Ashton (ALRTF)

Ashton is the main protagonist of A Long Road to Fortune.

Pre-Apocalypse
Ashton was born in the United States to a wealthy family. His family moved to Mexico when Ashton was just a kid. He mentions his parents are on vacation prior to the events of the apocalypse.

During his childhood, Ashton was often alone due to the fact hat his powers were often at work in a law firm in Acapulco, Guerrero. Because of this, Ashton was resentful of everyone and was a loner in public. Ashton often spent holidays alone, like Christmas. It wasn't always loneliness and misery for Ashton however, as his parents had hired Liza's older sister to babysit him on a regular basis. This led to Ashton and Liza forming a very close fiendship.

It is revealed that Ashton used to be a juvenile delinquent, along with Valdez, who was his partner in crime. Due to this, Ashton was rather infamous and hated among the citizens of Tecpan de Galeana. During his parents' vacation, Ashton decided to stay home with his aunt, Patricia Leon, so that he could study for a physics competition. Ashton was stabbed multiple times by two members of the Costa Grande drug cartel while he was hanging out with his friends in the zocalo. Ashton was hospitalized soon after. According to Mr. Chet, very few people were worried about Ashton's welfare after news of his hopsitalization hit the streets.

The Beginnings of the Apocalypse
Ashton wakes up from his coma after an undisclosed amount of time. After waking up, Ashton realized he was late for school and set out. Upon getting to his usual taxi spot, he noticed a herd and was sudsequently attacked by one of the dead. Ashton managed to kill the dead that attacked him and made his way back home. Upon reaching home, he discarded his school supplies and supplied himself with a weapon and rations. Ashton then herd growling and moving, and thus went to investigate the source of the sound. The sound came from a zombified Patricia, who was chained up in the backyard to avoid attacking Ashton. Ashton put her down and dug her a grave. Soon after that, he set out to the zocalo. On the way there, he stocked up on tools and a machete from a nearby hardware store. Ashton proceeded with caution after that. Upon reaching the zocalo, Ashton was horrified to see the zocalo overrun with the dead and panicked, causing him to bump into a car and set off an alarm. Ashton ran back after getting the attention of the dead.

Old Friends and the Marketplace
As Ashton ran for his life, he noticed a rope ladder had been dropped down next to the hardware store. He climbed it up and found Mr. Chet, who told him all about the apocalypse. Mr. Chet mentioned that very few people cared about Ashton's welfare during his hospitalization, including his aunt Patricia. Mr. Chet asked about Patricia, but Ashton decided to lie to him about her. Thanks to the car alarm set off by Ashton earlier, the herd of walkers surrouning the marketplace had left. This gave Ashton the opportunity to sneak back into the marketplace. Along they way, Ashton killed 3 walkers. Reaching the marketplace, Ashton was greeted by a man named Daniel, who was disappointed at Ashton's presence. The same reaction was met with most of the survivors. However, Ashton had been reunited with two of his friends, Liza and Valdez. Liza embraced Ashton and kissed him, much to his surprise. Valdez proceeded to show Ashton around the marketplace until they both began to talk about the nearby high school. Ashton argued with Valdez about going on a rescue mission to the high school until Sergeant Mendoza showed up and told him the idea was futile. Jaime, one of Mendoza's men, informed him that Mr. Chet had brought back more weapons from his supply run. This led Mendoza and Mr. Chet to an argument, which culminated in Mr. Chet giving a speech to the rest of the survivors. Ashton agreed fully with Mr. Chet. Later that night, Ashton slept in the floor near the lookout window and had a casual conversayion with the lookout, Jose Quintero until Liza called him over to chat. Ashton asked Liza about the kiss and Liza recalled their childhood memories together and use them to explain her situation. Liza also told Ashton her parents were murdered by men from the cartel earlier in the apocalypse. Soon after, Valdez called them both over to his and Mr. Chet's room. Mr. Chet informed Ashton about his impending leave. Ashton asked to accompany him but Mr. Chet denied, saying that the people of the marketplace needed him. Soon after, zombies got into the marketplace. Once the main gate to the marketplace broken down, Ashton assited Daniel in killing the zombies that had broken in. Amongst the chaos, 16 survivors were killed before Ashton's eyes. Ashton had a close call with a zoombie after he saved a young boy named Max Gomes. Before the zombie could bite Ashton, it was killed by Mr. Chet. After the zombie attack, Ashton embraced Liza. Later that day, Ashton assisted Sgt. Mendoza in clearing the soccer field in order to start the expansion out of the marketplace. When Mr. Chet, Daniel, Jaime, and Aguila were kidnapped by Gustavo Texta's group and subsequently locked inside of the soccer field by them, Ashton decided to alert Valdez, Liza, and Mendoza. He found Valdez and saved him from a close call. After that, the duo found Liza and Mendoza and escaped the soccer field by entering the nearby basketball court, which was linked to a kindergarden by a wall. Soon after retreating back to the marketplace, Ashton went after Mr. Chet and the rest and tracked them down to the Galeana Elementary school. Mr. Chet and the rest eventually escaped but without Ashton. Ashton now plots his escape.

Appearance
Ashton is described to be fairly tall teenger, being 6 feet even. He has a thin but muscular build and jet black hair. His current attire consists of his school's shirt and a pair of military pants, in which he keeps his father's treasured combat knife.

Personality
Ashton is shown to be a very intelligent individual with a passive voice. During his childhood, he developed an anti-social attitude due to his parents never being around. Thus he was often depressed and resented everybody including his the rest of his family. Prior to his capture and the end of his delinquent career, Ashton only showed openess to his childhood friend Liza, her sister, and Mr. Chet. He would later open up to his aunt Patricia Leon and eventually found a group of friends, who loved him despite his past and deep flaws.

Patricia Leon
Patricia was Ashton's aunt. Patricia stayed with Ashton in his house after his parents left on vacation. Patricia was one of the few people that worried about Ashton's welfare after his hospitalization. Thanks to Patricia, Ashton's life was saved after the hospital was burned down during the early stages of the apocalypse. Patricia lost he life saving Ashton's. Upon finding her zombified, Ashton put her down and dug her a grave. He thanked his aunt for everything she did for him.

Liza
Liza is Ashton's childhood friend. The two share a strong bond and consider each other the only family they have left. Liza is one of the few peope Ashton regularly interacted with during his childhood. This is due to the fact that Ashton's parents hired Liza's older sister to babysit Ashton on a regular basis. She often brought Liza along to provide Ashton with interaction and a playmate.

Mr. Chet
Mr. Chet was one of the very few people who worried about Ashton during his hospitalization. After finding each other, Ashton and Joaquin were very happy to see each other alive. Ashton thinks of Mr. Chet as family and would do anything to help him out.

Valdez
Valdez was Ashton's partner in crime during his days as a juvenile delinquent.

Killed Victims

 * Numerous counts of zombies
 * Patricia Leon (Zombified)
 * Sofia Galeana (Zombified)

Trivia

 * Ashton's issue count is 12.
 * Ashton is the only character to appear in every issue thus far.
 * Ashton is one of the few characters in the story to not have a common or traditional latino name. This is due to the fact that he was born in the United States, and thus his parents thought a name more common in the U.S. would be more suitable for him.