THE TOCABAGA CHRONICELS: (BOX SET PART II - BOOKS #6-8)

by Thomas H. Ward

  Joe ordered, “Guards remove the body.” Rico and Joe went back up to the throne and sat down.

  BIG BOSS stated, “No more grievances for now. Let us hear the daily reports. Joe give the security report.”

  Joe stood up advising, “The patrol teams captured three male invaders today and one female. They’re from the 38th Avenue gang. Invaders stand up and be recognized.”

  They stood up next to four guards in the corner of the room. The guards dragged them out into the center of the room. People started yelling, “Kill the invaders, kill the invaders!”

  This was a real Kangaroo court. Rico was the judge and jury. He ran everything because everyone was afraid of him. He ruled by intimidation and fear. He was a bully and I don’t like bullies.

  BOSS yelled, “Everyone be quite! Invaders, why did you come into our territory?”

  The woman spoke, “Sir, we came here in peace searching for food and supplies, not to hurt anyone. We don’t have any weapons.”

  Joe replied, “That’s not true. One of the men had an AK47.”

  Rico answered, “Coming here for food is hurting us. We need all the food we can obtain. You are guilty of stealing and I sentence you to fight tomorrow night for your freedom. It’ll be hand-to-hand, no weapons permitted. You’ll fight one of my people. The first one to surrender is the loser. If you lose then you’ll be sentenced to one year hard labor. If you win you can go free, but never come back into our territory again or it’ll be the death sentence.”

  The woman prisoner spoke up again, “Sir, we aren’t fighters. We’re cooks, and if I may say, great cooks. We would like to stay here and improve your food quality since, one man commented, it tastes like shit.”

  “Do the other cooks feel the same way?”

  “Yes Sir, we’re cooks not fighters, they both agree with me,” as she pointed towards two older men who looked like cooks. It was clear they were not in shape to fight anyone.

  The fourth man in the group dressed in military style clothing spoke up and said, “Who do you think you are? God?” He spit on the floor towards BIG BOSS.

  “What’s your name big guy?” Rico leaned forward in his chair.

  He answered, “Allen Jones.”

  “Allen, I am God here, and I hereby sentence you to fight to the death tomorrow. The three cooks can join our group and don’t have to fight anyone. Cooks, you start tomorrow so it better be good.

  “Guards assign them a room, in the main building, for the night. Lock up Allen in a different room and post a guard.

  “Who has the Hunter Gather report?”

  “I do BIG BOSS.”

  “Give me your daily report. What’s your name again?”

  “BOSS, I’m Billy. I’m sorry to report we didn’t kill one animal today. Not even a bird, but we did manage to catch a few fish and pick a bucket of oranges.”

  Billy looked to be a kid about twenty years old. He was too young to know what was needed to feed all these people.

  “Dam it! Billy, that’s not good enough. We have two hundred people to feed. You take a crew of thirty men and go back out now. We need two hundred pounds of fish, ten buckets of oranges, and whatever else, you can gather. Stay out all night if needed. If you can’t do the job better I’ll fire you! You know what that means.”

  “Ok, I got it BOSS. I won’t let you down.” Billy quickly left the room with a few other men.

  Rico’s instructions didn’t help him out. I knew obtaining two hundred pounds of fish was not easy task to do when fishing from shore. I assumed that getting fired meant being kicked out of the Clan.

  “Next is the Farm report. Come on someone speak up,” Rico commanded.

  An older woman stood up and said, “That’s me BIG BOSS. I have four dozen eggs and ten chickens for the killing. In addition we have five rabbits. We picked five buckets of carrots, three of beans, three buckets of berries, five of cucumbers, and five buckets of peppers.

  “In addition we increased the garden size and we expect to double production in a few months.”

  “Finally someone who knows what they’re doing. Good job, Emma.”

  With that BOSS yelled, “The meeting is over!”

  People slowly filed out of the room and Rico meandered over to me and asked, “Well, what do you think?”

  I saw Joe the Hammer leave the room to wash the blood and brains off.

  “I think you’re lucky someone hasn’t killed you by now. Some of it was good but some of it was out of line.”

