Getting out of Eric's car, I found the facility before us to be in complete chaos because several monkeys and apes were running all over the compound with what appeared to be the facility employees chasing after them... I guess they were trying to catch them, but the way that they were trying to do so, didn't sit well with me. When I saw one of the employees go after a mother and her baby, causing the baby to be thrown into the air and soon to fall to the ground... I got really upset, really fast. I hurried forward, as the mother was roughly dragged away from her baby, who was just starting to arc back down toward the ground as I picked up a decent sized stick with my right hand. I caught the baby as gently as I could as I kept my pace and continued toward the mother... I use a skilled back hand, that makes me think for a milli-second that I might have played tennis for a time, but then my attention was right back on swinging the stick I was currently wielding at the second employee's head.
Once the two of them were far enough away from the mother, I threw down the stick to my feet as I reached down to free the mother from the restraints that were on her, pulling her carefully to her feet and toward me as I get her as far away from the rough handed employees that had been hurting her moments ago. This must have confused the others because everyone seemed to just slow down and then to stop, even the monkeys and apes, as I made sure that the mother was alright and carefully gave her back her child... only to have one of the men grab me roughly by the arm and pull me away from the two.
"Just who in the hell do you think you are? Why are you protecting the stupid beasts?" The man yelled at me as he shook me and I felt like my neck might snap under the pressure... and when I struggled to get out of his grasp, he swung his arm and slapped me hard on my left cheek.
I fell to the ground with the force and as I lay there shaking my head, trying to figure out how much pain my head was in, I heard every monkey, every ape shouting as they all seemed to zero in on me and the man that had struck me... and who looked like he was about to hit me some more. I was just as shocked as most of the others when the monkeys and apes split into two groups, the males worked together to keep the man away from me, while the females worked at helping me get away from him and back to the mother and child that I had saved... all the while befuddling everyone except for Aries who walked up to the man and punched him on the same cheek that the man had slapped me.
"If you ever touch my niece again, I'll do far worse. Consider this your only warning. Get back to your office." Aries tells the man after he picks him up to his feet and then gives him a shove toward the building, "Everyone back to your offices, my cousin and I can take it from here... where is Williams?"
"Here sir! I tried to tell the others not to call animal control... but you can see who well that went over." An Middle-aged man comes rushing forward, but not to quickly because he looked like he was a bit out of shape.
"How did they all get out?" Aries asks in a hushed voice.
"I have been trying to figure it out sir... but I haven't had the time to check any of the cameras because of this mess that the others caused." The man says in the same tone.
The monkeys and apes seem nervous around Aries, but they respect him all the same. The males back up so that they stand closer to the females, but they still remain protective of them. The females have taken to me, their children play with me from different places on my lap while their mother's watch them or are playing with my hair. My attention turns to the female that I saved because I realize that she is breathing heavily. When I gently place the children that are on my lap onto the ground so that I may crawl to her side, I find that her side is bleeding... and I can not hold back the tears that well within my eyes.
"Aries! Aries, she's hurt!" I shout over to him as I take off the thin jacket that I had been wearing and press it carefully to her bleeding side.
When he, his employee and Eric get to us, the man carefully takes over, lifting it just enough to inspect the wound that I'd found.
"It's punctured the lung... she won't have much longer." He says in a sad voice and I shake my head as the tears start to roll over my eyes.
I'm crying as softly as I can as I watch how her child is trying to play with the mother and she seems to weak to even do that... but then she surprises the four of us, by carefully lifting her child up and placing the baby within my arms. She almost seems to be telling both the child and me that we are now family, like she is telling her child that she will not survive, but that it is not alone. She trusts me to take care of it.
"I promise." I whisper to her as I take her hand and hold it to my right cheek, "I promise that your child will remain safe."
I don't know if she understood any of what I said to her... but I do know that she died just moments after I told her that, and that I cried as I gently hugged the child to me. The child touched my tear streaked face, almost as if wondering why there was water on my face and then started to play with the hair that hung low enough for it to play with.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" I ask the gentlemen around me.
"It's a girl." Mr. Williams tells me in a whisper.
"Does she have a name yet?" I ask him as I look him in the eye.
