The humans had clearly decided to stay for a long while as they cleared out an area for their occupation. I marvelled at their ways and machinery with my friends but we nonetheless left them be.
Approximately 2 weeks later, the suffocating smell of smoke awoke most of us. Immediately, we could see the rising flames of vibrant red and orange which is a distinct contrast to our usual earthy tones of green and brown. This was followed by an outbreak of chaos. Everyone was heading over to another part of the forest in order to find stable trees that we could hide in until the fire somehow subsided. However, the snakey wisps of smoke following us was extremely harrowing and made it harder for us to breathe. Our main focus was to run as far away as possible until the flames could no longer be seen. But the most alarming of all was witnessing our trees slowly collapsing like dominos all around us. From above, the charred logs of wood on the ground could almost be heard moaning painfully in their sorry state. Suddenly, a cry jolted me from these morbid thoughts. From behind, the animals were being netted and drugged; they instantly fell to the ground and were then grabbed and thrown into cages. My instinct was to run away, so I did. I ran as far away as I could, away from the fire, away from the camp. Expecting everyone to be behind me, I stopped at a clearing. When I finally looked back, there were green patches of grass as far as I could see, but no other chimpanzees. I was the only one who was not captured. I sat down on the grass, waiting to make sure that I was not wrong. I waited until I heard footsteps approaching my area.
I desperately needed to free them but I knew that I would be taken if I tried. I decided to go back and try anything to aid their escape.
The humans were definitely on a low budget; the cage locks gave way with a single hit of a rock. We hastened the process by working together. We were finally out, but what would we do? Our home was burned and our basic resources were destroyed. We knew there was more land south of our place; it was far away from any humans and it was populated with more animals than just ourselves.
One final goodbye to my home was what I asked. Tears filled my eyes as the others readied to move. Water droplets started to fall from the sky, resting on the scorched branches of the trees.
