Chapter Eleven

Kenny now has no choice but to make a decision: accept his destiny or watch the fate of his loved ones die.

Halloween Surprise

      After a few drizzly weeks came and went, the clear frigid night of Halloween finally rolled around with an eerie calm to it. There had been no crime reported the entire day before and it was said that the Castro would see its largest crowd since the Seventies. People from as far as New York had come to experience Halloween in San Francisco and the city was prepared for it with decorations and marches. Kenny had seen a peace come to his life after his emotional embrace with Shawn and he was starting to see less of Christian until the day of All Hallows Eve.

      Kenny was at Junior’s house helping pass out candy with Madison while the sun was still up. The teenager was dressed as Michael Jordan in his Chicago Bulls times and Kenny had placed on the roman warrior outfit Shawn had set aside, before being called to work at the last minute. He had the complete outfit: a golden galea with red embossed eyebrows on the top, golden scaled armor with a red baldric over his chest and tunic of mail underneath, a reddish gold focale, a matching red paludamentum (an ancient Roman cape worn over the shoulders and back clamped down with round gold buttons) and heavy-soled brown sandals.

      Children from every school age came up in many different costumes begging for candy; many girls were mainly a princess or ballerina and the boys were either Super Mario, a cowboy or Captain Jack Sparrow. Madison typically sat by the door as the haunted music played and sound effects of wolves howling and thunder crashing gave him an odd sense of joy. He passed out handfuls of mini-Snickers, M&M packets, Three Musketeers, Almond Joy or a nice size box of Dots, although he ate most of the candy himself.

      Kenny was admiring the cozy and quaint house Junior made for him and his son. Pictures of Africa and African memorabilia littered his wall, drapery with the colors of African Pride hung against windows or walls, wooden figurines of ancient gods of old sat in every corner and a book shelve of Voodoo, Hoodoo, and other African Religion books was crammed on the narrow bookshelf. Mask from different tribes and communities greeted you from every wall but today it was a nest of cotton ball spiderwebs, orange hanging lights and a black flickering light.

      Junior came from the kitchen with a bowl of candy in his arms, dressed in The Green Lantern skin tight outfit, the mask and a replica ring to go along with it. He had also tied his dreads together with a green band. He gave it to Madison and switched out the almost empty bowl as the doorbell rang again and kids again yelling ‘trick or treat’. Kenny had noticed a picture Junior had when his son was born at the hospital, a scrawny woman who looked like Tonya, laid freshly relieved of giving birth held a newborn baby boy in her hands. Junior was leaning over smiling and Tonya herself was peering over the woman’s shoulder.

      “I miss her a lot.” Junior muttered as he walked by Kenny, “She was an amazing woman up until that day she…”

      Heavy sigh.

      “That’s Regina isn’t it?”

      “Yeah.”

      “I sometimes forget Tonya had a sister. She’s been gone for so long.”

      Junior dreamily moaned and walked back into the kitchen while Kenny helped pass out candy to a large group of middle schoolers. The night progressed with Junior and Kenny heading over to Jerry’s place after he allowed Madison to hang out at a friend’s house. They met up with Tonya and Teddy, one in a Carmen Miranda costume complete with fruit hat and the other in a full Sailor Moon outfit with a crescent moon wand at his side, outside the BART station by Jerry’s house. Once they had picked up Jerry, who had decided to go as Robin Hood instead and Batman with his daughter, they proceeded to catch the electric bus down toward the Castro. It was packed with other riders who caused them all to have to stand toward the front of the bus and have a small conversation with the person closest to them.

      After they exited a few blocks down from the backside of the party, fireworks were going off into the sky with live band music heard for miles playing random popular songs like Low from Flo-Rida, I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry or Thriller. The first time they heard the Michael Jackson song, they had joined in with a mass dance party before forgetting the rest of the steps and forfeiting back toward busy Market Street. Drag queens hosted most of the sidewalk shows with other Halloween supporters out enjoying the cheap booze or the safe access to smoking weed. There were quite a few Spidermen, Supermen, a few Aquamen, and lots of Wolverines with no shirts in the cold weather.

      Many females abandoned the stereotype of sexy kitten or naughty witch and went with Wonder Woman, Cat Woman, Hilary Clinton or half naked (or naked) Egyptian Queens. The streets were bright in the night with side food businesses packed with lines out the door serving pizza, or burritos or deli sandwiches. The Castro Theatre blinked its normal blue and pink lights with the party goers underneath cheering at each other and singing to the music in the air. Kenny saw a group of women with plain long nightshirts that read ‘Lick Bush’ on them and they wanted a picture with him.

      Many people wanted to pose with the crew because it seemed they took the time and effort in their costumes when majority of the crowd was in plain street clothing. There was one priest and rabbi outfit that went by and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were everywhere in the groups next to Hunky Jesus’, in nothing but a loin cloth and crown of fake thorns some holding a life size cross. Two skinny Caucasian boys were in nothing but white angel wings and too tight matching underwear while another wore the same outfit but in red, and devil horns instead of wings. The air was festive despite the lack of arm room but once the group found a spot on the edge of the sidewalk, they jumped at the chance.

