5. The Rescue

It was a dark damp alley just off Claro M. Recto Avenue in Sampaloc, Manila. The alley is littered with empty boxes of carton and some palettes made of palochina. Sitting on the ground with her hands supporting her, her bayong dropped behind her, its contents scattered on the pavement, a pregnant woman was trembling in fear.

Elena, 7-months pregnant and a street vendor in Quiapo watches in horror as a cloaked and hooded assassin pulls back his spear, covered in markings and a strange inscription.

"Your god has brought this upon you," the man said as he made a final pull to lunge at Elena.

Moving both body and arms, the man thrust the spear toward Elena.

Then Elena, her eyes closed, heard a clang of metal against metal and the thud of the spear hitting concrete instead of the sound of flesh being torn and the pain accompanying it.

She opened her eyes long enough to see a long and large bolo riddled with markings swing toward the spear holding assailant.

The assailant jumped back, pulling the spear away with him, holding it near the shaft's end.

The heavy bolo wielding person jump over Elena in a flutter of cloth, twisting in midair as he manipulated the bolo continuing its clockwise swing for another strike at the assassin.

As the bolo-wielding figure completed his 360 degree turn, the assassin pulled back on the spear still moving backward in midair. As the assassin pulled at the spear, he let it slide back in his right hand as he thrust is free arm, his left arm, palms up fingers spread, light creeping from his forearms toward his hands. A ball of electricity shot from his open hands toward the assassin.

This time the boloman has completed the swing of the bolo, twisted his bolo-wielding right hand 90 degrees clockwise holding the flat side of the bolo facing the assassin and swung the bolo using it as a racket to hit the ball of electricity and push it up toward the sky.

The assassin has completed his pull of the spear, now holding it at the foreshaft with his right hand pulled back. He then threw the spear with his body twisting and his left hand swinging back as the ball of electricity was deflected toward the sky. The spear flew not at the boloman but toward Elena. The assassin has now reached the apex of his jump curve and was descending.

The boloman continued his reverse twist powered by the swing of the bolo, now also beginning his descent to the ground. He extended his left leg, foot and leg forming a straight line, and made a turning side kick toward the spear. His timing was perfect as his foot hit the spear midshaft and propelled it sideways hitting the wall, stopping its progress and dropping to the ground, disintegrating along the way down.

Before the assassin hit the ground, he swung both his hands toward the boloman, left hand first then right, releasing two knives similar to those he used earlier on the beer drinkers killed in the main street.

The boloman used the impact of his left foot with the spear and the wall to catapult him for another twist in the opposite direction holding his large bolo over his head with his right hand. This twist was accompanied by a backward somersault to move his body backward away from the knives and at the same time allowing him to put his bolo between him and the knives. He parried both knives throwing them to the direction of the wall that they chipped before they disintegrated.

Both men landed on the pavement at the same time regarding each other, hands at the ready. The boloman clutched the handle of his bolo tighter as the other man clenched his fists, ready for another attack.

As if having practiced the move together, both men steadied their stance, both feet beyond shoulder width apart, hands held waist high, palms facing forward and fingers extended and curved as if they were holding balls in each hand. Then together they thrust both hands forward putting them closer to each other, with palm heels eventually touching.

"Kilat!" both shouted as electricity snaked from their forearms to their hands then exploding from the points in their fingers as a ball of electricity formed between their palms. The ball then exploded to a big bolt of lightning shooting toward the other person.

As the bolts collide, the two warriors felt the recoil and were rocked from where they stood, each sliding slightly backward. Smaller bolts struck out from where the two opposing bolts met hitting the walls, boring holes on impact, concrete chunks and dust raining down. Both men grunted as the pressure of the bolts started to push them back.

"Why are you doing this?" asked the boloman pushing forward.

"It must be done," replied the spearman pushing back at his opponent.

"I -- will -- not -- let -- you -- succeed," grunted the boloman as he began to take a step forward, pushing his bolt toward the assassin.

"We will -- umph -- not -- fail," said the assassin before he turned his joined hands clockwise so that his left hand is over his right and took a step back. Then he pulled back his left hand to point his palms 45 degrees upward in the process allowing some of the boloman's bolt to penetrate and then deflect it upward toward the sky and guide it to the fire escape landing above them just behind the boloman.

The deflected bolt hit the concrete walls exploding, concrete and dust flying away along with the fire escape landing that began to drop with a sound of strained metal toward Elena.

