A Long Road to Fortune/Issue 37

This is the first issue in Volume 7 of A Long Road to Fortune, and the start of Chapter 2. It is titled Tenexpa. This is currently a preview with the full issue set to be released smetime in February.

Tenexpa
The kicking of a can makes a useless sound with a useless originating effort. Useless. That's all there is to say about the situation. The kicking continues and the can keeps moving, making the slightest effort to disperse its tin body across the ground. Little by little, bit by bit, but ultimately useless.

That is how Lucas Delgado feels his efforts to be, no greater than the can's he keeps kicking across the ground. His wishes of it flying off and getting lost in the endless blue horizon are a pipe dream, because sooner or later gravity will take its cue, and the can will fall right back down, right back to Tenexpa, Guerrero. He digs his hand deep into his dark blue jean pockets, arching his head down, eyes peeled right at the stupid can he can't seem to stop kicking. Even his well-kept kicks didn't make it improve. The can represented himself, as he saw it, and his own feet represented his new destiny.

Oh, right. I shouldn't call it that, after all, it's the destiny the cartel has chosen for Lucas himself. See, this happens to all the youth of Tenexpa eventually, at least under the rule of Don Tucan. The youth of the town, willingly or otherwise, get drafted to defend the town from hostile threats, which are now the infected mostly. Now one dares to fuck with the cartel, even after the end of the world. Tenexpa's sizeable body demanded the working hand of the young adult men, like Lucas himself. All this time he's done well to avoid such a fate, but his luck ends now. All he wanted to do was continue a driftin', knowing there's probably not a stop to Don Tucan. There were two kinds of men in Tenexpa, those who drift, and those commit. Of course, we all know drifters have to stop drifting some day. Any day now, this done drifter will be Lucas.

Lucas thinks back to this so called "drifting" of his, what exactly got him to wind up in the clutches of Tenexpa, of Don Tucan, in the first place. First off, Lucas himself hails from el Cerrito like one his friends, Yvette. Who the hell knows where she is at the moment, but Lucas hopes she is safe, not just alive, but safe. Same goes for the rest of his dear friends. Fausto, Liza, Mimi, and recently that reformed delinquent, Ashton. Lucas didn't think he could take a liking to him. Then again, he never was one to believe the words of the naive eyes. Each and every one of them is like a member of his extra family, transcending into his own blood. Always there they were, cheering him on during football games, watching as he kicks the ball into the goal. Lucas took pride in being the best striker that el Cerrito had at its disposal.

Football is all but a memory to him now, as Tenexpa's only soccer field has been transformed into a fucking gladiator pit, a stadium where Don Tucan pits whatever poor loser he has captured against pretty much anything he pleases. Large mutated infected are usually big in entertainment for the elderly of Tenexpa, ignoring the fact that each time someone dies in the arena, they forget about another face they might have been used to seeing in a different world. You know, the world that existed 7 months ago.

Lucas finally stops kicking when the can is caught in somebody's hand. Lucas darts his glance to whom it is that he has to thank for rescuing from doing such a dull activity. It's none other than a small boy, no older than 10. Lucas knows his as Carlitos, a young orphan with no memory of his parents, although Lucas knew the real story for that. Carlitos looks up at Lucas with his usual, innocent look of excitement. Even with his sour mood, Lucas quickly changes his frown to that of a smile once he catches glimpse of Carlitos' missing teeth, which included his left fang. In one hand, Carlitos held the can, and in the other, a small sack of marbles. Lucas can guess pretty accurately what it is Carlitos is about to ask him.

"Carlitos, tell me my friend, what's up?" Lucas keeps his smile going and Carlitos appreciates it. He opens his mouth to speak.

"You look super bored kicking that can around. You should play marbles with me again! I beat Humberto and he gave me some new ones I want to show you. Up for it?" Carlitos delightfully asks Lucas, who chuckles as he turns his head up.

"As long as nothing's at stake, you know the drill with me Carlitos." Lucas accepts. "Are we doing this at the usual place?" Lucas adds.

"Yeah like always!" Carlitos speaks and darts off to a small red bungalow in the distance. It has a front corridor, as do a lot of houses on Tenexpa. It's one of the more primitive towns in the municipality, not even having access to phone service. Since Lucas is an athlete, or well, former athlete now, he has no trouble catching up to Carlitos, forcing the young boy to sprint even faster. Lucas sticks head to head with him, but drops his running speed right as they reach the corridor, effectively letting Carlitos claim victory.

"Woo-hoo! You're too slow!" He prances in victory. Lucas takes this poor show of sportsmanship with care. After all, Carlitos is just a kid. That time of no responsibility and innocence is lauded by anyone.

"Yeah, next time you won't get so lucky kid." Lucas retorts lightly. Carlitos has already seated by the time Lucas has spoken though.

The kid is quick to evenly split the marbles amongst himself and Lucas, while placing some in the middle of the ground, those they are to knock off. Carlitos didn't know exactly how to play a game of marbles whenever he made the rules, but Lucas doesn't ever want to correct the kid. Sitting down opposite of Carlitos, Lucas gets the idea to ask him an everyday question.

"Carlitos, why do like this old abandoned home anyway?" Lucas asks, eying the decaying wooden planks sustaining the roof of the corridor.

"Because it's nice, and I really like it. I want to go inside one day." Carlitos refers to the fact that the door of the house is locked, and it was locked by Lucas himself. This Carlitos does not know.

"Aren't you tired of me always asking this?" Lucas asks the boy, who gives him a dumbfounded look in return.

"What? You never ask me this Lucas!" Carlitos laughs, and so does Lucas, awkwardly albeit.

Lucas likes it this way, Carlitos keeping the serene twilight inside his young head. He has to make sure it's like this everyday for the kid. This home they sit on, after all, has been landmark for the kid his whole life. Like Lucas thought to himself early and I repeat to you now, he knows the whole story.

Continuing his game if marbles, Lucas focuses his a mind on two things, his perfect rolls and his lingering thoughts from earlier. A soldier of Don Tucan, Lucas Delgado. The ring to it is a mixture of heinous and sour, not welcomed by his taste through any means. As he lines up marble using his left hand, Lucas takes this split moment to focus before flicking the marble straight at the bank of them in the middle, causing them to disperse. This was brief and unimportant to him, but a delightful candy to Carlitos' eyes. Yet the name still rings inside his head. 'Lucas Delgado: Damned Soldier of the Damned Don Tucan himself'.