A Long Road to Fortune/Issue 30

This is the sixth and final issue in Volume 5 of A Long Road to Fortune. It is titled Undead Academics.

Issue 30
It had been a cloudy and windy day, unusual, but not quite rare for Tecpan de Galeana. The interior of the principal's office was cold and its concrete floor was as cold as an ice rink, or so it seemed to be for the young woman lying asleep on it. She sat up slowly, yawning loudly. She instinctively stretched as she continued to sit up, rubbing her eyes. It was still very dark out so her guess for the hour was between 5 and 6 AM. Yvette had simply leaned back sighed. She was weary of this lifestyle, living in the schools directory with 3 other men, no spare clothes, few supplies, and limited running water. The directory contained the reception, the principal's office, a bathroom, the teachers lounge and 2 more offices, despite how roomy it all sounded, it was still cramped for everybody in there. No electricity made matters worse, as the night became pitch black very quickly. Yvette's thoughts still lingered on her life before the apocalypse. It had been more than 2 months already and today's calender marked July 5th or so, she had not yet checked. All of her hard work on school projects, scholarships, and community service, a very rare thing for students here, all done in an effort to get into UNAM didn't matter all of a sudden. She felt robbed of her life but the same was probably felt by many other people so she had somewhat made peace with it, it didn't stop it from taunting her though.

She then turned her attention to the door opening to her side, revealing a thin young man. He was carelessly yawning with his mouth fully opened and letting out obnoxious loud noises. This was Fausto, the only person now part of her life that had been part of it before. Despite being in the company of the nice but cowardly school principal and another student, a third year student to be exact, Yvette could only trust Fausto right now. He circled around the room for a bit before sitting down next to Yvette. He rubbed his temple as if he were hungover but in reality he was just suffering from some form of insomnia. He had barely slept just a dabble.

“Good morning Yv. You look like you slept more than me.” Fausto said to her. Yvette simply nodded.

“Just a little bit.” she replied. “I mean, we all feel like crap right? Tired of living in one confined space while dealing with that awful stench emanating from these living dead things. I'm aware that they're our classmates but at the same time they're not.” she added.

“I just try not to think about it and forget why we're even stuck here.” Fausto replied. He was a sickly calm young man right now.

“Sorry about that. I really am.” Yvette replied. Fausto simply scoffed at her.

“You know I don't hold you responsible right?

In truth both friends did not feel like talking, they'd just wanted to absorb the quiet in the air before Mr. Zarez and Curley got up from their slumber. Mr. Zarez was very sympathetic, Curley was quite the opposite.

Both friends thought back to that faithful day, the one that completely changed their lives forever.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

It was a normal school day about two months ago. There had been reports of cannibalistic attacks all over the world so people were staying indoors a lot. Schools around the state however, had the attacks completely controlled they thought, so class was still in session. The academic that she was, Yvette was hell bent on not missing a single day of school so she axiously returned to class. Despite all of the cannibalistic warnings, many students still came to school. In fact, as she sat around the classroom with Fausto, most everyone was here. Noticeably absent though were Liza, Mimi, and Lucas. Ashton was still in comatose so his absence was more than expected and accounted for. As their boring and middle aged teacher gave them a lecture about philosophy, many students yawned but Yvette and Fausto kept focused on his lecture, knowing they would have to kiss a little ass in order to get a good grade from this notoriously heinous teacher. He asked a question relating to “the theory of freedom” and the anxious Yvette raised her hand. She gave a long and elaborate answer to appease this teacher. That answer was in fact a fallacy but Yvette had worded it so well it seemed to be much more in the teachers eye. Fausto noticed and chuckled lightly.

“What an ass.” Fausto said, referring to their teacher. Yvette smiled. As he continued to babble on about the lecture without fully explaining himself and in fact, teaching so poorly that he further confused more of his students, a riot had broken out right outside the school. Class quickly got up to investigate the noise, running out to the balcony and observing the school below them. Groseros had already claimed victims of their own. Amidst the chaos, each student reached for their belongings and began to pile out of the classroom until Mr. Zarez came stumbling up the steps.

“I suggest you all stay within your classrooms immediately and keep the doors shut and locked. The military is on their face and a group rally has been formed to come and escort us out of here! So I suggest you all do that!” Mr. Zarez ordered. However, he was promptly and ignored and students and teachers alike ran past him, Fausto and Yvette included. Yvette and Fausto stuck together and watched the carnage unfold around them. Their peers and friends we're being devoured and very few had escaped through the main entrance. Yvette, never being much of a fighter, freaked out and ran back to the cafeteria, catching Fausto off guard. He sprinted after her, catching up to the nonathletic girl with ease. Both fell to the ground.