      “They weren’t kidding when they said a lot of people were going to be here.” Junior shouted over Rihanna’s ‘Disturbia’ blasting a block away.

      “No kidding, more than last year.” Jerry added, adjusting his Robin Hood hat and bow around his chest.

      “Last year they showed the Rocky Horror Picture Show on a huge screen while everyone sung along.” Teddy nudged to Kenny, who nodded mindlessly, feeling uneasy all of a sudden.

      “Hey! HEY YOU!” Tonya cried out, waving vigorously into the crowd, “Over here Shawn!”

      Shawn pushed through the sea of drunken dancing people, dressed in his best Men in Black impersonation and joined his friends.

      “How was work?” Teddy asked, pushing a drunken Smurf back into the crowd. Shawn waved him away.

      “Like watching sawdust fly straight into your eye.”

      “I feel you.” Jerry agreed.

      While they were chatting about the funny looking people in the crowd, Junior had been approached by three different people, two only being men. He exchanged numbers and pocketed them before being caught by Kenny with the last number he got from a slender blonde female dressed like Paris Hilton.

      Shawn pointed out that he got five numbers just by walking down Castro Street and stopping randomly to be gawked at and pictures snapped. Teddy went off to order a drink while Tonya laughed as she was handed a beer by a burly lesbian dressed in a lumberjack ensemble. Jerry and Kenny stood together and laughed at the messed up looking Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker and overweight elves from the Lord of the Rings. As they were scanning, pointing and laughing, Kenny noticed his brother in the distance, in full military suit, sucked in the middle of the crowd with another person behind him.

      “Mal is here.” Kenny pointed out to Jerry.

      “And he didn’t call you?”

      “No, just said he would be in late tonight. I figured he meant after everything was over here.”

      That’s when they both noticed the person walking behind them was Christian, in his Superman costume with the red cape he said he would wear. Kenny blushed as he noticed how the abs rippled in the suit much like Junior’s, tight to the skin. His arms were bulging and next to his brother, they looked like they could work for Chip and Dales.

      Kenny immediately swiped out his phone from a hidden pocket in his breastplate and texted his brother that they were standing in front of a sidewalk run pizza shop. Teddy had returned back with two plastic cups of martinis when Malcolm and Christian finally caught up, pushing their way out of the crowd with a force.

      “I got twelve numbers on the way here! All by females. At least I think one was a female.” Malcolm hugged Tonya who bounced right into his arms.

      “Did she have on a leopard skinned one piece suit?” Shawn asked, looking around for the person he was describing to no avail.

      “Yeah, she did!”

      Shawn looked at Malcolm and shook his head no, making Malcolm place the piece of paper in Christian’s palm.

      “Why do I want it?”

      “Oh, look who found me on BART on my way here.” Kenny’s brother winked at him, completely ignoring the question asked. Christian crumpled the paper and tossed it as he met Kenny’s gaze. They immediately parted eyes once they met and tried to focus their attention elsewhere.

      The uneasy feeling washed eerily back through him but there was no sign of danger in the sky or in the streets, not while the police were patrolling every inch of the gathering. Suddenly, he saw the tall black woman flash in his vision screaming his name louder than the booming concert. It startled him to stagger backwards but blamed it on a drunk dancer bumping into him.

      A fat Hercules was cheering drunkenly and had climbed on a No Parking sign beside them and began stripping upside down. That’s when Shawn suggested they move away from the calamity that was this drunk. Eventually all eight of them made their way in front of the Muni Station at the corner of Castro and Market Streets, where a large rainbow flag stood in front of a curved stone building housing a clothing store, waving in the gentle night breeze over the neighborhood.

      The music was a little more difficult to hear but Thriller had been played again and the crowd cheered like it was the first time it was played. Christian came and stood arm’s length from Kenny who huffed a little to himself. It was the lilac-lavender combination that swept him away every time. Jerry had packed a few pre-rolls in his small satchel that he shared with Kenny and Tonya while the others had their fill on booze, except Christian who didn’t do either.

      “Are you enjoying yourself?” He finally managed to ask Kenny, who nodded automatically.

      “Are you?”

      “This is my first one and it’s pretty packed. Never seen anything like this except for the Olympics.”

      “You should see Gay Pride.”

      There was a brief silence between them while light chatter was being shared between the others. An interracial gay couple asked to share a picture with Christian and Kenny, or to them they were simply just black Clark Kent and the Spartan. But when the couple asked how long the two of them have been together, neither one of them spoke but just looked the other way.

      “We, uh, aren’t dating.” Kenny mustered out and the couple scurried away. At one point during the night, he thought he saw William standing in the crowd looking directly at him in a long tan trench coat, but when Xerxes walked by, there was no one who looked like his ex to be seen. Shawn broke his attention by pulling him into a group picture with the glittering skyline of San Francisco behind them. A police officer had agreed to take it with Shawn’s digital camera he had stashed in his suit.

