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

by Thomas H. Ward

  “Let’s push on,” Tommy advised.

  We had no sooner stood up and taken about 50 steps when Tommy whispered, “Get down, targets approaching.”

  We dropped down, lying flat, on the wet sand. Three men were running down the beach in our direction. As they came closer we could see they had guns and wore yellow bandannas. They kept stopping to look behind them, as if someone was chasing them.

  Tommy pulled out his night vision binoculars to have a look see. He softly said, “Four men are behind them. Maybe they’re chasing them.”

  I commented, “Let’s take them all out.” Tommy concurred with a nod of the head and I tapped Jim Bo on the shoulder telling him to get ready.

  Tommy advised, “I’ll shoot all three of them. The last man gets it first.” We agreed since Tom is our best shooter.

  The DRAGON men were within 40 yards of our location. They would run right past us if we let them. Tommy took aim, and the last man fell, then the second in line. Finally after six steps the first man fell dead in the sand. They didn’t even hear the shots.

  Tommy whispered, “The next four men will be here in a couple of minutes. They’re running four abreast. Jim Bo, you and Dad, shoot the two closest ones and I’ll take the other two. When I fire you both fire.” We agreed and waited for Tommy to take the first shot.

  The four men approached out of the rainy darkness. We could tell they weren’t DRAGON men by the beret caps and uniforms they wore. They looked like soldiers, but we didn’t know whose soldiers. As their faces came into view from 20 yards away I could see they looked different but the rain distorted my vision.

  Tommy opened fire and so did we. All four men dropped on the beach in three seconds. It was a perfect ambush. We jumped up and ran over to the bodies. Checking their pulses, we found one of the men still alive. He was stunned from rounds hitting his bullet proof vest. I picked up their guns and threw them in the water. I was shocked to see the Red Chinese Flag on their uniforms. I quickly scanned the beach to see if more men were coming.

  Tommy grabbed the man still alive by his vest and pulled him up close looking directly in his face. He asked, “What the hell are you commies doing here?”

  Tommy took out a zip tie and forced the guy’s hands behind his back. He yelped in pain as Tommy bent his wounded left arm. I searched him for more weapons.

  I checked his arm and the elbow was blown away making his it useless. I told Tom, “His arm is shot to shit.”

  Speaking in good, but broken English he told us, “The People’s Republic of China here to claim Florida. It now belong China. Me, Captain Zhu Lei, of People’s Expeditionary Marine Forces.”

  Judging by the tone of his voice he was cocky bastard. I kept my gun pointed at his head. Just for the heck of it I hit him lightly in the head with the barrel of my carbine. I didn’t like his tone and said, “You’re full of shit. Red China doesn’t own Florida.”

  In 1999 Red China took over the lease and control of the Panama Canal. They moved into Central America controlling the economy. In 2012 they became allies with Communist Cuba and started drilling for oil 70 miles off of Key West. Chinese gunboats became a common sight off the coast of Florida. There is only one reason China would want Florida and that’s for the oil. Florida has a lot of oil reserves in the Gulf.

  “US government owe China many trillion dollar … then default on payment. US now bankrupt. US President approve sale, Florida State to People’s Republic of China. This cancel all debt. Debt paid in full. Florida now, Lotus Flower State. You must surrender. We your leaders. Surrender now I promise quick painless death.” I laughed and hit him in the head a lot harder almost knocking him out.

  Tommy warned me, “Don’t knock him out. We need more information.”

  “How did you get here?” I asked him. He didn’t reply so I hit him hard in his wounded arm.

  He winced in pain and replied, “Boat.”

  “How many boats and what kind do you have?”

  “I never tell, state secret.” I believed him because he looked like one tough cookie who would endure any type of torture. He was a trained professional.

  “Why were you chasing those men?” I bumped his head again with my gun barrel to refresh his memory.

  “We saw fires. We land small crew. Want to find food. They not friendly. Attack us, killing five my men. My gun ship open fire, destroy them. Some run away. We chase them.”

  “Do you have any more men on shore?”

  “Maybe yes, maybe no. My boat look for us.”