  “I told you I’m the BOSS here and things are done my way. You didn’t like Joe killing that guy, right. I needed to set an example for the new cooks and my people. No one steals from another clan member. If I let him get away with that then the whole clan could fall apart. Let’s get a beer and have a smoke.”

  Rico looked at Johnny. “We got a special treat for you.”

  We sat down at a table along with Lisa. Rico inquired, “So tell me what kind of changes would you make, Jack?” Just then Joe walked up to the table all cleaned up and sat down.

  “Yeah, what kind of changes would you make, Jack?” Joe repeated in a sarcastic tone.

  Lisa handed out beers and gave Johnny a Coke. We popped the tops and all took a big swig. It was hot and I could have used some water. I had to carefully word any advice that I would provide to Rico. I could tell he had taken some type of drugs because he looked high.

  “Alright here’s what I think, but you won’t like it. First of all you don’t need a daily meeting with everyone in attendance. Appoint or vote in a head person for each group. People you can trust to do the job. They can report to you daily and if they do their job well reward them. Make them your friends and loyal soldiers. They’re your eyes and ears.”

  “That sounds reasonable to me,” Lisa commented.

  Rico countered, “Ok. I agree that sounds like a good idea. What else do you think?”

  I took a drink of beer and a long drag on my smoke thinking how to proceed. I looked at Lisa who probably doesn’t even know anything about the Constitution or how it came about. US history hasn’t been taught in schools for years.

  “I would have a security team of four men with me at all times. You’re not making any friends here. On Tocabaga I have my family with me most of the time. We just had a revolt, a few days ago, and had to kill thirteen people, so make sure you know who you can trust. Don’t think you can intimidate and bully people to get your way. You rule here by fear alone and some day that could bite you in the ass.”

  “Ruling by fear has worked well. That’s the way all great rulers were successful. Keep the people hungry and make them live in fear,” Rico stated.

  Joe repeated, “Yeah, rule by fear works.”

  I gave Joe a disgusted look and said, “Rico, your thinking is so antiquated. Don’t you remember a little document called the Constitution? You took an oath to support and defend it. Now you’re violating it in many ways.”

  “Don’t tell me about the Constitution. Look what our government did. Now there is no Constitution.”

  “Rico, you got it all wrong. We still have the Constitution but the government has tried to take it from us. We can’t let that happen. We must honor and remember the Bill of Rights even if the powers to-be don’t want us to. It’s men like you and me that have to fight to keep our rights.”

  I looked at Johnny and saw he was enjoying the Coke. Johnny probably knew more about the Bill of Rights than Lisa.

  Looking at Lisa I asked, “Do you know the Bill of Rights?”

  “The Bill of what?”

  “The Bill of Rights.”

  She thought for a minute while twirling her short brown hair around her finger and replied, “Gosh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “See Rico, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. We have to drum it into the young people what our country was at one time. Johnny, tell Lisa the first two amendments to the Bill of Rights.”

  “I don’t know the exact wording. T
he First Amendment is freedom of speech. The Second Amendment is the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”

  Lisa responded, “Don’t we do that, Rico?”

  “Yeah Honey, we kind of do that.”

  “I carry a gun and I can say what I want.”

  “See Jack, it’s hard to explain the difference. She wouldn’t understand.”

  I commented, “You have to teach our whole history and the Constitution.”

  “I’m not running a school here,” Rico advised.

  Joe butted in, “He’s not so smart, BOSS.”

  “Shut up, Joe, he’s smarter than anyone else here.”

  I shook my head and told him, “You need to have one or two teachers who can spend the time to explain our history to the young people.

  “Look it’s getting late and Johnny needs his sleep. Where do we sleep tonight?” Johnny was dozing off.

  “You can sleep in my room and I’ll sleep with Rico tonight. I’ll take you up to my room,” Lisa suggested.

  “Thanks for your input, Jack,” Rico replied. Joe didn’t say a word. I didn’t trust Joe after his comments. I think he wants to be BIG BOSS. I could tell Joe the Hammer was resentful of my friendship with Rico.

