#dotpota caesar x reader

[sivyera]

hi!! i loveee yr planet of the ape writings, blue eyes is literally my favorite!! but i was wondering if yu could do dating hcs for caesar?

thank yu so so sooo so much n i hope yu have a nice day/night!!

dating caesar headcanons

planets of the apes caesar x human!reader

a/n: sorry for taking so long, haha! btw guys i'm trying to write all your requests, i was just little off motivation for the past few days, be patient with me... also i'm probably gonna rewrite the dating headcanons i have with Blue eyes, i wrote it like 2 years ago so i'm not satisfyed with it haha, hope you like it!

༺☆༻

Caesar is extremely protective of those he loves, you are the love of his life so you can only imagine how much protective he'd be over you. he'd literally kill for you (which happened already but we are not gonna talk about that...)

when it comes to pda tho, it's something else. he usually keeps you close to himself but he isn't really touchy, maybe when Koba is around because he doesn't like the way Koba looks at you. so when Koba is around, he usually holds your hands or towers behind you

Marice is actually the only one who saw Caesar act all soft with you, because when the doors are closet and the two of you are alone, he's a whole different monkey

he keeps his hand on your lower back or brushes his fingers gently over your thigh, giving you a soft kiss on the cheek.

he has a huge soft spot for you like it's not even funny. Koba (or any other monkey) wants to go to the right? Caesar goes to the left. You wanna go to the right? Caesar goes to the right. and i'm just starting..

he always leaves you the best fruit or the nicest meat or the clearest water, he wants the best nutritions for you since you're much weaker than a monkey

he overall takes a very good care of you. he always makes sure you get enough and proper sleep, that you eat the best food, that you move through the day, etc..

he likes to watch you when you interact with the infants (baby monkeys) because they are always in awe when they see you and it's just so cute to him. see all those monkeys over you with their small hands touching your hair or fingers or ears, they love you and Caesar loves watching your smile

he usually keeps an eye on you through the day, even if he isn't near you, you can feel him and if anything happens, he's immediately by your side

i believe he doesn't sleep so good, he has a hard time falling asleep plus he's a very light sleeper so if you get him to fall asleep for at least few hours, consider yourself a magician

but even tho his sleeping is not so good, he loves to hold you. your presence actually calm him down so even if he's not sleeping, he's resting BUT he has to have you in his arms

when you're sleeping peacefully in his arms, he likes to watch you (it's like a habit already to him). he'd let his finger gently trace the outline of your earlobe while the moonlight shines on your pretty face and the only thing he listens is your steady heartbeat and soft breaths. he swears you're an angel...

he's very gentle with you overall, he knows how strong he actually is so whenever he's interacting with you, he's careful and gentle...

he lets himself be curious about you sometimes and even tho he lived with the humans and he knows them, you're different. you're his girl so he can touch you much more than he could touch Will

he'd explore your fingers, ears, hair, toes, everything and you swear that inside he's still a curious baby (only with you tho, no one else can see this side of him)

you teach him more words and he tries twice as hard with talking because he wants to communicate with you more, but sometimes he pretends like he can't understand just so he can hear your sweet voice

you're the only one that matters the most to him and he's able to start a war just to have you safe... and he's the peaceful guy

when he's not around, he let's Maurice to watch over you

whenever you make him something (like a bracelet or a necklace) he wears it all the time and refuses to take it off but there are times when that thing rips (because he was hunting and ripped it off by accident) and when that happens, he goes to you and tell you to make a new one. he doesn't want you to think that he doesn't value it...

no one dares to pick up on you, no one dares to touch you more than friendly, no one dares to flirt with you because Caesar is always behind you with his cold stare. so if any young males would try to hit on you, they'd quickly give up after they see their leader killing them with his stare

Koba of course isn't a fan of you since you're a human but he respects Caesar (till he don't) so till he lives with others in the colony, he tolerates you

Caesar tries to keep you away from any danger as long as possible but once again something happens, you're the first thing on his mind and he HAS to have you in safety

if he lost you, he'd go feral, literally. he'd kill every human on this planet even tho he's knew that it wouldn't bring you back...

sometimes his love for you scares him, because he was never this much in love but he loves every second of it

[uuuhhhmmmmmmmmidk]

Baby Caesar 🐒💖

Lo amo muchooOoOOoooo😭💖

Me dan ganas de abrazarloooO y jugar con él y y y y 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[weird-tree-girl]

“But you’re wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from human relationships.”

