Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm - The Official Movie Prequel

9

For a moment, Dreyfus thought Maddy was going to slap him.

He could see it in the set of her shoulders, the thin line of her lip. After twenty years of marriage he knew her that well. She was trying to decide.

Instead, she wrapped her arms around him, and hugged him so hard it almost hurt.

“You frigging idiot,” she murmured.

“Look,” he said, “I had no intention of getting into a situation. I just went down there to make an appearance, and things happened.”

She pushed him back and crossed her arms.

“You never do intend to get into situations,” she said. “Yet somehow you always do. God, I thought all of this was over. Twenty years, every day wondering if I was going to have to go identify your body, wondering how I would tell the kids. You finally leave the job—and now this! This is an addiction. You need help.”

“I’m not a cop anymore,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t live in the world. I’m trying to make a difference, here.”

“You weren’t even wearing a mask,” she said. “You might have caught it. This thing.” She waved her arms helplessly, as if the virus was even now all around them.

“If I did, I didn’t bring it home,” he said. “I scrubbed down carefully at the office. Head to toe, and changed clothes. As for the respirator—I’m the ‘don’t panic’ guy, remember? The mayor looks terrified. He wears one of the damn things. I have to be the other guy.”

She looked like she was going to continue, but instead she nodded.

“I know you do,” she said. “I know you do.”

“Hey, Dad, you’re home.”

Dreyfus looked beyond his wife to see John, his youngest.

“Hey, fellah,” he said. “How’s my boy?”

“I’m okay, Dad,” he said. At twelve, John was already nearly as tall as Dreyfus. He had his mother’s cheekbones and his father’s blue eyes, but there was a sparkle there that was all his own, that came from no place but John.

“That was some crazy stuff you did on TV,” John said.

“You saw that, hmm? I hope you weren’t worried. I was never in any real danger, you know.”

“It kind of seemed like you were.”

“What, is the whole family going to lecture me now?”

“I doubt it,” Maddy said. “Edward is upstairs studying with Ellie Song. As long as he’s doing that, he’s oblivious.”

“Yeah,” John said, “he’s been trying to get her to ‘study’ with him for months.” He made air quotes with his fingers.

“I hope they’re studying with the door open,” Dreyfus said.

“It’s open, dear,” Maddy said. “Only by a few inches, but open.”

“What do you think, John, should I go up and check on the situation?”

“I think he would pee his pants if you did,” John said. “So—yeah.”

Dreyfus mussed his son’s hair.

“How about you and I shoot a few hoops, instead?”

“Really?”

“Well, you’re out of school, and I’m taking the afternoon off. It’s been a while since it was just me and you.”

“Yeah, okay,” John said. “Just let me change clothes.”

That night, Maddy reached over for him, and they made love. It was the first time in a while. Life, work, two children—they weren’t kids having sex in the back seat of his car nowadays. Sometimes Maddy seemed more distracted than anything.

But not tonight. Tonight there was an intensity, almost a desperation. His body had no secrets from her anymore, and he loved the familiar feel of her, the sound she made when he touched her just so. He remembered the first time, how exciting her body had been to him, how it had been like uncovering a treasure. Now, years later, he still felt the same way.

When it was over they lay a long time without talking, tracing each other with their fingers.

“I love you,” he said, finally. “Thank you so much for staying with me all of these years.”

“I wouldn’t know what else to do.” She sighed. “And I love you, too. Idiot.”

“Thanks,” he said.

She snuggled onto his chest.

“You looked good,” she murmured.

“Hmm?”

“On TV,” she said. “You looked really good. Brave.”

“Handsome,” he added.

“Well, so-so,” she said. “But you looked strong. Like a mayor.”

“Mayor? Hell, why not a president?”

“Or maybe just an old cop with delusions of grandeur,” she said. “Now go to sleep.”

“You’re going to love this,” Patel told him when he came into the office the next day.

“Well, if you have love,” Dreyfus said, “give it to me.”

“We still haven’t gotten to the bottom of why House is using outside contractors, but apparently one of his aides loosens up a lot after a few drinks with a pretty girl.”

“I don’t want to know who this pretty girl is, do I?”

Patel shrugged. “I don’t know her. Someone Karen hired. Won’t be an issue.”

“Okay. So what did he get loose about?”

“For one thing, there are a lot more apes up there in the woods than we’ve been led to believe. It’s not ten or twenty. It’s hundreds.”

“Hundreds?” Dreyfus frowned. “Really?”

“But that’s not even close to being the best part.” Patel paused for dramatic effect. “They can’t find them.”

“They can’t find hundreds of apes? Well, it’s not so odd that they would want to keep it quiet, then. If hundreds of killer apes were on the loose and I couldn’t find them, I wouldn’t want anyone to know about it, either.”

“Yup,” Patel said triumphantly. “I figure we hold a press conference at the entrance to the park. He accused you of weakening the police force, but here you can demonstrate the total incompetence of his contractors. More than a week, and not a single ape captured or killed.”

