by Nancy Isaak
Meanwhile, Kieran and Frank were on my left. When I turned to them, Frank nodded once, in solemn acknowledgment. Kieran, however, had his arms crossed and was looking very angry. When I caught his eyes, he merely shook his head at me—too emotional to speak.
* * * *
Josh entered the area first—walking directly to the cage and standing next to the door. The armed guards followed. They circled the cage, separating into twos—a pair to each side.
The crowd of boys watching began straining forward—grunting and murmuring—wanting the best view of Ru and the cage. A scuffle broke out to the right of me. It was Pauly, trying to push by another boy.
“STOP!”
Everyone froze—even Pauly; nobody spoke.
At the far end of the circle of boys, Ru stepped up onto a rock, so that everybody could see him. “I want you all to sit down,” he ordered. “Right now…right where you are.”
Slowly, in ones and twos, guys began to sit down on the ground. Then, more boys followed until—with the exception of Josh and the armed guard—we were all seated.
“Is there anyone who can’t see the cage?” asked Ru.
Nobody raised their hand.
“Then we’re good,” Ru said, hopping down off of the rock and moving forward until he was standing in front of the cage’s door. Josh was holding it open, his face showing no emotion—while the tears in his eyes said everything.
Ru walked into the cage…one step, two steps, three…and then he was inside. “Close the door,” he ordered.
For a moment, Josh didn’t obey. Then, slowly, he shut the door.
A young voice—Xavier’s—cried out the same thing we were all thinking.
“No!”
* * * *
“Now, I probably only have a few minutes, so I need you guys to listen,” said Ru. He was circling the inside of the cage, making sure that everyone could see and hear him.
“In our old world, they used to have a saying—‘The King is dead, long live the King’. I learned about it in one of my Social Science classes and I can see from some of you nodding that you did, too. It means that the people don’t have to worry, that when their king dies—on that very moment—a new one is born.”
“8:33,” called a voice from the crowd.
“Thank you, Jonny,” said Ru. “Keep calling out those times, bud. So, back to the King and why I’m telling you this. It’s because—no matter what—the people have to be protected. They have to have their leader at all times…especially you, Pauly.”
We all turned to look at Pauly, who grinned sheepishly, lifting his machete in a salute.
“8:33 and a half.”
“One month ago, you all voted,” Ru continued. “And it was unanimous. To protect the people, to protect the tribe, you chose your new leader. You did not choose him because he was the best warrior or the strongest or the fastest. You chose him because he was simply the best to lead you, to protect you—from others…from yourselves.”
Faces were turning toward me. Embarrassed, I looked at the ground.
“8:34.”
More boys began to cry. A few, like Xavier, moaned in desperation. Ru didn’t stop, just kept on talking.
“You chose Jacob because he would not make the easy decision, he would not make the vengeful decision. You chose Jacob because—of all of us here—he would make the right decision—for the tribe.”
“8:34 and a half.”
Ru began to speak quickly. “You guys are the absolutely best guys I have ever met in my life. Know that if I was a good leader, it was because of you. So, I’m asking you now—please be the same for Jacob. Whatever he says, whatever he asks—just do it. Because you know that it will be for the good of everybody—for the good of the tribe as a whole.”
“8:35!”
There was an audible gasp—not just from one boy, but from many—that mutated into a frantic moan, a desperate cry for divine intervention, for salvation.
“Thank you—all of you,” said Ru, quietly. “You were the best tribe ever!”
Ru finally stopped walking. He was now directly opposite me. Smiling sadly, he closed his eyes.
And waited.
* * * *
“8:37.”
Nobody was talking; the sobs, the moans—they had all stopped.
We were just sitting there, staring at Ru. His eyes were open now and he was looking around—expectant, wondering.
“Why is Ru still here?” whispered Ethan, confused.
“I don’t know, bud,” I said. “Maybe the time on the watch is wrong.”
“Do you know what I think?” said Ethan, his voice a little louder now. “I think we should just hold onto Ru.”
“What?”
“Why don’t we just hold onto him?” he asked.
Heads began to turn toward us, listening. In the cage, Ru looked over at me—our eyes meeting.
“I think we should just hold onto Ru,” Ethan continued, “and not let him go. Then maybe he won’t disappear, right? Because he can’t—if we’re holding onto him.”
In front of me, Ru’s eyes went wide.
I felt the beating of my heart suddenly increase.
“Have you tried that?” I quickly asked Ru. “Holding on to somebody?”
He shook his head—suddenly looking hopeful.
* * * *
“Ru…grab my hands!”
I literally launched myself toward the cage, my fingers out. At the same time, Ru flung himself forward, reaching toward me.
All around us, guys began to scream, to yell.
“8:39!” a voice cried out—frantic, desperate.
My head smacked against the locked door.
