Keena Part 12- The Liberated

 

A quiet life. That is what most think of when they think of a retirement.

But that is impossible when living in a rowdy group of chimpanzees. But Keena liked it that way. There was always something to do, someone to be with and something to look forward to. A whole new world that she had never known. It was beautiful. Her life had suddenly become beautiful.

 

It was a quiet summer afternoon –about two years after Keena first ventured out- and Keena and four others were busy in a grooming session. She was grooming Rita, who seemed to be enjoying her pampering. She suddenly felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and she turned to see Mitch grooming her back. She huffed and continued to groom the female. Suddenly, she heard a loud shriek meaning Patch had been annoyed by a member and was now in a display. He flew into her vision, his fur puffed making him look twice as big.

Keena deserted Rita and ran over to the rampaging male before stretching out her hand. He strutted over and put her digits in his mouth. He bit them softly before turning to the other low ranking chimps wanting his acceptance.

Despite Patch’s acceptance, the dominant female Keena had left was not pleased. Keena turned to see Rita charging at her. Keena screamed and ran from her, just feeling the female grab and rip out a handful of hair on her back. She tried to scramble up a trunk but was dragged down by Freckles, who seemed to side with Rita. The aggressor pounded Keena, which made her scream.

Suddenly, Patch thundered into view and he gave Rita and Freckles a crack on their heads with his open palm.

The two females squealed and retreated. Keena huffed through her nose and received a brief hug from Patch before he went off on his duties.

 

May suddenly ran up and hugged Keena, which she was only happy to return. The youngster started knocking Keena on the head with her knuckles, her mouth wide open in a play-face, squeaking with excitement. Keena squawked and stood up on her hind-legs to playfully push the small chimp over. Little May squealed and ran away, with Keena in hot pursuit. She tackled the small chimp and started rolling in the grass with her. They tumbled down a slope. May squealed with joy and Keena could not help but smile at the little creature. She had grown to love her like a little sister.

As the play-fight ended, Keena began to groom the youngster’s arm. May took Keena’s other hand and began using her lips to groom the hair on the back of it. Keena suddenly felt a pair of hands behind her as Patch began grooming the back of her neck. Then Freckles joined in, grooming Patch. Then Harambee joined in. So did Coco. Even crusty old Amos allowed his solitary nature to relax as he eagerly ran over like a two year old and began grooming Jacob. Soon twelve of the chimps were involved in a huge grooming session. It felt good to feel so many pairs of hands pampering her and cleaning her coat, Keena had been groomed by one or two individuals before but never this much. Two thirds of the group (including Patch and Coco) were grooming her intensely, picking out her ears and her toes and everything in-between. The only one not to get involved was Cleopatra. She sat further away, being nervously groomed by Ling-Mai.

 

It made her feel completely at peace. She hadn’t felt this way for as long as she could remember. These individuals understood her more than any human ever had, it was wonderful. She closed her eyes as her family groomed her, it was so soothing and comforting. She knew that she belonged here. She could feel it. And nothing would ever convince her otherwise.

 

As time went on, the bonds between her and the other members of the community grew. She became firm friends with the lower ranking members, with Ling-Mai and Molly as her best female companions. She was still very close to Patch as the pair would sit next to each other in the trees either eating the surrounding leaves or grooming each other. Life was bliss. But the only member of the group (besides Cleopatra) who didn’t appear to appreciate Keena being there was Arvo. The male would watch her when she was with Patch. And he would try to bite or attack her when she ventured off alone. But Keena wasn’t stupid, she knew that if she stayed around Patch, Ash or any of the other dominant males, Arvo wouldn’t touch her. The young male seemed more fixed on Patch rather than Keena though. Arvo was definitely coming into his own. He was much larger than he had been a few years ago. He was a large muscular thing and could look very intimidating when he wanted to.

