TOCABAGA (Revised Edition) (Book #1 of The Tocabaga Chronicles)

by Thomas H. Ward

  We held a vote for President of our compound and Rick won. Not many wanted that job. Everyone likes Rick and he has a certain way of making you listen to him. Maybe it is his deep voice and reasonable logic. Rick has a brother who is an FBI agent but he hasn’t seen him for years. Rick is a self-made millionaire who used to own a tow truck company. He has no military experience.

  I was elected Vice President and Director of Security because no one else wanted the job and maybe because I had the most experience. I had actually killed more people than anyone else, other than my son.

  I have had many different jobs in my life. I spent four years in the Army as a Military Policeman. I have been trained to use handguns, rifles, and shotguns, and in hand-to-hand combat. I once worked for a government Contractor in Security and had a DOD (Department of Defense) secret clearance and AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) security clearance.

  I obtained a degree in Engineering, but I never lost my fondness for guns and shooting. I joined gun clubs and shot in the IDPA for ten years. The International Defense Pistol League or IDPA has you practice drawing and shooting once or twice a week. You become a very fast draw and a very accurate shooter. I was also a range officer for ten years. I would go shooting with many friends, some of whom were retired Navy Seals, Army Rangers, Marines, DEA Agents and Police Officers. I shot with some of the best shooters in the area. One thing I know about is guns. I have shot almost every type of gun made at one time or another. Not only do l know how to use them, I know how to fix most of them and can sight in rifles with or without scopes.

  My main job here is teaching people how to shoot and clean their weapons. I want everyone to know how to use a gun. In addition I pull security duty when it is my turn. Since I know something about security, I helped set up our security system for the compound.

  I once shot a taxi driver in Mexico who tried to rob me. It was 5 am and I was in a taxi going to the Mexico City airport, when the taxi driver decided to take me down some dark road and rob me of my money. He stopped the car in the middle of nowhere, got out, and pulled a gun, commanding me, “Get out, Senor,” which I did.

  As I stood there within reach of his gun, he ordered me, “Give me your money and wallet.”

  I said, “Sure, just don’t shoot me.”

  As I pulled my money out of my pocket, I dropped it on the ground and his eyes looked down at it, giving me a split second to use a trick I learned from a Navy Seal, which is how to disarm and kill someone within your reach. As I grabbed and twisted the gun barrel it fired, the bullet hit his head and I pulled the gun from his hand and fired two more times into his chest.

  He was dead. I said to myself, maybe out loud but I don’t recall, “See you just killed yourself, you fucking dummy!”

  I looked around to see if anyone else was nearby, but since gun fire in Mexico City is a common sound, no one paid any attention. In addition, most people don’t want to get involved.

  I used to practice this disarm move all the time with Robbie and my buddies at our fight club and it was drummed into my muscle memory. Once you make the move you have to complete it or you will get shot. You swat the inside of the gun hand at his wrist while at the same time grab the gun barrel, turning it in and up towards the gunman’s head. Of course the gunman is going to pull the trigger but muscle reflex reaction time is not fast enough and by the time he pulls the trigger the gun barrel is pointed at his own head. Bam, he shoots himself in the head, it works almost every time. You carry through by twisting the gun out of his hand, which breaks his finger because it is in the trigger guard, and the gun falls into your hand; while stepping back, you shoot him again to make sure he is dead, just in case the head bullet missed.

  I wiped off all fingerprints in the taxi and from the gun, throwing the gun on the ground next to his hand. I took off his white gloves that all the taxi drivers wore in Mexico and put them on. Now I looked just like a cab driver. I jumped into the taxi and sped away, leaving his dead body lying on the side of the road, and drove myself to the airport, pulling up right in front at the drop-off zone. To my surprise a Mexican cop was standing there looking right at me.