“Hold it,” Dreyfus said, staring at the newsfeed.

The death toll in San Francisco was now over ten thousand.

“Why is House worried about monkeys in the woods, when this is going on?”

He stared at the screen. “What does he know that we don’t?”

“We can use this,” Patel said.

“Uh-uh,” Dreyfus said. “There’s another shoe, and I want to hear it drop before I get mixed-up in this. No press conference.”

He looked at Patel’s disappointed expression.

“Leak it instead,” he said.

Caesar felt uneasy as he led his group to their rendezvous with Rocket.

The chimpanzee had been leading the humans off over the mountain again, trying to make it appear as if the troop was farther and farther away from the city. It seemed to be working—although they still guarded the forest edge, no human hunters or their flying machines had been seen in the last day or so.

He spotted Rocket up ahead, at the clearing where they had agreed to rendezvous. He swung over to meet with him. The other chimp seemed excited.

Went far, Rocket told him. Over mountain, much farther.

And?

More forest. Trees smaller. Human roads, but no machines.

Caesar tried not to show his disappointment. He had hoped the deep stands of redwood continued on, so they could move farther, deeper—away from their enemies altogether. Still, if there was more forest in that direction, and fewer humans, it might be worth moving the troop, even if the trees weren’t as large.

The longer they stayed in the same general location, the sooner they would be found. They still had wounded, but most had either died or grown stronger. More kinds of food had been discovered—mushrooms, nettle, bark, berries, insects, and salamanders in the rich black dirt that moldered on the large limbs of the trees. Small animals to hunt. Even honey had been discovered in one tree.

But they were eating it all, and fast. Soon enough they would have to move.

Yet he knew deep inside that it was in the tall, tall trees that they belonged.

In the direction of the sunrise there were more people. In the direction the sun went down there was open country and water, and a road that cars still traveled on. Beyond the mountain might be their only choice.

Rocket still seemed excited.

What? Caesar asked.

We found something, Rocket said. I’ll show you.

Caesar gave his assent, and two bands started off together. They went back toward the mountain, to a human trail. There, in the middle of it, were colorful piles of mangos, bananas, durian, mangosteens, avocados, grapes, peaches, and a variety of other foods.

Caesar froze on the branch.

Stop, he hissed.

They did, but most of the chimps were having trouble containing themselves. All of the fruit they had managed to procure had gone to feed the orangs and gorillas, who needed it most. But fruit was good, and it had been a long time since they had eaten any.

Nevertheless, something wasn’t right. Fruit didn’t just appear like this. Someone had put it here. So they would find it.

He studied the scene a little more carefully and noticed a littering of skins and rinds.

Did you go down there? He asked Rocket.

Rocket looked a little embarrassed, and nodded.

So they hadn’t been able to resist after all. But they hadn’t been killed, or even shot at. And, in fact, he didn’t think there were any humans anywhere near. So what were the humans after?

Then he understood. They were hoping he would take the food and bring it back to the troop. They would follow him.

But what made the humans think they could follow them through the trees any better now than earlier?

Suddenly Koba was there beside him.

Caesar let Koba go, he signed and held out his hand.

Caesar hesitated only a moment, then swiped it.

Koba made another half-circle around where the fruit lay. He seemed to be looking for something in the trees. After a moment he pointed. There was something attached to the tree above the fruit. It was stripped green and brown, but looked like a machine. Koba picked up a heavy branch, climbed up behind the thing, and hit it. It made a metallic crunching sound.

The bonobo hit it several more times before he seemed satisfied. Then he gestured for them to all come.

Shows us little, Koba explained.

Caesar remembered, then. Will had had a thing that made moving pictures of him. It looked different from the thing Koba broke, but it made sense. There had been things like this in the sanctuary and at Gen Sys, too, all designed to spy on the apes. The humans could watch them without being here.

But even if they could see them take the fruit, how would they know where they took it?

Good, Koba, he said. Smart.

Koba seemed pleased by the praise, but it also seemed as if he was trying to hide it.

The others started coming down as Caesar once again approached the fruit.

Wait, he commanded. Watch.

Then he began picking through the fruit, not sure what he was looking for. Something strange, something out of place. He sorted through some papayas, then a bunch of bananas—and there, fixed to the stem inside the bunch was a white rectangle about the size and shape of the thing Will used to unlock his car from a distance.

A little machine.

A few more minutes of searching and he found another, stuck into a slit in a durian.

Come, he signed. He pulled the thing from the bananas. Find things like this. Take off of fruit and put here. He laid his down.

It was a lot of fruit. They sorted it by moving it, checking each piece carefully as they did so. They found eight of the white rectangles. Then Caesar had them check it again. Reluctantly, the others obeyed.

Some of the fruit had been placed in net bags. Caesar took one of them and tied the rectangles inside. Then he turned to his band.

Take all you can carry back to the troop. Koba, go with my band. Get every ape that can move fast enough, and tell them to come get the rest. Rocket, stay here and set watch, high and low.

What about you? Rocket signed.

Caesar grinned and held up the bag.