 

Because of these changes, Patch now never seemed to have young Arvo out of his sight and always appeared to be glowering at him. He was also grooming Harambee, Ash and Amos more often. Being groomed by him was a great privilege but he seemed to be tense and focused. Even if one of the others was grooming him in response, his gaze would not leave Arvo, who would be glaring at him from afar. Despite keeping her distance from him, she had noticed that he was displaying more often and they were becoming far more impressive and many of the females were now submissive to him. This obviously annoyed Patch as he’d pull those females over to groom them, even if they didn’t want to. She didn’t know what was going on.

 

There were other things happening within the group. There would be times when she would gain quite a lot of attention from the males of the group who would follow her around and try to groom her, even when she didn’t want them too. And in this time, Patch seemed to become more and more possessive of Keena. He’d snarl at any other male who came close to her. Especially Arvo. He seemed suddenly determined to take her from Patch. Not that Keena wanted to be with him, anyway. She knew that Arvo was a male with a hostile and maverick nature. It was a surprise that Patch had tolerated him for as long as he had.

Eventually, one day, Keena was sitting on the grass, bathing in a patch of sun, when she suddenly heard the rustling of leaves. Alarmed, she looked around, but noticed that it was Patch, standing next to a tree on all fours, but shaking a branch towards Keena. She stood up, looking at him curiously. He then took a few steps towards her, gesturing to her. Wanting her to follow him. She looked around again before walking towards him. Patch, quickly checking nobody was watching, took Keena and led her away to the back of the enclosure, which was coated in long grass and bushes, concealing them.

After a few minutes, the pair re-appeared. Keena now knew why Patch wanted them to go somewhere private.

After a while, Keena started to notice some changes about herself. She suddenly had a more vigorous appetite and would eat much more than she would have before.

 

She had noticed this with Molly. Over the last year, she ate much more than she usually did, and over time the size of her abdomen increased to a large size. And after quite a few months, she came from her nest holding a tiny figure clinging to her belly. A baby. Harambee’s baby. Patch did occasionally allow Harambee and Ash to couple with some of the females, for backing him up when he needed support. Keena had been very interested in Molly’s infant, and accompanied her wherever she went. She watched the female closely, taking mental notes as she cared for her infant. Maybe the same thing was happening to her.

 

 

One morning, Keena was begging the others for scraps during their breakfast of the sour fruits that grew on the trees. She gives up and sits on a stump, her arms folded across her knees alongside Freckles and Jacob as they waited. She had gotten used to the poor treatment of the dominant females but she wasn’t very happy about it. But what did help was when Ling-Mai clambered onto the stump with her and started grooming the back of Keena’s neck as well as letting her take some of her fruit. At this point, Keena’s stomach was now rounder than it had been a couple of months ago, and she was getting quite a lot of attention from the females and Patch.

Speaking of Patch, he was patrolling the perimeter of the fence along with Harambee and Ash. The trio appeared to be very tense and Harambee, in particular, was keeping a close eye on the surroundings and keeping close to Patch. Arvo was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t seem to comfort Patch as he kept his gold eyes on his surroundings, all of the hair on his back and arms were erect. He must have been anxious about something.

 

Suddenly, Keena noticed something sitting on one of the lower branches of the nearest tree. Arvo was perched on the edge of it, his eyes boring down onto her and Ling-Mai, who started squeaking fearfully as she watched him. The male looked down at Ling-Mai and shook one of the branches vigorously, making a loud noise. Keena suddenly realised something. She remembered how Patch had shaken a branch at her when he wanted her to mate with him. It looked like this is what Arvo wanted with Ling-Mai, who had come into heat several days ago, but as a low-ranking female, wasn’t getting as much attention as Keena had with Patch, but they had a close relationship. But surely there was no way that Patch would allow him to do that. Right? Keena looked around but Patch seemed to be out of sight. The only reason that Arvo was doing it now so that Patch couldn’t see. Ling-Mai glanced at Keena nervously before making the mistake of actually going to him. Arvo, with a smug smile on his face, grabs the female harshly by the arm and yanks her away. None of the other dominant females seemed to be around to tell her off, something that Keena wanted –for once- to happen. She did not like where this was going.

