Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization

53

Sunrise came a little later to the deep forest than it did the ridges up above. The animals and birds came to life around Malcolm, Ellie, and Alexander, who against the odds were still alive. But they were also lost. They hadn’t dared stay in one place long enough to sleep, not with apes tearing through the woods looking for them.

Maybe two hours ago, the ape sounds had died out as a mass of them gathered and headed down the mountain. Malcolm had a bad feeling about where they were headed, and what they were going to do. Of Foster and Kemp there was no sign. Malcolm hoped they, too, had made it through the night. But there was no way to know. At least they hadn’t heard anything that sounded like a bunch of apes killing two defenseless humans.

“Does this look familiar?” Ellie said, walking behind Malcolm.

“I think… I’m pretty sure we parked around here somewhere,” Alexander said.

Malcolm thought so, too. He recognized one of the rock formations that stood between the parking area and the river, at the base of a steep drop from the ape village, which was practically right over their heads. But anyone who didn’t already know that would have been unable to detect it.

Well, that would have been true until last night. Now there was smoke still rising from the fire, and from Caesar’s tree, burned to a charred skeleton that leaned out over their heads.

Using it as a reference point, Malcolm focused back in the direction of…

“I found it!” he called out. “Truck’s over here!” He headed that way and heard Ellie and Alexander follow.

“Okay, we’re coming,” Ellie said. Then they stopped again.

“What is it?” Alexander asked.

Ellie’s voice was low and scared as she replied.

“Stay where you are, okay?”

That got Malcolm’s attention. He doubled back toward them and saw Ellie crouch over something in the underbrush.

“Malcolm!” she cried. He got there and saw that under the brush was an ape. A moment later he realized it was Caesar.

A moment later, Caesar’s eyes moved, rolling in their sockets. They came briefly to rest on Ellie, then on Malcolm.

“He’s alive,” Malcolm said. “Can we move him?”

“We have to,” Ellie said. “It’s not like we can stay here.”

Caesar weakly tried to sign.

“I don’t understand,” Malcolm said. “Just hang on. We’ll get you some help.”

There was no way Caesar could walk. The effort would have killed him before they got to the truck. So Malcolm squatted in front of him while Ellie and Alexander got him sitting up.

Caesar reached over Malcolm’s shoulders while Malcolm stood, reaching back to lock his arms under Caesar’s buttocks. The chimpanzee held onto his shirtfront. Malcolm stood, grunting with the effort. Chimps looked small, but they packed a lot of mass into their compact frames.

Nevertheless, he started walking.

Malcolm was in pretty good shape, since the past ten years hadn’t afforded much opportunity for leisure. Even so, he was panting and soaked with sweat by the time they got to the trucks. Correction—truck. The second one was gone. Either Foster or Kemp or both had made it out of the woods. Malcolm hoped to see both of them back at the Colony, if it still stood.

Carver’s battered body lay in the dirt by the lead truck.

“Alexander…” Malcolm said, about to warn him not to look.

“Dad,” Alexander replied. “I have eyes.”

So Malcolm let it go. He couldn’t protect a teenager from everything. Hell, these days he wondered if he could protect his son from anything.

They got Caesar settled in the back of the truck, and Ellie climbed in next to him. As soon as she could, she began cleaning and bandaging his wound. It was bad, but not as bad as it could have been. Caesar’s lungs were intact, and the bullet hadn’t hit his heart. The wound was high in his torso and still bleeding freely, but if they could get the bleeding stopped, he might live.

“My son,” Caesar gasped. “My family. Where are they?”

“We don’t know, “Ellie said. She wiped blood away from the wound and tried to get a bandage in place. “I’m sorry. Try not to speak, you need to rest.”

Caesar went limp again, his eyes rolling in his head. Ellie finished bandaging him and clambered forward to lean between Malcolm and Alexander.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” she said quietly.

“Is he gonna make it?” Alexander asked.

“We have to get the bullet out, clean the wound…” Ellie paused. “What I need is back home.”

“We don’t know what’s going on down there,” Malcolm said. “There might not be anything left. Best-case scenario, I don’t think the Colony’s going to be welcoming if we show up wanting to treat a wounded chimp.”

Ellie thought about this.

“What about Memorial Hospital?” she suggested. “It’s right over the bridge. It wasn’t completely looted. There might still be supplies.”

Malcolm nodded and looked back at Caesar.

“I don’t understand how this happened,” he said. “How the hell did Carver get another gun?”

Caesar grunted from the back. All three of the humans turned. Malcolm thought he’d tried to speak, but he couldn’t understand the words. Caesar tried again and this time they heard him clearly.

“Ape did this.”

An ape? Malcolm was stunned. It could only have been Koba. The whole show of supplication after the fight in the powerhouse… it had been a ruse. Malcolm grappled with the implications. Koba had planned and executed a coup, using Carver as a patsy and killing him to make sure he wouldn’t complicate the plan by telling anyone the truth.

“Apes?” he repeated, still not quite able to believe it.

Caesar nodded weakly.

Malcolm had even a worse feeling about what might be going on down in the city now. If Koba had pulled off a coup, and removed Caesar from power, his next move would be to consolidate that power. To do that, he would need to remove his other enemy.

The Colony.

They had to get back to the city. The only way to prevent an all-out war—if they could do that—was to make sure both humans and apes knew the truth. Malcolm started the truck.

“Buckle in, people,” he said. “I won’t be going slow.”

He hoped the truck would make it.