“What are you doing? We have to leave the damn school before those things surround us!” Fausto yelled at her face, Yvette was petrified, not sad or crying, simply petrified. Both friends got up and looked around. They didn't know how it had been possible but here were Fausto's fears, they were surrounded. All it took was a damn millisecond for it to occur.

“Damn it! Yvette we have to push our way through!” Fausto yelled to her, but she was still petrified and the groseros got closer. Fausto instictively shook her hard until she regained her composure.

“Sorry- sorry- sorry. I'm back now. I'm back.” she repeated herself. They were out in the open, considerably far from the main entrance and many groseros looking to be clogging up any possible exits.

“Shit. We're dead. We're dead.” Fausto said outloud. Yvette was focused on finding a safe place and realized; the cafeteria was close and up the stairs to it was the fortified school directory. Yvette simply pulled Fausto along without letting a single word escape her mouth. They sprinted and sprinted fast. Due to their adrenaline, it was easy for them to shove groseros and even PEOPLE aside. Clearly their only objective was to save themselves. Upon reaching the cafeteria, the duo bolted upstairs. Upon reaching the directory, they shut sturdy door behind them, crashing on the ground afterward. Peeking out at the grounds below them, they saw that many infected were still out enjoying meals so none managed to tail them. They were still terrified but could not help but sigh in relief.

“How the fuck are we going to get out of the school?” Fausto asked her.

“We may never get out of here...”. Her reply burned into their minds.

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Back at present day, Curly and Mr. Zarez had already awoken. It was the middle of the day now and the cloudy day seemed to bring the mood down. Everyday was the same depressed routine, sit, eat, wash up, and sleep, waiting for a hint of rescue. They'd pretty much been living right here, stinking up the place with their only change of clothes. The supplies they held together in the reception office were beginning to thin out, they had maybe about a week left before they were completely used up. Curley had gone in there and pulled out a second pack of cookies. He had been told many times to only take one a day but he was so shameless that it didn't matter to him at all.

“Fausto. Go spin the wheel. We need more water.” Curly ordered him, as he chowed down on a chocolate chip cookie. He was living life better than everyone else in the directory, all day lying down and eating cookies while Fausto and Yvette did all the grunt work and Mr. Zarez managed the supplies.

“You know Curly, you really piss me off. I've bee enduring your ego for almost 2 months and I think I've just about reached my limit.” Fausto told him. Curly wasn't much taller than him and he wasn't certainly as big as him, despite being a third year student. So he gulped when Fausto took a stance on him.

“The water wheel man, we need water.” Curly pressed him.

“He's got a point Fausto. We need water. Could you please go and turn it? You'd be doing Yvette and I a favor.” Mr. Zarez said to Fausto sighed, not seeking any other alternative. Truth be told, he liked going out there and breath fresh air, explaining why he didn't fight it. His hatred for Curly though, had pushed him to do it.

“Whatever. I'll be back in a few.” Fausto said, grabbing a bloody monkey wrench. Pretty much their only weapon against the groseros. With his back turned, Curly dropped his cookies and lunged at him, pinning him down upside down. He began to hatefully glare and pummel Fausto until he countered with a punch to the gut. Curly doubled down and Fausto had the opportunity to rise up. Once in his feet, he kicked Curly over and over again. Evetually leaving him be.

“Are you ok Fausto?” Yvette asked him. Fausto simply nodded in return. Curley hadn't even broken anything or made anything bleed. Fausto reached to his side pocket for the wrench but did not see it. Curly had snatched it from him and threw it at Fausto as soon as he turned his back once more. Fausto noticed this and ducked from the wrench’s path until it collided with the window. Mr. Zarez decided to put an end to this by restraining Curly and keep from lunging at Faust once more. Yvette vent down near the window to pick up the weapon.

“Keep your distance Curly, for your own good.” Fausto warned as he grabbed the wrench and thanked Yvette. He opened the door and shut it behind him. Yvette's gaze fell back on Curly. Nothing but pity for that soul.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Yvette and Fausto had still been sitting there, waiting for anything to come and save them. It really looked like nothing would come for them. So they decided to break the silence and have a chat.