•

•

•

A bit of an idea of what I’m working on at the moment.. a planet of the apes fanfic that’s set in the time of DotPota with my OC ‘Clover’. Possibly a slow burn Caesar x reader??🙊

I’m so excited for this story! If anyone has any ideas or thoughts for this story, please let me know!

[liminalsspace]

no one .... voice actor lover

Me: *sleeping peacefully* him trying to wake me up: "lim...limlamb...limmie...liminal." *gets idea* him in his best caesar voice: "wake up human." me: *wakes up scared, terrified, and even more in love*

@fennwic

(sorry if this is random...just have to put this out there because i love him)

[weird-tree-girl]

Us and Them

(Pt.1)

Caesar x OC human reader.

-images are not mine-

Warnings : Loneliness, language, inter-species relationships, angst/depressing topics, slight gamophobia, more?

Summarize : Clover is a misfit woman in her early/mid twenties, thriving and surviving in the Muir woods in a post-apocalyptic world along side her companion ‘Woofer’ -a large brown wolf she rescued as a pup from an old hunting snare- survive day to day in her shelter deep in the woods, building the life she always dreamt of for herself. However, the Muir woods don’t belong entirely to Clover, and these neighbours can’t avoid each other forever.

•

•

•

Chapter 1 : Kingdom of rust.

To be honest, I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself, we are creatures that should not exist.

I know it probably sounds awful to say, but what happened to world, to humanity, to the apes, it’s what was supposed to happen.

In all honesty, it’s more than what I hoped for. As selfish as it sounds, I wished for something like an “apocalypse” when I was younger. No, not specifically zombies or meteors or aliens or robots. Just something that would take humans away as peacefully as possible and leave the earth to flourish. The way it’s supposed to be. A reset button.

The Simian flu. Death by disease.

I’m not a morbid person by all means, i don’t hate my kind, but I don’t particularly love them either. I just never fit in, you know? Not in school, not at work, and definitely not at home. Society is quick to toss people like me to the side.

Living the life I lived back then- my mental health deteriorated to such a state where l wasn’t even sure what I perceived on a daily basis was real. It felt like I was breathing just a little and calling it life.

We aren’t asked if we accept this life. There is no choice, life is forced upon you, the only choice is how you live it. Or not. That’s a choice as well, I suppose.

I don’t want people to suffer and die off in horrible ways. Humans have done absolutely incredible things in their time as the species that inherited the earth. Climbing to the tops of the tallest mountains in the world, achieving flight around the planet, traveling to the bottom of the sea, venturing into space, and so much more.

But the bad outweighs the good, by a long shot. Humans are a parasitic species that wiped out entire species for selfish reasons and were in the process of killing the planet out of stupidity.

What a waste, if you ask me.

I’m well aware of what I am. I’m not going to try to convince anyone that I’m an exception and that I’m the one good human on earth. I’m sure there are lots of people like me who prefer animals over people, who prefer the woods over the city, who see the wrongs caused by humans, who realize that the fall of humanity will result in the rise of all other things.

Even so, there are no exceptions.

I accepted that and I was okay with dying along side my species if that meant that animals would once again inherit the earth, there are no exceptions after all. However, it turns out that not everyone was affected by the Simian flu. Some, like myself, were immune.

I could say that I was devastated to figure this out. I could say that all hope was lost for the world to evolve into something much more beautiful. But that’s not the case at all.

Im grateful to be alive.

Getting to be apart of the new world, to get to live the type of life I always dreamt of but never thought I’d get to live due to modern life and society, to get to be reborn, it’s beyond words.

Yes, at the time it was all a lot to take in and accept. But the world “ended” about 7 years ago, I haven’t really been counting the days, the months, the years, and the such, but about 7 winters have come and gone.

I was around 15 when the Simian flu hit, and for about 7 years after the fall of humanity, I travelled around. It’s always been a dream of mine to travel the world, but never thought I could due to not being born a millionaire and all.