 

Arvo had just lead Ling away just as Keena noticed Patch coming through the trees. The female was extremely uncomfortable with the situation and she knew that Ling could be seriously punished –or worse- by the others for going with Arvo. She lets out a cry before taking off towards the large male, grabbing his hand. Patch –sensing her urgency- growled and allowed Keena to lead him to where she had seen Arvo and Ling, at a far corner of the enclosure, far away from the others. But as they were approaching them, Keena was suddenly alerted by a scream. And it was clearly Ling-Mai’s cry. Patch launched into a sprint as soon as the sound reached his ears.

 

Ling-Mai was struggling against the much larger Arvo, who had attempted to mount her. He had her in a headlock, forcing her head back and his canines sank into the back of her neck, immobilising her and causing her extreme pain and distress and the source of her screaming.  At the sight of one of his females in distress, Patch reared back and let out a deafening roar of rage as he charged at Arvo, throwing him off of her with one shove and sending him rolling down a hill. The force was so violent, Keena thought that she heard something break on the young male’s body. Arvo snarled and retreated into a tree, leaving Patch alone with Keena and Ling-Mai. Patch sat on the grass with a long sigh, probably of relief. He then snaps his gold and flaming eyes to the female he had just saved. The anger in his expression was frightening as he bored his eyes into her. Although he had saved the attractive yet foolish female, he was clearly aggravated about her going with Arvo, his rival, in the first place. Ling-Mai grabbed the Alpha-Male with both arms and legs in a tight grip, panting fearfully, all of her teeth –bar her canines- visible, squeaking in submission and apology for her actions. Patch allowed her to cling onto him but doesn’t shift his gaze from straight ahead of him where he had shoved Arvo. Who Keena had seen limping into the bushes, growling to himself. After a while, he shoves Ling off of him and storms towards the back of the enclosure where the small waterfall and stream ran.

 

Keena, wondering if he was ok, follows him at a distance. She could see that they were some distance away from the others. She was a bit unsure, though. She knew that Patch could be unpredictable when he was upset or angry about something. He still bared the scars on his chest from that incident in Mexico.

 

She could hear his grunting from behind a tree, next to the waterfall. He was perched on one of the flat slabs of rock, using a twig to fish out termites from a mound. Keena sat next to him and folded her arms over her knees, keeping quiet as she observed. After a few moments, he glanced over at her and handed her a twig, inviting her to join. After a quick glance for Coco, Cleopatra or Rita, she mimicked his technique, although hers was not as successful as his. He still didn’t seem happy, even though he seemed content at having her with him. Keena knew that Arvo was on his mind. He was becoming more powerful, and this morning showed this. But it was still clear that Ling-Mai still supported him, regardless of how ignorant she was of what she was doing. Arvo’s respect of Patch appeared to be dwindling rapidly. A year ago, he wouldn’t have dared to try and take one of Patch’s females.

 

Keena, hoping to calm him down, deserted her stick and shifted behind Patch, picking through his thick fur and any scabs or bugs that she came across. The large male huffed quietly before turning around to face the female. He took her arm gently and started grooming the back of her hand with his lips. He appeared to be relaxing, but every now and again, he’d raise his head to scan his surroundings. He wouldn’t calm down fully. He was still worried. Over the last year he had been obsessing over being sure that he had the support of his two deputies, along with the dominant females, who would assure him that they were on his side, but he never seemed to be fully convinced. He seemed terrified. Something that Keena barely saw in him. And now that this has happened, he seemed even more unsettled than usual. But it also seemed to bother him on a deeper level. He may have previously seen Arvo as an honorary brother or son at some point. Maybe he was a close ally.

She couldn’t remember fully, but she had felt the same way once. The feeling of being rejected by those she thought cared about her. Rejected her and allowed for the previous abuse to take place. It hurt. More than any beating ever did.

 

The pair stayed out for quite a long time. Keena could hear that the others had gone inside. But it wasn’t until it was darker, and their names were being called that Patch finally sighed and dragged his feet towards their sleeping quarters. Keena closely followed him.