“How do you think our parent's are doing right now?” Yvette asked Fausto.

“Well, if they're not dead, they'll sure think we are. So I think they're either packing bags or staying cooked up in our houses.” Fausto replied to her. His answer made Yvette sad, and he could tell by the way she suddenly blanked her expression. What was he supposed to do though, lie to her?

“Yeah you are probably right...sigh” she simply replied. Both sat there for hours and hours on end until it seemed that they heard some keys wrestle with the lock. Fausto and Yvette got up on their guard, with Fausto reaching for a nearby monkey wrench. Fausto motioned Yvette to stay back as he neared the door. Suddenly it flew open, revealing the school's princpal, Mr. Zarez, who luckily still carried the key to the directory. Behind him stood a short ma but from his red uniform, one could tell he was a third year, differentiating himself from Fausto's and Yvette's uniform, which were white to signify first years. The boy carried with him three boxes containing food. The weight from the boxes was wearing him down and they could so easily tell. Fausto and Yvette recognized him as Curly, not a pleasant guy from what they've heard. As soon as that door flew open, Mr. Zarez was shocked to see two students already taking refuge within the school.

“Oh my!” Mr. Zarez exclaimed, just in time to stop Fausto from swinging the wrench on his face.

“Zarez I'm sorry I thought you were-” Fausto said until he was interrupted.

“Quick, no time to talk. Run down there and grab the rest of the food. You too Yvette! Go go go go go go!” He said, putting the pedal to the metal on them. Yvette and Fausto didn't object- they were already speeding down the steps and into the cafeteria below. They peeked around, the kitchen doors opened. The duo ran inside and grabbed what they could; water bottles, juice, chips, everything. Soon Mr. Zarez and Curly returned to help, eventually emptying the small kitchen out of food. A duo of groseros made their way down to the cafeteria, and soon grabbed Fausto from behind. He fell back and the two attempted to bite him, but his squirming made it difficult.

“A little help here!” Fausto yelled. Curley and Mr. Zarez ignored him as the got the last of the food up to the office. Luckily for him, Yvette had grabbed a large pan from the kitchen. She didn't hesitate- she swung the pan hard on one of the groseros' head, hearing a sickening snap in return. With one grosero off of Fausto now, she swung at the other, and kept doing so until obliterating it completely.

“Thanks.” Fausto said to Yvette as he stood up.

“Don't mention it.” Yvette replied, winking at him. The duo again wasted no time running up those stairs. They came to some disappointment when they found the door locked. Frustrated, Yvette banged on the door several times until Zarez opened the door, letting them both in.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Ashton made his way to the wall surrounding the high school. It wasn't too big for him to climb over at all. So the first thing he did was toss his weapons and supplies over the fence, knowing they would catch no attention on this relatively empty part of the wall. Ashton stepped back a few steps and ran at the wall, climbing it by running on it for a split second, before catching the top of the wall and dangling from it. With that done, he pulled himself up and safely lowered himself down to the school, landing on the large soccer field. He could spot groseros lingering about in the distance but none seemed to catch a glimpse of him. He smiled. It was just what he wanted, perfect. After re-supplying himself, he quietly made his way over to the classrooms but came to an abrupt halt here as soon as he was spotted by one. Ashton grasped his knife and quietly disposed of the grosero. In the distance however, he spot all of the surrounding groseros in the vicinity heading straight for one location. Ashton observed this with intrigue and moved closer to the cafeteria.

Peeking out the broken window, Yvette looked depressed until she thought she could spot someone moving, someone who wasn't Fausto. She rubbed her eyes in astonishment, and was disappointed to find that they were gone once she opened them again.

Spinning the rusty water wheel, Fausto grunted in pain. He'd done this a million times but it never seemed to get any easier. No water was flowing though, so he continued spinning and spinning that wheel. It was a good way to release his vent up anger, simply using all of his strength for one task. It all seemed to be going smoothly until Fausto heard some nasty snarling behind him. It was a lone grosero, approaching him pathetically slowly. Fausto simply sighed annoyed and clobbered it to the death with his monkey wrench, grunting a lot more loudly than usual. Curly had gotten to him, it was all that bastard weasel ever did, get on people's bad sides and have fun taunting them. In fact, another grosero came forth and Fausto simply imagined it as Curly. Made bashing its head in all the more easier, and satisfactory. But as one more died, two more came in its place. Since they were still reasonably far, Fausto ignored them and gave the wheel one more spin, hearing the sounds of running water. Sighing in relief, he turned to come face to face with another grosero, one that grabbed him and pushed him down. Fausto lost his footing and placed his foot in an awkward pothole, causing it to sprain with the fall. He cried out in pain as he tried hopelessly to push the groser off of him. Eventually, he did and tried to limp his way away from them, going on the opposite direction to the cafeteria. It was no use though, his attempt to save himself was hopeless as one grosero was right behind. Fausto closed his eyes and grit his teeth. It was time to accept his death so...he closed his eyes.