  I grabbed my bag from the back seat and walked inside to the ticket counter, leaving the cab sitting there, without making eye contact with the cop. I watched the cop out of the corner of my eye, as he was walking away, paying no attention to the cab. He thought I was just another poor cab driver. It was a good thing I had on those white gloves, jeans, and a ball cap. As the plane rose into the air I thanked God I made it out of Mexico. I never felt any remorse for killing that jerk because he most likely would have killed me.

  Rick and I own a lot of guns. We have collected guns and ammo for over 25 years because we like guns and always thought of them as the best item to own in a crisis. No question, a gun is the one item to own. Think about it, if you have a gun you can protect your family and hunt food. One time Rick asked me if he should buy some gold for emergency situations and future worth. I told him no, buy guns and ammo. If you don’t have a gun then someone can take your gold. I once heard there are three hundred-fifty million guns in the United States, which means one gun for every man, woman and child living in the good old USA.

  Between Rick and I we have 55 guns; you name it, we own it. We have shotguns, AR15 rifles, AK47 rifles, a Cobb 50 caliber long range rifle, 308 sniper rifles, HK 93 and HK 92 battle rifles and all kinds of handguns. Most handguns are 9mm along with some .380, .357 and .45 ACP colts. We have a lot of ammunition for each gun and can do reloading of spent shells. At our location we have a total of 465 guns, almost one gun per person.

  I carry at all times a Glock 17, 9mm with 3 mags and a Colt AR15 carbine 9 mm with a red dot low light scope along with three 30-round mags in a leg pouch strapped to my left leg. In addition, I carry a double-edge Black Bear Bowie knife. You never know when a good knife will come in handy. Ever since I stabbed the junkie who broke into my house, I’ve always carried some type of knife. I keep my Glock in a Kydex plastic holster on my right hip. The plastic holster keeps the gun secure, allows for easy access and a fast draw. Every security person here carries a gun at all times as you never know when you may need one.

  Captain Sessions said, “That is what I wanted to hear, you follow the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, along with local laws. You are not an outlaw band keeping people here against their will.”

  I said, “We can assure you everyone is here of their own free will. Go around and talk to anyone you like. The people living here can leave anytime they want. Most of the people that previously lived here have already left to go live in the green zones, leaving us with a total of 556 people in our compound.”

  Sessions replied, “We’re already interviewing your people while we are sitting here to check out your story.”

  I thought this guy was smart. He had a plan all along.

  We all started to laugh. Robbie raised his beer and said, “A toast to freedom and the Constitution.”

  Everyone clinked their glasses together and said, “To freedom and the Constitution.”

  We had no sooner made a toast and in the door came a Ranger who advised the Captain that they had talked to twenty people who all stated they were here of their own free will. It felt great to gain the Rangers’ trust.

  The Captain replied, “Good then, we have confirmed your story, now let’s see your compound. First tell me about any problems and dangers you may have here.”

  I replied, “Captain, here is the situation. Empty homes are being taken back by the jungle. Grass and weeds have grown so high that you cannot walk through them without fear of getting bit by a snake. We have a large number of rattlesnakes for some reason. I killed two of them on my patio the other day. Every day I see at least one snake.”

  Robbie butted in, which he does all the time, “Sometimes the electric power comes on for a few hours a day but not enough to cool a house. We are blacked out for hours at a time. You never know when or for how long the power will be on. Th
at means no electric lights at night and everything is black. At night it gets really dark and this is when snakes come out to hunt so not many people move around at night. If you walk around at night you need to stay on the sidewalks and roadways.

  “There are a few generators which we use for running a small air conditioner, charging cell phones and tablets. Yes, we have cell phone service every now and then and are able to access the internet for news. What we see and hear is not good. We can also charge our phones using car plugs. We made some windmills and solar cells to generate 12 volts of power to run 12-volt lights and fans. A small fan can reduce the heat index by about 10 degrees, which makes a difference. Almost everyone has a fan.”