 

As soon as they walked in, Patch charged into a sprint, screaming and throwing himself against the wooden structures, creating a loud noise. Everyone instantly dropped what they were doing and ran to him in submitting. While Patch received admiration from the group, Keena was chased around by Cleopatra, but not for as long this time.

Suddenly, Keena noticed Arvo on one of the horizontal pillars. He was limping slightly on his right leg. Rather than submitting to Patch like the others, he glared down at him, his eyes blazing with anger. Patch suddenly noticed and, after what Arvo had done that day, this was the one act that broke his temper: refusing to acknowledge him as the Alpha Male.

 

Patch roared and leapt up onto the pillars. He charged at Arvo, who screamed angrily and tried to grab him. Patch, enraged, threw him off of the pillar, making him fall onto the ground below. Before he could get up, Patch launched down after him and proceeded to beat him viciously. Every chimpanzee in the troop screamed, but didn’t get involved as Patch threw Arvo around. It didn’t last for very long. Patch stood back, glaring at the panting and cut up Arvo. The young male growled in pain as he stood up. Patch watched him closely, his fur was still on end, showing his anger. The two males glowered at each other intensely for several moments, until Arvo reluctantly lowered his head and put his hand out in submission. Patch accepted it and walked away stoically, with Arvo still staring daggers at his retreating back.

 

Over the next few days, things just became tenser between the pair of males. But, despite Patch’s warning, Arvo continued to rebel against him. When everyone would run to submit to him, Arvo would take longer and longer to do the same, and sometimes he didn’t. Which lead to him being severely disciplined.

Despite his treatment of Arvo, Patch remained the same benevolent and thoughtful leader that the others knew, but he was always watching the up-and-coming male, tracking his every move. But everyone knew that it wouldn’t be long before their rivalry would boil over and come to a crescendo.

 

Keena had now been pregnant for about seven months now. And it showed. She was looked after by many of the females and –much to her surprise- Coco. The high-ranking female would groom Keena and often follow her around the territory, no further than a few paces behind her. She enjoyed the attention, but couldn’t help but wonder about what it would be like to actually have a baby. But she had watched Molly, and several other females with their babies, so she seemed to have a pretty good idea what to do.

Patch, though happy with Keena, was still too focused on Arvo to really do anything with her. It was as if he couldn’t take his mind off of him. But he would still give Keena attention. But even then, she knew that he had other things on his mind.  It worried Keena. She didn’t like seeing him this way. She hoped that there was something that would ease his anxiety.

 

One day, everyone was huddled together as the sun began setting. It was a fairly chilly day and everyone kept together to stay warm. Patch was pacing the outside of the clutter, checking on everyone. Keena could see everyone in the group in the pile. Except for Arvo. She didn’t know where he was. And it was probably a relief to Patch. He sat behind her and started grooming her back.

*Smack*

Patch snarled and spun on the spot angrily. Keena noticed a large stone next to him. Picking up the projectile, she frowned, looking around the surrounding area. Patch, all puffed up huffed angrily. The rock was too big to be just a tease or an attempt at play. It was meant to do him harm!

Suddenly a grunt above her caught her attention. She looked up, to see Arvo standing on the branch, just above where Patch was.

 

Keena let out a shriek but she wasn’t fast enough. Arvo leapt off of the tree, right onto Patch’s back. The huge male shrieked and fell forward at the sudden force. Everyone screamed, alarmed. Arvo started repetitively punching Patch as he was on the ground. Patch tried to get up, but was kicked back down by Arvo, who was screaming and beating him violently. Patch roared, enraged, and was finally able to get up, but was tackled by the rival. The males locked, trying to bite each other. Both of them were screaming. It was a sound that Keena had never heard before. It was loud and dripping with malice. Arvo was biting Patch viciously on his face and arms as the latter tried to pull away, but kept being pulled back towards him. Despite being smaller than Patch, his young rival was heavy set and muscular, but no one was sure if this meant he was stronger than Patch or not.

Finally, Patch was able to throw Arvo off and he took off into the brush, the enraged male hot on his heels. Ash and Harambee shriek at the sight of their leader in distress and took off after them.

