Page 6 of Ulysses

Camero Compound in LA Swamps...

“You see, Ms. Maudie has skills and they aren’t always appreciated by outsiders,” Renee explained to the men. “Some herbs can get you high and some will disorient you. Maudie combined a special mix that could do both. Like you saw yesterday. With those men in her house... the ones that had come there to kill her.”

The men all nodded. What they had witnessed at the plantation house the day before were men who’d been reduced to children. They acted like kindergarten kids. They fought over stuff in that room which had been filled with toys of all things.

When they had been told that Miss Maudie had locked the intruders in a special room, they sure as hell never thought of a romper room.

Decorated with huge flowers painted on the walls, full of things like a ball pit, games, and skeet ball. There were even video games. Cartoons played on several TVs. Stocked with soda machines, snacks and all kinds of things to keep them fed, they seemed happy as... well...Children. Big Maudie had her Gree-gree special mist to keep them in their Lala place while pumping into the room at intervals, as it would wear off after about 6 hours.

So this Camero compound Boomer and his men had all just invaded by simply walking in – had once held venomous men, and killers, some mercenaries, and some criminals – but now it was just a playground.

Men were playing touch football. Some others were singing songs together.

A few were crying for their mommies.

Their weapons were all piled to the side. Not one of them were armed anymore.

Boomer looked over at his men and exclaimed, “It is literally like taking candy from a baby!”

One man was yelling, “No, you cheated!”

They all looked over.

“Well fuck,” Boomer swore. “Not all of them play nice though, do they?”

None other than the man they were after – Camero himself – sat on the steps with another guy. His face was twisted into a frown. “Brother, you cheated!”

They seemed to be playing checkers.

His brother, Milton Camero shook his head in denial. The side of his face looked scarred. “Unh- uh! I did not cheat!”

“Meet the Camero brothers,” Leeza, one of the swamp fighters announced as she waved her arm in their direction.

The two men who were no longer men mentally, never even looked up at her or anyone else. No, they were too engrossed in their own 8-year-old bickering.

The group just stood back and watched the shenanigans, singing and dancing, along with ball games and laughter. It all looked like a schoolyard playground and not a dangerous compound...

Chapter Five

Finishing his story, Boomer looked around at the Marauders.

Bouncer laughed. “And this all really happened?”

“Hell yeah,” Boomer replied. “In essence, Ms. Maudie brought down an entire army with that smoke and you will not believe the different colors it comes in.”

“Like she was adding her own flair to it.” Lily nodded. “I heard about this weapon from some of my father’s contacts. Most of the cartels have a rumor mill of sorts. They said a voodoo witch made it. Joel was bragging about it once and he was pissed when he couldn’t get his hands on any of it. He said he wanted some to increase his power.”

“Ms. Maudie isn’t a witch per say but more of a healer that uses the secrets of the swamps to help the swamps and the people who live there,” Boomer explained. “She is sort of a local legend. But she would have never sold that stuff to anyone. And despite what he thought about himself, Joel never would have fooled her. She would have seen right through him if they ever met.” He shook his head. “No, she would never sell it to any of your family either. No matter how much money they were willing to pay her for it.”

Lily nodded. “I wouldn’t sell it to them either. I know what liars and thieves they were in life. I didn’t trust them at all. And I grew up with them. They weren’t very good people.”

Boomer looked around and admitted, “But I can say if anyone stays under the effects of it too long, something happens that well...” He reached up to scratch his head. “It created El Bette, they called her. Or for better clarity, the She Beast.”

Bouncer laughed. “Ok baby brother, I thought you were making this up and it seems you are.”

Boomer shook his head firmly. “I would swear this on a stack of bibles bro. Cameros’ wife was worse than him in the field of ruthlessness and she was tied to a pole after we got in there and we forgot about her. Then the next day we found the pole all bent to hell and she was gone. Seems it turned her into...” He shrugged and shivered. “Something not human.”

“You need to write a book about this shit,” Bouncer teased him.