Gaia's Choice

Prologue

     The forest can be a perilous place for those who wander. However, I have lived in the forest for a year now. There have been a couple of close calls where I came close to death. Yet here I am, alive and hoping to complete the task I've been handed to help my people.

      Being on one's own is a terrifying thing. You have no one else to turn to in your desperate need. No one to trust in this dystopian world. It's bad enough not having someone by your side. It's even harder when you have no means of communicating to people who could still be out in the world. I look towards the sun and estimate how many hours I had left till night fall. Lucky me, I have only two.

      As I continue my journey in hopes to find shelter for the night, I emerge from the tree line and discover a massive lake. It was a charming view with crystal clear water, rich green forest, and grand mountains. The sun was setting in the horizon. Turning the sky into mesmerizing hues of orange, pink, and red. It was a peaceful sight to behold. As I scanned the view before me I noticed a cave to my right.

      I make my way over towards it in hopes of turning it into my temporary shelter for the night. I reach into my bag and take out my flashlight I scavenged in my earlier travels, turning it on to light the darkness ahead of me. As I'm walking into the cave I scan the walls as well as notice a strange looking symbol carved into the wall. It was a giant white circle with a white diamond in the middle. Puzzled with the thought of what this symbol could mean I continue walking forward.

     I stop in my tracks as I surveyed the scene before me. There was a surplus amount of dead flowers along the bottom of the cave floor. As I shine my light on the walls, I gape at the unusual crude looking cave drawings of what appears to be monkeys and stick figures of humans. The symbol that I've seen a few minutes ago was next to a drawing of an ape next to a human figure with long hair. I believed it to be a girl. There was black writing on the walls that were beginning to fade.

'Ape Not Kill Ape'

'Knowledge is Power'

'Apes Together Strong'

    There were many names scattered along the walls. The names were written in red cursive. There were as follows:

Sparrow

Zira

Lake

Maurice

Nova

Luca

Buck

Rocket

Blue Eyes

Cornelius

Cornelia

Lily

Spear

Dewdrop

     The names went on forever. I'm not sure if they're people who once lived here or were chased out by the apes. On my left there were two humongous rocks placed next to each other. I get a closer look at one of the rocks. There was crude engraving of a name with a moon and the diamond-circle symbol at the top. I couldn't make out what the name said though it started with a 'G'. I scan my flashlight around the rest of the cave and spot a small pile of rock slabs stacked together with a green backpack with brown buckles on top of it.

     I trot over to the bag and see there was a thick layer of dust on it. It seems as though it hasn't been moved in a very long time. I gently opened the bag and peered into it so that I could see what I can salvage. There were only old journals and composition books in it. Out of curiosity, I take them out, sit on the ground and laid the books out in front of me.

    One thing I noticed is that the books have numbers on them. They seem to be in years. On one of the journals it said '2016', the next '2026', and finally '2028'. The other  composition books didn't have any writing on them. I pick up the book that says '2016' on the front. I open to the first page and begin to read.

    "To the person who discovers this book,

      What I write in this book along with the others I have kept in my bag are journal logs of my life before and after the Incident of the Golden Gate Bridge. You will discover many events, secrets, and untold tales of what took place in what will be known to me and those I love as history in the future. My story may shock you, it might scare you, it might even inspire you. I only hope to reveal the truth in my point of view. For many of those out there who will be doubtful of the occurrences that will be explained. As the saying goes; " You think you know a story, but only know how it ends. To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning.""