Today was a run-of-the-mill day for Mr Calhoun, until, it wasn't. Fate sometimes comes knocking on your door, and Mr Calhoun knew that all too well. Although I'm sure he never would've imagined fate to be a murderous little girl with a sweet tooth. Before his grim future unfolded, he was simply minding his business in his apartment, cooking up a wonderful dinner of braised lamb shanks. The wonderful smell wafting through his apartment and out through the window was one of the only signs to the public that Mr. Calhoun existed, and ever did exist. He chose to keep to himself quite often, not ever taking the time to strike up a chat with any of his neighbors, or friends at work. He didn't dislike the idea of socializing, he just viewed everyone else as inferior to himself. A common trait among many shut-ins such as himself. His only redeeming quality was his cooking, and maybe his ignorance. The lamb shanks themselves were sure to be exquisite, and he could hardly wait as the minutes winded down, they were almost done. What a perfect day, he must've been thinking, until he heard a knock at his door. The obviously quite upset Mr. Calhoun, stomped angrily towards his apartment door, as the sound of the knocking increased into an incessant banging. His dinner was being delayed by this so it better be important, but it certainly sounded like an emergency. He navigated his quant apartment, almost as if he had springs in his shoes, quickly skipping from the kitchen which was located beside the door, and overlooked the balcony. Finally reaching the door, and nearly stumbling on the way, he quickly opened it revealing the hallway and the person awaiting him.
"Trick or treat!" looking down, he saw a young girl, appearing somewhere from 14 to 16 smiling at his doorway, holding out a large potato sack-like satchel with a wide opening, like a hungry mouth expecting a fistful of candy. She grinned so wide while saying this it would've melted anyone's heart, except Mr. Calhoun who lacked the brain functions necessary to receive emotions other than anger and sadness. Her hair was dyed a mixture of pink and orange, akin to a peach, and was parted in two pigtails, each flowing through hair clips modeled after candy corn, with segments of orange, white, and yellow, matching her patchy dress of the same colors, and the addition of brown squares.
"It isn't Halloween little girly, Where are your parents?" He asked, flustered at the ridiculous situation. Imagine going door to door for Halloween candy at this time of year! How daft! Mr Calhoun thought. It was currently the middle of March, far from the time to be out trick or treating.
"Oh, I don't care! Every day is Halloween mister! Now, hurry up and get my candy, I'm hungry!" She thrusted out her pouch once again, egging him on to give her some of the requested, but nonexistent candy.
"You're quite the little brat you! Someone needs to teach you some manners. Now tell me miss, what's your parents' names, and what's your name, I'm gonna give them a call! Just you wait till they hear about you! being out and messing around like this!" Mr Calhoun felt quite annoyed at the situation. He didn't really care about the girl, he just didn't want the prying eyes of his neighbors to think him some sort of creep, so he wanted her out of sight as soon as possible. Mr Calhoun himself resembled the ideal image of an untrustworthy old man. His hair and beard had long turned snow white and had wrapped around his round head like a winter parka. He wore a decrepit beige suit that he only washed whenever he would notice it starting to smell of cigarettes, and sour cream, long after others had noticed.
"Hey! You're a meanie, gramps! I'm not a brat, you're just a rude old man who hates Halloween!" She pouted and turned her head to the side. A faint tear started to form in her eyes, though Mr Calhoun figured they were crocodile tears.
"Hey, hey it's alright missy, calm down, I'm sure your parents have some candy at home, I just need your name and their number, or, just please leave!" Mr Calhoun begged, sensing an oncoming awkward situation. He probably had some sort of candy in his home, but he was not going to give it to a spoiled child, plus, he needed to get those lamb shanks out of the oven, pronto!
"Fine, I'll go, but you'll regret it, mister. You'll remember my name! Dulce the Halloween... crusader!" She paused on the last part, likely considering what to title herself, before pointing as she announced her name and then stomped off angrily down the hallway. Mr. Calhoun stared in disbelief. He also noticed she had a bright orange pumpkin strapped to her side. Kids these days and their fancy toys, he thought, before slamming the door shut.