I ignored the sudden pain that lanced through my forehead, thrusting my hands between the bars and into the cage.
On the other side, Ru’s fingertips stretched out to grab mine.
And—then I blinked.
* * * *
And when my eyes opened again—in that fraction of a second—Ru was gone.
* * * *
I’m not really certain what happened next, except...time seemed to stop for me. I know that I slid to the ground in front of the cage—defeated, grieving—blaming myself for not being able to save Ru. In the back of my mind, I could still hear the guys sobbing and yelling.
Then, suddenly, there was silence.
A hand reached down and grabbed me by the wrist.
“Get up,” ordered a voice.
It was Josh, standing above me, looking grim. I allowed him to help me up—not letting go of my wrist.
The two of us turned to face the tribe—so many tear-streaked faces—just staring, waiting.
Josh lifted my wrist, holding my arm up into the air.
“The king is dead,” he yelled loudly. “Long live the king!”
And, all around us, guys began to chant—softly at first, then louder and louder. “Long live the king…long live the king…long live the king!”
JULY
JOURNAL ENTRY #27
It still feels strange to be living in Ru’s house.
I know that it’s ours now, but I can’t help feeling his presence everywhere I turn. Obviously, he didn’t take anything with him except the clothes on his back when he disappeared. So, everything is still here.
All his clothes, his weapons…a picture of his family…another photo of a girl with her red hair tied in braids—perhaps someone he liked. But no one can tell me for sure—who the redhead is. Not even Josh or Connor.
It makes me realize how little I knew about Ru. How little time I had to get to know him.
And now here I am—living in his house.
In his room.
I feel like such a poser.
* * * *
We were actually pretty happy living in the house on the other side of the wall. But, after talking it over with Josh and my own guys, we decided that it was probably better for everyone if we moved into the compound. It would certainly make it easier to defend
us if the Crazies came.
The more important reason, however, is that it makes us part of the tribe if we’re all living together.
Because we’re not separate anymore.
Not two different tribes—but one whole one…
…the Locals.
* * * *
None of us had ever been inside of Ru’s house before we moved in.
Heck, we hadn’t even been inside the inner walls—not even Porter or Connor. Any meetings we had with Ru and his people had always taken place in the outer compound.
So, we were all kind of in awe when we came through the inner gates.
Even from outside the walls, we’d only ever seen the top of the mansion’s roof, so we didn’t really have an idea of how big this place actually is—it’s enormous!
* * * *
There are two wings and a center branch—imagine a giant ‘U’.
In the left wing is a drawing room, a couple of offices, and what looks like the maid or cook’s quarters. The right wing has the kitchen and a dining room and what Porter has decided is a ballroom. In the center is a foyer with an absolutely huge staircase that arcs around on either side of the entry wall and meets up on the second level. And behind the entry on the first floor is an enormous living room, and behind that is another living room—or maybe it’s the family room.
Upstairs on the second level—between the left and the right wings—there are twenty-two bedrooms. And every one of those bedrooms has its own bathroom (which obviously we can’t use). There is also a billiards room and a library (Porter and Connor are ecstatic about all the books) and a 40-seat home theater.
* * * *
All of my guys are—of course—living in the mansion with me. They’re over in the bedrooms in the left wing. I’m in the right wing—in the master bedroom. The other bedrooms around me are occupied by my armed guards—ten guys, including Pauly.
Josh and Porter are also living in the right wing. It made sense to have them close by, since we seem to spend so much time together in meetings lately.
There is also a small drawing room, just to the right of the main staircase. We do a lot of our planning in there because it has a large table and chairs—almost like a mini-conference room.
I had wanted Kieran and Rhys to live in the right wing with me. Unfortunately, neither one of them was willing to give up their privacy. When you’ve got armed guards following you everywhere—unfortunately—even taking a leak becomes a communal event.
* * * *
Honestly, it feels dumb to have guards.
Whenever I start to feel cranky about it, however, Frank usually gives me a good dressing-down.
“They’re just trying to protect you,” he tells me. “Do you have any idea what Denny and I would have given for an armed guard when the Crazies came for us?”
That usually shuts me up.
* * * *
My bedroom is the one that Ru had before me, of course. And, I suppose, it was where the prince stayed when he was in Malibu. Truthfully, it’s the biggest bedroom that I have ever seen. There are four rooms to it—a sitting room, a bathroom, an office area, and the main bedroom.
Plus the bathroom itself is huge—a Jacuzzi, a regular bathtub, a toilet and a bidet, and some sort of multi-spray, environmental sauna-shower that I desperately wish was still working. Also, there are couches and chairs everywhere.
That confuses me.
Why did the prince need couches and chairs in his bathroom? Were people watching him bathe and taking a dump?
