When Mina woke, she shivered from the cold air hitting her feet and head. She opened her eyes and saw outside was snow. Blinking awake more, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She noticed the coat was over her form and she looked over and saw a stock-still soldier, sitting there with his eyes facing forwards. When he looked down at her, he smiled a bit and turned back. She sat up and slipped the coat on, curling up into it trying to cover her bare legs. All she had on was her skirt and top and it was not winter weather.
As the truck stopped, she looked around outside and noticed a large area full of tents and soldiers on the march. She stepped out of the truck and followed her father, who motioned her over, to a large tent in the middle of the camp. He opened the flap and waved her inside. Closing it behind him as he followed.
"Sir, I found her." He says in a lower voice. It seemed deeper than before, which made mina nervous.
"good." a man says, turning to them. He was bald with a small gray beard. When he saw her, he stood and slowly made his way over. He looked down at her a moment before he waved the man off.
"Take off that ridiculous hair private, show's over." He ordered. The man beside her nodded and pulled off his beard and tore off his wig, revealing straight buzzed hair and the strong jaw of a young man.
"You fooled them?"
"Yes sir." He says. The man nodded and waved the man off. He left, sending a quick look her way before exiting the tent. Mina's eyes followed him, confused and afraid.
"You probably have a lot of questions..." she turned back to the man as he moved to a small box made for a desk.
"Well, I'm here to help with that. That man who just left was not your father. He was a hired hand of mine sent to collect you from those beasts." Mina cocked her head confused as he motioned her over. She slowly made her way to an empty chair and sat. he offered her a tin cup with some strange brown liquid.
"I'm sorry to say honey, but he ain't your daddy." He says sitting down with his own cup, then held his hands up gesturing to himself.
"I'm your daddy." He smirks. Mina blinked a few times, confused as the man sipped his drink. She looked down at her cup and took a sip, then choked, spitting it out onto the ground coughing. It was alcohol!
"See the apes have raided the human colony down in the city, killed many people. We are here to illuminate the threat to human kind." Mina gasped, appalled.
"Now I know you've lived with them a while now and you probably don't agree. probably got your brainwashed into thinking they're the good guys, but just after I ordered to have you collected, the apes destroyed the city of San Francisco where the last human colony stood. slaughtered most of the humans there after we got a transmission." Mina shook her head, she couldn't believe it.
"Listen for yourself." He says flicking a knob on a small radio, lighting it up.
"Come in, anyone, we are under attack repeat we are under attack. The apes have attacked the city!" mina heard the scared voice of a man on the radio. The sounds of angry apes followed, hollering and squawking.
"Don't be so surprised; they're animals, but they are not to be fucked with. Now you're gonna stay here with old dad so I can send a group to wipe them out for good." Mina glared at him, catching his attention. The man shook his head.
"Now I know how your feeling, but soon you'll see it our way. I promise, you will see them as nothing more than a common enemy," Mina became angry and stood, went to throw the cup at him, but he was up and grabbing her hand before she could even raise it over her head.
"Now don't you disrespect your daddy little missy." He growled, glaring down at her.
'you are not father.' She signs. He seemed taken aback by this, letting go of her wrist and ripping the cup from her hand. He shoved her back, knocking her over the chair. She got up to fight back, but he was already yelling.
"Sergeant!" he bellowed. The same man came back in, only in uniform this time, saluting the man.
"Take my daughter to the cage tent. Lock her in one of the cages." The man seemed hesitant at first, but with a look from his commanding officer, he nodded.
"Yes sir." He says grabbing her shoulders.
She hissed at the healing scabs on her shoulder he grabbed right onto and tried to struggle, kicking and biting at the man's arms, but he moved his arms under her arm pits, lifting her and carrying her to the tent. She continued to struggle, kicking and swinging her hands until he shoved her into a large cage, locking it behind him. She rattled the cage as the man pulled a couple blankets and a set of clothes from the backpack and threw it all at her.
"Nighty night princess." He smirked as he closed the flaps.
Mina kicked the cage door as he left, his laugh fading as he walked away. she huffed as she stood, pushing and pulling on the bars to see if there were any weak points. Finding none, she sighed and looked at the clothes at her feet. They were men's pants with one of their spare small jackets. Instead of putting them on, she grabbed them up and threw them through the bars and sat down, curled up, angry tears falling as she put her chin on her knee. She let them fall as she looked around the room.
There was only a handful of cages, but surprisingly, they were all occupied by apes that were very silent when the man was inside, now hooting at each other quietly. She didn't notice before, but when she saw some chimps, she shot up and looked them over. They refused to meet her gaze. That's when she saw the word DONKEY on their backs. All of them had the words on their backs; what did that mean?
As she sat back down in a disappointed huff, a gorilla in the cage beside her stared at her. He wondered why she was locked inside one of the cages; she was a human! He moved to her and nudged her through the bars. She looked up with sad eyes and he blinked at her.
"Are you alright?" he asks aloud. This seemed to surprise her; she blinked a second before wiping her eyes and shaking her head.
'Want to go home.' She signs. The gorilla frowns at her confused; she was human, but she was locked up like an animal. She said she wanted to go home, and she was wearing furs. She could sign but couldn't speak.
"Where is home?"
'the forest.' she stopped signing, fresh tears falling and she shook, crying again as she tucked her head in her knees, shivering.
The gorilla's heart hurt a moment for the human, so he pulled the blanket beside her and covered her up, surprising her once more. She looked up at him and he smiled down at her softly. She smiled weakly in return and laid down beside him, her head barely able to fit between the bars. He reached over and pet her head, seeming to relax her as she fell asleep, shivering now and then.
He wondered why they would lock one of their own kind up; she didn't seem evil, just scared. Poor young girl. As he caressed her hair, he sighed through his nose. Wondered what her life was like if she didn't live with the humans. Did she live with those bad apes? Did they brainwash her into thinking they were the good guys? The gorilla continued to pet her hair as she slept, his thoughts solely on her as he felt himself fall asleep, leaning against the bars of his own cage and falling asleep to the sound of soldiers and marching.