  Johnny was fast asleep so I picked him up in my arms carrying him to the room. Lisa opened the door revealing she had a real bed room set with a double bed. Lisa lit a candle as I placed Johnny in her bed. The windows were open which showed a view of the garden. A slight breeze was blowing in which helped to cool the room and remove any unwanted odors.

  Lisa whispered in my ear, “Good night, Jack. If you need anything let me know. We’re right next door. Feel free to use the shower.” She planted a warm wet kiss on my cheek as she squeezed my arm. She smelled good, really good which made me somewhat intoxicated.

  “Good night and thanks for letting us use your room.” As she closed the door she blew me a kiss. How sweet she looked, but I knew she was really a deadly killer. Tomorrow we would see how deadly.

  I laid down next to Johnny and thought we have to get out of here tomorrow one way or another. I knew my people were looking for us and it was just a matter of time before they came here. That could cause a serious situation to evolve.

  JULY 3, 2025

  I woke Johnny up at 6 am and we went for a short jog around the garden together. After that we each took a shower. I was just getting dressed when there was a knock at the door. Going to the door shirtless I opened it to see Lisa and Rico standing there.

  “Hey, let’s get some breakfast guys,” Rico suggested.

  “Ok, I’m hungry,” Johnny replied.

  Lisa eyed me as I put my shirt on. It was one of those eat em up looks. Rico and Johnny were already heading down the hallway toward the stairs. Lisa grabbed my arm and said, “Come on old man.”

  I hurried to tuck in my shirt, stuck the Glock in my waist band, and picked up the M4. Lisa commented, “You don’t need all that fire power to eat breakfast.”

  “I know, but I don’t go anywhere without my guns.”

  Arriving at the cafeteria we got in the chow line. The three new cooks were there passing out food. They had done a bang up job making western omelets and fried chicken.

  Rico and Johnny were carrying on a conversation about the Constitution which surprised me. I could tell Rico was bonding with Johnny and it was doing him good.

  I commented to Lisa while we were eating, “Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Do you know what that means?”

  “It’s Independence Day.”

  “Right, but who did our country gain independence from?”

  Johnny raised his hand saying, “I know, it was Great Britain.” We all laughed because Johnny enjoyed the challenge of answering questions.

  With breakfast done Rico said, “Let’s go to the gym and work out.”

  “Great, let’s go, Mr. Rico,” Johnny blurted out. I chuckled at Johnny’s enthusiasm.

  Rico grabbed Johnny by the hand and they started to run to the gym. Lisa and I slowly followed them. She commented, “Johnny is good for Rico. I can see a soft side to him that I never saw before.”

  “Yeah Rico has a soft spot for kids. I’m surprised he didn’t kill the pervert himself. Why did Rico even let Hank in the clan?”

  “Hank was one of the first people in the clan and at the time we didn’t know he was a pervert. When Rico found out he told him if he touched any kids he’d be dead meat. He never did so Rico just let him work in the garden by himself. He didn’t have friends.”

  Arriving at the gym the free weights were set up over in a corner. I noticed that Joe was already here doing bench presses. Rico was showing Johnny how to warm up. We all started doing calisthenics following Rico’s lead. Rico made it look easy putting us through the workout which consisted of 4x20 sit-ups, 4x15 pushups, 2x100 jumping jacks, and general stretching.

  I looked at Lisa and her beautiful body was glistening from the sweat. I wasn’t the only one watching her. Joe was eyeing her up and down like a hungry wolf. Joe looked at me and asked, “Hey old man how much can you bench?”

  “I don’t know, maybe two fifty.”

  “I’ll bet … you can’t do two fifty,” Joe commented as he grunted the weight up in the air.

  “I don’t need to bench that much weight.”

  I picked up a couple of twenty five pound dumbbells and started to do curls. Johnny was standing next to me doing two pounders. Rico had forty pounds in each hand.

  “Why not?” Joe asked.

  “I work out just to stay in shape not to build big muscles. I stay just strong enough.”

  “You can never be too strong. You’re a wussy.”

