Birth of the Planet of the Apes

Breaking Point

After their short conversation with Fremont, Blue Eyes asked Alex to try reading again. Alex easily agreed, but suggested reading for fifteen minutes instead of finishing an entire chapter like they had planned that morning. This plan helped greatly in keeping Blue Eyes' frustrations down, and by the end of the day they all went to bed in positive moods.

Though he was usually the first to fall asleep, Alex had feinted sleep to make sure Blue Eyes went to bed at a better hour than the night before. As he expected, the chimp stayed awake till Riley fell asleep. Luckily she hadn't felt the need to stay awake like the previous night and passed out fast. After watching Blue Eyes wrap himself in his blanket and curl up in a ball, Alex gave Riley a silent 'thank you' and went to sleep as well.

Alex slept heavily that night and woke with a lighter feel about their mission than at its beginning. He stretched as far as the tent would allow for his height, cracking his rested joints with a relieved yawn, "Hey, Blue Eyes, you awake?" he said tiredly and rolled over to where Blue Eyes slept. Any sort of relaxed feeling vanished when he saw the dark, woven blue fabric of his old blanket lying by itself in the corner.

He basically jumped onto Riley to try to wake her up. It took a few seconds, but she soon squirmed around underneath him, grumbling in annoyance, "What the hell, Alex."

"Blue Eyes is...he...he's gone," Alex stuttered.

"Huh?" She said with a blank face, clearly irritated that Alex woke her up for something like this. He couldn't understand why she wasn't worried. Blue Eyes was gone!

He didn't bother putting on shoes and rushed outside. "You don't think he left do you?" Alex looked all around the camp, hoping to find the chimp somewhere nearby. There was no sign of him. Even his horse was gone.

"Alex, seriously. Calm down," Riley stumbled out of the tent still half asleep.

Alex couldn't calm down, "But he took his horse! Why would he take..."

"How should I know?" she grumbled, "He said he'd stay and help us, but who knows what he really meant."

Alex turned his wide eyes back to Riley, "What...what do mean by that?"

She was hopping on one foot while she put on a boot, "I'm just saying he could've taken the information we told him yesterday differently than we thought. I mean, who's to say he didn't run off to tell his dad and rally the troops or something?"

Alex glared, "You know he wouldn't do that!" It surprised him how vocal he was getting.

She rolled her eyes, "I know, Alex. Worst case scenario."

Alex found what he thought were horse tracks and started running after them.

Alex could hear her start to follow, "Alex!" she yelled, "Alex! Get back..." They both froze as Alex almost ran into the massive black chest of Blue Eyes' horse.

Alex stared up at the chimp and instantly felt stupid for his panic as he spied the small group of rabbits hanging over Blue Eyes' spear in his opposite hand.

"I...I'm sorry," he tried to apologize, "I didn't know that..."

Blue Eyes ignored Alex entirely and marched his horse past him, his piercing blue eyes glaring like knives at Riley. She was trying to keep his eyes as best she could, but fell short when he flung his catch at her feet with a low, throaty snort.

"Eat...then we leave," he said, as much ice in his voice as in his stare.

Alex felt his gut drop. Had he heard their entire conversation?