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

by Thomas H. Ward

  As my sniper team dismounted Tommy commented, “I’m taking point and Brogan you’re the rear guard. Just watch what’s behind us. We don’t want anyone sneaking up on us. Keep spaced out about twenty feet apart. If I duck you duck. If I hide you hide. If you see anyone behind us shoot first and ask questions later.”

  Brogan replied, “Ok, I got it.”

  “Brogan, can you see anything without those glasses?” I inquired.

  “Yeah, I can read, but distance is a big problem.”

  “Do you have a spare pair?”

  “Are you kidding? I’m lucky to have these.” I nodded my head in agreement.

  We proceeded down Thirty Seventh Street and we didn’t see any anyone alive. We only saw burned up bodies lying around in the street and dirt. As we approached the golf course perimeter we heard a lot of noise. It sounded like the dummies were having a party.

  Tommy crawled forward, for a look see, while Brogan and I laid waiting in the high grass for his return. Tommy was doing a recon to pick out a good sniper location. We had a lot of cover because the grass and weeds were waist high. There was no shortage of over grown bushes or trees. We blended in with the bushes hiding in the grass waiting for Tommy to return.

  I hate going though high grass or weeds because of snakes and spiders. Believe me we have a lot of those, but the biggest problem is a little plant named a Sandspur. This is a type of grass that grows in sandy soil in the warm south. One blade of grass has hundreds of sharp prickly burs which carry the seeds. The Spur or bur is about the size of a pencil eraser. These burs have little hooks on them and stick to any type of surface. They get all over your clothes, shoes, and skin. These little burs hurt like hell and feel like little needles. They are almost impossible to remove. If you try to brush them off the hooks break off in your skin and cause an infection. The best way to remove them is to put saliva on your fingers and pull them off one at a time.

  We had Sandspurs all over us because we couldn’t see them in the dark. We heard music, people singing, and drums beating. I didn’t like all the noise because it was difficult to hear what was around us. The good point was they couldn’t hear us either.

  I heard a voice so I peeked over the edge of the tall grass and saw two men or boys walking in our direction. It was too dark to tell how old they were but they were coming our way. They were about fifty feet away from death. I racked a round into my M4 and whispered to Brogan, “Two bad guys coming this way. Stay down.”

  I could hear their voices but couldn’t see them due to the high grass. They seemed to be coming closer. Now they were standing very close to me. I guessed they were just a few feet away. They stopped walking and stood there neither one speaking.

  Then one said, “Did you hear that?”

  The other replied, “It’s just a bird or animal.”

  All of a sudden one man fell on top of me and then the other. It scared the shit out of me. I fired three bursts at them as they tumbled to the ground next to my feet.

  I didn’t hear the shots that killed them. Blood flowed from their heads. The bullets went in the back of their heads and made a big exit hole blowing off most of their faces.

  I heard another person coming through the grass and stood up holding the M4 to my shoulder ready to fire. I saw it was Tommy so I lowered my weapon.

  “I saved your butts,” Tommy whispered as he appeared out of the grass.

  “I had them in my sites,” I replied.

  Tommy laughed, “Yeah sure.”

  Brogan helped me drag the bodies, rolling them under a bush, and we covered them up with some big palm leaves.

  “I found a spot that we can shoot from and it provides us a good escape route. The DRAGON and his henchmen are at the club house. The driving range faces it. We’ll be about four hundred yards away at the end of the driving range. There aren’t any trees in the line of fire,” Tommy advised.

  Tommy bent down and drew a map in the dirt of the whole layout.

  “There’s a clump of trees here. This is where we’ll shoot from,” he commented.

  He drew another line in the dirt saying, “This is a stream or river that runs by the golf course. We need to cross it here to gain access to the trees for cover,” as he pointed his stick.

  “The plan is to kill KANG and as many of his men as we can. We’ll keep shooting until they discover our location and then we’ll withdraw the way we came in. Any questions.”

  “Are there any more of their guards around?” Brogan asked.