Back inside his house, the situation diffused, Mr Calhoun scrambled to his oven, which was now emitting steam. Not the lamb shanks! He sighed and crossed his fingers before opening the oven. When the smoke cleared, his lamb shanks were gone. He blinked in disbelief before noticing a sizzling sound. Right where his lamb shanks once were, a pile of red glowing and pulsing gummies, resembling cherries, however their emerald green stems had sparks ignited at the end, slowly burning up to the cherries. Were these some sort of bombs? He thought. He could barely recall a childish TV ad for some "Sour cherry blasters" a sort of kiddy candy. As he made the connection in his head, The girl from earlier floated down to his window, perched on a bright pink bubbly sphere, resembling that of bubble gum. Surely I must be high, thought Mr. Calhoun, however before he could register his own fear, Dulce began to speak.
"I Left you some candy old man! I figured I'd share since you don't have any to give out!" Dulce said pointing to the oven. "Be careful though, Their taste is really Explosive hehehe." She giggled to herself before floating up away.
"What sort of prank is this, you psycho kid!" Mr Calhoun Yelled angrily, waving his hands in vain as she had already left earshot. This was like something out of television, he thought. He barely turned around in time to see the spark reach the end of the fuse on the cherry before his body was eviscerated. A massive explosion shot out the side of the apartment building, sending rubble crashing to the streets and blowing out much more than just Mr Calhoun's home. Perched on her floating bubble, Dulce giggled maniacally while sucking on a bright red lollipop. She was very pleased with this destruction and held up her Pumpkin phone.
"Jack, add one more kill to my count, these old folks just don't have the Halloween spirit." She said, disappointed.
"Yes my Queen!" said her phone, Jack, who remember, is not the same as Hokaris or any other pumpkin phone other than in name, as evidenced by his tailored attitude.
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"So, you tally up all the kills you get here huh Jack?" Hokari Asked Jack. He stood with Kraven overlooking a massive bulletin board in the center of the castle.
"Precisely chief, each time you clip someone, you can call in and it'll update your kill counter here with your face" Jack explained. On the wall, rows and rows of members were posted with a photo, with their kills listed under their names. He spotted himself, with a pitiful 1 kill.
"Hmm hmm" Kraven nodded up and down looking at the photos, a bacon slice hanging from his mouth. "Hokari, Jack, you guys see these four at the top" Kraven pointed after chomping on his slice of bacon.
"They are the savage four." Both Jacks said in unison.
"Not you, I mean my jack, you dumbass!" Kraven smacked Hokaris's side, pissing off the pumpkin. He had gotten his own, as part of his club membership. The savage four in question had kill counts miles higher than any of the other club members, all in the high thousands. One rembled a clown, another wore a high-tech mask, one was a disheveled Japanese resembling girl, and the last was a dark-skinned man, with short hair and a generally well-kept look to himself.
"Naturally, anyone living as long as these people are strong and have amassed a high kill count. They, quite obviously are the most powerful non founding members in the club. Kraven's Jack explained, its voice sounding like it spits with every word.
"How are all these pumpkin phones such a pain in the ass Hokari, I hate mine almost as much as I hate yours," Kraven complained, taking another bacon strip from his pocket. If it wasn't obvious, Kraven had been too excited to spend a full hour at breakfast, which, was provided complimentary to all club members. As for Hokari, Food was not something that had entered his mind ever since he became a club member. "Hey Hokari I'm talking to you bud." He said. Hokari was too busy in thought.
"Kraven, those guys up there, that's our goal, we're going to get our kill count up higher than them! I've made up my mind, this is my purpose, I'm going to be the greatest killer, of all time!" Said Hokari, steadfast in his purpose.
"Quite ambitious eh big don?" Jack said.
"Damn right, Jack, We're aiming for number one, together, me and Kraven!" He made a fist and held it out for a bump with his first partner. Reluctantly, Kraven accepted.
"Alright, but we're only killing people who deserve it, specifically, The mental health enforcers," Kraven said.
"Alright deal!" Hokari said with a grin.
"You're really hard to get a grasp of you know, half the time you're all, I don't care I'm all broody, and then you snap to being so grandiose and quippy" Kraven complained. Hokari did not respond to this accusation, turning away his face, leading Kraven to continue with another more important conversation
"Anyway, I did some research last night while you were off snoozing, and I know the perfect first target!" Kraven said.
