Earlier that evening, he had gone down to the lobby to help sort incoming supplies from the Scroungers, a small group of people sent around San Francisco to find abandoned things that could be useful for the colony. They hadn't come up with much on their trip this time around, so he managed to finish with them early and head back up the four flights of stairs to the room he, his father, and Ellie shared. They somehow managed to get one of the suites with a sleeper sofa for him. It was nice, not a home kind of nice, but it wasn't in horrible shape. He had planned to lounge on the couch and read for a few hours before the final curfew check was called, but the sound of raised voices from inside made him decide it would be smarter to sit in the hallway instead. He wasn't fond of seeing conflict, even the mild ones between Ellie and his dad.

"You can't really be thinking of sneaking out, Malcolm." Ellie said, frustration in her voice, "Fremont already has a tight enough leash on you as it is. What do you think'll happen if he finds out you're missing?"

"Well I won't be here to get any punishment will I?" his dad answered.

There were a few times Alex debated on going back down to the lobby until his dad mentioned sneaking out of the colony. With his interest suddenly piqued, he packed up his comic and leaned into the door.

"That's not what I meant, Malcolm," Ellie said, the tiredness of their argument seeping into her words.

"Once I'm out then I'm out. Greg won't be able to do anything without risking the whole mission." His father had a point, Alex thought. Sending soldiers out to find them would most likely screw everything up if they ran into Caesar.

"He's already told you no dozens of times," Alex could hear the creak of the couch as she sat down, "You're not going to be able to change his mind."

"I'll go," Alex came through the door with a little too much enthusiasm and internally wished he could disappear in his hood right then and there.

Ellie and his dad looked at him with surprise.

"I'll go," he said again, "You've already said that dad can't go because Fremont won't let him, and... and dad's said that he couldn't do anything to him once he was out of the city." He motioned to Ellie, "You're one of the head medical experts here so you can't go. I'm...I'm honestly not really that important so I should be the one to go."

"No one said you weren't important, Alexander," Ellie said.

"That's not what I/he meant," Alex and his dad said together. Their exchanged looks could have changed to amusement had the discussion not been so important.

"Besides," Alex continued, "This was my idea in the first place...right? Shouldn't I get to do it?"

His dad crossed his arms and gave one of his impressed sighs, "He's right."

"Malcolm..."Ellie was too dumbstruck to get passed his name.

His dad shrugged, "Alexander's already made the decision for us, Ellie. I don't want him to be out there any more than you, but I'm pretty sure he'll sneak out with or without our consent at this point."

Ellie gave up, leaning over her knees with her face in her hands. She stayed like that for almost a minute before she rubbed her temples and sighed to the flakes of paint on the ceiling. "Fine," she said, Alex managed to hide his smile, "I'll help you get out. You honestly wouldn't have a chance without our help, so if this is what you want..." she paused and looked at him, he nodded.