 

As the rest all fly into a panic and also run after the pair, Molly held back, clinging to her pink faced baby tightly, looking frightened. She also had her hand in Keena’s, holding her back. Keena guessed why. She looked at her bump worryingly. She didn’t want to put herself at risk.

But she had to support Patch.

Shaking away from Molly’s grip, Keena ran away from the female and after the rest of them. She had seen males displaying enough before to know that Arvo’s attack on Patch was not just a bluff.

Arvo wanted to kill Patch and take his position!

 

As she ran to the back of the enclosure, she suddenly noticed that everything had gone silent. She ran further on, before noticing the others in the group. They were all quiet, murmuring to each other worryingly. They were all staring forward at the corner of the enclosure. Keena froze at the sight. Patch and Arvo –both cut up, bloody and panting- were locked in a stare, standing on a small hill. The sun had mostly set, so the world was in partial darkness. It was very tense in the air. Neither of them moved for some time, just growing at each other. Suddenly, Patch took a few steps towards Arvo, giving him a stony glare. He put his wrist out towards him. Possibly giving Arvo a chance to submit to him and stop the fight. Being the peacekeeper he was, Keena wasn’t surprised at this gesture. She could only hope that Arvo would accept it.

And at first, it seemed to work. Arvo, though reluctantly, took a few steps over to Patch, putting his mouth on his wrist. Everyone was on tenterhooks.

But suddenly-

*CRUNCH*

Everyone jumped, as Patch let out a bloodcurdling scream, ripping his wrist from Arvo’s canines, blood spraying from the wound. Arvo roared and charged at him. Patch regained his senses and rammed into him. The male’s collided, both exposing their teeth, grabbing each other and sinking their dagger like canines into each other’s flesh. They spun like in a tango as the fight continued, both of them tumbling over the other side of the hill and out of sight, the sound of their brawl rising into the canopy, frightening the whole group. Everyone screamed and backed away. Even though Patch was the Alpha Male, Arvo had become larger and stronger as time went on, and he did have some support from some of the lower ranking males and some of the females, which made the chance of his plan succeeding. Keena did not know about the other members and what they thought, but many of them did appear to be intimidated by the young male. Even Cleopatra. Keena backed away with the others as the roars of the king and the prince became louder and reaching a climax.

Suddenly. It stopped. The whole enclosure was silent, all Keena could hear was panting behind the hill, and laboured breathing. Everyone hooted quietly, hugging each other for comfort. Keena was terrified of what was going on. Suddenly there was a loud roar (from Arvo) and the whole fight started again. Both males came flying over from the other side of the hill and towards the group, Arvo on top of Patch, and gripping him by the throat, throttling him.

It was so sudden that it caused a panicked vibe throughout the troupe and everyone ran towards the night house in a stampede. Keena shrieked as she was dragged along with the screaming mob. But she couldn’t fight against them and had to run with them as they all scrambled into the night house, shoving each other out of the way as they fell through the door.

The whole room was in pandemonium, apes shrieking at the top of their lungs, swinging around and running over each other in their panic.

 

Keena whimpered and sat in the corner of the room, frightened of what happened. Was Patch going to be alright? What would happen if Arvo took over? Would she be in any danger? Arvo wouldn’t like the fact that she was pregnant with Patch’s baby. Or Molly having given birth to Harambee’s baby. And young Zelda (who was now fifteen) had just given birth to her first born (also from Patch) a few months ago! What would happen to them?

Suddenly, everyone went quiet as they heard something come through the door. They all turned to see Arvo stumble through. His lip was torn in several places, there were lesions along his arms, hands and face. His face was red with blood and he left bloody footprints. He had just come from a battle, but was still standing. Where was Patch? Keena looked around franticly, desperately trying to see him.

Arvo, glaring around the room with his shoulders hunched, growled under his breath. No one was running to submit to him. Keena could sense his anger. But why should she bow to him? She didn’t want him to be the Alpha Male! And she knew the others didn’t either! But they all seemed to be frightened of him. She was frightened of him.