But bam, a bullet ripped through the grosero's head and will grunting lead to more falling limp. Fausto dared to turn around and see the source of the groseros' demises. He couldn't believe his eyes. He was staring right at his old friend Ashton. The one that, as far as he knew, was still laying on a bed in the hospital, riding out his coma.

“Are you just going to stare at me like you've just seen a ghost or are you going to let me get you up?” Ashton said to him. Fausto hadn't noticed Ashton's hand sticking out, waiting for Fausto's hand to grip it. After helping the injured Fausto up, Ashton acted as his crutch and both moved towards the cafeteria.

“Yvette, she's-” Fausto went on to say but was cut off by Ashton.

“Don't worry, I know.” he responded, smiling confidently. Fausto wasn't going to lie to himself, Ashton's confidence made him severely uncomfortable. It was so unlike the Ashton he used to know before the apocalypse. Slowly but surely, they had reached the cafeteria. Ashton placed Fausto down on the ground, him sitting against the wall.

“Here. Take this. In case of anything.” Ashton said to him, handing him his gun.

“Thanks man. I don't know how you're even here right now but I have never been more thankful in my life.” Fausto said to him. Ashton smiled and continue on his way.

It took him less than 10 seconds to make his way upstairs and bang on the door repeatedly. Yvette quickly opened the door.

“Faust- Ashton?!” she exclaimed, shocked, surprised, and every synonym of the words.

“Surprise. Anyway, now's not the time to chatter, we need to leave now! The zocalo, my group is there! Come on!” Ashton told her.

“What the hell? You're supposed to be dead!” Curly complained, Ashton completely ignoring him.

“You heard him Curly, shut the hell up and go!” Zarez objected.

As Ashton stepped aside to give them room to move, all but Yvette sped down the stairs.

“Wait, where's Fausto?” Yvette asked him.

“He's downstairs! Come on let's go!” he replied, pulling her down with him.

Eventually, the party of five had already made its way down to the same wall Ashton came in front. The first person he gave a boost up and over the fence was Curley, who practically stepped on his face.

“Ow!” Ashton let out suddenly. Curly simply smiled.

The next person to receive a boost up was Zarez, followed by Fausto. Yvette was the last up and handed her the supplies once she sat atop the wall.

“How are you going to get up?” Yvette asked him. She saw Ashton take several steps back and run at the wall. Her question was answered and both jumped off the wall to land safely back at the other side of the wall. Ashton gasped for air, feeling somewhat exhausted but he quickly regained his composure. He could not afford to get sluggish now as that would cost him his own life and by extension, most likely everyone else's. Mr. Zarez had taken the job of supporting Fausto's steps.

“Hey Yvette!” Fausto called out to her. He stuck his hand out to her, grasping the gun.

“You've gone shooting a couple of times right? This would be way more useful with you.” Fausto said to her. Yvette nodded, not hesitating to grab the gun.

Ashton was leading the group through the field with the intention of taking them to the deeper part of the riverbed. Ashton showed off his brutal grosero-killing skills by stabbing the head of each grosero he would run into with such facility in an up most guile manner. Yvette had begun to shoot as well, taking her to time to carefully aim at every head of groseros she could spot. Zarez, Fausto, and Curly followed closely behind them. As Ashton moved he suddenly stopped. Many trees were blocking their paths now but amongst them was the sound of a scream that did not even come to sounding anything like that of a human's. Ashton couldn't pinpoint the location of the sound and this proved to cost him, as another running grosero with a large arm. Ashton turned to the left and reacted a second too soon as he was recklessly tackled by the large grosero, landing roughly against a tree. His left arm had likely been broken and Ashton got up in pain only to witness the grosero dead, gunned down in front of him. Yvette stood there, breathing deeply, still pointing the gun. Ashton clutched his abdomen and hugged Yvette to get her out of shock.

“Thank you.” he said to her. Yvette gave Ashton thankful pats in the back, as the rest had reached them.