I learned a lot on the road, from navigation skills, to bushcraft/survival skills, to learning how to fight and defend myself. I could write an entire book on the experiences and encounters I had during my time traveling alone for several years, but this will be a different kind of book.

During my last year traveling, I found myself in Oregon, I may or may not have had high hopes of finding Bigfoot there, due to the lore of him originating there and all.

Anyways, I was in the Oregon bush enjoying the dense woods and ethereal scenery, when I got the feeling that I was no longer alone. This is a sense you pick up when you’re on your own in a world like this for a while.

I go on alert and keep my defence up. I stay low and walk slow, stepping heel to toe and keeping my knees bent, staying as quiet as possible despite being in the woods with branches and leaves everywhere I step. As I come to more of a clearing, I notice something small and dark moving around (or at least trying to) weakly in the leaves a bit ahead of me.

I approach with caution and hold my hunting knife up near my chest. If this is a bear cub, I have to haul ass out of here, I don’t feel like fighting off a mother bear. As I step out, I can see clearly the small pup struggling to stand properly in front of me. It’s caught in an old hunting snare, it couldn’t have been here for more than a day or so, there’s just no way it would still be alive.

I decide to cut it free, I’m not one to interfere with nature and its plans by any means, but seeing this animal caught in this old contraption made by man that serves no purpose now, left me feeling quite melancholy, I don’t consider this a natural death.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

I step forward to cut him free, when he noticed me and let out a weak growl from where he laid, but didn’t move. I then realize that after closer inspection, this probably isn’t a dog, this is probably a wolf pup, not that it really matters to me at this point. Not only was it a pup, but it was weak and possibly injured too, I didn’t feel like I was taking any real risks. I take off my jacket and place it over his head to avoid being bitten, I hold his jacket-covered head with one hand to steady him and cut the snare loop with the knife in my other hand.

Once freed, I took my jacket back and stood, moving back a few steps. The pup goes on the defence from just having its head held down and covered, baring his fangs and growling once again. Before taking my leave, I reach into the side of my backpack and pull out one of the apples I collected from an apple tree I passed by the previous day. I cut the apple in half and carefully toss them forward to the pup.

Knowing he’s freed and has access to immediate food, I turn and leave, getting ready to find somewhere to set up for the night.

After setting up camp by a fallen tree, I built a fire and settled down to eat some foraged berries and a can of food I came across in a market. A moment after I started to eat, the bushes a ways in front of me started to rustle. I swallow my food and focus on the scene in front of me, clutching the knife sheath on my belt.

To my surprise (and relief) the wolf pup from earlier walks out, cautiously. I watch in bewilderment as it walks up to my camp and walks around the fire, sitting a couple feet from me. After a moment of staring at the creature, I continue to eat my meal.

The brown wolf pup watches as I eat, I figured he might still be hungry or even thirsty, so enjoying the company, I pour some water into a cup and place it down in front of him along with a handful of berries. Surprisingly, he begins to drink immediately then starts to pick through the berries. I half expected him to run off at my movement or in the very least give a warning growl.

After a moment, he finishes and makes his way towards a leafy bush, curls up and lays down. “I guess you’re camping out with me, then.” I say softly. I stoke the fire once more then get ready to sleep for the night.

The next day I decided I was going to head back to San Francisco, it’s been a long time since I left and I was curious to see how it’s changed. I quickly learned that the wolf pup decided it was going to be joining me on my travels, as he has been following me since I woke up. I wasn’t against the idea at all really, I figured that as he grew he would lose the need for comfort and protection and would leave on his own. But until then, I didn’t mind the company, I was rather happy I found a furry beast in Oregon after all.

After a couple of months of making our way to San Francisco, I now found myself looking up at the Golden Gate Bridge once again. “We made it, bud!” I said looking down to the wolf pup, who has grown twice in size since I found him, now reaching up to my knees. “You know, I really should come up with a name for you if you’re going to be sticking around.” I think out loud, bending down and scratching behind his ear.

We cross the bridge, taking note of the amount of destruction. There are broken down cars and military vehicles about mid way through the bridge, a bus that’s been flipped onto its side as well, and not to mention all the bullet holes in everything. “This must’ve been when the military was trying to seize the apes after escaping…”

I shrug and continue walking. I was never one to pay any attention to the news or social media, so I didn’t know much about the whole ordeal, just that a bunch of apes from testing labs escaped and carried a virus that wiped out half the planet or more. Poor things, it’s not their fault.. I like to think they got away, somehow.