The victor growled and stood up, ready to display. He bluff charged several of the members. They would scream and run away, rather than act submissively towards him like he wanted. It was making him even angrier. Keena could hear it in the rising pitch of his screaming.

 

Keena suddenly noticed Zelda sitting nearby, cradling her son, crying fearfully. Sam Baily was holding her, his thick arms wrapped around her in a comforting manner. She was clearly more frightened than the others because of her infant. Swing came over, trying to groom her in an attempt to calm her down, not wanting to attract Arvo’s attention. But Zelda was too panicked to do so. She let out a frightened cry.

Arvo’s head whipped around at the sound, and –at the sight of Zelda’s son- made a beeline towards her, his fur puffed out, his eyes boring onto her. Zelda whimpered and backed away from him, accidently exposing her son for a moment. At the sight of it, Arvo snarled and advanced on her. Zelda cried and backed away from him, shielding her son from him.

Keena’s eyes widened, seeing Arvo chase down the female. She growled and tailed them for several minutes. She didn’t want Arvo to do this. And if he did anything to hurt her friend, she wouldn’t hesitate to act.

Suddenly, Arvo lost his temper, leaping at Zelda and biting her. The young mother screamed in pain.

 

That was it!

Without thinking, Keena charged at Arvo, roaring with anger and bit him on the ear. The male screamed and tried to lash out at Keena, but she wasn’t fazed. He could have killed her closest friend, he was not getting away with this! Keena repetitively smacked him, harder and harder with every strike. She didn’t want anything to do with him!

Arvo suddenly seemed to lose his bravery as he tried to run away from Keena’s attack as she repetitively hit him, shouting abuse in his ear.

Keena’s actions seemed to have triggered a team reaction in the chimps. Out of nowhere, Sam Baily charged up, trying to jump on Arvo, biting him on the back. Ash and Harambee ambushed him from the front. Keena grabbed Arvo and threw the screaming male, leaving him at the mercy of the others, who –encouraged by her retribution against him- immediately piled upon Arvo, who kept attempting in vain to escape. Everyone was screaming in fury as they attacked. Keena couldn’t keep up with the mob but watched as they all took their anger out, and she knew that Arvo was right at the bottom of that pile.

The attack lasted for what felt like an eternity, before Arvo was finally able to break free from the rebelling apes, he looked even worse than after his battle with Patch, so wounded and bloody it was a miracle he was still standing. He raced into one of the backrooms. By this time, the keepers were aware of the commotion and closed the door, isolating the male.

 

Everyone was still wound up, swinging around, shrieking and stampeding, but Keena was just relieved that was over. In that moment, Arvo had become an expatriate. An outcast. The complete opposite of what he had been trying to achieve for years. She didn’t care. She never wanted to see him again. Her opinion appeared to be shared among the others as they all began to calm down, hugging and grooming each other. Zelda received a huge amount of comfort and affection from the others, after the terror that she had just endured. Keena was one of those who comforted her. But as she went to do so, Zelda suddenly lunged at Keena, engulfing her in a hug. It took her slightly by surprise, but accepted it.

Actually, Keena received quite a lot of attention after what she did. Even Cleopatra, rather sheepishly, came over and started to groom Keena’s hand with her lips, practically jumping out of her skin if Keena so much as moved an inch.

 

Suddenly, there was another hive of activity. Keena turned, gasping what she saw. Patch, groaning, lumbered through the door into the night house. Once he was inside, he found a huge pile of wood wool and practically collapsed into it. Everyone whimpered and approached him as he rolled onto his back, exposing all his wounds. Everyone inspected the huge open wounds on his chest, arms and neck, as well as the punctures on his wrist and his split lip. Everyone hooted to him softly as they tended to him. Patch didn’t move, but darted his gold eyes, he seemed rather confused as to why he was getting so much attention. He must have thought he lost his position. Keena sat next to him, holding his hand and stroking it comfortingly. Gazing at him affectionately. He looked back at her, with an open mouth smile. He wouldn’t have to worry anymore. There were no other teenage males in the group to threaten him like that. But Keena was worried about his wounds. Hoping he would heal…