  “I didn’t see any but keep alert.”

  “Let’s get going and get it over with,” I told them.

  Tommy replied, “Ok we’re going to take the old Skyway Trail to the point where we need to cross the river. Once we get to the water watch out for gators.”

  “Shit, I hate gators. What do we do if we see one?” Brogan asked.

  “Shoot it in the back of the head if it comes after you.”

  We reached the little stream and started to cross. It was deeper than we thought. The water was waist deep so we lifted our guns up high to keep them dry. Recent rain had flooded this little stream turning it into a river flowing at about three knots. The footing was tricky because of slippery stones on the bottom.

  I was about half way across the twenty foot wide river when I heard a splash behind me. I turned around and saw Brogan’s head come up from under the water. He stood there looking in the water.

  I asked him, “What the hell you doing? This isn’t a time to go swimming.”

  “I lost my glasses.”

  I softly replied, “Come on, you’re not going to find them.” I kept wading towards shore but Brogan was still looking for his glasses. Tommy was on shore and moving into a sniper position among the trees. The noise from the DRAGON party was getting louder.

  “Come on Brogan, your glasses are gone man.” He kept looking as I climbed up the slippery bank out of the river. I laid down next to Tommy and we started scoping out the targets.

  Tommy asked, “What the hell is he doing?”

  “He’s looking for his glasses.”

  I turned around to look at Brogan, who was a good forty feet away, and he was diving under the water.

  “The hell with his glasses, he could get us all killed,” Tommy replied.

  Tommy and I laid there scoping out targets. I estimated there were about two hundred men camped in the area. They had fires going and were in little groups of five to ten men. I counted ten trucks and four cars.

  Then we saw the DRAGON. There was no mistake it was him sitting on the club house patio smoking a cigar. He was a fat guy with a black beard and wore a yellow turban around his head. All his men wore a yellow bandanna around their necks or on their heads.

  Tommy advised, “Get ready, I’m taking him out.”

  I watched through my rifle night scope as Tommy took careful aim and pulled the trigger … POP … and in a split-second the bullet hit KANG in the chest. He slumped to the ground while the men around him seemed unsure what was wrong with their Boss. A couple of men ran over to him. They didn’t hear the shot. Tommy shot again and again killing two more men before they all ran for cover inside the building.

  There was no movement around the club house. We waited for a few minutes and then I saw a couple of guys running towards the building. I told Tommy, “Targets at ten o’clock.”

  “I got em’.” He fired two more rounds taking both men out. They dropped dead right at the front door. “UPS delivery,” Tommy said, while laughing.

  Looking to the far left I saw two trucks headed in our direction. They were loaded with men and I could see muzzle flashes. Then we heard the bullets whiz overhead. We ducked and Tommy advised, “Time to leave.”

  We turned around and crawled down the bank into the water. I shouted, “Brogan, we’re out of here!” I scanned around, looking in all directions, but there was no Brogan.

  We quickly waded across the water and climbed out just as the trucks arrived. A group of men li
ned the bank. They were firing everything they had in our direction as we jumped behind a couple of trees. I don’t think they saw us because none of the bullets were hitting our trees.

  I peeked around the tree and saw them shooting into the water. We crawled away in the darkness and finally reached the Skyway trail. We stopped out of breath and I asked, “What the hell happened to Brogan?”

  We heard the men splashing across the river still shooting their rifles. Tommy replied, “We can’t do anything about Brogan. I just hope he got away. We’ll come back and look for him tomorrow. We gotta go right now!”

  We could hear the bushes moving and men yelling. The bad guys were closing in on us. We took off in a dead run down the trail. Tommy would get ahead of me by a hundred feet and then stop to cover my back. I would run a hundred feet past him and I would stop to cover his retreat. We alternated this way all the way back to the waiting trucks firing as necessary.

  The DRAGON men were hot on our heels. As we approached the trucks Tony asked, “Where’s Brogan?”