The boloman pushed off the ground to let the pressure of the bolt push him backward as he ascended. He then let go of the bolt that shot past below him and over Elena now lying unconscious on the pavement to explode at the wall of another building at the rear creating a hole through three other inner concrete walls. As he jumped back, the boloman made a counter-clockwise midair turn, holding his palms waist high, palm heels together, fingers apart and curved like before.

"Buga!" he said as he thrust both hands toward the falling fire escape landing. A ball of high pressure air came out from between his palms and flew toward the metal landing increasing in size as it went.

Meanwhile, the assassin raised his body a little, both feet planted well on the pavement, on foot in front of the other placed his hands above him, arms straight, palms facing forward, fingers spread and curved, forefingers and thumbs touching each other and recited, "Bolang apoy!" Light crawled from his forearms toward his hands. As the light reached his hands and he finished the incantation, the assassin thrust his hands toward Elena then holding them in front of his face, arms still extended. A fireball formed as his hands moved forward and sped toward Elena, increasing in size and turning from red to blue to white.

"Kalasag!" the boloman shouted. He is now facing the assassin having continued on his midair turn and is now descending, the metal landing, twisted by the impact of the ball of air, flying away from the boloman and the woman toward the hole created by the assassin's lightning bolt. From the extended right arm of the boloman, light flew toward the ground transforming into a large shield with ethnic markings and planted itself on the concrete a few feet from Elena putting itself between the fireball and the unconscious woman.

The fireball hit the shield and exploded. While the smoke lifted, the shield flickered but did not disintegrate, and the boloman landed inches from the woman's head. The two men are about to make another move when they heard sirens and voices from the buildings on both sides of the alley and the one at its end that was punctured by the lightning bolt.

The assassin used the distraction to jump out into a dark area on the wall formed by the shadow of the buildings and disappeared.

As the building flickered and vanished, the boloman knelt beside Elena. He was about to put his arms under her head and at the back of her knees when he heard someone shout.

"Hoy!" bellowed a bare chested man wearing maong short pants made by cutting his jeans just above the knee as he emerged from the hole in the building that the lightning bolt created earlier. He was holding what looked like a revolver. With him are two other men, one of them wearing a white kamiseta and yellow cotton shorts, the other, a t-shirt, its sleeves torn off, and blue striped pajamas.

"Nobody moves!" the police SWAT officer shouted as they entered the alley from the main street with his teammates flooding the alley with their sub machine gun mounted flash lights. The boloman turned his head from the three men to the SWAT officers.

The building residents raised their hands in panic as the boloman jumped upward, leaving Elena on the ground. The light beams followed the ascent of the cloaked figure but all they saw were building walls and dust whirling.

After the police and the residents got cleared up on who is a threat and who is not, they turned their attention to the unconscious pregnant woman lying on the ground, a female police medic now attending to her, checking her pulse and her extremities for broken bones, the medic's aid kit sitting beside her.

As the police and the building residents looked over at Elena, they heard a fluttering of cloth above them. When they looked up, they saw a figure flying along the length of the alley as it jumped from the street end toward the building roof in the other end of the alley, its body parallel to the ground below. The figure was twisting on its head to foot axis. Then they saw something glitter, then another, then they heard someone scream as knives rained down of them. Screams were heard as the knives cut through the people gathered, some burying themselves on the policemen, the residents, the concrete pavement and walls.

4. Flashback

Elena was born in the town of Balangiga south of Eastern Samar. She had two younger brothers, Edgardo and Emilio. Their family lived in a simple bungalow in the outer limits of the town. Her father is a backyard farmer who grew vegetables in a wide space beside their house. For entertainment, they have a small black and white television where the family watches their favorite soap opera. Her father is usually the first to open it for the evening news. There is also a radio with cassette player that is the source of argument with her brother Edgardo as they do not have similar interests in music genres.

Like any typical Catholic Filipino family, they always hear mass at dawn during Sundays. It is followed by a hearty breakfast in a nearby eatery. The Mercados spend their Sundays at home. While Elena is taught by their mother the fine arts of weaving, her brothers are outside helping their father with the vegetables tutored on how one can grow fine produce free of any chemical fertilizers or pest control agents.

As simple as he is, Mang Onorio, Elena's father bore tattoos on his back, parts of it even creeping to his chest and stomach. Elena saw this once when she ran to her parent's room to get help from her father. Aling Luisa was out that time to buy some supplies in the public market.

"Tay, Emilio is choking," her voice trembling. "I think he swallowed one of his toy soldiers."

Onorio, sleeping face down woke up with a start. It was then that Elena got a glimpse of the tattoo on her father's back.

Hurriedly, Onorio dressed up asking Elena, "What happened anak? Where is he?"

"He's in the sala, tay," Elena answered trying to pull Onorio to the direction of their living room.

As Onorio was applying the heimlich maneuver on Emilio, Elena thought about the tattoo she saw. It was like a collage of faces. Scary ones. It depicted men with tattoos all over their body as if it was their second skin.

Every Monday, Mang Onorio takes his kids for a ride on their pedicab -- a bicycle with an attached sidecar -- to school. Elena was in grade six at the Balangiga Central School when the conflict in the mountains of Samar was brought to their town by fleeing rebels.

The first gunshot was heard around 2:00 am. Immediately, Mang Onorio woke his family and gathered them to their bedroom. From his cabinet, he took out a revolver made by one of the towns of the province of Cebu. He checked if he had all six rounds loaded and rejoined his family behind the bed.

The gunfires grew loader as the clash was brought nearer their baranggay. They can hear the screams of their neighbors who are trying to run away.

"Tay, I think we should go," suggested Elena while clutching her mother.

"She is right, Onorio," seconded Aling Luisa who is trembling with worry for their family. "Let us go to my sister's house at the town proper. It may be safer there."

After a little thought, Mang Onorio said, "Okay, gather all essential things that we can bring. Then we will go."

The family hurriedly packed a few essentials. They put change of clothes, underpants, and a little food in two bayongs. Elena went to pick up the radio but Edgardo got there ahead of her.

"I'll bring this one Ate," Edgardo said. "You can help nanay with Emilio and the other bayong. I will carry the this one," referring to the other bayong he is holding with one hand as his other arm clutches the radio.

The family went out the back door and walked into the dark as the gunshots can be heard about a block away.

Then they heard bullets zing past them. In panic, Luisa and Elena ducked in a nearby dug out drainage as people run past them to the safety of the town proper.

Elena and her mother got separated from the rest of the family. The gunshots grew louder as the fighting got nearer.

"Come here anak," urged Luisa. "Let's hide inside this culvert."

The two crawled into the culvert. Elena just pulled her leg in when rebels jumped into the drainage for protection. They did not notice the mother and daughter because they were focusing on the soldiers chasing them.

Luisa hugged Elena who has her hands covering her ears. "Don't worry, anak," she whispered to her. "We will be safe here as long as they do not notice us," she said as grenades began exploding nearby.

A grenade blew a few feet away from the culvert in between several rebels crouched in the drainage. The loud explosion, the blast of air and the blood of killed rebels knocked mother and child unconscious.

They were woken up a few hours later by soldiers who were inspecting the result of the battle and assisted them out of the culvert and up the road. Their names were taken and they were interrogated.

"I'm sorry but you cannot go to the town proper," the regretful military officer told them. "The rebels are currently holding the place under siege."

Worried as she was about the fate of her husband and sons, Luisa brought Elena to Leyte. She had a brother there whom she can ask for help.

Days, weeks, and months passed and they have never heard from Mang Onorio. Her mother got depressed while Elena found it hard to study.

Years later, the mother and daughter moved to Manila as Aling Luisa went to find work to help sustain what remains of her family. Elena went to the Manuel L Quezon University to study nursing so she can go abroad to make their lives even better. That is where she met Alfredo. A handsome dashing young man who fancied her. They hit it off immediately and Elena was happy for that. Alfredo helped her regain her glow that she lost when that grenade exploded near her not more than six years ago.

Their love brought them to live together as Elena's mother went to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong. That was when the beatings began. Alfredo was a jealous man and he always blamed Elena every time another man looks and smiles at her.

When she got pregnant, Alfredo left her thinking that her child was sired by another man.

Her heart broken, she had to make ends meet for her and her still unborn child. Life has eased for her when suddenly this horrifying figure appeared. She once again felt the fear she had while huddled in that culvert as she stared at the hooded figure in front of her.

"What do you want from me!" she finally screamed at the figure.

"You," the figure replied in an unearthly voice. "I have no business with you."

The hooded figure then held his closed fists in front of him, left hand on top of the right as if holding a bat. Then he moved them apart as if feeling an imaginary pole. A bright rod of light appeared to form extending between and beyond the man's fists. Then the rod turned into a dark wood with tribal designs. There is an inscription in the wood that Elena could not discern. She thought she saw those characters before. As the man finished his movement, a spear materializes. It has a serrated stone-like spearhead and decorative strings tied where the spearhead meets the wood.

The man stepped back turning the spear toward Elena. He had his left hand palms down holding the spear on its foreshaft as his other hand holds the spear midway on the lower end of the pole his palms down. He raised the spear, ready to strike Elena.

"It is unfortunate that you will have to die as well," said the man as Elena watched in horror, unable to move away.

She closed her eyes and prayed, turning her head away while supporting her body with both arms behind her. "My God! Please save me and my baby!"

"Your god has brought this upon you," the man said as he made a final pull to lunge at Elena.

With great strength moving both body and arms, the man thrust the spear not toward Elena's heart but to her womb.

Elena waited for the sound of flesh being torn but what she heard instead was a clang of metal against metal and the thud of the spear hitting concrete.

She quickly opened her eyes as a long and large bolo riddled with markings held by someone behind her left the spear it parried and swung toward the spear holding assailant.

The assailant jumped back pulling the spear away with him holding it near the poles end.

Elena saw her savior jump over her in a flutter of cloth to chase her assassin. Then she lost consciousness.

3. The Alley

It was night.

Elena tried to walk faster. She willed herself to run but the load she is caring plus the fact that she is pregnant stopped her from walking any faster. Her heart is pounding so hard it reverberates to her ear. It is as if she had her ear against her chest.

Then she heard the flapping of cloth... She turned... And what she saw made her scream...

Standing in front of her is a cloaked man. The hood and the dark obscuring her vision. She can't see his face.

Her scream caught the attention of some bystanders who tried to see where the scream was coming from. On the other side of the street, four topless men drinking some gin stopped momentarily and turned to look at the direction where the scream came from. At the corner, three students waiting for a cab turned to Elena's direction.

Elena was shaking. Almost loosing her grip on the bayong she is carrying. She willed herself to move. She was able to take one step back when the hooded figure slowly raised his head. Ambient light slowly creeping she can now see the person's jaw. It looks fiery red. It has some black markings like a tattoo.

She held her bayong tighter not knowing what to do. A lot of things raced through her mind. "Is this Mang Andoy's killer," she asked herself. "What could he want from me? I never saw him before. I was never even a witness to the murder!"

As Elena continued on these thoughts, the hooded figure's head continued to raise. Now she can see his cheeks, riddled with tattoo. His head stopped moving. Light does not penetrate enough to allow her to see the figure's whole face. But she notices that his eyes seem to glow.

"Miss! Are you okay?" shouted one of the drinkers from the other side who stood up to have a better look. Then seeming to notice the figure standing in front of the woman, they felt alarmed. They took steps toward the street.

"Hoy! Who are you?" asked the other man to the hooded figure they can barely see in the dark as he moved ahead of his buddies. Some of them picked up iron pipes or wooden planks.

The students waiting for the cab got scared at the shouting. They huddled together and tried to cross the street towards the fast food chain.

The four drinkers began their way across the street when the figure turned his head toward them. They can see his yellow glowing eyes. And it made them stop and rethink if they will go and help the woman or not.

"Puta, aswang!" shouted the thinnest of the four holding his wooden stick tighter.

"Let's get him!" shouted the braver one who was also the one who asked Elena if she is okay.

"Let's go!" shouted the big bellied one holding an iron pipe.

As they moved forward towards the island that separates the two opposing lanes, the figure whipped his left arm toward their direction shouting "Daga!"

In an instant, a bolt of light came out from the sleeve end of the figure's cloak. The light materialized to a knife before it disappeared into the neck-high island.

The brave one among the drinkers stopped dead on his tracks. Clutching his neck as he fall backwards from the impact of something that hit him. Blood came out of his mouth and seeped through his fingers. His eyes wide in shock. He hit the ground with a thud.

The others looked at him, got mad and angrily looked at the hooded figure.

When the hooded figure released that bolt of light, Elene got to her senses and turned toward an alley to her left.

With deadly swiftness, the hooded figure flicked his other arm toward the direction of Elena. A bolt of light flew out and struck the wall behind her. Missing her by inches.

The assailant then moved to follow Elena in the alley but stopped when an iron pipe flew in front of him. He turned to see that the big bellied iron pipe bearer was no across the island. The two others just over the top.

Elene moved faster across the tight alley barely two persons wide. Boxes and crates were piled on either side. She tipped some of them and a few fell crashing on the ground. She heard screams as the four drinkers sparred with her assailant. As she turned her head back to take a look, she saw lights flash, heard more screams, and thought she faintly heard skin tear as if opening a zipper.

As the screaming stopped, she stopped and turned towards the end of the alley hoping that she will see one of the men who tried to help her. Her heart stopped when she heard the eerie fluttering she heard before. But no one emerged at the end of the alley. Trembling, she raised her gaze. In the ambient light of the new moon, she saw a figure descend from above. Her knees felt weak and she fell sitting on the ground.

"This is it for me," she thought. "I am sorry for my baby. He hasn't even come out yet to see the world and now he will die with me."

Tears trailed down her cheek as the fluttering figure landed a few feet in front of her.

"What do you want from me!" she screamed at the figure.

"You," the figure replied. His voice seem to come from the depths of the earth. "I have no business with you."

2. Street vendor

Elena Mercado is seven months pregnant. She will soon join the many unwed mothers that live below poverty level in the metropolis. Her boyfriend for five years, Alfredo, left her while she was two months into her pregnancy. He left because he could not bear to be responsible for a child he believes he did not sire. Alfredo had long since suspected that Elena has another lover other than himself. For five years he tormented her. Blamed her for every misfortune that came upon him. He lost his job because of truancy and he blamed it on her. She still bore the marks from Alfredo's beatings. He beat her with his own hands, with the broom, with wire hangers, and with just about everything he can pick up from around their house. She endured all this because of her love for Alfredo. And all he has for her is contempt.

Elena thought that getting pregnant will help her change the way Alfredo treated her. But she was wrong. When he found out about her pregnancy, he went berserk. He beat her, punched her, kicked her, even threw her against their dining table. Then he just left.

That was two weeks ago.

From then on, Elena had to fend off for her and her soon to be born child. It is a girl, people said as it was a common belief than when a woman carries a girl, her beauty radiates. On the other hand, if the child she carries is a boy, that beauty degrades.

It is almost 9:00 in the evening and Elena is on her way home to the slums of Quiapo, a busy district in the city of Manila know for its cheap goods, fast services, and dangerous streets at night. Like most of the urban poor, Elena makes a living by reselling products she got from the low cost flea markets of Divisoria -- an adjacent district -- as well as goods of questionable source.

Walking home carrying her wares in a woven basket called a bayong, Elena makes her way through the deserted streets of Claro M. Recto.

"Good evening, Elena," greeted one police officers patrolling the area. The police officer first noticed her when he was assigned evening patrol three days ago.

"Good evening to you too, sarge," Elena greeted in return. Her smile not as warm as that of the policeman who is delighted to see her but more like a smile of a person who believes she is assured of a safe way home because of their presence.

"Were you able to sell a lot today?" asked the policeman.

"Well, not really," answered Elena, "but it will get me through for another day."

They waved each other good bye as they continued to walk to opposite directions.

Elena felt happy to see the officer. She feels that there might be something in the officer's smile other than just a casual greeting.

"Well, he is handsome," she thought, "and I don't see a ring in his finger to say that he is married."

Her dreamy thoughts were interrupted by a shadow that passed by her. She stopped, and turned around. No one is there. She looked around a little, staying in place, but did not see anyone or hear anything.

She began walking again. Faster this time. Small beads of sweat forming on her forehead and above her upper lip. Her heart is pounding and she has a stricken look of panic in her face. Not too long ago that Mang Andoy, a neighbor and fellow street vendor, was stabbed to death in this area. Mang Andoy lived two houses from what she calls home. The fifty-five year old man had been so kind to her and often took time to visit her along with his fifty-three year old wife, Imelda. His death was a tragedy. More puzzling than most of the unsolved crimes in this city. Mang Andoy was stabbed six times in the different parts of the body puncturing his lungs and tearing his heart. Imelda was not able to get herself together from that tragedy.

A more puzzling information came from the forensic report that Imelda shared with her. It was determined that the weapon used on Mang Andoy was a spear. A spear with serrated edges that tore his skin as it entered his body. What's more mysterious is that the police reported that although he was hit by the same spear six times, there is no evidence that the spear was even pulled out. The blood trails on the crime scene only showed the pattern blood creates when a spear enters the body.

Fearing that the very same killer is after her, Elena walked faster, almost running. She has get to a place with a lot of people. The three universities along the street are empty as the students are on vacation. But the far end of the street that meets Mendiola bridge is well lighted because of the fast food store located there.

"I must get there fast," she willed herself. "God, please help me!"

She is almost a block away when she heard the fluttering of cloth right behind her that she looked back. What she saw made her scream...