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

EPILOGUE

It was just daybreak when they got to the bridge.

“Careful here,” the captain said. “No telling what kind of debris is in the channel.” He looked at an old chart. The water under the middle of the bridge was sixty fathoms at its deepest point, and the ship only drew six fully loaded. Now it was drawing maybe four. Should be plenty of clearance, but the captain knew better than to assume anything, after all the things he’d seen.

Next to him, the navigator was muttering a continuous stream of minor corrections, his instructions sent down to the engine room. The ship was a dinosaur, without any advanced electronics. They practically had to communicate with cans and string. But they got it done. The most advanced tech they had was the radio setup, and the captain glanced over to see one of his men coming onto the bridge.

“Still nothing on the radio,” the man said. “Last contact was ten hours ago.”

The captain considered this. The contact was confirmed. There were people in San Francisco. And judging by the tone of their communications, they were in trouble. They’d come all this way, so they might as well get a look at the city and see what kind of shape it was in. Surviving groups of humans were few and far between. If they could help these people, they would.

It wouldn’t be the first time the captain had led a force against organized gangs or bandit groups. Slowly but surely, they were bringing order back to northern California.

He watched the battered central span of the Golden Gate Bridge as it passed over them, and ordered a little more speed as they came out from under it. Currents here were tricky, and would drag the ship all over the place if they didn’t have at least a little head of steam to get through them.

Next to him, the navigator began scanning the city with binoculars. The fog wasn’t as thick on the bay side of the bridge, but it still wasn’t fully light.

“I see the beacon!” the navigator said, pointing. The captain saw it too, a bright light shining from high on an unfinished skyscraper.

“Get a closer look while we figure out if there’s a place we can dock,” he ordered. The ship started to clear the bridge and the captain looked along the waterfront. There were plenty of piers, but they would have to take the approach very slow. It might be best to send out scouts in a small boat, to look for wrecks around the ends of those piers. Wouldn’t do the survivors of San Francisco any good if the ship tore its bottom out on a sunken ferry stack, and sunk a hundred yards from the Embarcadero.

The navigator looked through binoculars at the skyscraper. He adjusted the focus.

“What the hell is that?”

“What is it, soldier?” the captain asked. He reached for the binoculars and stepped around the navigator to get the best angle on the source of the beacon.

For a long moment he stared into the binoculars, unable to believe what he was seeing.

From the top of the tower, Caesar watched the ship come under the bridge, its outline indistinct in the morning fog. It churned into the bay, black smoke flowing up to darken the fog, and as it came closer, he saw that the deck of the ship was covered with humans. Soldiers, in uniforms, all bearing guns.

Malcolm had been right. He had warned Caesar that this would happen. In return, Caesar had made certain that all of the humans had supplies and were guided out of the city safely. What they did after that was up to them. Malcolm was his friend, but not every human would be.

Caesar’s obligation was to his troop.

Around him, a thousand apes saw what Caesar did. He leaned out from the girder and roared. Apes had fought for this city. Apes had died. They would have peace if peace was to be had, but if not…

His apes joined his roar, raising their arms, thundering out their challenge. It rolled out across the city just lit by dawn, and they waited for the humans to choose.