Chapter 119: War of the apes. 1900 CE (2)

A middle aged man was walking through the jungle of Congo along with a dozen locals, armed with rifles and muskets that were looted from the bodies of the dead soldiers. They were sneaking in the bushes, preying on a Belgium outpost that was just established following the news of the breakout of the rebellion.

The middle aged man shushed the locals. The men were missing their limbs, but it was now replaced with synthetic arms that they could use. The middle aged man also took out his weapon, it was a simple handgun, carved with strange words. It didn't look like a gun that came from this era, which was a strange sight.

“Alright men, this is our objective.” whispered the middle aged man. “We will ambush the place, and take out the hostages that were being held here. Any families of the hostages here?”

Two men raised their hands quietly.

“M-My daughter…” the man murmured.

“My mother,” said another man.

The middle aged man nodded solemnly. “We’re saving them, don’t worry. As long as you follow my lead, you’ll be fine.”

The middle aged man cocked his hand gun, and the other men followed him. “Three men to the left, three men to the right, the rest follow me. The ones at the flank, watch out for runners, kill on sight, understand?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good.” hummed the middle-aged man. “We’re close lads. Soon enough, your suffering will end, we just need one more push… the Belgians are sending reinforcements, but my siblings will take care of that, our job is to secure the border, and take your land from the invaders.”

The others nodded at his words, solemnly preparing for the battle.

“Death or Bondage?” questioned the middle aged man once again.

“Death.” answered the man in unison.

The middle aged man sighed in content. “Then move.”

The boys then softly walk on the ground, careful to not make a noise. The middle aged man slowly walked towards the outpost along with three other men. As they arrived at a small hut, they could hear the soft chatters of the men inside.

The middle aged man took something from his pocket. It was a soft ball, made out of metal, he stared at the ball for a bit as his eyes rolled back, before coming back to normal in an instant.

The man took a deep breath, he pressed an invisible button at the ball, and threw it inside the hut.

The group then ran away from the hut, trying to avoid something. As they hid among the trees, the hut suddenly exploded, killing all the men inside and alerting the rest.

All four men then rushed towards the outpost, killing the panicking soldiers one by one.

The middle aged man slid to a big rock at the edge of the outpost as soldiers were shooting at them.

They were being shot down heavily, the rocks were slowly generating dust from all the bullets that shot it.

The middle aged man took a deep breath, he pointed his gun to the night sky above, and shot it. The bullets flew to the sky, but it turned around towards the soldiers that were attacking them. One by one the bullet smudged itself to a soldier’s head, killing them instantly.

As the bodies of the soldiers dropped to the ground, the bullets suddenly flew out of the body, and it flew back to the middle-aged man, where it entered the gun once again, now covered in blood.

The middle-aged man suddenly saw the man beside him trying to peek, but he had a sudden vision that if the man peeked, he would die instantly, so he pulled the man away from the cover, stopping his death.

The man then stood up, and went for it, which was weird. He ran towards the outpost, but none of the bullets hit him. He kept dodging and dodging, as if he could see the bullets travel through the air itself. The soldiers were starting to panic as the man kept getting nearer and nearer, and eventually, it turned to melee.

The middle aged man shot his gun, killing the soldiers near him. As the bullets were coming back, it also killed some that didn’t got hit earlier. A soldier then suddenly was trying to hit him with the stock of his rifle, but the middle aged man already saw it, long before the soldier was trying to do it.

The middle-aged man grabbed the rifle, and took the rifle from the soldier, using it as a bat to crush the soldier’s head.

As he was killing the soldiers from the inside, he also saw his men rushing towards him, trying to help. One used his prosthetic hands to basically choke a soldier, one even deflected a bullet using it. Those men were effective warriors, consumed by hatred and vengeance.

One by one, the soldiers were killed, slaughtered by angry men. They were bathed in blood, they didn’t even use their rifles as weapons, they used their hands and the stocks of the rifle to give the soldiers painful death.

As they walked towards the hostage hut, they were filled with a sigh of relief. Sure, they were covered in blood, but they were happy that they could see their families once again.

Meanwhile, the middle aged man just stood there, smiling contentedly at the sight. One of his men then walked up to him, kneeling in front of him out of gratitude.

“Captain Michel… thank you… truly…” the man cried, grabbing his hands.

Michel just patted the man on the back. “I didn’t do anything, you guys saved them by yourself, I just provided a way for you.”

—

[Belgium]

A man was sitting in his study room, in front of him was a messenger, giving him some news from the outside. The man that was sitting was King Leopold II, with his beard and attire, casually listening to the news.

But as soon as the messenger finished, his face looked grim.

“Apes?” he questioned bitterly. “Are you saying that MY colony rebelled with the help of apes?”

“Yes, your majesty,” said the messenger nervously. “Captain of the Force Publique… Leon Rom… was killed…”

“Then what are they doing?!” the king roared. “Those are mere apes! How can that be?!”

The messenger was silent for a minute.

“Answer me!” roared Leopold, impatient because the messenger didn’t speak again.

“Mere… apes?” the messenger questioned.

Soon enough, the king felt like something was wrong. He’s starting to get dizzy, he could suddenly see monsters of unimaginable proportions, scaring the shit out of him.

“You call us mere apes?” the messenger spoke again. Soon, gorillas surrounded them, they were two times the size of the kings, and they slowly approached the king, making the king back off.

The king stood up from his chair, and slowly backed off towards the wall, cornered by the gorillas.

“You trespass our land, human.” spoke the gorilla. “Torturing the humans around us, our friends… you think you could go unscathed?”

“I-I didn’t know…” stuttered the king. “I-It was the captain… I didn’t know that they cut their hands… I-I just want the money—”

“LIES!” The biggest gorilla roared in front of the king, making him flinch in fear. “You knew… yet you act like you see no evil, like you hear no evil…”

“I—”

“Actions have consequences, human…” the gorilla growled. “You will soon see.”

The king gulped. He then saw the gorilla raise his hand, and tried to slam the king. But then, the king suddenly woke up in the same room. He was sleeping on the desk, and was jolted awake from the nightmare.

“Your majesty?” a voice questioned, making the king flinch. Leopold looked around, and saw a man standing in front of him.

“Y-Yes?” he questioned, wiping his cold sweat.

“The rebellion is still raging on.” the man informed. “It’s only a matter of time before we lose the Congo basin.”

“What about the reinforcements?” the king asked calmly.

“The mercenaries we hire are still travelling to Congo.” the assistant explained.

“What about Britain? I gave them the Eastern Congo, why haven’t they moved yet?”

“We still don’t know your majesty, but I heard that they are preparing for an assault on the apes.”

“Apes…” the king frowned. “How can there be talking apes…”

“But we have photographs of the… society.”

“Yes, I know, that African-American Journalist.” the king scoffed. “I treated him well, yet he sent an open letter to every newspaper in europe… now look what he did… all in shambles… any other news?”

“The international pressure is getting stronger and stronger, your majesty.” the assistant said. “You should give the Congo state to the country, so they could deal with it themselves.”

“Let me think about it…” the king murmured. “In the meantime, give those apes more pressure, bring more soldiers, hire more mercenaries. At the end of the day, they are just mere apes.”