The next day, Mina was in her camp, sitting on her little stump with her tent in her lap, fiddling with a tear in her tent when she heard someone hoot and grunt behind her. She turned to find Ceaser with the others walking up to her in greeting and she smiled and waved. Ceaser nodded to her, but he didn't seem happy, and neither did Blue Eyes for that matter; in fact, they looked furious. Had she done something wrong?
She stood when they reached her camp and smiled at them when they approached, but then she froze when she saw humans walk around them. There was a man with dark brown hair, a woman with a braid, a boy, and a bald man all standing behind Maurice.
"Hi there." The man waves.
Her eyes widened as she backed away, a little afraid. She hadn't had much human interaction since her parents died. She didn't know what to think about them. She felt her hand graze her machete, but the man held his hands up in surrender.
"it's okay, your okay..." he slowly walked up and held his arms out.
"My name is Malcolm. We are working on a dam to get power back in the city. do you know anything about it?" She was confused a moment, but then she thought about it.
Maybe it was the large building by the river they were talking about. Instead of nodding, she only shook her head no at the man. She didn't want anything to do with them.
"Right, thanks anyway. But we were wondering if you wanted to go with us back to the city, once we got power back. we have plenty of supplies and resources for you if your interested." she raised her eyebrows at them.
"There's other people like you. Food, water, warmth and you can-" he stopped when she backed away, violently shaking her head.
He was confused but when he looked around her camp, he could tell she built her life out here. She was happy in the woods, and who was he to take a child from her home?
"You don't understand. You could be in danger." The woman beside him adds, attempting to get the girl to follow them.
Mina narrowed her eyes and shook her head, crossing her arms. None of the humans could understand why she would want to stay up here, but didn't push it. Blue Eyes was happy she wanted to stay behind with them; he felt saddened when Malcolm came to the village asking why there was a woman living in the woods and if she was infected or not. When Ceaser told him she wasn't, Malcolm wanted to talk to the girl in the woods. That was obviously Mina.
"okay, well we better get going then. Sorry for wasting your time. But if you ever change your mind then we'll be there." He says to Mina, who simply looks away and sits on her stump, ignoring them. Malcolm sighed and turned back to Ceaser.
"Thank you Ceaser." In return, the ape king nodded and waited for the humans to leave, before smiling softly to Mina as he sat down neside her.
"Why stay?" He asks.
'Like my home.' She replies slowly.
This made Ceaser smile softly and patted the girls hair fondly, as if he treated her like his own, and began walking away with the others. Blue Eyes didnt leave right away, instead he sat down by her and nudged her. She smiled back at him, blushing brightly as she looked down at her lap. As the other apes moved out, she waved at them as they left for home.
When the other apes were gone, Mina and Blue eyes fell in a comfortable silence, sitting quite close to each other while she sewn the tear in her tent. Blue Eyes couldnt take it anymore; he took her face in his and pressed his forehead to hers, craving the contact all of a sudden, as if his body wouldnt let him just sit there and do nothing. She smiled and rubbed her nose against his, making him sniffle a bit. She let out a silent giggle as he pulled away, giving her a mean but playful look.