After crossing the bridge, we continue until we arrive at the entrance of the Muir woods. “I haven’t been here since I was little. I wonder if it’s changed any since before.” I say as we make our way into the trails.

After walking on and off trails for a couple of days and camping out in random spots, we came across this old looking shelter that was built around a tree to hold it upright. The building itself was not in too bad shape, but you can tell it’s uninhibited. Vegetation was taking the whole place over, inside and out, and some patchwork would need to be done. But seeing this standing deep in the Muir woods after so many years, after everything, it was hard to see the flaws.

“I think we’ve been walking around long enough, don’t you?” I ask the little brown wolf with a hopeful smile. As if to respond, he lets out what sounded most like an attempted ‘woof’. I laugh a little, “Nice one, I didn’t know wolves ‘woofed’. Actually, now that I think of it, I might prefer that. Living with a howling wolf sounds like a bit of a headache.”

I look back up at our fixer-upper shelter, inhaling deep, holding it in for a second longer, then letting it out in a huff, smiling once again.

Walking up to the building, ready and already thinking of what to get started on first, I look down at the small canine running up beside me. “I guess we got some work to do, don’t we, Woofer?”

•

•

•

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my POTA series “Us and Them”! Super long chapter, but this was meant to really get the story going and build up my OC. Every chapter after chapter 1 will be in the present (2 years later) with the shelter restored and Woofer grown up more, Clover and Woofer will travel much further into the Muir woods, where they discover that they have some rather furry and not so social neighbours.

Thank you for reading! I’ll be attempting to post weekly, depending on school as I’m in an accelerated course and get a LOT of assignments every week.

[liminalsspace]

that moment when you get to a point in your drawing process and your like "damn....i dont wanna do this anymore" love my girl cricket bit AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *cries in art block*

[weird-tree-girl]

Us and them

(Pt.3)

Caesar x OC human reader

-images not mine-

Warnings : Loneliness, inter-species relationship, language, angst/depressing topics, slight gamophobia, more?

Summarize : Clover is a misfit woman in her early/mid twenties, thriving in the Muir woods in a post-apocalyptic world along side her companion ‘Woofer’ -a large brown wolf she rescued as a pup from an old hunting snare- survive day to day in her shelter deep in the woods, building the life she always dreamt of for herself. However, the Muir woods don’t belong entirely to Clover, and these neighbours can’t avoid each other forever.

•

•

•

Chapter 3 : Rotten Soldier.

I guess what love essentially boils down to is faith— and that has never been my strong suit. Not for god, not for my father. I don’t trust anyone not to leave me here alone.

That’s the way it was for me, for a long time. Then I met Woofer, my rotten soldier.

I care for him greatly, and I have a good feeling, he would never leave me here alone.

•

•

•

“Woofer!” I say with a slight sigh of relief.

Woofer was in front of me facing the apes, specifically the one that is on the ground with me, the ape that spoke to me moments ago.

Woofer stood his ground growling loudly at the ape. Due to Woofers sheer size, his growl was so loud it vibrated through my chest.

Despite having Woofer here with me, I didn’t feel much safer. Even with his size, I knew the apes could take him on if it came down to it. One of them just took out a bear with a spear.

And every other ape in the trees seemed to be carrying a spear. I knew we needed to leave and fast.

The linguistic ape watched Woofer with wide eyes, eyes filled with fear and shock. But I could tell he wasn’t going to stand down either, he knew just as well as I did that the apes together were far stronger.

The apes in the trees were shaken up and probably worried for what I assume was their “leader”.

The leader in question doesn’t seem to put together that the massive wolf is with me, rather he sees this as just a ‘wrong place, wrong time’ sort of situation.

Before he has the chance to call an attack on Woofer, or before Woofer launches himself at the ape in front of us, I slowly begin to stand, once standing and coming back into view of the leader ape, his gaze meets mine and seems to remember I was there.

He gives me a look that makes me think he’s thinking ‘you’re on your own’. I maintain eye contact as I step forward next to Woofer’s head, I turn my head and look at Woofer and place my hand on the size of his neck.