"Well, let's hear it, I'm itching to get out for a first honest day on the job," Hokari said. With a nod, they all headed out of the castle buzzing with conversation as they explained their mission, the first proper step into a dark new world.
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once they exited the castle they held up their pumpkin phones to match the location they wanted. The European supercolony. Once they exited the precarious stairs, which scared them just as much as they had the first time, Hokari's Jack informed them of some need-to-know topics.
"Just so you know, as a club member, a lot of other people are going to be out looking to make you sleep with the fishes. You's got a big target on your back, as many of our outfit are particular fans of knocking off club members. Whether it be to remove competition or cus they find more joy in having a tougher time killing ya, depends on the person." He explained.
"That's ok with me, I don't think most club members are good people anyway, that's plenty more for me to enjoy serving justice to," Kraven said, cracking his knuckles.
"Aye yai yai chief, don't go dissing this thing of ours, especially in the old country, this used to be Italy you know!" Said Jack, who, had never been to Italy and was simply feeding his mobster-inspired ego. As for the so-called old country, it was remarkably similar to the Eastern American colony. Hokari had never left his home colony, so, he half expected it to be almost touristy like it was in the olden days, but no European architecture was to be seen. The only noticeable difference was the time of day, which was many hours earlier than where they had come from. The sun hadn't risen yet, and wouldn't for a good hour, perfect for getting into position to nab their target.
Kraven unfolded a large paper printed-out photo from his pocket. pictured was their first target. Not a Mental health enforcer, unfortunately. We planned to start with a small, but particularly horrid victim, Dr Da Costa. He was quite overweight and had a slimy brown mustache and a bald head. Kraven explained to Hokari this man's disgusting stories, using choice words so as not to draw any public attention. Not many were awake at this hour, but a few early morning workers could be seen turning on their cars, interrupting the eerie morning silence, and the headlights brightening up the Blackish blue sky. They had stowed their weapons under their hoodies because they already resembled quite the nefarious duo of delinquents, so any more reason for authorities to be called must be avoided.
"From the sources I found online, countless women here have been complaining about this piece of shit. He owns all the housing here, and forces them to have sex with him or risk eviction." Said Kraven. "Sound killable enough yet? Well, it gets worse. His entire company is based on charity fraud, setting up fake donations and taking the money for himself."
"Yeah, I'd say he's definitely worth a shot. Not exactly in the runnings for a Nobel prize." Hokari agreed. "What's our plan for him anyway?" He asked holding his hands above his head.
"Every single morning, at around 9 am from what I gathered, this man goes out for a smoke in the alley by his apartment building. That's when we're going to strike. And we're not just going to attack him quickly and precisely, I want to make him scared." Said Kraven coming to a stop as we reached the towering building. Somewhere up there, he was having his final peaceful morning.
The next 4 hours passed quite quickly. We had decided to camp out at a cafe and took turns being lookout. We would Peek from around the holo-news, and nibble on a breakfast sandwich that had gone cold two hours ago when it was bought, just to look natural. There was an air of tension and nervousness, mixed with a tinge of excitement and motivation between the two of us for our first kill. I noticed Kraven incessantly tapping his foot, and picking at the ornaments at our table. In reality, Kraven had killed before he joined the club, but it wasn't official. My first KilI had counted because the victim had an official club phone. I was beginning to daydream, thinking about what my mom might be thinking at home, when Kraven shook my shoulder. Looking up, There he was, Dr Da Costa on his way to the alley, expectedly rummaging through his bag for a cigarette and strolling into the alley. Game time, not a moment to spare. Me and Kraven stood up almost in unison, nodding, and jogged just fast enough to not gain attention out of the cafe's patio area. We had already discussed our plan, it simply needed to fall into place. with an understanding nod, we parted ways and I darted around the other side of the building, letting Kraven meet him head-on.
