Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization

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Koba and his army thundered over the bridge, not caring who knew they were coming. They were too many for the few humans in the fort, and once the apes were in the fort, the rest of the humans would be no match for them.

Carrying torches, they rolled through the fog, down the swooping ramp from the bridge to the road that ran past the brick building. They spilled through the open gate and headed to the firing range. Koba did not care what happened to whatever humans were there. If his apes killed them, fine. If not, it would not matter once they had the guns and they marched on the human settlement. There would be plenty of time to hunt down survivors.

What he wanted right then was a gun in the hand of every ape.

He and Grey and Stone rode past steel vehicles, some with wheels and some with metal tracks. Apes did not know how to use those, so he ignored them. They pushed through the firing range and Koba dismounted, leading his group into the warehouse. He glanced at a corner of the building, where the two humans he had deceived were folded into a pair of weapon crates. He had killed three more today, and the night would bring many more.

The apes stood gawking at the three levels of the warehouse, each stacked with endless crates of guns. They grunted and growled, keeping their voices low only because Koba had commanded it. He wanted them pent-up and boiling when the attack on the human settlement started.

At a gesture from him, apes scaled the walls and started breaking open crates. They formed chains, handing rifles down in armloads. Most of them were rifles like the one slung over Koba’s back, but there were others, too. Some were shorter, with longer bullet boxes. Some were three times the size of a rifle, with hundreds of bullets in a long string. All of them went into ape hands as Stone moved among them with a pouch, dabbing war paint from it onto their faces. They looked at their weapons, eyes gleaming, rocking from foot to foot with the desire to hunt, to fight, to kill.

Koba saw Maurice and Rocket just inside the doorway. Of all the apes, only they seemed reluctant. He would keep an eye on them. They would submit. Apes together strong. He picked out Blue Eyes, watching the endless number of guns appearing from the darkened upper floors, and went to him. On the way he took a rifle from another ape. He thrust it in front of Blue Eyes, who looked down at it for a moment. Then he looked at Koba. Koba nodded.

Blue Eyes took the rifle, his face hardening.

Near them on the floor was a box full of bottles. Koba remembered the taste of the whiskey. He picked up one of the bottles and was about to drink when the inside of the warehouse lit up with muzzle flashes and the deafening sound of a heavy gun. One of the apes, careless, had accidentally fired many bullets up into the ceiling. Looking up, they could see the holes because beyond the roof, the fog was aglow with light.

Koba looked at his apes. They now saw what they held in their hands. For the space of a deep breath there was perfect silence in the warehouse.

Then it exploded with screeching and more shots as the ape army began to build itself into a new frenzy. Koba could not have stopped it if he’d wanted to… but he did not want to. Let them screech. Let them fire. Let the sound terrify any human who could hear it. He stood with Blue Eyes, letting the apes see them together, basking in the rising thunder of their hate, letting it grow to match his own.

Rocket and Maurice had no guns. Koba did not say anything, but he noticed. Yes, even with one eye, he noticed.