Greg Keyes - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Firestorm

“But this is good news,” Malakai said, before Corbin could erupt again.

“How’s that?” Corbin asked.

“For one thing, I actually have a better concept now of where they really are,” he replied. “And it gives me an idea.”

Koba is at the place where they do their tricks and make the little pictures, but they haven’t done anything. People seem upset, and some have water leaking from their eyes. He knows now that they call it crying.

He remembers Mary crying because his mother wouldn’t move, and it makes him feel anxious. He tries not to fidget, because Tommy will punish him if he does. But Tommy isn’t really paying attention to him. He’s speaking loudly to a man who is speaking loudly back. Koba feels as if any minute one will challenge the other, and that makes him feel even more distressed. But finally the men stop yelling at each other.

Tommy comes over and takes his leash then, and Milo’s.

“It was a stupid show anyway,” Tommy says. Then he takes them home.

Tommy drinks a lot of his burning juice and talks on the phone much of the time. He also sleeps a lot, and does not remember to feed Koba and Milo. Koba grows hungry, and anxious again. When he sees Tommy, he “smiles” and “talks.” He signs “food.” Tommy says something he doesn’t understand, and walks away.

One day he finally takes Koba out of his cage and holds out his leash. He leaves Milo in his cage. Milo points to his mouth, then to Koba.

That frightens Koba, and something about the way Tommy is acting scares him, too. So when Tommy comes close with the leash, Koba jumps back.

“Don’t you even,” Tommy shouts. He pulls out the stick, but Koba is more scared of having his mouth stuck together than he is of the stick. He has been hit by the stick so many times he almost isn’t scared of it anymore.

But this time Tommy smacks him on the side of the head, and Koba doesn’t even know what is happening. Then he understands that Tommy is hitting him again, and again, and again, and he suddenly knows that Tommy isn’t going to stop.

Koba feels something break in him, something hot, like the stuff Tommy made him drink. It wants out of him, and the only way it can get out is through his hands, his feet, and his teeth. He jumps at Tommy, knocks him hard against the cage, and then slams him to the ground and starts hitting him. It feels good.

Tommy covers his head and face with his hands and howls, submitting to him. Koba suddenly feels powerful, in control, and it is a feeling he likes.

His head starts to clear a little. Tommy has submitted. Things will be different now. He steps back from Tommy.

Tommy lifts his head and stares at Koba. He still looks docile, frightened.

Then he screams. He pulls something out of his pocket and slashes at Koba. Koba feels something slice from his eyebrow through his eye and into his cheek. Everything goes black in that eye. With his other eye he sees blood, and it seems to be everywhere. He sees Tommy grab the leash and put it around his throat. Koba is trying to keep the blood from coming out of his face while Tommy ties him to the cage, in such a way that if he doesn’t keep his feet under him he starts choking.

Then Tommy starts hitting him with the stick again, and before long Koba doesn’t know anything at all.

It is later, and Koba is back in his cage. He hurts so much he can’t focus on anything else. The cut across his eye hurts terribly, but now he can see a little bit through it, even if things aren’t quite in focus.

Tommy comes by and looks closely at him. He has one of his smoking sticks in his mouth.

Koba tries to look submissive.

Koba good , he signs. Koba do tricks .

Tommy laughs then, but it sounds awful.

“You’re too goddamn ugly now, anyway,” he says. “Now one wants to see you do funny little goddamn monkey things. Maybe if a part in a horror movie comes up, though.”

He stares at Koba’s face.

“One more little touch, maybe,” he says.

Then he sticks the burning end of his smoke stick into Koba’s hurt eye. Koba screams and throws himself back against the cage, but he cannot go far enough to avoid the burning stick.

“I ought to burn out your other eye, too,” Tommy mutters. “But then you’d be no goddamn use to me at all.” Then he stumbles off. He falls, and makes a hard sound when he hits the floor. Koba barely notices, he’s in so much pain.

“God damn ,” Tommy says, pushing himself up. Koba sees blood on his mouth. “Looks like I need another drink. Heh.”

He wags his finger at Koba.

“I hope you aren’t laughing at me,” he says. “If you are, we’ll have words later, you and me.”

Then he gets up and leaves the room.

Tommy feeds them the next morning. He changes their water. Then Koba doesn’t see Tommy for a long time. He and Milo grow hungry, but the thirst is worse. It takes away his strength. His legs won’t hold him up, and the cage hurts him where his body pulls against it.

Tommy returns. Koba doesn’t know how long it’s been. The lights have been off for days.

Tommy is carrying something. It is not the stick. It is smaller, and fits into Tommy’s hand in a different way. It has a hole in the end, about the size his little finger might fit into. He points it at him, and Koba knows whatever it is will probably hurt, but he is too sick from lack of food and water to care.

Tommy points it at him for a long time, and then he lowers it.

“Screw it,” he finally says. He opens Koba’s cage, and then slowly walks away.

Koba looks at the open cage door, unsure what to do. He wants to go out, find food and water. But he’s scared of Tommy.

Suddenly he hears a loud bang . Then it is very quiet.

Koba can finally stand it no longer, and he leaves the cage.

He finds Tommy on the couch. He is lying slumped in one corner of it. His eyes are open but he doesn’t seem to see Koba. Just like Mother. There is blood everywhere, and the thing is in his hand.

Kobe decides to leave Tommy alone. Even though his eyes are open, he seems to be asleep.

He goes and releases Milo from his cage, and they go to the boxes, desperate for food and water. They find something sweet to drink, and the place where Tommy keeps their food, and they eat and drink as much as they can. Milo vomits, but Koba does not.

Then Koba lies down, and after moment, Milo joins him. After so much time in the cage, it feels so good to stretch out, to move all of his muscles.

He wakes with Milo pulling at him, frantically trying to get him back to his cage, but Koba doesn’t want to go. He takes Milo to see Tommy. Tommy is still sitting in exactly the same position Koba last saw him in.

Tommy sleep , he signs to Milo. Tommy not wake up .

Milo seems unsure, but when Koba goes to the playroom, Milo waits, then follows. They play for most of the day. Koba thinks that Tommy will vanish, the way his mother did, but Tommy is still there when he looks again.

There are places in the house—square places in the walls, covered with cloth. Sometimes light comes from behind them, and sometimes not. Koba decides to look behind the cloth and see what is there.

What he sees is beautiful. He sees trees, and houses, and most of all the blue sky and realizes that through this clear, hard stuff is outside . This reminds him of the door, the door Tommy takes them through when they get in the truck. It’s dark in that place, and it’s dark in the truck, but there must be some way out.

He and Milo go into the dark room with the truck. He can see light coming from under one wall, but he can’t figure out how to get out.