Woofer’s ears relax a bit but continues to look forward.

“Let’s go.” I say as my eyes look to the side at the ape leader, who was now the one gawking at me.

After giving off a snort, Woofer relaxes his stance and expression. Standing next to me, he looks to me for approval, I nod to him and smile.

“Thanks bud, I owe you one.”

I look back towards the ape standing in front of us, he seems to realize that the massive wolf is with me and not just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“We mean you no harm, I was just passing through. I live a few hours down the Muir woods-“

Damn.

The apes in the trees start to chatter, the ape on the ground with me seems to take in the information I accidentally gave him.

“Look, I’m not looking for trouble, the wolf won’t be a problem either, he’s with me. I’ve been living in these woods for the past 2 years, if I wanted to cause a problem I probably would’ve by now.”

I try to explain myself as best as I can, fearing that what the scarred ape said earlier might start to sound like a good idea to the ape in front of me.

“Go.”

I blink at him, almost missing what he said.

“Go… do not.. travel back up… the mountain.”

The ape finishes with a frown, actually I don’t think he’s stopped frowning since I first met him.

“Okay.” I say as I place a hand on Woofers side and turn to leave. “Thanks.” I mumble turning my head towards him slightly but not making eye contact.

We take our leave, the apes don’t move, they watch as we walk out of sight.

•

•

•

(Clovers POV)

The walk back to the shelter was silent. I didn’t hum to myself like I normally did, nor did I say anything to Woofer, I walked looking forwards with my mind running over the recent events.

Where did they come from?

Do they have a camp of sorts? A shelter like mine?

Do they have weapons?

Are they talking about me right now? What do they think about me?

Are they going to look for me?

Will they attack my shelter?

My mind was running a million different thought that I didn’t realize how dark it had gotten or that I had arrived at my shelter walked right inside until I sat on my old sofa.

Woofer is much too big to comfortably move around in my shelter, he’s also a wild animal and I don’t plan on taking that away from him, so he sleeps in an opening underneath the shelter, which has protection from any rain.

He doesn’t make any attempts to come into my shelter either, in fact he hasn’t been inside the shelter since he was just under hip height.

Leaning back in the old couch, I look up to the ceiling thinking about the apes. What did people do to those apes? How are they so self aware? How are they able to speak English??

Maybe this is what I get for not paying attention to the news when it all went down.

I slide onto my side and fell into my thoughts as I started to drift off to sleep, too exhausted to make food or even climb up to my bed.

•

•

•

(The apes POV)

After watching the human and the wolf head back down the woods and out of sight, Caesar turns his attention back to the colony, signing for Koba.

Koba swings over to Caesar’s side, Caesar turns to face him and signs ‘follow’ while gesturing in the woman’s direction.

Koba nods and begins to follow after the human with 2 other apes, but being sure as to not be seen by the woman and her wolf.

Caesar huffs in contentment as he watches Koba and others follow after the woman, he heads back up the mountain where the colony lives, checking on his son’s injuries from the bear attack.

After watching the human enter her shelter, Koba and the 2 other apes sat in the trees checking her shelter out.

‘Look for weapons lying around.’ Signed Koba to the others.

The other nodded and spread out to different trees checking around the shelter. While the other apes were moving from tree to tree around her shelter, Koba decided to lower himself down and approach the humans shelter.

Koba knew Caesar wanted him to only see where the human was staying and if she was alone, but Koba knew the best way to protect the colony was to kill this woman.

Koba approached the shelter looking for different means of entering and exiting, looking in through any windows he could from a distance to spot any guns or other weapons, as well as to find the human he wanted so bad to kill.

Before Koba could get too close, he heard shifting from under the woman’s shelter. Realizing that he didn’t remember seeing the big wolf follow the humans shelter inside, he freezes and scans the area.

Koba’s eyes fall on a pair of eyes glowing in the dark underneath the shelter, the eyes were watching him intently, waiting for his next move. Koba heard no growling from the wolf, the wolf also made no attempt to move towards him.

It’s as though the large wolf knew he was alone, or might as well be, and that he wasn’t armed like they were earlier. It’s like the wolf was saying; “Just try something.”

