THANKS FOR 6K READS GUYS.
Apparently the world's gonna end today (sept 23) so I thought hmmm I should update my book.
LOL
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"We've been at this for hours. We should've just gone for the rabbit whilst we had the chance", I mumbled, dragging my feet across the forests floor. We'd emerged into a clearing, the ground now more flat. I decided to take a seat, wanting to regain some of my energy.
I yawned, tears springing up in my eyes as sleep began to catch up with me. Jace was pretty persistent yesterday, as he wanted us to make it to the woods before nightfall. Having got here pretty late, it took us plenty time to set up a shelter and I myself only had a few hours sleep.
"Oh stop complaining. We haven't been hunting for that long. You're making it sound worse than it actually is", Jace replied, rolling his eyes at me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Easy for you to say. You weren't the one on guard for predators last night, boy. And this was your dumb idea anyways. Running off like an idiot, after seeing a deer for all of 5 seconds. Do you even know how big these woods are?"
"Still not big enough for that massive gob of yours", he retorted. My mouth gaped open in shock, before I closed it quickly in sudden self-consciousness. He chuckled at my reaction, clearly enjoying hurting my much valued pride and ego.
"For all your talk of big things, can't say the same for your-"
"Shhhhh", someone behind me interrupted. I turned to face her, my eyes narrowing once again.
"What?", I asked in confusion.
"Shh. Listen. You hear that?", Mia asked me, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. I frowned, straining my ears to listen too. And sure enough, I could hear a sort of rumbling sound. It began to get closer and closer, louder and louder. I stood up, looking across the clearing we stood in and into the treeline for any movement.
"What is that?", Jace asked me. I looked him in the eyes, slightly alarmed at the noise that sounded like it was coming in our direction.
I heard a chirp from behind me, and so I turned around. My eyes met with Holly's green ones, her lips puckering at me in question. She raised her hands to sign.
"It doesn't sound too good", she signed. I nodded, beginning to usher Jace, Mia and Holly away from the noise and towards the treeline which was away from the noise.
"No, it doesn't. Whatever it is, it's on the ground. We need height", I told them, also telling them to hurry it up a bit.
However, it seems we were a bit too slow, as before we even made it to any tree, a herd of deer emerged behind us.
"Shit. Run!", I yelled at them as I sprinted forward and ran alongside the rest and towards the nearest tree.
It seemed that I'd looked to the side at the perfect moment when I saw Holly trip over her own feet. I laughed at her panicked face, mocking her as I made it to safety myself.
Holly screeched at us in panic before turning back around and deciding to take shelter behind a boulder in the middle of the clearing. Me, Jace and Mia couldn't control our laughter as we watched the deer storm past Holly, many jumping over the boulder and knocking their hooves on the back of her head.
What cracked me up the most was when Holly raised her hand and flipped us off. My mouth hung open in shock.
"Did you see what she just did?", Jace yelled at me from the tree next to me. I burst out laughing, nodding as I did so. He mirrored my reaction, finding it even more hilarious that the ape just swore at us with her middle finger.
"Let's get one", Mia yelled at me. I wiped the single tear from my right eye, nodding as a smile was still plastered on my face. I jumped down from the tree and jogged behind Mia and after the stragglers of the deer herd.
"You take right and I take left, Mia", I yelled at her.
I took a deep breath, before I broke out into a full blown sprint. Using my now well enhanced abilities and the skills of my hunting partner Mia, the deer was already cooking within 20 minutes of the ambush.
I watched the deer cook over the small fire, my consciousness drifting at every passing second. The wait for food was killing me, the smell wafting up my nose and keeping me awake.
"You know, for someone with superhuman abilities, you're so lazy", Jace mumbled in my ear as he sat next to me, holding the stick with the meat over the fire. I hummed in response, deciding to just rest my eyes for a bit.
I lay my head on his shoulder, making myself comfortable. I felt him chuckle, adjusting himself to make me more comfortable as he put one arm around me.
These were the moments to cherish and enjoy, I thought to myself.
"Ivy", I heard Mia gasp. I opened my eyes, seeing her panting as she ran towards me from within the woods. I lifted my head off of Jace's shoulder, giving Mia my undivided attention.