  Tommy told me, “Drag him over to the bushes. I’ll run down the beach with Jim Bo and check it out.”

  As I forced him up and pushed him to the bushes he struggled and tried some Kung Fu kicks on me so I shoved my gun barrel into his mouth knocking out a few teeth in the process. After that he followed me like a little puppy dog to the high weeds and bushes. I had no sooner knocked him to the ground and a bright search light flashed from a boat offshore. They were scanning the beach looking for their men. I heard a radio crackle and a voice came on speaking in Chinese. “Zhu Lei, … #####”. I don’t know what they said, but I found a radio hidden in his shirt, turned it off, and put it in my pocket.

  “See. They look for me. They not give up search.”

  “Do you expect the people of Florida will surrender to China?”

  “Yes, US President approve it.”

  “You’re mistaken. The President can’t approve that.” I thought even if the President did approve it, we the people wouldn’t stand for it.

  “What your name?”

  I looked at him for a minute wondering if I should tell him. I observed his uniform was not in good shape and he looked skinny and not well fed. I think the People’s Army is suffering from lack of supplies. His arm was bleeding and I could tell he was in a lot of pain.

  “My name is Jack Gunn.”

  “You US Army, Mr. Jack?”

  “I’m in the militia. We provide the law and order around here.”

  “You Policeman. Mr. Jack, you work for us. We give people equal rights. US people leave Florida, then ok. People stay, ok. They follow Chinese law. All ok.”

  The search light flashed by us and I could see the outline of the boat. It looked like a patrol boat and there was a cannon mounted on the bow. The rain was starting to let up.

  I started to laugh at his statement and he asked, “What funny?”

  “You don’t know what you are up against. There are over five million people living in Florida and everyone has guns.” I didn’t tell him about the Special Forces, like the Rangers, operating in Florida. I didn’t tell him about the gangs of cutthroats running around.

  “We know about Florida. You know nothing about China.”

  “I know that every man and woman will fight to the death to stop China from taking over Florida.”

  Out of the blue he asked, “You been Disney World?”

  “Man, you really don’t know what’s going on in the United States. We’re in a civil war. Disney World was destroyed a long time ago.”

  We sat there in silence for another half hour waiting for Tommy and Jim Bo to show up. Zhu seemed disappointed that there was no more Disney World. The patrol boat moved south still searching the beach for Zhu Lei.

  Tommy ran up out of breath, dropped down to one knee, and said, “They’re all dead or gone. We counted 123 bodies and saw five dead Chinese Marines. We checked each body to make sure Brogan wasn’t there. The question is did the DRAGON men run north or south?”

  I pulled out my radio, “Tony, keep a sharp eye, because the DRAGON boys maybe headed your way. We’re on the way back now.”

  “Did you find Brogan?”

  “Negative.”

  “I think the DRAGON boys are already here. There’s a group of about 30 men near the pink hotel now. They’re standing around in the parking lot. I think they spotted us.”

  “Yeah, maybe they’re sizing you up. If they approach the bridge, start shooting. We’ll be the
re in 45 minutes. Out for now.”

  Zhu asked, “Who DRAGON men?”

  “Those are the men you had a fight with. They’re cannibals. They kill and eat people.” I didn’t know if Zhu understood the word cannibals because he had a puzzled look on his face.

  Jim Bo asked, “What are we going to do with this guy?”

  Zhu was on his knees and Tommy was standing behind him. I saw Tommy point his gun at Zhu’s head. “I got no use for these bastards. I fought them in Korea. They’re sneaky little fuckers.” With that comment he pulled the trigger. Zhu slumped over to the ground.

  Tommy was in the last Korean War in 2016. This war purged North Korea of the communists and united Korea into one country again. The Chinese had some forces backing the North, but the North Korean Army didn’t have the resources to fight a mass war and surrendered in 30 days.

  I said, “I guess Zhu Lei won’t get to see Disney World.” No one laughed but me. I took his black beret with the Chinese Marine emblem on it and shoved it in my pocket. I wanted to show everyone what we were up against.