      Tonya squatted in the very front of the group, hands stretched and a goofy look on her face while the guys towered above her. Kenny stood in the middle, Shawn on his left, Jerry on his right, Junior to Jerry’s right and Teddy on Shawn’s other side. Malcolm stood behind Teddy and Christian stood aside before being chastised for not being in the picture by everyone but Kenny, before finding his spot behind Jerry and Junior.

      Everyone gave a hearty smile when the camera flashed twice.

      Then it became like a double vision in Kenny’s eyes and he saw the horrific fire scene overlapping the joyous festival but it blinked away. He noticed right before the vision blinked away, he saw a bright sword for an instant.

      “Christian-” He grabbed behind him but noticed everyone had begun looking up into the sky. The music had slowed to a stop and the undying commotion simmered down. There had been seen three flares of deep crimson light that throbbed through the sky and disappearing in a fall over downtown. It had a magnetic malicious feeling in it as the third burst of light caused the ground to rumble.

      A few screams and car alarms were heard as the ground stopped shaking abruptly. Police sirens swiftly rung out over the skies alongside the blares of the ambulance and fire engine horns. Kenny saw Christian was studying the sky and ground with one hand in his pocket, while people were helping each other up to their feet, wondering what was going on.

      “Could be anything.” Malcolm warned to the police officer who had taken their picture, “Maybe a celebratory light show for Halloween?”

      “Nothing scheduled like that tonight.” The officer answered in apparent fear.

      “What do you think is going on?” Tonya asked Shawn, who was frantically typing away on his BlackBerry.

      “Earthquake?”

      “I don’t know but the lights…” Jerry had added before being thrown to the ground.

      A second shake that was much more violent knocked everyone down to the ground with force. Screams were scattered as another shake rattled up and down the city streets, causing humps like an enormous burrowing groundhog. The police officer sprinted off in the massive stampede of frantic people running away from the Castro area.

      “S**t.” Christian muttered, being pushed by people, as the shaking stopped but the street started to buckle and crack, giving off a deep humming sound before unexpectedly collapsing into a sink hole a few feet away from Kenny. Dust and debris clouded the air and a sharp smell of sulfur crept from the hole in the ground. People were screaming for help from God while others were blaming this on the wrath of God. Rushes of people were running in every direction, some crushing others under the weight of feet. Kenny had become paralyzed from the double vision clouding his eyes of the same fiery scene. But he made out the bright flashing double edge, double handled sword.

      “GRAB THE SWORD!” screamed the angelic voice. But the vision blinked away again, his brother pulling him to his feet, his friends in a frantic run from the dark winged creatures that broke from the smoldering concrete and swarmed through the air. They were skinless, covered in dripping blood all over and teeth long, pointy and crooked. They shot straight toward the group but before they got close, a ceiling of blazing energy flashed between them and the group and obliterated the creatures.

      Christian stood in a guarded stance, blue burning throwing star spinning in his pinkie.

      “GO!” He screamed at the group behind him but fireballs rained from the sky, exploding into the high rises in the city and the streets and both bridges, setting the entire city on fire. People were trampling over each other as the group huddled behind Christian, who was steady eradicating another swarm of winged creatures with flashes of blue and red energy from cloned throwing stars.

      Then, a twister of black shards formed a woman in a black laced dressed with white fringes, black opal on her breast and a lock of red hair mixed in her long dark strands. She only stood on the other side of the massive hole and her beady black eyes narrowed in on Kenny and then quickly to Christian, who growled her name. With a quick swipe of her hand upward, she telepathically sent the Protector careening into the curved building on the corner, straight through the windows with the store name Diesel stain glassed on. Kenny called out for him as he crashed hard through the building while Valencia began gliding victoriously toward him amidst the flame and swarming, telepathically sending people flying into buildings, buses or cars with the flick of her wrist. The group tried to run into the Muni station but it exploded as they approached the steps. The Castro Theatre was blown apart by a hive of flying dark creatures, impaling people with their claws. Kenny’s loved one’s stood together next to him in a half circle, side by side even though they were all petrified.

      “Now then, time to get what I came for. Be a good boy and come to Auntie Love.” Valencia remarked wiping her hands from invisible dirt as she was closing in on the group, who kept inching back from her but closer to the fire behind them. When she reached out her boney hand toward Kenny, the voice yelled inside is head even louder, this time the sword glowing with force between him and the evil woman’s outstretched hand.

      “I won’t let you harm anyone else tonight!” Kenny courageously screamed as he grabbed the flickering handle of the sword when Valencia had just swiped her grip through the air.

      And with the force of an atomic bomb, bright flash like a thousand suns and a golden ring of energy emitting from the red gemmed blade, he stood tall aggressively blasting Valencia at bay, body radiating in an illuminance armor, hat blown off in the force, cape searing at the ends and his face etched with determination in saving his loved ones behind him. But with another quick golden flash emanating from his sword, it caused him to fly backwards and land forcefully on his back.

      There was quiet darkness surrounding him now, his head throbbing and an abnormally loud ticking noise above him but when he opened his eyes to look up and examined it further, he saw the ticking came from a huge clock tower that suddenly gave off nine chimes. A breeze blew through his holey cape as he got fully to his feet, sword-less and able to finally realize where he was.

      On top of the white granite building that was the Oakland City Hall.