"There's...a...bear", she gasped out through heavy breaths.
"What? Where?"
"Across the stream. Holly's with it", she muttered out, clutching at her sides. I didn't waste a second before I began running as fast as I could, worry overtaking me. I could hear Jace's pleas for me to slow down, but I didn't. I feared for Holly's life, my over-protectiveness taking over my mind and body as I darted through the maze of trees.
"Holly!", I screamed, not knowing where to go once I'd crossed the stream. I heard a hoot and was after it in an instant.
I skidded to a halt when my eyes fell on a huge ball of fur. My eyes widened at the sight before me, not knowing where to start with this situation I was now in.
"Holly?", I questioned, the ape now looking up at me with a goofy grin. In her arms was in fact, a bear.
A baby bear.
"What the fuck are you doing Holly!?", I yelled, throwing my arms up in exasperation. The bear looked up at me in curiosity before ignoring me and going back to play with Holly.
"It looked lonely!", she signed back, her eyes wide. I gave her a pointed look, crossing my arms and tapping my foot impatiently. By now, Jace and Mia had arrived, seeing for themselves; the baby bear and our dopey Holly.
"Why does she always do this?", Jace asked rhetorically to no one in particular, before turning around and heading back towards the camp.
"Get up, we're going back", I told her, pointing back towards the direction we came from.
"Can we take the baby?", she asked me.
"No."
"Plea-"
"No. It's a baby. Holly. Don't you understand? The mother's probably going to end up here looking for it, and I don't know about you but I don't want to be around for that to happen", I told her before walking off.
Hopefully, Holly would know better than to kidnap a baby bear.
I sighed, knowing full well that she would still bring the baby with her, and turned around to sort it out for myself.
15 minutes later and we were eating up our food back at camp, talking whilst the sun began to set behind the trees.
"Rabbit tastes better", I concluded, finishing up my food and laying down to finally get some shut eye.
"Let's agree to disagree", Jace stated, clearing up after all of us.
"Deer tasted like rubber", I mumbled, beginning to drift off slowly and finally.
"Didn't know you knew what rubber tasted like", Mia snorted, going back to eat her venison.
I was about to retort when I felt something rise up my throat. I jumped to my feet and went over to a secluded area, before letting the vomit out. I gagged, the smell being too strong for me to handle with such close proximity. I tied my hair up quickly and leant against a tree with one hand.
"Ivy?", I heard Jace say from behind me. Without looking, I waved him off, wanting him to leave me alone for a bit.
I stayed in that position, ready for the next wave when I felt it coming up my throat again. I gagged and heaved, letting out the contents of my recent meal. When I was done, I wiped my mouth and went back to the camp.
"You okay?", Mia spoke first, Jace and Holly also looking at me with concern. I smiled, nodding at them as I drank some water to wash away the horrible taste in my mouth.
"I told you that deer was rank. I can't digest things I don't like", I admitted to them. They all rolled their eyes at me, and began getting ready for bed.
It wasn't long before I also joined them, squeezing in between Holly and Mia. As I fell asleep, my eyes remained on Jace as he sat on a log, watching us as he was on guard for the night. His eyes met with my own, and I fell asleep smiling contentedly.
The next morning, I woke up just before the sun was going to rise. I sat up and looked around to see Jace in the same position as last night as he fiddled with a dagger in his hands. I got up and decided to give him some of my amazing company.
"Good morning", I whispered to him, his head turning towards me as I planted myself next to him. He looked at me, smiling through tired eyes.
"Good morning", he whispered back, leaning towards me. I leaned back, grinning.
"Not yet, I've got morning breath", I giggled through the whispering. He rolled his eyes, grinning at me.
"I don't care", he replied, grabbing my head and pecking my lips. I laughed and kissed him back before he let me go. He wrapped his arms around me and lay his head on my own, rocking us back and forth as we watched Mia and Holly sleep peacefully.
"They've grown up too fast, don't you think?", I asked Jace quietly, not wanting to wake up the girls.
