Apes Chapter 9

 

9.

The sudden turn of events happened so fast that everyone was caught in the bind. The disappearance of Doctor Lopez was more than a mere mishap in surveillance works. The Colonel sent Griff and Tony to scour the city for the doctor.

“Look at me, Carlos.” Griff held the man by the throat with his dagger. “Nothing goes down on your turf without your hand in it.” They were in the darker end of the alley lighted by the windows lights on the upper level. In the huge city then, there were still these narrow lanes between the towers which served as the boundary for the residents. The lane was mostly unoccupied except for the discarded furnishings and on some rare occasions, the reported missing servants. No one will venture there unless they are courting death or illicit rendezvous with the other.

Or in some cases, like then the place to sort out differences in opinions.

“I told you I know nothing. If the doctor was ever handled…Arghhh...” Carlos screamed when others grabbed his crotch hard with the left hand. He was pushed to the wall then. He could overpower the other but the aura of the Enforcers protects the other from being the victim unless you were courting a painful death when arrested.

“Carlos, you know my desire and I will do it with you right here if you lie to me once more.” Griff sniffed the other on the face. He was half a head shorter than Carlos but with his ID as Enforcer, he appeared taller than most. It was then Tony held out his right hand to pull Griff back. The former then leaned over to whisper to Carlos.

“I am not keen to have you squealing here but do me a favor and tell me what you know.” Tony sneered at Carlos. “Griff is an arsehole and if you don’t talk, I can’t help you.”

“Honestly I don’t know much. I heard rumors that since the last riot, the Dark Ones are surfacing once more. They are planning a new revolution.” Carlos spat it all out before Griff released his hold on the crotch.

“So, what else is new? The Dark Ones have been surfaced before but nothing happened.” Griff stepped back and then raised his right leg to kick at Carlos. The other moved in time to have the kick land on his left thigh. Tony stopped the abuse and pulled Griff away. He then leaned over to assist Carlos.

“I don’t know much but this time the Dark Ones are going to use the servants. That’s about all I know.” Carlos moaned out his last reply. He then glared at Griff.

“One day, I will do the same to you. Be prepared for it.” Carlos cursed at the other. Griff was to move in to kick Carlos but Tony was pulling his partner away.

“We got what we wanted. Let him go.” Tony then pulled Griff along and left for their vehicle. Griff took the wheel to drive on their way to the Fortress.

In the alley where the abuse took place, Carlos leaned on the wall for support while the pain subsided in his body. He then heard the voice.

“Carlos Herron, you talked too much.” Carlos turned to look at the voice and recognized the figure. His head slumped down and then mumbled his reply. He did not see the other hidden in the shadows.

“They were monsters. I had to say something but I did not tell them much.” Carlos defended himself. “Anyway, you are late. Now, pay me my dues.”

“I will pay you once you tell me that the …doctor was taken care of.”

“I did this vid on the doctor.” Carlos produced the chip and passed it to the other. “It’s all there.”

The other took the chip before passing over another set of chips. The later were treasury chips with values. Carlos accepted that and inserted it onto the contraption on his wrist. It read the chips and then processed the transaction.

“Thanks, and that is telling you of my generosity not have you killed for being late.” Carlos turned to leave then.

“Your telling was too much, Carlos. For that, we won’t tolerate it.” Carlos stopped and then approached the figure when he was told that he had a loose tongue.

“Bitch, I am Car….” The words never came out in a complete statement when the head was crushed with both ears caving into the brain. The ape had exerted the full strength in both arms to kill the man. It had extended its body from the rear of Carlos. With its widespread arms, it clapped it hard together on the sides of Carlos’s head.

“Good work there, Mack. Your training may be complete after all.” The Technician stood there to look at the ape released its fury on the dead body. He disliked the mess but the sight of the aggression was attractive. He wanted to see the brutal side of the gorillas and not its domiciled behavior. He does however find himself intimidated by them especially the silverback with the huge frame. It was stirring and yet at times, he felt his fear with them.

“Shall we leave now, Mack?” The Technician pulled at the leash and with the second pull, the ape was moving. The Technician smiled while pulling the leash. He had then anticipated anytime then his head may be crushed but nothing happened.

It did happen then.

Officer Bernice stared at the witness who was the owner of the dead gorilla ape that triggered off the riot at Tower One of Avenue Five. Or it was assumed to be.