  Rick commented, “We are lucky to get water from the city water supply so we can take showers, but only with cold water only because there’s no electric power. However, we can use the toilets. Thank God for that benefit. Keeping clean is important to stay healthy. You need good sanitary conditions to keep disease from taking hold. We boil all water before drinking it as no one can be sure if it is totally safe. The big problem for us is having enough soap. Soap is not easy to make and we don’t have lye or animal fat to produce it. We can only obtain it when we go to town to trade or barter for goods and food.”

  Eddy who worries about the little things like bugs, jumped in with his concerns saying, “There are killer bees here and they are extremely dangerous so we try to stay away from them. The only thing you can do is burn the nest if you can find it but who is brave enough to do that? Nasty little bugs I hate them all. So far only a few people have been stung with no serious reactions.

  “We are infected with Black Widows and Recluse spiders, which are two of the most dangerous types. Black Widows have been here as long as I can remember. They make thick sticky webs and eat anything. I have never been bit by one but others here have. To treat the bite you need antibiotics. The female spider is very big and usually has a red hourglass spot on the stomach. The Brown Recluse is very dangerous and I have been bitten twice. If you don’t treat this bite it will rot your skin away in the bite area and possibly kill you. Needless to say, I hate spiders.”

  Sessions said, “Well, sounds pretty much normal, anything else?”

  I replied, “My concern is not the bugs, snakes or spiders but the dangerous people who will kill you and your family for a can of beans, guns, gold, car or anything that suits their fancy. These dangerous people are the gangs, terrorists and criminals running loose causing our society to fall into disarray. I guess that’s it.”

  Sessions started to laugh and said, “Well, that is quite a list, and I agree with you, dangerous people are the main concern for us also. Now can we review your defensive positions for the compound?”

  Sessions wanted to ascertain our methods for protecting our compound and find out how we obtained food. We showed them our first line of defense, the one and only road into our compound. He was impressed that we had cars interlocked blocking the road so no one could just drive through and also liked the fact that 24/7 we had sixteen people on guard.

  Captain Sessions asked me, “What type of weapons do you have and how many?”

  I said, “We have a lot of weapons, mostly handguns and rifles, nothing big but a Cobb 50; I’ll give you a list.”

  I provided him with a list of every weapon we had and to whom it was issued. The list also kept track of the ammunition, which was all stored at what use to be the local bank. The bank is our armory and it is under guard at all times.

  I advised Sessions, “All weapon cleaning is performed by the person each gun is issued too and any repair work needed is performed by myself, Bob, Mike and Tommy.”

  Captain Sessions commented, “There is not much I can do to improve what you have already done but do you have a fallback plan with another defensive position?”

  Robbie advised, “No, not really, our idea is to hold that entrance at all cost. We have a total of about 96 security people. That is the choke point; if the bad guys get near us there, then we have a problem.”

  Sessions replied, “I suggest you redo the bridge controls so you can control it from this side of the channel. Once the bridge is opened up no one can cross.”

  We all agreed that was a good idea but doing it was another problem, I didn’t know if we had the technology to do so. That was something I’d have to check on.

  Sessions inquired, “What do you need in the way of supplies, food or water?”

  I said, “We are in pretty good shape for food and water. What we need is ammo, bulletproof vests and most of all medical supplies. In addition we need bug spray, hand soap and laundry soap.”

  Captain Sessions, while taking notes, advised us that Special Operations was now involved in local fighting, trying to bring law and order back to the country.

  This is a good thing and maybe it will make life better. Maybe there is hope that things will turn around and be brighter in the future, I thought.

  Sessions finally asked, “Are you willing to take in some new people?”

  “Like who and how many?” Rick asked.

  The Captain admitted to us that things were not getting better any time soon and some of his men had family that they wanted to protect.

  Sessions said, “We want to bring Ranger families here.”

  Rick replied, “Yes, we welcome them; we have enough food and supplies. It is the least we can do to show support to our troops.”