  I ignored his comment but it was clear he had a thing for Lisa. Joe, wanted Lisa and maybe he even had thoughts about over-throwing Rico.

  I finished my workout and told Johnny, “Let’s go for another run.” While the others worked out Johnny and I left the compound. On the way out I told the guards, at the front door, we’d be back soon.

  We ran to the bridge on 54th Avenue that crossed Interstate 275. Johnny and I reached the bridge and stopped running. I thought this is a chance to escape and head back to Tocabaga. I looked at little Johnny and decided that it was too risky to walk all the way back to Tocabaga. There was no telling what type of bandits we could run into on the way home. I couldn’t take the risk.

  Standing on the bridge I looked north and south down Route 275. The road was empty except for a few abandoned vehicles on the side of the road. I sat down and contemplated what my next move would be.

  Johnny said, “Let’s go home, Grandpa. I know the way. We just go straight down this road.” I laughed out loud because it was like he knew what I was thinking.

  “It’s not that easy, Johnny. There could be a lot of bad men between here and home. We’ll have to go back to the compound and maybe we can leave tonight or tomorrow for sure.” As we started to walk back I heard cars coming.

  Johnny and I looked in all directions and then he yelled, “There’re cars coming from the north.” I looked thru my rifle scope and saw five trucks about half a mile away.

  “Grandpa, it’s Dad and Uncle Ron!” The kid has good eyes. He was right, it was my family and others from Tocabaga. We stood up on the bridge and waved our hands as they approached.

  The convoy sped up the entrance ramp to 54th Avenue and stopped on the bridge in front of us. Johnny ran over to Tommy and gave him a big hug. Everyone jumped out of the trucks and they all asked the same questions. “Where have you been? Are you ok? How did you escape?”

  I raised my hands to shush the group and replied, “We’re fine. We’ve been here with the 54th Avenue Gang. I need to talk fast so listen up.”

  Tommy, Ron, and Jim Bo, along with my other trust-worthy warriors, gathered around me.

  “I’ll tell you later how we escaped. Y’all need to get back to Tocabaga right away. Stan told me the Feds were planning an attack to over-throw Tocabaga. The group of twenty people we let in
the other day has some undercover agents. Any single men in the group throw them off the island as they are probably agents. Anyone who Albert doesn’t recognize should also be removed.

  “I’m staying here as a guest of Rico Martin. He’s in charge of this group. It’s called the Dimachaerus Clan.”

  Tommy commented, “Rico Martin, how’s he doing?”

  “He is meaner and crazier than ever. The Feds kidnapped his wife and son. He doesn’t know where they’re at and it has really affected his brain. He’s gone to the dark side.”

  “When and how will you get back?”

  “Take Johnny back with you. I need to stay here tonight to talk with Rico some more. Give me a phone to stay in touch. Rico will give me a ride back to the island. If he doesn’t give me a ride then I’ll call you to extract me.

  “When you get back to Tocabaga put security on full alert.”

  We shook hands and I stood there watching them speed away. I was torn between going with them and staying here a little longer to help Rico find his way. I didn’t wanna let down an old friend who needed my help. I slowly walked back to the compound thinking what could I say or do to bring Rico back into the real world. Maybe nothing could help him, but I had to try.

  I arrived back at Rico’s compound and it was 11 am. Rico, Lisa, and Joe were in the gym and as I walked in Rico said, “Where the hell you been? Where’s Johnny at?”

  “Well, we went for a run down to Route 275. We were just sitting there talking when we heard some cars coming down the road. I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was my family. It was my son and brother with about twenty other people from my security team. They were driving around searching for us.

  “Johnny went home with his Dad and I chose to stay here tonight like I promised I would. They headed back to the island.”

  “Damn, you should have brought them here to meet me. It’s been a long time since I saw Ron and Tommy.”

  “Yeah, I know, but they needed to get back to Tocabaga to take care of some urgent matters. We’re facing a possible Federal attack. I think it’ll be tomorrow on the Fourth of July.”

  “In that case we’ll get you back there after the fights tonight. You gonna need any help fighting the Feds?”