Koba might’ve been slightly unhinged, but he wasn’t necessarily suicidal, he knew when he was outmatched.

With a frown and slight snarl, Koba turns back and climbs up a tree and regroups with the 2 other apes.

‘We head back now. Only one human with no guns, we tell Caesar.’ Koba signs to the apes and they all begin to make their way back to the colony.

While swinging through the trees, Koba lets out a frustrated growl, this human isn’t going to be as easy to get rid of as he had hoped, not with that beast by her side.

Not today, not tomorrow, but he will find a way, an opening, to kill that human.

•

•

•

I hope you enjoyed chapter 3 of Us and Them! Sorry for not posting last week, I had a hefty amount of assignments that were almost all due on the same day and got pretty overwhelmed. Writing and typing were the last thing I wanted to do in my free time after all that lol!

Thank you for your patience! I’ll see you in chapter 4!

[weird-tree-girl]

Us and Them

(Pt.2)

Caesar x OC human reader

-images are not mine-

Warnings : Loneliness, inter-species relationship, language, angst/depressing topics, slight gamophobia, more?

Summarize : Clover is a misfit woman in her early/mid twenties, thriving in the Muir woods in a post-apocalyptic world along side her companion ‘Woofer’ -a large brown wolf she rescued as a pup from an old hunting snare- survive day to day in her shelter deep in the woods, building the life she always dreamt of for herself. However, the Muir woods don’t belong entirely to Clover, and these neighbours can’t avoid each other forever.

•

•

•

(A visual for Woofers size, leaning more towards 3.3FT height and 7FT length. Clover is 5”8)

Chapter 2 : Word of mouth.

2 years have passed since I decided to renovate the shelter I came across at the end of my long journey on the road.

Woofer is still with me. In fact, he’s grown quite a lot actually. I honestly don’t think wolves typically grow this big, he kind of reminds me of Dire wolves, although they’re long extinct, Woofers just supersized I guess, I remember reading a book as a kid that talked about supersized animals. He could honestly carry me if it really came down to it.

Over the past 2 years, I mostly spent the entire time renovating the shelter and also travelling to the closest abandoned city and back often, looking for supplies that I could use in my shelter and to help repair it.

I’ve also been figuring out and familiarizing myself with the layout and land around my shelter, such as seeing what type of foods I can forage, the best areas to catch fish, if there are any game around that Woofer can hunt, etc.

I still have yet to travel more than a day up into the mountains from where I live now, I wanted to finish my shelter before I decide to explore the entire Muir woods.

I’ve been in my part of the woods for 2 years now, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in here.

Obviously there are other animals besides Woofer and I but what I mean is, someone else definitely lives somewhere in these woods.

I can usually see the faint glow of fire up in the mountains at night, and I can sometimes hear screaming or screeching- which scares the hell out of me.

Now that I’m practically finished with renovations for my shelter, at least the stuff that needed to get done immediately like fixing the roof and making the interiors livable, I can start to enjoy living here.

(The shelter so far, has 3 layers)

(Little river in front of the shelter)

(Kitchen area where she stores food, bottom floor in shelter)

(Main living space, middle floor in shelter, bed area is top floor in shelter. Scribbled-out area is the bookshelf in next pic)

(Where she keeps her books, she collects them on runs)

(Outside of her shelter where she cooks food)

After spending the morning reading an old book on the couch, I close it and place it back on the shelf.

“If I had known that the world was ending, I would’ve brought better books.”

I pack a bag with enough food and equipment to last me a couple of days and sling a bag of arrows over my shoulder and pick up my bow as I head out of my shelter and into the Muir woods.

Woofer still hasn’t come back from hunting. He’s sometimes gone for a day or two, to say I’m worried is a serious understatement.

He could hold his own against a bear if he came across one, and if he ran into some people out hunting for food he would scare the holy hell out of them.

But we haven’t come across any other people since before arriving to the Muir woods.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m not lonely, living this way, because I’ve given up expecting that loneliness can be blotted out by anyone else. My loneliness is my own cherished possession and probably my only one.

As I make my way deeper into the woods and up the mountains, I relish in the quietness around me.

“It is so quiet out here, it is the quietest place in the world.” I say, continuing on.