“A giant ass herd! It's headed straight for us!”Zarez yelled. Yvette and Fausto looked back in fear. Curly had already run off on his own, leaving the rest behind in hopes of leaving them behind to make food for the herd. After all, he knew he needed to get to the zocalo thanks to what that piece of shit Ashton had told him. No big deal, all he needed to do was maybe get a little wet and stick to his run. If there was one thing his scrawny little body was good for, it was cardio. Yvette found herself shooting some groseros death as the rest moved. Ashton knew it was time to use the assault rifle. After all, it had been saved exclusively for an occasion like this. He wasted no time in extending his left arm down while enduring the pain. He wasn't going to like what was about to follow up but if he intended on cleaning up with the assault rifle, he was going to need both arms. So after taking a breath for one second Ashton kept his arm stretched and hard. In one brisk motion, Ashton moved it up to the left side of his head, enduring a series of sickening pops. He couldn't believe it, his arm was good to go.

“Yvette! Stop shooting! I'm going to need you guys to run off ahead while I hold them off!” Ashton said, unstrapping his assault rifle, holding it ready.

“What?! No way!” Fausto objected,

“They'll tear you to pieces!” Yvette added.

“I'm going to try my best to keep that from happening but you guys need to go. There's just enough for me to take out with this rifle!” Ashton said, shooting groseros that been getting closer and closer. He ran back to the field, shooting back at the groseros, who turned their attention directly to Ashton and went hot in his pursuit. As this happened, Yvette and the rest had begrudgingly continued to the marketplace.

“Come on come on come on- just a few more!” Ashton muttered to himself. His plan was simple, with the large noise created from the rifle fire, he would call all of the nearby groseros out to the open field, where he would have no trees on the way and thus, an easier time shooting his rifle. He'd even brung some extra ammo with him just in case. Ashton, now at the field, marveled as groseros of all shapes and sizes came to get a piece of him. With a quick head count, Ashton could tell there were about 35 groseros itching to eat him. Ashton had the perfect plan though, and it was about to come to fruition. As he shat at the herd, he kept a good 20 ft of distance from himself and the herd. Just a little further to an old bathroom Ashton could spot in the distance. It was made of concrete and about 8 feet tall. It was the perfect location to was up his massacre. He ignored the groseros for a moment sprinted all the way to it, climbing it with a built in ladder in its side. Once atop the bathroom, Ashton reached for his front bell and retrivered a lone grenade.

“I came prepared just for this...” Ashton said to himself. He removed the clip and tossed to the granade into the herd, causing an explosion of fire and bloody chunks to illuminate the area. Ashton smiled, He was going to make it out alive from this mission and he would return to his dear Liza.

“This one's for you my love...” Ashton said to himself, taking the final shots to wipe out the remainder of the herd.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Later that night, Fausto rested soundly, lying comfortably on top of Ashton's couch. His right foot, the sprained one, was put on a cushion. It wasn't that late in the night, maybe 9 or 10 if one had to guess. Liza stood there, watching her friends with the little bit of joy she could muster. Yvette slept on the other couch and the woman, Paloma, sat in the dinner table, gratefully enjoying a granola bar. She'd somewhat succeeded in cheering the girl Liza up but she was completely heartbroken. Today had been a great day for the girl and the marketplace, as four more people had been rescued and fed. Yet there she was, depressed, as if she had lost something irreplaceable to her but Paloma had no idea what this was.

Liza's thought were back to lingering in the past, now that she had concrete confirmation of Ashton's demise. A knock on the front door suddenly changed everything. Paloma looked up, surprised. Liza walked out the door with a look of depressed yet hopeful uncertainty. Few tears were letting themselves out of her eyes as she opened the door in front of her. It was Ashton. Drenched in blood, water, and sweat, clutching his left arm. The look on his face happy, victorious but only because the quintessence of beauty was staring into him. Liza couldn't help herself. She gave slapped him, slapped him hard. The sound of the slap had so much depth that one could swear the sound echoed through the air. A red imprint of Liza's hand left on his face, Ashton turned back to see her. As more and more tears fell from her face, she hugged Ashton passionately and with such a tight grip. She never intended to let him go, and she was never going to ever again.

Paloma watched this interchange from the interior of the house, smiling at the sight of true love, despite the harsh reminder it served for her...

Trivia

 * Happy New Years Eve and cheers to an even better New Year! (December 31st, 2013)