* * * *
There is another big mystery to the prince’s house—what is down in the garage underneath the mansion? Unfortunately, we still haven’t been able to get inside the locked gates. The steel mesh is incredibly heavy and everything we’ve used to try and cut through has either broken or simply made little or no headway.
I’ve assigned Ian and Andrei the job of searching for a way to get us into that basement garage. They seem to have risen to the challenge and are annoying everybody by ‘energetically’ searching through each room for the garage keys, cupboard-by-cupboard, drawer-by-drawer.
Considering what amazing cars the prince left out in the two barns, I can’t wait to see what’s parked underneath the house.
* * * *
But the biggest mystery for me, the one that keeps me awake at night, is the one outside of the mansion—where are the other two slave camps?
When we first came back from Encinal Canyon, Ru sent out search parties, hoping to find the other camps. I’ve continued that practice with our newly created ‘Alpha Teams’ but—so far—we haven’t been able to find them.
I wanted to put Frank in charge of the search, but he won’t have anything to do with it. The only way he’ll help is by answering questions of what he went through in Camp #13. Other than that, he says that he doesn’t want to go anywhere near the Crazies.
Can’t really blame him.
It’s actually Nate and Jonny who are leading the Alpha Teams (and who also chose the name, by the way). And they’re both doing a pretty good job. They’ve picked up some topographical maps from the State Parks administration building on the other side of Leo Carrillo State Beach. It’s Nate’s idea to use the maps as guides—marking off one search grid at a time until they’ve covered the entire area.
Unfortunately, there are over 150,000 acres to be searched—canyons, valleys, and state park land. Needless to say—the search is going to take time.
Still—we have all agreed that we will continue.
If there are slaves in this area—we intend to free them.
No matter how long it takes.
* * * *
Meanwhile, I’ve sent another team up into Agoura Hills—to search for Brandon and the Crazies. We call this ‘Bravo Team’.
It was Kieran who actually came to me with this idea. I had just come out of a sanitation meeting with Porter, when Kieran cornered me on the way back to my room.
“Dude,” I yawned, “I seriously need to get some shut eye. Porter just spent an hour talking to me about crap and piss. You’d be surprised how much our guys can create multiplied by so many times a day multiplied by thirty-odd days in a month multiplied by yadda, yadda, yadda. And, to make it really fun, Porter created a flow chart—pun intended—and a graph and a list of all the horrible diseases and parasites that are just waiting to attack us if we don’t get it under control.”
We had reached my bedroom door.
Two members from my armed guards came out from inside and nodded to me. “All clear.”
That always made me want to laugh, but I knew that the guys were simply taking their jobs seriously, so I forced myself to keep a straight face.
“Thanks,” I told them. Then, I turned back to Kieran. “Can I meet you in about an hour? We can talk then.”
“It’s about the slaves. I’ve got an idea of how to find them.”
“Come in,” I said, sighing—holding the door open for him.
* * * *
“No way!”
“But it just makes sense that it’s me,” Kieran insisted. “I’m from Agoura Hills and nobody here knows Brandon better than I do! If there’s a chance of finding him and the Crazies, I’m the best choice. Plus, I know the safest ways into Agoura and where to hide once we get there. And if we find their tribe, we should be able to follow them right to the slave camps.”
My brother was making some good points—but it didn’t mean that I had to like it.
“Who would you want to take with you?” I asked, carefully. “And I’m not saying yes. I’m just getting all the details, so don’t get excited.”
“Since this is going to involve some serious sneaking around,” Kieran explained, “I was thinking of someone small, who could crawl in through air ducts and stuff. So maybe Ethan and Wester.”
“Not a chance!” I practically yelled at him.
Kieran broke into laughter. “Chill, dude,” he snickered. “I was just kidding.”
&n
bsp; “Then, who?” I asked, irritated. “And don’t say Rhys.”
“As if—he was always the first one caught when we played hide and seek. The guy I have in mind has a few more practical skills.”
I figured it out. “You want Pauly.”
“Makes sense,” nodded Kieran. “Dude’s from the area. He knows the hills as well as we do—some areas, maybe better. Plus, he’s already spent time doing undercover work for Ru.”
“Can you control him, though?” I asked. “I told you what Pauly did to that kid up at the Fire Camp.”
Kieran shrugged. “At least, I’d know he’d have my back. If the situation turned ugly, Pauly wouldn’t freeze.”
“That’s true,” I acknowledged.
“So, you’re saying it’s a go?”
“How many other guys do you want to take?” I asked.
“Just Pauly.”
“That’s it?”
“We’ll need to be able to move quiet and fast,” said Kieran. “That means Pauly and me. Any more and we might get caught.”
“I hate this idea,” I told him. “I want you to understand that I really, really hate this idea.”
“Does that mean that you’re going to let us go?” Kieran asked, hopefully.
“Of course…but I still hate it.”