"Not that I know of." He tells me with a confused look.
"Arianna... that's what I'll call you." I whisper to my new little girl.
"You can't take her with you!" Mr. Williams protested.
"Why can't I? I didn't see her giving you the baby to look after, so why would I not be allowed to take the baby with me?" I snap back at him and I see the males getting ready to move if they need to.
"My niece is very capable of taking on the child herself... I would caution you not to anger her any further." Aries informed Mr. Williams as he nodded to the other monkeys and apes that were still around them.
Taking in the sight of several dozen of the creatures, all of which looked like they would attack him if I gave the word, Mr. Williams immediately backed off of the subject... and broached a new one.
"We can't keep them at this facility any more... they haven't been getting along with any of the other animals that are here and they've seemed to deem your niece as one of their own. We need to move them to the facility on your property once more." Mr. Williams replies carefully and I see Aries frown instantly.
"And when were you going to tell me about that little tidbit?" He questions his employee.
"I was going to bring it up at our next meeting... which was in two days, but then this happened. I was hoping it was just the move for one habitat to another, but now I see it was a matter of trust for those around them." Mr. Williams replies to the question he was given.
"Yes, I can see that they would have some trust issues." Aries mutters as he seems to be in a deep in thought before finally sighing to himself, "Go get the vans ready to transport our friends here... I'll have my cousin help me get them into the vans ourselves."
"Yes sir." Mr. Williams replies before running off to do as he was instructed as Eric knelt next to me.
"Are you okay?" He asks me as he places a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"I'm fine... her death is the first one that I've witnessed since I woke up." I tell him as I try to wipe the tears away, "I don't know if I've seen deaths before, but I know that this is my first one now."
"It's never easy to see someone die... not matter whether memory loss plays into it or not." Eric tells me and I smile at him kindly as I turn my focus onto my new charge once more.
Aries seems angry every time I glance at him out of the corner of my eyes, and I can't figure out if it's because Eric seems to be showing a small amount of interest in me, or the fact that I'm letting him have an interest in me... either way, Aries looks like he'd rather rip Eric's head off than stand around watching us talk to one another, so he excuses himself in order to go and check the video footage on how the monkeys and apes managed to get out of the facility... when he came back, he was grumbling about how humans were always trying to make animals look like wild beasts without ever really trying to get to know them first. Eric went to his car to check in with his chief and I was left alone with Aries... well him and all our monkey and ape friends that is.
"I am doing something that is making you angry?" I ask him bluntly as I continue to play with Arianna without realizing that I still am.
"What do you mean?" Aries asks me and I watch as his face shifts gradually into a blank expression.
"You can't fool me with that blank expression that you've just put on... every time Eric and I talk, you get this look on your face that suggests that you'd rather punch him in the face than that other man." I tell him in a firm tone that tells him that he's not pulling any tricks on me, "What's wrong, I can't do anything to make you feel better if you don't tell me what's wrong."
"I can't tell you whats wrong!" Aries snaps at me finally and I'm a little shocked at him as he continues to snap at me in his anger, "You wouldn't understand it because it deals with your past, and the only reason I'm not telling you about it, is because you'd try to deny it, you wouldn't believe it, or it would make you doubt anything and everything I ever said or will say in the future... You're current state is like a double edged sword, and there's no way I'm gonna make it through this without getting cut somehow."
I watched him carefully as I took in what he said and then I did the only thing I could think of... I stepped closer to him and I gave him a hug.
"I know you're trying to protect me, but I don't see how that effects Eric." I reply as I try to make him feel better.
"I'd really like to tell you... but it's just something better left for when you remember more of your past." Aries tells me in a tone that literally emits caution.
"When I fully understand whatever it is you're trying to tell me, I'll give you I-told-you-so rights if I end up screwing something over really badly." I inform him as I give him one more hug and then watch as the vans pull up and park nearby... Aries warning still echoing within my head almost as if I really do understand what he's saying at the same time when I don't.
So instead, I focus on helping the monkeys and the apes into the vans carefully and without injuring any of them before getting back into Eric's car and following the last of the vans that's following Aries back to his home and what was apparently his home facility.