 

The next day, Patch was gone. He seemed to have been spirited away somewhere and everyone was terrified, running around, calling for him. But it wasn’t until Ling Mai spotted him outside the fence that they knew what was going on. They all crowded to the fence line as a group of humans carried the comatose Patch on a stretcher. Keena, and the whole troupe, screamed fearfully. What were they doing with him?! They also suddenly saw Arvo on another stretcher, also unconscious. Their yowls of worry suddenly turned to screams of rage and disgust. At this point, all Keena could care about was Patch…

 

He was gone for days. Ash, who was the second highest ranking, took his position as Alpha Male in his place. But everyone was seriously unsettled as they worried about him. Ash was a… decent leader but he was not in the same league as Patch in experience. He was able to keep order to an extent, but the whole group was still… unsettled. Everyone was upset. But it wasn’t just Patch’s absence that was changing. The group was growing as other females gave birth to their own babies.

Keena including. She gave birth to her daughter during the night, under the stars in a quiet, sweet atmosphere. Just like the night she was born, just over twenty years ago. She preened her baby’s head softly and sweetly, grunting to her gently, expressing her affection. The baby squeaked in response as she snuggled closer. She had Keena’s mask (from when she was younger as Keena’s face had turned black over time) and Patch’s golden irises. She hugged her as she stared up at the sky, taking in all the stars, feeling completely at peace.

 

It was at least a month before Patch finally returned. Sore, tired, bald in places and stitched but well. The response to him coming back was overwhelming. He was swamped with hugs and kisses from his family. Ash immediately backed down, giving him his position back. And Patch was over-the-moon to meet his offspring, gently touching them and just looking joyous. The whole troupe soon calmed down and peace was restored, with Patch reclaiming his throne as the chief.

 

This tranquillity lasted for another year with no more conflict or fear and the group grew from just over twenty, to over thirty members. Keena’s baby soon began to venture away with her, and found a great play-mate in her half-brother, Zephier (Zelda’s son) and Milly (Molly’s daughter). Keena knew her daughter was safe in the family, and was proud of her curious and playful nature.

Suddenly, everything was different. Chimps were suddenly called, one by one, into the back rooms and… disappeared. What was going on?

When Keena finally ventured in, holding her daughter, she noticed a large crate. Open towards her. She hooted curiously as she ventured towards it. The last time she was in a crate, she was brought here. Maybe this was going to be a good thing! Keena eagerly walked in, and, as she predicted, the crate was shut behind her. Her baby wailed worryingly but Keena quickly comforted her as she felt the crate being lifted. She laughed excitedly and stayed glued to the window, curious and excited as to what was happening.

The trip lasted several minutes and Keena was finally released into a new area. It was another night house, about the same size as the old one, and the other chimps were there. They ran to greet her lovingly, she was just as glad to see them as they were to see her. They were all here, which helped her to stay calm. Where was she? What was this new place? What was going to happen next? She couldn’t wait!

 

The group were only inside for a few days, until the doors opened. Everyone was eager to see where they were. And once they looked outside, they couldn’t believe their eyes. This new enclosure was much, much bigger than their last home! They would have to run for ages to come across the back fence! Such space! She had heard the keepers mention something about five hundred acres. Whatever that meant, she didn’t care! She couldn’t believe her eyes!

Keena cuddled her daughter close to her chest before putting her onto her back. She was glad and relieved that her infant had been born into this wonderful place. And that she would never have to face the same tragedy that she had. She would have the existence that Keena, herself was denied. Everything.

Suddenly, Patch launched past everyone and onto the grass of their new territory, calling everyone before taking off into a run. Ash and Harambee were soon after him. Soon, all of the chimpanzees, being granted freedom, tumbled out of the entrance, running with Patch in a herd, their cries of joy and excitement filling the air and surrounding atmosphere. Keena was among them, running with the wind whistling through her face and fur, the feeling of her hands and feet thundering the ground as they took her further into this wild land, the promise of safety. The promise Peace.

The promise of Freedom.