A few hours pass as I walk into the uncharted parts Muir woods, I keep in mind that I have neighbours somewhere in here that I know nothing about.

I decide to stop on a large rock and eat some dried fish and drink water.

While eating I notice my boots, they’re pretty old. I’ve had them for a handful of years now and as one could tell by now, I walk around a LOT.

They’re basically at the ends of their life, if I push just enough with my toes on my right shoe, they lift the shoe up off the soul and you can see my sock.

These won’t do in the coming winter, but luckily by my calculations, it’s about early to mid summer, I have some time to head into the abandoned city and look for something.

As I chew on my fish jerky, I hear a loud..roar? I’m not sure what else to call it. It wasn’t like a bear or mountain lion, and definitely not Woofer. It was like, a man, but also not. God, I hope not.

Whatever it was, it got me upright on my feet, grabbing my shit and hauling ass out of there.

I’m confident as hell when it comes to protecting myself. I’ve just about mastered taekwondo and Krav Maga, although I learned these back from before and have been practicing since then. I’ve also mastered long range weapons like the bow n arrow, slingshot, and guns, but I haven’t used a gun of any sort since the beginning of the end of the world.

I’ve mastered the bō staff too. I came across one during my journeys on the road. However, for the first year or so that I had it, I used it mostly as a walking stick and as a means to help me cross/get over things, before I found a book that explained the art of the bō staff.

But seriously, what the hell was that?

Before I could move very far from the rock I sat on, I heard the unmistakable sounds of a heard of deer or something running somewhere to the left of me, a decent distance away, luckily for me.

They didn’t sound like they were getting any closer to me, thank god, but once I thought I had calmed down some, in the distance I swear I could make out dark figures jumping through the trees.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on in the most wonderful way” I half-heartedly laugh out.

Rubbing the space between my eyes, my curiosity got the better of me and I found myself pulling an arrow out from behind my back and readying it on my bow as I started to make my way towards wherever the figures in the trees were heading, ensuring that I stayed well behind them.

After trailing behind them for a while, I saw a a figure walking on the ground, and after getting a more clear look, I realized that this was a chimpanzee.

“No way..” I mutter to myself, making sure not to be heard.

All along this where the apes went? I guess it makes sense, it’s not very far from the Golden Gate Bridge.

I tighten my grip on my bow as I stay put watching the ape, when another one comes into view.

This one was bigger and looked older than the one I originally saw alone. Something about this bigger chimpanzee was.. alluring? Like, something deeper, something more to them than meets the eye.

The older ape touches a tree with mark on it. Hold on those marks-

Before I could fully process even gawking at the apes in front of me, a grizzly bear lunges out of hiding and attacks the smaller ape, leaving some nasty scratches along its chest and face.

The older ape jumps in front of the younger ape, holding its chest up and letting out a roar of sorts to intimidate the bear, but the bear roars back twice as loud.

To be honest, I thought about helping the apes, but against a grizzly bear? I only have my bow on me, and I don’t even know these apes, for all I know they could see me as just as much of a threat as the bear.

I get pulled out of my thoughts when the older ape lets out a loud call, to me it seemed like they were trying to get help, this made me feel rather guilty.

Not even a moment later, another chimpanzee jumps into view, spear in hand, and plunges it deep into the bears back.

After a moment of silence and anticipation, the new ape climbs on top of the bear to ensure it was dead, and checks on its companions.

They all seemed alright, other than the scratches the younger ape received, but they weren’t life threatening from what I could tell.

What happened next absolutely blew me out of the water and I almost gave my location away. The alluring one signed the words ‘thank you.’ To the new ape that just saved their lives.

“Sign language??” I mutter a little louder than I meant to.

There’s just no way, how could they communicate in a way like that?

But to my horror, I was heard.

The 3 chimps faced my direction. I didn’t dare move, hoping I could still get out of this, they partially heard me but they haven’t seen me yet.

From what I remember hearing on the news, these apes mostly escaped from testing labs, which means that there’s a high probability that in this situation, they would kill a human on sight.

I could try explaining that I’ve always been against animal testing, but that would probably fall on deaf ears.

After what felt like hours, the trees above the 3 apes fills with even more apes.

They start to hoot and sign to the apes below, from what I could make out, they were asking what happened and if they’re alright.

