Birth of the Planet of the Apes

On the Road Again

"Alex..."

Alex felt a soft kick on his foot.

"Hey Alex," another kick, "Up-n-Adam, Slim, we gotta get moving."

After finding the map, Alex and Riley set up their tent in the shade of Caesar's tree, ate a small meal of dried fruit and meat, then turned in for the night. Sleeping in the same tent as a girl you just met should have been more awkward than it was, but Alex was too tired to care. The moment he had laid his head on his rolled up jacket he was cut off from consciousness, sleeping heavier than he had in a while. He accounted it to the less-than-comfortable sleep in the trunk and the staggering pace Riley had set them on when they left Vista Point. He would never complain to her about it, but he sure wasn't a hiker like she was.

Riley left when she noticed he was awake and made her a spot around their fire circle. By the time he came out of the tent, she was concentrating on the spear in her lap, wrapping the spearhead meticulously to a small shaft.

"The original wasn't good enough?" Alex said curiously, taking a seat opposite her.

She didn't look up but nodded, "Had to. The spearhead we can use, but neither one of us would've had much luck with the original shaft."

"Why?"

"Here," she set the spear she was working on to the side and grabbed its original shaft, struggling with it slightly as she handed it to Alex. Alex grunted under the unexpected weight. It must've been at least ten pounds! "As you can see that's a little heavy for you and me. Yeah we could carry it without too much trouble, but using it for anything other than an oversized walking stick? Not likely," she picked up her spear with one hand, tossing it up and catching it with ease, "Apes, as you know, are a good deal stronger than your run-of-the-mill human, so they wouldn't have any problem flinging that log around. Though it's still a little front heavy from the spearhead, I think switching the shaft out for something more human sized should help a lot. We need a large weapon of some sort and there're plenty of these spears lying around so..."

"I'm sorry," Alex said.

She sighed and pursed her lips, "'Bout what?" they both knew of what he asked, but she seemed to want confirmation.

Alex looked down at his feet, "The...thing with the gun."

He heard her sigh again, "Alex."

He looked up cautiously, hoping that he didn't have a glare drilling into him. To his surprise, Riley's eyes were sympathetic.

"I understand why you did it," she looked out over the cliffs, sighed, then rolled her eyes back to him, reverting back to her usual strong-willed self, "Now why I decided to throw the thing into a tree and completely ruin it? Who knows?"

"You went back for it?"

"Course I did!" she smirked, "The apes aren't here and we have a long road ahead of us, so, I figured I'd try and salvage it just in case. Unfortunately, the thing was utterly useless, hence why I'm making these."

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

"It's done Alex. Nothing we can do about it but forget it," her eyes were resolute, showing the maturity hidden under her youthful exterior. He nodded and sank a little in his seat.

She altered the mood as expected. "Well, now that we have that drama out of the way, let's get all this packed up and get going. I was hoping to get to Stinson Beach by check-in."