“I don’t know what happened that day. All I knew was Simon was normal in the morning. He did the clearing of the yard as every morning. He then disappeared at about noon. That was all I know.” Judd continued staring at the owner who was an elderly man in the trade of used spares at Level Twenty. Juanico was checking the warehouse which was converted from three units to house the wars. She did not find any unusual stuff considering the warehouse was full of parts and odd ends. She approached the elderly man from the rear. She raised her right hand and smacked the man across the head.

“Tell her the whole story.” Juanico was rough at her line of questioning. “Do it or I will get my friends at Housing Section to confiscate your wares on the ground of wrongful storage.” 

“Y9ou can’t do this to me. I will have you….”

“Report this.” Juanico had her right fist leveled at the elderly man’s face. The later surrendered and told the whole tale. It came out then that the ape was always in communication with someone from the outside. The name was then not told.

“They communicated. I think it was another ape. They meet at the far end of the yard. I think it belongs to the other block. It was the janitor’s servant.”

It turned out the janitor’s ape was a chimpanzee. It was all the same to the other; any apes where it was chimpanzee or gorilla.

“The servant is doing maintenance.” Bernice looked at the direction pointed by the janitor. It was leading to a tunnel of piping and cables. It was huge enough for them to walk in but at the tangent, tunnels were small for a chimpanzee. That was the servant they were looking for.

“Its name you are asking? I call it a Mechanic. It will answer to that.”

Bernice stepped into the tunnel and began hollering the name. She was armed with the vambrace and baton while Juanico held the additional sonar rifle. The servant stepped out of the sub tunnel in front and saw the Enforcers. It was a grown-up chimpanzee with the utility belt on the waist and goggles on the face.

“Mechanic, come here,” Bernice called out but the chimpanzee stood there. “I say come here.”

“Fuck it.” Juanico leveled the rifle. It was then Juanico fired the sonar rifle into the tunnel aimed above the servant but it triggered off a panic in the chimpanzee. It turned and ran further into the tunnel

“Enforcer in Block QM off the T-Mark on Avenue Five. We have a runner in the tunnel.” Bernice called in. She then took to chase the servant with Juanico. It was seen then climbing out of the tunnel on one of the exit points.

“Take the next exit. I will go up here.” Bernice called to Juanico and then followed suit. She came out into the open yard of the tower. The yard was fifteen levels up and was to serve as a small park for the inhabitants. She saw the ape running into an entrance. It was in Tower One and she followed. The ape had taken the stairs and was moving to a higher level. The ape could move with ease with its extended limbs grabbing the rails and then leaping high to grab the next rail above. For Judd, she had to jump step over three steps per move and was losing sight of the ape.

“Judd, I am with the Janitor. He is telling more than we knew.” Juanico reported in.

“Bust his balls and get more. I am in pursuit of the ape.” Bernice found herself at Level Twenty with the exit door ajar. She stepped into the corridor of the level and was soon in another warehouse on the opposite end of the one they had visited. It was like the previous one with stacks of cases on the storage rungs there. Each column held five rows and there were six columns and there were twelve of these storage components.

“Judd, I saw you. I heard the commotion and am in to check. Is the ape here.”

“Damn! Affirmative.” Judd cursed but Juanico had slung the rifle across the back and then took to the storage rungs. She climbed up with ease like the servant. She made up the top in under a minute and then she unslung the rifle. She was scanning at the top level. It was the behavior of the servants to get to the top and move from there. She saw the servant at the fifth column and aimed the rifle but the servant had dropped down to the lower rung.

“Servant on the fifth component and dropping,” Juanico called out and then decided to drop the rifle. She then ran along with the columns before she scaled down. She slipped to the third level and then ran along with the crates. She jumped and crouched on the uneven surfaces. She then saw the servant in the front with two columns ahead.

“Two columns ahead.” Juanico saw the servant was going down. Officer Bernice heard the call and took her run to the area. She saw the servant in the second row. She raised her right arm and with the armed vambrace, she fired at the servant. The two mini darts missed the target and the servant was on the ground level running to the nearby exit. It looked like it was reaching it when Juanico jumped in front of the servant. It was all the Judd needed to impact the third mini dart into the servant’s back.

“We got the bitch.” Juanico grabbed the servant by the right upper limb. She then leaned down to step on the servant's right shoulder and pressed down till she heard the crack.

“I don’t want it running away now.”