"They have. Mia's a teenager now", he sighed. I nodded, taking in Mia's features. She was always an adorable kid, and now she was just beautiful. Even Holly grew up particularly fast, though her height always seemed a bit short even for a female chimp. She had the biggest eyes I'd seen on anyone, her features also extremely beautiful for a chimp. I chuckled inwardly, thinking of Holly. She was probably the clumsiest chimp I had ever met too, her dorky personality contrasting those doe eyes of hers.
"I know I shouldn't wish it, but I was partly glad the Flu outbreak happened you know", Jace mumbled. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, looking at him and waiting for him to carry on.
"Mia doesn't remember anything before it happened, and I'm so glad for it. She doesn't remember any of the bad memories our mother gave us, and I couldn't have wished for more. If we stayed any longer at that place, I know it would've changed Mia completely as a person", he told me. I nodded, agreeing with what he was saying.
"She might've not had the best childhood, but you and Holly gave her the family she needed", he concluded. I lay on his chest, my arms wrapped around his waist.
"You're forgetting the most important person, Jace. She wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it wasn't for you", I smiled at him, holding his cheek with my hand.
"Even I wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it wasn't for you. Don't you forget that", I told him sternly, patting his cheek and grinning at him. I pulled away from him as I stood up to stretch my limbs.
I walked over to my bag, rummaging through it. I took out my hunting dagger, deciding we should hunt earlier today so we could do something fun for the rest of the day. The sun was up now, birds chirping loudly and the sound of the river nearby also meeting my ears. Maybe I might catch some fish today instead.
"You know what else I'm glad about? The day you told me you liked me", he teased, grinning at me. I laughed, remembering the day very clearly.
"I would've never had the guts to tell you. I'm such a wimp", he admitted, standing up from the log and stretching himself too. I laughed at him.
"That you are, my friend. That you are", I replied, pulling my boots on and putting my dagger in its holder on my boot.
"Friend? I thought I was your bo-"
A gunshot rang out through the woods, my heart dropping at the sound of it. I turned to look at the girls as they jumped awake, unharmed. My eyes met with Jace's in panic, our emotions reflecting each other.
My ears perked up at the sound which followed the gunshot; a series of ape screeching echoing through the woods. And that was all it took for me to take off running in the face of the fight.
I panted loudly as I sprinted through the woods, jumping over fallen logs and swerving around trees. I took out my dagger at some point, heading straight for the sound of the distressed ape.
"Help! Hey! Over here!", a man yelled, just as I emerged from the trees. My eyes fell on the man who held the gun, to where he was pointing it at. I saw two apes, one injured and on the floor as the other screeched in alarm and fear. Upon seeing me, his fear increased as his eyes darted between me and the other human.
I growled, turning to face the man with the gun and taking a protective stance in front of the apes. The screeching of the ape died down slightly, noticing I wasn't the enemy here.
"Get the fuck back!", he spat at me. I heard the sound of running, and soon enough an entire group of people holding their own guns ran out from behind the man with the gun.
"I shot him! I shot him", he told them, turning his attention towards them for a brief second. That was all I needed to hear, as I ran forward and held the dagger in my hand against his throat tightly.
"Drop the fucking gun", I growled in his ear, satisfied when I heard him whimper as he shook with fear, underneath my grip.
"Ivy!"
Jace ran out from the trees, Mia following behind him as Holly jumped down from the trees and next to the injured ape and his friend.
My head snapped to the right as I heard a loud rustling sound. My eyes widened at the sight.
A huge swarm of apes emerged from over the hill, running across the forest floor and jumping from branch to branch through the trees. Even the man in my grip froze at the sight, all of us silent as apes surrounded us completely.
But that wasn't what shocked me most. Out of all the apes there, I singled out one in particular.
"Caesar", I whispered, feeling nostalgic at the sight of my brother. His head snapped to me, his familiar green eyes meeting my own. He mirrored my shock, giving me a small smile in greeting.
Our reunion, however, seemed to have distracted me enough to allow the man in my arms to flick the safety off of his gun as he pointed it forward, and pulled the trigger.
My ears rang loudly, blocking all other sound around me as my arms fell limp and my mouth opened in shock. His body fell to the floor and tears formed in my eyes at the bloody sight, and I screamed.
"JACE!"
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Wtf just happened idek.
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NEXT UPDATE: 28th September