A Long Road to Fortune/Issue 8

This is the second issue in Volume 2 of A Long Road to Fortune.

10 years earlier...
It was a rainy day in Tecpan de Galeana. The streets were empty and the skies appeared to be gray and gloomy. However, anything but gloom was present within Ashton's home. Ashton was sitting down on the dinner table with a friend. One might say, his only friend. "Liza, what is your your favorite color?" Ashton asked. Ï would have to say blue," Liza responded. "Blue? Why blue? That's a boy's color. Liza, are you a boy?"" Ashton responded, in a teasing manner. "No, I'm not! I'm a girl! What is your's anyway?" "My what, my color?"" Liza nodded in response to Ashton's question. "Red"Ashton responded. "Red? That's a color for violent people," "Nu-uh," "Ye-uh"" Ashton and Liza continued to argue like that for quite some time until a voice called out. Liza's older sister had their eggs ready. Her face was dark, and could not be seen. "Finally," Ashton said. "Yeah, we are starving. What took you so long?" Liza said. Liza's sister was noticibly angry but eventually laughed when he saw Ashton's and Liza's goofy faces, which they made at her. All of them were laughing and having a happy time.

Issue 8
Ashton was looking at himself in the mirror with an uneasy look. His black eye was very, very ugly. Ashton began to fell his eye with his left hand but let out a small scream seconds later after applying pressure on it. "It's been a while since I saw you with a black eye. They don't really do you justice," Valdez said, with kind of a big grin on his face. "Yeah, laugh it up Valdez,"Ashton responded, maintaining the same cold uneasy look.

Mendoza was seen with 2 of his men, Jaime and Aguila. Daniel was with them too. Mario was sitting down on the floor, distancing himself away from everyone else. Liza and Mr. Chet were armed with weapons, waiting to hear what Mendoza would say. "Alright, we don't need anymore people coming with us. Pablo Galeana street leads to our little soccer field. Now, according to Joaquin, that street should be empty enough but I'm willing to bet some grosero stragglers are there waiting for us, so it's I'mportant to have as many people here guarding the broken walls while we leave. I'm only taking my men, Daniel, Joaquin, Liza, and the juvenile delinquents. Jose and the rest of my men will stay here in case another herd shows up, and if it does, everyone has to do some fighting, we're not losing anymore people due to cowardice" Mendoza said that last part while looking at Pedro Suares. "Hey, I needed to protect my family," Pedro said. "And I'm sure you couldn't help everyone else out while dong that," Mendoza responded. "Liza, you should probably go get them now,'' Mr. Chet ordered Liza.

Minutes later, Ashton, Liza, and Valdez arrived at Mendoza's office."Everyone gets a gun, a silencer, and a melee weapon. Do not shoot unless you're about to be chow," Mr. Chet said, giving everyone some instructions. After a bit, everyone in the squad departed from the east wall of the marketplace, one of the that hadn't been compromised. Jose was waiting outside to open gate. Once everybody was through, Jose closed the gate. The group walked in formation with Mendoza and Mr. Chet leading, while Ashton and Valdez hung outback. It was smooth sailing down the street and to the soccer field. The gate to the soccer field was open and everyone's eyes widened. The soccer field looked like an arena. There had to be about 50 groseros, all scattered around the field. They hadn't taken notice of th group yet, and our group was not about to let them know either.

"There's too many of them. That's the bad part. But look over there"" Mr. Chet said, as he pointed further down the street all the way to the old garbage pick up spot. "No groseros for the rest of the street," "If we can contain them in the field, we can pick the off slowly until we clear the field," Valdez said. "No, that's not a great idea. If we do that, another herd will eventually show up and we'll be taking care of 2 problems," Mr. Chet said, rejecting Valdez' proposal. "We're going in then," Mendoza said. "We took on a lot more last night, we can do the same now." Ashton wanted to speak, but chose to stay silent, as he knew Mendoza would shut down any of ideas as soon as he heard them. Mendoza entered  the field and killed a grosero with his spiked club. That got the attention of the few more around it. Ashton and Valdez were the next to go in, followed by Liza. Ashton was armed with his knife and machete, Valdez had an axe, and Liza had a very sharp metal rod. Ashton and Valdez moved west, while Mendoza and Liza moved north.

Outside the field, Mr. Chet, Daniel, Jaime, and Aguila were all waiting for the perfect moment to go in. ""I think now would be a good time," Daniel said. "Yeah, I think so too," Mr. Chet replied. Mr. Chet motioned everyone to come in at the count of 3. With his fingers, he began to countdown from 3. When he finally reached one, a tranquilizer dart hit the big and burly Aguila in the arm, knocking him out seconds later. Mr. Chet, Jaime, and Daniel looked around to see which direction the dart came from. "Stay on guard," Mr. Chet ordered. The 3 men moved and began to inspect the area, but more darts were flyin at them. Daniel and Jaime were hit moments later. Mr. Chet finally saw one of the dart gun shooters and shot at her. It was a successful shot, shooting her in the chest, killing her. After that, the rest of the shooters revealed themselves. Their faces were covered with bandanas and so were the top of their heads, only leaving their eyes visible. Mr. Chet put his hands in the air and dropped to his knees. His gun had been put on the floor. All of the shooters were aiming at Mr. Chet. There were 7 of them in total. One of the shooters, distinguishabl from a scar near his right eye and his big muscular figure, motioned another shooter to go close the gate. The gate was closed and locked. Mr. Chet began to form a worried look in his face.

Ashton had heard the gunshot and rushed to the gate. It had been locked. The four of them were now trapped inside, in a coliseum full of groseros. "Mierda," Ashton said.

Credits
Ashton Valdez Sgt. Mendoza Jaime Aguila Daniel Liza Mr. Chet Pedro Suares Mario Galeana Jose Quintero