  We jumped in the Humvees and I replied, “Brogan just disappeared. We don’t know where he is, or what happened to him.” Tony is Brogan’s best friend and I could tell he was worried and upset that Brogan was not with us.

  “How the hell did that happen?”

  “Brogan lost his glasses in the water and the last time I saw him he was swimming around looking for them. When we started shooting the bad guys I thought he was right behind us acting as our rear guard. The DRAGON men started to come after us so we had to withdraw but Brogan disappeared. We didn’t have any time to search for him.”

  Tony started the motor and he yelled, “Here they come!”

  As we pulled away both Hummers opened up with the M2 fifties, blasting away at the crowd of twenty or so men running down the street wildly firing their AK47s. I saw many fall, maybe dead or just falling, to avoid the deadly stream of fire from our machine guns.

  Soon we were out of range and out of their sight. I told Tony, “We’ll go back at first light and look for Brogan.”

  Tony replied, “Count me in on the search.”

  We arrived back on Tocabaga with no further incidents. Tony dropped us off at my house. We all agreed to meet at 9 a.m. to search for our friend. Tommy and I had a drink and hit the hay. I couldn’t sleep thinking about Brogan. What the hell happened to him?

  JULY 5, 2025

  It was seven a.m. and we were standing at the bridge. We had to make a plan fast to go find Brogan. I wanted some additional fire power and suggested that we bring two SAWs along just in case, four additional men, and one more truck.

  My men all agreed so ten of us loaded up our gear and mounted up. Soon we arrived at the Armory and we spotted eight bodies in the street but they weren’t alone.

  Three big gators were also in the street devouring the dead bodies along with wild dogs and vultures picking up the scraps. We observed the gators ripping the bodies apart, tearing off large chunks of meat. The dogs would quickly dart in and out grabbing a piece of meat, while staying away from the gators. There wasn’t much left of the corpses.

  “I wonder if those gators ate Brogan?” Tony asked.

  “Yeah, being eaten alive is a hell of a way to die,” Ron stated.

  I told everyone, “Ok stay alert. The gang could still be around. I want a team of four for the search party. Tommy takes the point. Jim Bo, Ron, and I will be in the middle. Tony you’re the rear guard.

  “Everyone else stay here and guard the trucks. Let’s move out.”

  We gave a wide berth to the gators and proceeded down the Skyway trail to the river crossing. Tommy ran ahead of the group to see if the DRAGONS were still around. He reported back that the KANG boys were gone. They had pulled out of the golf course, so we moved forward with our search.

  The river flowed south so we went south guessing if his body was in the water it would be washed in that direction. Two of us were on the east side and two on the west side of the river searching for Brogan.

  Tony asked, “Where does this flow to?”

  “It flows into the bay. There’s a bunch of mangroves at the mouth. It’s only about a half mile away,” I replied.

  Mangroves are dense shrubs that grow in coastal swamp areas. They have big tangled roots that make passage almost impossible. If Brogan’s body is in the tangled roots we’ll never find it.

  We reached the mangroves where the water is brackish. We didn’t see any gators along this part of the river. There were no signs of his body so we decided to backtrack and go north. It took us another hour hiking though the dense grass and weeds. It was hot and progress was slow. Every now and then one of us would yell out for Brogan.

  Traveling north the water becomes almost clear and the mangroves disappear the further you are from the salt water. As we walked along the river bank we did see a few more gators. Tony shot a couple of them in the head for the fun of it. After going about a mile we decided to call it quits and go to the club house for a look see. Along the way we scouted around the golf course.

  We spread out in a line with fifty feet between us and moved west to east toward the club house. By the looks of it these people cleared out pretty fast because some tools and junk where left behind.

  We reached the club house and on the ground we saw the bodies of the DRAGON and the four other men we shot. His yellow turban was missing.

  There was a big fire pit that had some meat still burning in the hot coals. It smelled terrible and I held my breath as I walked by the black smoking meat.

  I told Tommy, “Let’s check out the house. I’ll be right behind you.” Tommy slowly opened the door and walked in with me right on his back. We scanned the big room and saw nothing but plates on the tables with food that had been half eaten. I proceeded to check out the locker rooms.