"Yo, Mr Da Costa, out for a little smoke are we?" Kraven entered the front of the alley, covered in shadow, and whipped out his razor claws from his pocket. The shadows of the alley covered most of him except for the shine of his blades and his eyes, a perfect deadly sight. "You know the thing about cigarettes is, even though they do nothing but rot and destroy people, they just keep getting used and always show up. Do you know anything about that Mr Da Costa? Someone who leeches off everyone in society ruining everyone's lives just to fill your desire. Does that ring a bell?"
"What the hell's going on? You some kinda thug?" Mr Da Costa said condescendingly until he spotted the glimmer of Kravens claws. where he proceeded to snap into fear and whimper.
" Go on, piss your pants you piece a shit" Kraven inched closer.
"S..s.. stop, Please, have mercy, mercy, ill, I'll pay you, just don't hurt me." Mr da Costa flung his cigarette in a trash bag to the left, misreading the room, and backed away quickly from Kraven who was slowly drawing nearer.
"Uh uh uh, Don't leave now mister, don't you want me to help you quit? It's hard to go cold turkey on your own." Kraven walked with such confidence as he had already awakened his insanity creep under his breath. It was common practice to announce it during a fight with an insanity energy user, the inciting fear could often buy you the battle, but a random civilian could be convinced of anything. Mr Dacosta felt a rat brustle by his shoe, making him jump and fall on his ass on a trash bag pathetically. These rats were part of Kraven's ability. Before getting up Mr Da Costa saw multiple more scurry into the alley from behind him. Three, six, nine, until turning into a flood of rats. His face contorted into horror at this illusion, turning around to face what had now become a 6-foot-tall wave of rats, scurrying over each other in a frenzy with no regard for anything other than getting to their target. Their rotting overgrown teeth, ready to gnaw him to the bone. He didn't even attempt to outrun them as he was frozen in fear. As they pushed into him, trampling him under their sheer mass, he let out a scream that was quickly muffled as they crawled deep into his throat. It was at this moment the peak of fear, before the acceptance of death that I would strike. Dashing from the other side of the alley, Knife drawn, I skidded to a halt and dashed forward cutting through the horde and claiming my first kill. or so I thought. Right before my knife closed in on his head, a red rope resembling that of licorice wrapped around the man, breaking through Kraven's insanity creep, and hoisting the man up towards the roofs of the neighbouring buildings, before letting the man go into a free fall far above me. I looked up just in time to see a pinkish-orange-haired girl, charging at the falling Mr Da Costa and leaped towards him. She wielded a massive weapon, which looked like a bright red lollipop except it was shattered in the middle, and was whittled so that its edges were razor sharp like that of an axe. With one mid-air swing, she viscerally chopped the man in half with her sucker blade with a sound like a tomato being crushed under one's foot, sending his two halves spewing blood and guts falling down to me and Kraven. They splattered all over the floor, covering the alley, soon followed by the smack of his heavy lardy body.
"Hokari, That bitch just stole our kill!" Said Kraven, looking dumbfounded as he stared up at her.
"Who the hell are you!" I yelled at her, furious. This was supposed to be a pivotal moment in my career, she couldn't just take it from me.
"Hmm, me? Oh, I'M DULCE THE HALLOWEEN CRUSADER!" She screamed striking a pose on a pink sphere that she had landed on. It almost resembled that of bubblegum. She must be another club member, I thought.
"Well, listen here Dulce, you stole our damn kill, why the hell did you do that you dick!" I screamed while pointing up at her jabbing my finger with the insult, getting peeved off just like Kraven.
"You boys are just too slow and stupid, it's not my fault, besides this guy didn't give me any candy so I already claimed him. Stay mad!" She stuck out her tongue taunting us, and floated away on her bubble gum sphere getting higher and higher. I briefly considered engaging in pursuit but I remembered what D. had told me about the recoil that someone would suffer after an insanity creep. Looking at Kraven he definitely didn't have the strength to follow, at least at this second. Reluctantly, I let out a sigh and leaned against the wall in shame until Kraven, who had regained strength and focus was helped up by me. After spitefully kicking a trash bag, he turned to me to share his opinion.
"Wait a minute Hokari, you don't have to miss out on your first kill, we just gotta change targets. Think about it, she stole that opportunity from you, it's only fair, what do you say we give her something to chew on?" Said Kraven grinning.