  We jumped up and started to run back to the Hummers waiting on the bridge. None of us said a word about killing Zhu Lei. We all knew that sooner or later we would have to kill him. We could never bring him back to Tocabaga with us.

  We jogged all the way back to the pink hotel and stopped while still on the beach. Peering around in the dark we carefully searched for other people. We didn’t see anyone until we went around to the front of the hotel. The DRAGON men were standing in the parking lot. They were huddled together having some kind of meeting.

  I ran across the street, in the shadows, and jumped into the mangrove trees on the side of the road. Jim Bo followed me and we covered Tommy as he came across. As he was crossing one man yelled, “Hey, there goes a guy!” All thirty of them turned and looked at the same time.

  I yelled, “Jim Bo start shooting those assholes!” We opened fire and so did they. We were out gunned for sure, but Tommy made it to the trees without a scratch. Bullets were whizzing over head as we ducked and slowly moved out.

  I got on the radio, “Tony bring both Hummers down here and open up on these jerks. We’re trapped at the foot of the bridge, on the north side, in the mangrove trees.”

  “We’re on the way!”

  In a minute I heard the distinctive rapid … BAM, BAM, BAM … sound of the M2 machine guns. Rick’s Hummer stopped right in front of us providing cover while we climbed inside. Rounds were harmlessly pinging off the skin of the bullet proof truck. Maggie, standing in the gun turret, was firing the fifty burning through rounds as fast as she could. I saw a few of the KANG boys drop to the ground.

  Both vehicles’ rapidly backed up to the apex and stopped firing. Tommy told everyone, “Get the M249s set up and when the gang is within 50 yards open fire.” The five of us laid prone on the wet hard concrete surface waiting for them to attack. The rain and wind had subsided and all was quiet.

  I had no doubt that the seven of us on the high ground, with four machine guns, could stop any attack they could muster. They were slowly coming for us, walking towards the foot of the bridge. They had no cover to hide behind. Were they that dumb or doped up to continue an attack after seeing our fire power?

  The beach bridge is a four lane divided bridge with two lanes in each direction. One Hummer is sitting on each side. The DRAGONS split into two groups and were coming up each side of the bridge. Ten men approached, staying low, and they started to run up the bridge. The remaining men stayed behind them by a good distance.

  They were within 50 yards and Tommy yelled, “Open fire!”

  Two fifty caliber machine guns and two M249 guns, all firing at the same time, make a hell of a noise. The evil boys were falling to the ground either because they were shot or to keep from being shot. They didn’t stand a chance.

  As the bodies fell Tommy, Jim Bo, and I would take aim with our M4s’ and shoot them to make sure they were dead. Three minutes later I yelled, “Stop firing!”

  Of the original ten not one man was left standing. The main group of about twenty men ran the other way and dispersed into the darkness. No one in our group was shot. I thanked God for his help.

  Tommy wanted to go down and shoot each one in the head to make sure they were all dead. We drove down to the group of fallen bodies and stopped. Suddenly one man jumped up from behind a bridge pillar and frantically waved his arms in the air. He started yelling, “Don’t shoot!”

  He had no weapon but did have a yellow bandanna around his head. I shouted, “Hold your fire!” As he came towards me his shape looked familiar in the dark. He came closer and we took aim. When he was fifty feet away I ordered, “Stop right there! Get on your knees. Keep your hands in the air.”

  “Jack, for crying out loud, don’t shoot! It’s me … Brogan!”

  “Brogan, you dumb ass!” I ran towards him as did the whole crew, except for Maggie who kept an eye on the walking dead just in case one woke up. Tony picked up Brogan and gave him a big bear hug as we all slapped him on the back.

  “Man you’re one lucky SOB,” Tommy said, as he gave him a man hug. “Stand over there with Tony while we finish making sure these jerks are dead.”

  Tommy walked around shooting each man in the head. Then he advised, “Let’s leave the bodies here as a warning. If any other DRAGONS or the Red Chinese happen by they’ll think twice before coming over the bridge.”

  “Good idea,” I replied. “Let’s get Brogan home and checked out by Doc Scott. Rick, I’d like you and Maggie to stay here on guard until day break. Then I’ll send someone to relieve you.”

