Clova *COMPLETE*

Chapter 35- On the Run

Cornelia couldn't contain herself and leaped out to the balcony in search of her husband, Blue Eyes with the help of Clova tried his hardest to calm his mother down as Cornelius cried and clung onto his mother  completely traumatised. Blue Eyes spotted something from the corner of his eye and leaned over the ledge, he let out a harsh hiss at what he saw, A gun.

She watched as Blue Eyes took the weapon and handed it to Koba who lifted the item high in his hand to show the other apes. 

"Human gun!", he roared. 

Clova was beyond terrified and hid in a corner, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder that spun her around. It was just Malcolm.

"Come on, we have to go.", he whispered urgently. Clova hesitated for a moment and shook hearing Koba's spin chilling yell.

"Humans kill Caesar!", he shouted. He slammed the gun on the ground and stomped on it.

"Clova help humans kill Caesar!", Clova's mouth fell open.  "Burn apes' home!", by now, every ape sided with Koba and she feared for her life. Her gaze turned to Blue Eyes who stood beside Koba, his head hung low. 

"Apes must attack human city! We must fight for Caesar!", no ape hesitated and grabbed any spear, dagger and mounted their horses. Malcolm knew they were running out of time and insisted desperately. 

"Clova we must go now!", and without waiting for a reply, he dragged Clova out away from the crowd covering their faces from smoke. Maurice stood by the entrance along with the others.

"Maurice I-"

"Run.", he said gruffly. Before she could respond Malcolm grabbed her and ran out into the woods before the apes could get to them. 

They ran and ran. Even though they had a head start, loud, angry war cries emerged behind them, getting closer and closer, it was only a matter of time before they were killed. Ellie saw a slope up ahead and a lopsided log underneath, she pulled Clova and Alexander inside, Malcolm also jumped into the log but Foster and Finny kept running. 

"Fost-", Alexander's mouth was clamped shut by Malcolm as the herd of apes approached and ran over the log. Crumbs of dirt slipped through some holes and Clova coughed violently but was also shushed by a hand over er mouth. The four huddled together in what little space they had available and eventually after waiting quietly, the thundering footsteps subsided and into silence. Once the noise had stopped, Ellie released the teens' mouths, they waited a moment before speaking.

"A-are they gone?", Alexander stuttered, his chest heaved up and down rapidly. Malcolm shook his head.

"I think so."

Ellie peeped her head slightly out the log. "I don't hear anything." They once again remained in silence. 

"Will we find my father?", Clova asked, her voice cracked. "What if he's still alive and he's alone, cold, slowly dying?", she choked. Tears were visible on the brim of her eyelashes . 

Malcolm gave her a comforting pat. "And Koba lied! He got everyone, even my own brother believing I killed my father!", she sobbed hard now.

"It's okay, we will look for him in the morning.", he said assuringly. 

"What if we can't find him?", Alexander chipped in.

"We will.", Malcolm promised. Ellie took Clova's head and laid her down on her lap. 

"Get some sleep.", get some sleep? Clova's eyes were stuck open, there was no way for her to get to sleep. Caesar is missing in the woods, Cornelius and Cornelia are God knows where, hopefully safe and Blue Eyes is probably with Koba, she could only hope he didn't have any hate towards her and still valued her as his sister.

(Flashback)

"Hi-er!".

Blue Eyes obliged and climbed the lean tree higher and higher. One hand he used to support six year Clova who clung to his neck, shrieking in happiness and swung her legs like a hyper pup wagging it's tail.

She giggled when he almost reached the top. "Blue, hi-er! Hi-er!" In the blink of an eye Blue Eyes was at the top of the tree, the view stretched to the point of the horizon as the sun shone on the trees throughout the woods. Blue Eyes sat on a cosy branch with Clova in his lap, her head peaked out and looked down at her fairly used shoes, they were really high up but Clova didn't care to her, the higher the better.

A cunning idea snuck into the young teen's head, slowly his hands slid to Clova's waist and flipped upside down, his legs gripped to the branch as he dangled her over the tree. She shrieked in pure happiness as he legs kicked back and forth, she raised her head to her older brother and gave him a massive smile. Blue Eyes smiled back and flipped her into their previous sitting position and calmly watched the sunset. It was very calming for both of them.

After a few moments of silence Clova turned and wrapped her arms around Blue Eyes, her head snuggled into his soft chest fur. He hugged her back just as tightly, he would always love Clova, she was the sister he wanted.

"I love you, Blue.", she signed before hugging him again. Blue Eyes smiled and signed back.

"Love you too, sis."

(Back to present)

Loud gunning was blasted from a distance, snapping Clova out of her sweet memory. Malcolm, Alexander and Ellie also heard and were even more scared. 

"What's that?", Alexander asked, completely petrified and uneasy. Malcolm shook his head.

"The apes...and humans...", he was unable to finish, they all knew what was happening. Blasts of tangerine, coloured fog the only figure being silhouettes of apes being gunned down and the quick outbreak of repetitive open fire.

"We...we will find my father, right?", Clova asked desperately. Malcolm turned to her.

"We will.", he reassured. The rest of the night continued in a sudden battle of pure rage between the resentful feud of humans and apes.