I understand sign language from before, one of the only friends I had in school was mostly deaf and I learned a lot of sign for them.

The alluring one signs to them, reassuring them, then faces back in my general direction. I’m not off the hook yet it seems.

The chimp that took out the grizzly hoots rather aggressively and picks their spear back up and throws it in my direction.

“Idiot!” I thought, they’re apes, they could probably smell a human from a mile away, of course they know I’m here!

The spear misses me by a couple of feet, I stumble back out of the bushes, landing on my bottom.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

I stand and take off in the other direction through the trees.

There’s just no way I’ll outrun so many apes. But I have to try.

The screeching and hooting of the apes behind me is deafening.

While running, my shoulder slams hard into the trunk of a tree, not enough to dislocate luckily. I continue to run.

I realize while running that I can’t lead them back to my shelter, even if it’s hours away from where I am right now, so I change my direction slightly, enough where I’m no longer going the right way to my shelter.

But of course, just like anyone who is running for their life in a situation like mine, my foot got caught in the looped root of a tree, sending me tumbling harshly to the ground.

I tumble for a moment and my back slams into the trunk of a large tree, knocking the wind out of me.

Vision blurry and gasping for air, I begin attempting to collect myself, preparing for the apes to get to me.

Not long after my fall, the apes begging to surround me.

In one liquid motion, I pull an arrow from my back and flip over off my stomach, pressing my back against the tree trunk and pulling the arrow back with my bow, breathing heavily.

The apes above continue hooting, but I’m not even trying to pay attention to what they could be signing.

An ape begins to approach me, walking on 2 legs. It’s the alluring one.

They stand on a tree stump maybe 15-20 feet from me, taking note of my readied bow and arrow.

The ape frowns at me, locks eyes with me and holds up their hand. The apes in the trees above us become silent.

“Lower.. the weapon.”

The ape in front of me says in a deep voice that I could feel rumble through my chest.

My eyes widen and my breath gets caught in my throat.

Did he just.. fucking talk??

After a minute of gaping at him like a fish out of water, I compose myself once again.

“You… you attacked me first.” I say finally, the words not feeling like my own.

The ape just continues to stare me, narrowing his eyes more if that was even possible.

“Lower.. the.. weapon.” He repeats himself, this time slightly louder.

I press my lips into a straight line, debating on what I should do next.

I sigh quietly, and begin lowering my bow, releasing my grip on the arrow and letting it fall softly between my feet.

The apes expression softens by a fraction of a fraction, to the point where I could honestly be making it up in hopes that he’ll just let me go.

He looks as if he’s about to say something again, but the older ape from before comes to his side and begins signing to him. Getting a better look at him up close, he looks like he’s been through the wringer one or twice.

While he signs frantically, I can make out “get rid of her” and “others” and “nothing but trouble!”

He signs again and my veins turn to ice.

“We must kill her!”

My grip on my bow handle tightens but I don’t point it up just yet, I don’t want to risk starting something.

The ape that spoke to me frowns at the older ape and huffs.

“No.” Was all he said and waves the older ape off.

The older ape looks pretty pissed and turns to look at me, baring his fangs and turns to leave.

My grip on my bow handle loosens slightly. I look back at the talking ape. He meets my eyes once again and seems to notice the fear in my eyes which had mostly left before the older ape came up to him.

‘You understand?’ He signed to me.

I nod, not taking my eyes off of his.

I thought about asking how the hell they are able to speak, let alone sign, but decided against it. Today is already just about as weird as I can handle. I am not asking any more questions.

As if he could hear my inner dialogue, he starts to speak once more, but is cut off when the sound of a large animal moving at a fast pace grows closer to us.

The apes start to hoot and chatter, signing about there being another bear. The ape in front of me stands taller and looks around.

Through the trees, a giant dark mass runs closer until it jumps into view, standing in front of me, growling aggressively and baring its fangs at the apes.

Feeling like 5 pounds was lifted off my face, I exhale with an anxious smile.

“Woofer!”

•

•

•

Chapter 2 of Us and them, done! I hope you’re all enjoying the series so far as much as I am, I’d love to hear anyone’s feedback or thoughts/hopes for this series!

See you in chapter 3!