  I could smell it, the smell of death, the smell of rotting flesh, as I walked into the shower room. Laying in the shower was a bloody torso of a body. It was just a torso, no head, no arms, and no legs. It had been chopped up or a better word would be butchered.

  Tommy walked in and said, “Holy crap! Is that Brogan?”

  “I don’t know there’s no way to tell who it was. Let’s look around to see if we can find any evidence if it is Brogan.” Everyone started to search inside and outside the building.

  I told Tony what we found in the shower room and he ran in to look at the body. Tony came back out and told us, “That’s not Brogan.”

  “How do you know?” asked Tommy.

  “Brogan had an Eagle tattoo on his right shoulder blade. That’s not him.”

  “Hey everyone look at these plates. These look like finger and hand bones. The DRAGONS must be cannibals,” Tommy commented.

  We all gathered around gawking at the bones. They were human fingers all right and some were toes. These people are really crazy. Actually no one knew what to say about the eaten human body parts. It was a disgusting sight that sent chills down my spine.

  I told everyone, “Keep searching. If you find anything bring it to me.”

  I went outside to get away from the stink. I removed my hat and wiped the sweat from my face. I closed my eyes and saw an image of glasses in my brain. They were at the foot of a tree.

  As I have said before I’m lucky at finding any thing that is lost. I get these visions in my head. I don’t know where they come from, but a picture just appears in my brain when I close my eyes.

  I opened my eyes and there was one tree close by. I searched around the tree in the high grass. There was a rope on the ground and a lot of blood-stained grass. I was just ready to give up when I saw a shiny glint of reflected light.

  Bending down I pushed the grass aside and found a broken pair of glasses. I yelled, “Tony are these Brogan’s glasses?” Tony ran over to look at them.

  Taking them from my hand Tony studied them closely and replied, “Yep, I think these are Brogan’s, but I’m not positive.”

  We all just stood there until Tommy ad
vised, “If those are Brogan’s then the DRAGON boys must have captured him. We gotta find out where they went and get Brogan back.”

  I stated, “Let’s think about this. There are three things that could have happened to Brogan. He could have been killed by the gators. He could have been killed by the DRAGONS. He could have been captured by the DRAGONS. We searched all over and couldn’t find him so we know he’s not here.”

  “So we have no choice but to see if he is being held by the DRAGONS,” Tony said.

  Everyone gathered around looking at the glasses. We were thinking or trying to guess where did this band of killers disappear too?

  Since Tommy is our best tracker I told him, “Go check 22nd Avenue for any clues as to which direction they headed.” The rest of us waited for him to return and discussed the situation.

  Tommy returned with good news. “They clearly headed west on 22nd because their trucks left mud tire tracks on the street. Judging by how dry the mud is I’d guess they left here about day break. That means they’ll be looking for a place to camp for the night. Does anyone have any ideas?”

  Jim Bo spoke up, “They could be anywhere, but if I was them I’d try to get as far away as possible.”

  I countered, “Good thinking. We know that 22nd Avenue goes to Pasadena so they could go south or north. South takes them to the beaches and towards Tocabaga. North takes them away from us.”

  Then it hit me they were going to Tocabaga. It was the only place that they could obtain what they wanted most which was guns and food.

  I informed everyone, “Listen up, here’s what I want to do. I’ll take one Hummer and follow the KANG gang down 22nd Avenue. I’ll advise their location when we find them. I want Tommy and Jim Bo to go with me. The rest of you head back to Tocabaga and get ready for battle. If the DRAGON men come down the Road of Death let them have it. I don’t care how old they are. Anyone who wants to kill and eat us is going to die.”

  My men concurred and we headed back to the vehicles waiting for us at the Armory. I decided to call Rico and warn him about the cannibals roaming around our area. Rico offered his help but I advised him to stay put and be on full alert. I informed him of my plan and the fact that they may be headed to Tocabaga.