  “No problem, whatever you say Jack,” Maggie stated, which didn’t allow Rick any choice in the matter. He was stuck on guard duty for another seven hours like it or not.

  We all squeezed into the one vehicle and headed home. It’s a short fifteen minute ride to the bar and the clinic which is right next door. Brogan said, “I need a double shot of JD and a smoke.” We dismounted and headed into the bar while Chris went to find Doc Scott.

  The only bar on Tocabaga has been here since 1993. It’s old and smells like mildew and smoke. The inside hasn’t been painted in over 20 years so the walls are a dirty brown color. It’s a small bar about 1,000 square feet in size. The actual bar is “U” shaped and covered in tile. The floor is also tile and easy to keep clean. The metal bar chairs are in need of repair. The bar is air-conditioned thanks to the solar generators that the Army provided. We have refrigeration to keep food and drinks cold. We brew our own beer and wine. The other day a couple of old timers made some moon shine. We obtained our whiskey from the Army Rangers. Where they got it from we don’t know. One day they just showed up with a truck load of booze.

  When off duty everyone hangs out at the bar. It’s the place where news and gossip gets passed on. There are many debates or discussions on the direction of the country. Tony is the guy that keeps the bar running. He also locks it up at night to keep the real drunks from hurting themselves by over indulgence.

  I looked closely at Brogan. I couldn’t believe it was him. He lost some weight and was a dirty mess, but other than that he appeared in one piece. He had grown a short beard, so he didn’t even look like Brogan. I noticed that he wore dirty jeans and a blood stained blue shirt with the yellow bandana on his head.

  I took the bandana off his head and told him, “You won’t need this anymore DRAGON boy. Doc will check out that cut on our head. It looks infected.”

  Brogan touched it and winced a little. “Yeah, it’s infected alright.”

  Tommy poured a double shot of JD for everyone and handed the first one to Brogan. After jugging down the golden liquid in one gulp, Brogan pounded the glass on the bar stating, “Give me another one.” Tommy filled it up again.

  Raising his shot glass, Tommy toasted, “Welcome home Dragon boy.” Everyone cracked up and repeated, welcome home. “We thought you were a goner. Tell us what happen.”

  “It takes a lot to kill me.
It’s a good thing you guys came along when you did because I was just getting ready to kill the whole gang by myself.” Everyone chuckled.

  Tommy poured us all another drink while waiting for Brogan to tell his story. “I was looking under the water for my glasses when I heard Tommy and Jack run across the water. Then I heard shots. I found my glasses and hid in the water until the KANG boys ran past me. One guy came walking up the river bank, very close to me, so I shot him. I took his gun and clothes. Look at the bullet hole.” He stuck his finger through the blood stained hole in the blue shirt and wiggled it.

  “Lucky for me he was my size. Knowing I was surrounded, and couldn’t escape, I figured I’d blend in with them. I pushed his body downstream and hid my guns. I put his yellow bandanna on my head and walked into their camp like I was one of them.”

  “Shit, you just walked into their camp? That took balls. Then what happened?” Tony asked.

  Brogan was thinking as I handed him a smoke and lit it for him. Taking a deep drag he exhaled a white smoke ring. Coughing a little Brogan took a sip of whiskey. “Man, nothing tastes as good as a smoke with a shot of booze.

  “I walked right up to the club house and saw the men that you killed. Everyone was running around and didn’t know what to do. One guy asked me who I was. I told him, Brogan and asked him his name. He told me he was Jackson. He didn’t say another word to me and walked away.” That comment cracked us up. Only Brogan could do that and get away with it.

  “I thought I found your broken glasses near the club house,” I stated.

  “Those weren’t my glasses. These are mine. Anyway after your sniper attack the gang decided to move to another location. I tried to slip away from them, but they had guards watching everyone. They always had a few men watching everyone to prevent desertions.”

  “Brogan, did we kill the DRAGON?” Tommy asked.

  “Yes and no. There are two more men who look alike and wear the yellow turban which means they’re the leaders. These men look like twin brothers. They look like the guy you killed. Maybe they were triplets.”