A Long Road to Fortune/Issue 12

This is the sixth and final issue in Volume 2 of A Long Road to Fortune.

Issue 12
Ashton followed the groseros all the way to the end of the Gral. Cesareo Ramos street and reached the Galeana elementary school. "This must be where all of the gunshots came from," Ashton said in vividly quiet voice. The groseros were all banging on the school's front gate like a mount of angry prostesters. The gate shook and squealed. It obviously wasn't going to resist the undead assault forever. Ash snuck around and hopped one of the school's lower walls. He was in the little garden leading to the cafeteria. It was all empty, muchto Ashton's confusion. "I'll hng tight, and avoid calling to much attention to myself," Ashton thought to himself. He sat down and took a breather. Apart from the growling behind the concrete walls and the sounds of the gate, everything was pleasurable. He began to clench his chest and the restof his abdomen, he had still be stabbed multiple times weeks before. "I was lucky...and didn't deserve to be,". After saying that, Liza's chastisements came to his mind. Ashton imagined himself in a field with Liza. Liza was giving him and earful abouthis self-loathing. "Ashton,you can't keep doing to yourself. No matter how big your mistakes have been, you can't let them hold you back," she said to him. As his imagintive vision ended, Ashton kept thinking to himself. The Liza he had been seeing since yesterday, wasn't the same Liza as the Liza from before. "She's going to angry if I don't come back in one piece," he thought to himself.

While Ashton was resting, inside of the same school building were Mr. Chet and Gustavo. "Damn it Joaquin. You cost me. YOU COST ME!" Gustavo yelled. Gustavo threw a punch at Mr. Chet, who saw it coming. Mr. Chet evade the punch and elbowed Gustavo in the face. Gustavo threw more punches at Mr. Chet, in a fit of blind, precedable rage. Mr. Chet bent down to the ground to dodge Gustavo's punch and countered with an uppercut straight to his jaw. Gustavo began to bleed from his mouth and tasted him own blood. Gustavo charged at Mr. Chet and managed to take him down. There, he began to to pummel him. Mr. Chet took quite a beating from Gustavo, but managed to get him off after a very strong push and kick to the leg. Mr. Chet quickly got up before Gustavo could and delivered a straight roundhouse kick to his scarred face. Afterwards, Mr. Chet grabbed him, punched in the the face 5 times even and kneed him in the face. While Gustavo was on his knees trying to recover, Mr. Chet elbowed him in the back, knocking him down to the ground. "I'm not done with you yet," Mr. Chet said.

From outside, