The Adventures of El Gallo, the last Mexica

Dreaming was the only way to communicate with the past, even though it is challenging to bring back to reality, wishing to go back to relinquish the choices El Gallo has made through his younger years. He was grasping the concept that everything will never be the same as it once was. There she appeared in front of El Gallo, admiring the sunset for the last time before the sun tucked itself away under the blanket of the Pacific Ocean.

Waves are crashing onto the beaches. Fog rising and surrounding the bay for a chilly and starry night. The cold San Franciscan breeze gently whispers around her blue dress, shimmering under the upcoming moonlight. Her golden auburn hair tossed softly behind her shoulders with ease. Her light olive-bronze skin elegantly flourishes. She is breathtakingly stunning. She turns to face him, sending a warm, caring smile. Her hands lay on her stomach as if she were carrying a ball.

She is pregnant! A wistful smile ran across El Gallo’s face; the knowledge of becoming a father sparks joy into his heart. El Gallo’s hand reaches out, trying to grab hers, but could not. A powerful force grabs hold of him, pulling him further away from her.

El Gallo cries out her name repeatedly, “Marisol!”

She shows no reaction to her name called. She just stood there with her beautiful smile, waiting for him to reach her. Only a few steps from each other, yet they seem to be a lot further away. A blinding light emerges from behind the intangible pregnant woman. The light carried a heavy wave of pure heat and radiation, leveling the whole city of San Francisco under ruins. The surrounding water rose quickly without hesitation, drowning El Gallo in a sea full of incompetent sorrow and regret for not taking the chance to rescue her. Bubbles were forming from the dark salty water, filling his lungs with intoxication, corrupting his thoughts.

The bubbles rapidly disperse away upward; the gravity takes hold of him into the abyss. He lands on top of a mountain of burned corpses; their eyes expose empty sockets clutching excruciating torment and sadness. There was nothing I could have done to prevent any of this! I should have acted sooner! These thoughts came to his mind. He collapses on his knees, tears coming down freezing over his head.

A looming shadow hovers menacingly in front of El Gallo. The crimson red lifeless eyes of the shadowy figure lock eyes with El Gallo. The specter raises a scorching, sizzling, sweltering sword readying to decapitate El Gallo’s neck. Full force, the shade swung. It was almost impaling him to death, revealing what will become of him in the future.

El Gallo bolts up from his bed in a cold sweat, gasping for air, his hand caressing his neck where the slash would have hit. He grabs the glass of water on his nightstand, taking two big sips. El Gallo finishes the glass of water and needs more water to cool down. He gets up and walks over to the washroom to fill his cup. Turns the faucet to run cold water and takes another long sip of water. He is refreshing his parched dry lips and throat. He kept the water running a little longer and placed his cup back on top of the dresser.

He returns to the washroom, cupping his hands underneath the faucet filling it with water and splashing his face a couple of times with the chill tap water. Then, finally, he closes the faucet lever and grabs the adjacent hand towel from the sink and drying off his face. He does not even bother to turn the lights on, but he sees himself perfectly in the mirror. The shaggy, uncut hair drips over one side of his face, and the thick, spongy beard made him look older, but without his smooth complexion on the top half of his face, he would have been more worn out than an old shoe getting used thousand times.

A light flickered on. El Gallo turns to see his roommate standing at the doorway, concern for El Gallo. His roommate, who is half-naked yet wrapped in layers of bandages, walks over to El Gallo. He places a claw-like hand on El Gallo’s shoulder.

“Yu saw her ag’in dident yu?” he asks diligently. His voice is nasal, coming from the back of the mouth like a Hispanic immigrant learning English for the first time.

El Gallo ignoring him, “You’re awake? It is a little early.

“Yu saw her, dident yu?”

“No,” El Gallo walking away from the conversation, “I’m going to el Mercado, the marketplace, for some food. We are running low...”

“We both know dat yu did. Yu ca-nott denies it, my fren’,” he points to the picture in the open heart-shaped locket on El Gallo’s hand.

El Gallo stops at the door and looking at the tiny picture in his hand. It shows a picture of a young girl smiling. Golden auburn hair up to her shoulders, her light olive skin complimented her eyes dark chestnut eyes. Her cute button nose happily shrugs when she smiles. The memories of her came rushing back through El Gallo’s mind. Her sweet, joyous laugh jolts a spark on his face. He gently closes the locket. The letters ‘M’ and ‘P’are engrave in front of the locket case. He wears the necklace.

“Oh, how time moves quickly without knowing. Tosan, the nightmares keep repeating themselves.” El Gallo then mutters to himself, “I could have saved everyone! I could have saved everyone! I could have saved her.”

El Gallo leaves the washroom. He puts on an old jacket and pair of dark jeans, and he heads out to the marketplace.

Tosan turns the faucet off, “I know my fren’ but you dident know wat woul’ happen. None of us knew it would happen.”

The walk to the Mercado was only a fifteen-minute walk from their lodging. The crack of dawn rises, but it is hard to be sure when the sky is always orange. Giant clouds of ash block the sunlight’s path from entering the Earth’s atmosphere. As a result, it is impossible to see the clear blue skies the Earth once had, or maybe clean rain precipitate down on the dry ground.

El Gallo arrives at the marketplace; vendors have started to set up their shops for the day. Therefore, the vendors do not waste time opening their shops. They only open for a short window of the day before the afternoon dust bowl brings havoc on the small border town of Piedras Negras, Mexico.

Food vendors had the most difficult time selling their merchandise. Some vendors do not open; most resources are scarce and hard to sell. Sometimes, supply trucks take more than a month to reach Piedras Negras. The delay of the trucks mostly was from desert pirates and the extreme weather conditions of the fallout aftermath.

El Gallo collects this month’s rations from a few vendors. Then, finally, he heads over to the last vendor, an elderly Mexican lady with two long braided pigtails up to her waist. She wore a plaid pink and white dress, with a yellow flower sewn on a blue apron. Her smile grew on her face when she saw El Gallo walks over towards her shop.

“Pablito! ¡Que gusto verte! Tanto tiempo que no te veías. Como has estado, mijo? (Young Pablo, it is good to see you! Such a long time since I last saw you! How have you been mijo?)”

The elderly vendor only knows El Gallo’s name is Pablo. Nevertheless, she enjoys selling her flowers to him. El Gallo is one of the few people in town whom the elderly vendor wants her company as if they were old friends.

El Gallo responded in Spanish, “Thank you, Senora! I am doing simply fine myself; you look beautiful today. How are you this morning?”

“Gracias, mijo. How can I help you? Roses? Tulips? Lilies?”

“A few pink roses and a small bouquet of the cempasuchil marigold, please.”

The elderly vendor gladly retrieves his order of flowers. She cuts the thorns of the roses. She hands over the small bouquet to EL Gallo, but a loud commotion came across the street from another street vendor before he accepts the flowers.

A boulder of a man steps out, grabbing a young woman by her hair. The woman screams, fighting the colossal vendor to be free from his grasp. Her punches were out of reach from the vendor. The vendor lifts the young woman; the pain and her screams grew intensely. He throws the young woman to the ground. He readies himself to throw a punch by backing his right hand. His fist has met a lot of soft faces, gladly accept their brutal demise. The young woman raises her widen eyes to meet the vendor’s angry eyes. The vendor swings straight to the young woman’s face. She closes her eyes, praying.

“Aaaahh!” the vendor cries in pain.

The vendor’s fist, inches from reaching her face, El Gallo clutches the vendor’s right wrist. El Gallo’s iron grip tightens, burning the vendor’s wrist. Then El Gallo twists the vendor’s arm to a chicken wing, pressuring against the vendor’s upper back. The more pressure the vendor felt the more he howls in pain. Hence the vendor goes to his knees, crying.

“STOP! Stop! Please! You are hurting him! Stop!” a voice sobbed within the shop. The vendor’s wife came rushing to defend her husband. “You are hurting him!”

“Funny. You didn’t tell him to stop when he was hurting her,” El Gallo responds calmly back in English, not looking at the wife’s resentful gaze.

“STOOOOPPP!!!” a mighty shriek came from her.

A powerful sound wave attacks El Gallo, making him let go of his grip on the vendor and tossing him a few feet back. El Gallo, stunned, wondering what happened, checks his ears. Blood lightly trickles down his fingertips. The vendor’s wife gasps and she covers her mouth. She was not trying to inflict harm; she dashes to her husband’s aid.

El Gallo slowly gets up, opening his hands, showing he is not going to attack. The vendor’s wrist glows bright red. If El Gallo were to hold on to him a little longer, El Gallo’s grip would cut off the blood circulation from the vendor’s wrist. He reaches for his wallet to pay for the stolen fruit the young woman took.

CLANK! CLANK! Metal hooves trot against the floor, a herd of mechanical horses and their riders arrive at the marketplace. The leader rode in a steel colt. A six-sided star badge hung from his right chest pocket. Eyes were patiently waiting on the Constable and his deputies. The Constable looks at the injured vendor and proceeds his gaze to El Gallo.

The Constable asks, “Causing any trouble Mr. Escalante?”

“Not today, Constable Dominguez. Just playing a friendly clapping game with Mr. Wilson….”

“Enough!” Constable cuts off El Gallo, “we heard a scream a few blocks back.”

The Constable notices the young woman sheltering behind El Gallo. Although El Gallo intends to block the Constable’s path, the deputies respond by cocking their guns and raising them at El Gallo.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” The Constable advances to the young woman, squeezing her cheeks, examining if she were ripe for the season.

“Dominguez! You are out of line!”

“Tsk! Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. No! You are out of line. How did you always get them pretty ones, huh? So selfish not going to share.”

A thunderous bang came from behind. Everyone stumps to see the elderly flower vendor holding a double-barrel shotgun in the air. The gun should not have been easy to carry for her, yet she made it look easy. She aims her gun towards Dominguez.

“Let her go! ¡Patán! She is only a girl! Unless you want your last kiss to taste like burning lead,” she said in perfect English.

“I apologize, Senora Estrada,” he lets go of the young woman. “I leave now. Escalante, you behave yourself. Next time you won’t be so lucky.”

Dominguez whispers to El Gallo’s ear and leaves with his posse.