War Technicalities [UNDER REVISION]

The Dawn of Technicalities

[Unrevised. 4 Years Old. Prepare for inconsistencies with previous chapters.]

For two years, the nonexistent barrier around Muir Woods went unbroken by even a single human soul, everyone afraid of the virus-infected animals within, but as time drew on, the world crumbled around the large patch of trees and forced that reality to change.

Those few people who discovered, or rather assumed, that they were immune to the Simian flu banded together to empower their shattered lives, but the more they seemed to rebuild, the more the city around them seemed to break down, their hopes slowly getting sucked dry as their electricity simultaneously begun to dwindle rapidly. And thus, six of the survivors ventured back into the woods without any other choice but to rediscover the old dam, one moving his own pace and path while two others dragged their feet behind two scientists and a young man, guns hanging heavily on each man's shoulder as a precaution. Because those two, in particular, were there to protect the others, they kept their protests about being dragged up the mountain silent, but while the brunette doctor, her husband, and her artistic step-son wound through the trees swiftly and without a rest, they struggled to keep their pace and to keep control over their words. Nevertheless, this quickly became irrelevant when a startling pop echoed around them, chilling each one of them to the bone.

"Stay — Help! Help — No! Hay!" They heard the calls of the sixth member of their group, and immediately rushed down the path, quickly arriving at the sight of him, their friend, aiming an old pistol at two chimpanzees. They took no time to notice the fact that one ape was writhing on the floor in pain while the other stood unsurely in front of him, trying to protect him with his own body – they simply rushed to aid the frightened human in their wake instead. Regardless, when they finally arrived and pulled their firearms from their shoulders or holster, their actions were forcibly halted.

Abruptly, the sound of something zipping through the air coaxed them to freeze where they stood, a razor-sharp projectile suddenly boring into the ground by their feet and anchoring into the mossy surface between them and the two apes.

In unison, their heads and guns snapped up in alarm, their eyes immediately searching through the trees for where the arrow had come from. It felt like forever before the Malcolm, the doctor's husband, spotted the figure, his face falling into dismay while the others still looked for it, only eventually finding their way. Above their heads and perched high up in the trees, there sat a figure of leather and thick black fur, its hairless hands aiming a bow and arrow down at them skillfully. They could barely glimpse at the camouflaged woman's stare behind the weapon and beneath the grey, green, and white mud that was painted across her face, only big brown eyes giving it away. With a small grunt, she motioned with a jerk of her head for the group to turn around, and they instinctively did as told, but only to flinch back when the sight of dozens of apes swinging towards them was brought to light. Surrounding them like some haunting stadium, apes of every shape and size sped their way, spears that put their weapons to shame pointed and ready to be thrown through their chests without any trouble. All six of them jumped in shock when they heard something jump down behind them, everyone spinning back around, and took cautious steps away from the ape as soon as the tip of his spear came into focus, all of them oblivious to the fact that he was simply protecting the ape that had been shot – his son.

Out of sight and out of notice, the young woman in the trees lowered her bow and arrow at what had unfolded, her emotionless eyes inevitably glossing over with worry before she clambered down the tree, the sound of apes hooting muffled around her. As soon as she could, Haley then maneuvered her way over to Ash, who still lay injured on the forest floor, and made sure to keep herself low to the ground so she'd go unnoticed. Yet, as soon as she was able to help him so he could sit up, even if barely, her body was stiffened by a holler.

"We don't mean any harm!"

Too startled to even notice Rocket helping her with his son, she stared at the human man in disbelief – how long has it been since she heard another human speak, she wondered and never saw one ape seeing her stare and scowling almost suspiciously at the sight – Koba. Eventually, when silence drew on between the two parties, words slipped from her lips. "Don't mean any harm?" She growled and watched as the group of humans turned briskly back to her, "You've already harmed!"

Unlike what she expected, however, one of them seemed to soften at her words – the only women, it appeared – and soon after, the man next to her did the same. While his eyes remained locked with Haley's, hers darkening by that fact, Malcolm reached to his side and carefully lowered another weapon along with his own, not even bothered by the fact that Carver protested for a while at first. "And I'm sorry," He spoke sincerely and circled back to the ape who stared down at them with an odd sense of authority, peering up at him with a strange sense of certainty – they'll be alright, he knew, despite the scowl that was tossed down at him. "Lower your guns." Haley heard him say, her face inadvertently growing shocked and amazed, not having expected that at all. She saw the other humans protesting yet again, but he insisted quickly. For a moment, Haley thought everything was going to be alright, but then she realized the woman was still staring at her, compelling her to send her an uncomfortable glance in return.

A sense of trouble hang heavy within Haley's subconscious before it even happened, but as soon as she saw the lady step towards her, her eyes widened – suddenly, another ape jumped to the forest floor and blocked her view of the human female, forcing her to peek around him carefully. She easily saw the fear gloss over the lady's eyes before she backed away, whoever she was.

The moment the doctor, Ellie's, sight of the wild girl was broken by a leathered, apish scowl, her instinct to protect was stolen and her worry grew exponentially, compelling her to back away, which didn't seem to help when the ape rose his spear higher with a growing fury. "Koba," Haley intervened in a whisper and maneuvered Ash into Rocket's arms before she stood and rested a single and consoling hand on his large shoulder, calming him quickly, though not completely – if anyone managed to relax Koba entirely, they'd have Haley's immediate respect. Still, that was more than enough for her and allowed her to glare at the woman again, silently warning her to stay away. Caesar, who had been watching closely, finally decided he had seen enough and drew a deep breath.

"Go!"

His sudden exclamation tore viciously through the silence, and yet, only the six strangers jumped at the sound, one, the only shooter Haley has noted thus far, even cursing in surprise. And still Haley seemed to be the only one who sent Caesar a horrified look – as a human, she knew all too well that him speaking in front of them would cause trouble – but it didn't matter; she could only watch as he leaped from the boulder below him, making the group's terror grow larger. "Okay, we're going—" The leader of the humans, Haley assumed, tried to assure the animals around him, but alas, Koba's frustration finally bubbled over.

"Go!" He screamed in tow with his brother, and led the entire village into an uproar, everyone screaming wordlessly for the trespassers to leave, watching with satisfaction as they ran off in a panic. Through the screeching and hooting, however, Haley watched Maurice collect the bag of one of the humans, who had dropped it in his quick escape, and carefully slipped pass her mate to him, placing her hand shakily on his shoulder to announce her presence, his height surprisingly little compared to hers thanks to his slouch, and caused both him and Caesar to look her way – for a moment, the apes might have scorned her for lying to them about there being other humans, but at the sight of her horrified, afraid, startled, shocked, and disbelieving gaze, everyone knew she had no idea.

The only thing Haley knew was that, now that humans resurfaced, all hell was going to break loose – call it an apish sixth sense if you will. Having the same thought as her, Caesar's dread grew drastically. "Koba!" He called over his shoulder, his second-hand immediately moving to his side at the mention of his name, and motioned down the path, "Follow!"

"What!?" Haley could only gasp as her husband and a few other apes rushed off, stopped from following them by a single knowing look from Maurice. "Fine," She grumbled and yelled after them, "Just be careful!"