  Stores run out of food all the time. Trucks carrying food are robbed and the goods are sold on the black market. No truck is safe on the open highway. Farmers cannot get their goods to the food processing centers and those food companies cannot get the food to the stores. No person is safe unless you travel in a convoy and are armed to the teeth.

  Schools have shut down except in the green zone in the inner city. Most kids are home schooled now as it is safer. Kids on a school bus are easy targets for kidnapping.

  The government is now controlling the food and there are food lines at every store. You must wait for hours to get anything. If you can find and buy staples, they are only enough for a few days. You cannot feed your family on a loaf of bread. Fresh vegetables and fruit are not available. Supplies are reduced to canned goods or freeze-dried, ready-to-eat meals, same as the Army rations.

  Captain Sessions replied, “That’s great, it’s a big relief for me and my men. We plan to bring in about 200 people, mostly women and older kids, and some retired Rangers, if that is ok. We also plan to use the empty island south of here as a Ranger base of operations in this area.”

  Eddy said, “You mean No Man’s Land? That’s what we call it. How many Rangers will be based there?”

  Sessions replied, “There will be about five hundred men.”

  I advised, “We guard the bridge leading to it, and use that area for raising chickens and growing most of our produce. It would be great to have a base there.”

  Sessions answered, “Yes, we know a lot about your group as our drones have been watching you.”

  Rick commented, “We wondered who was sending the drones to spy on us.” We all laughed, relieved that now we knew the reason for the drones.

  Captain Sessions said, “Well, that about wraps up our meeting. We’ll be back in a few days.”

  Eddy, who would give you the shirt off his back, commented to the Captain, “It is our honor to be of service.”

  By the time we got back to the choppers his men were sitting around talking to our people and seeming to get along quite well. It looked like one big happy family and I noticed our people had given the Rangers drinks and snacks to enjoy.

  Sessions went over to one chopper, took out a box of grenades and gave them to me.

  That was great, as we had no such explosive devices other than Molotov cocktails. These are glass bottles filled with gasoline and a rag stuffed in the top. You light it and throw it as hard as you can …BOOM… it is a big fire bomb when the glass bottle breaks. The problem is these are dangerous to store an
d handle. So we don’t keep them on hand but can make them quickly if needed.

  Captain Sessions said, “We will bring more bulletproof vests, grenades and maybe other little goodies with us when we come back. By the way, coming here we saw ten cars about 60 miles away heading this direction. We don’t know if they are friend or foe, so be careful. See you soon.”

  He told his Rangers to mount up. They all boarded the Black Hawk UH 60 choppers. The motors started to whine, the big blades turning slowly at first and then gaining speed until they were only a blur. They lifted off one at a time, leaving in a whirlwind of dust. About 200 people watched the Rangers leave and goofy as it sounds, we all waved goodbye.

  The Rangers visit let us know we were no longer on our own and could depend on them for help and supplies. It gave us all a feeling of security, one we hadn’t had in a long time.

  Now we were waiting for the Rangers to come back. It had been five days. Where were they?

  May 13, 2024

  11 Months Earlier

  At this time U. S. unemployment had reached a whopping 55 percent and inflation was at 28% a year. There were a lot of cheap homes available if you had the money to pay cash. Gasoline skyrocketed to around $25.00 per gallon if you could find it. Many people out of work were roaming the streets looking for handouts, food or some kind of work. Things were out of control and every month the unemployment numbers went up another point. Finally, the government stopped the news media from putting out the unemployment percentages and inflation rate.

  Everyone could see the prices going up each week. Fifty out of every 100 people did not have a job. Every day I heard about someone who lost their job. Things were getting worse every day, every month but everyone thought the economy would get better because the President told us the worst was over.

  Maybe you can remember the attack at the Boston Marathon back in 2013, or the other random attacks committed by radical Islamists. These terrorist acts were becoming normal, along with other violence committed by skinheads and gangs. We needed to carry a gun everywhere we went for protection against people who would kill for a car, money or food.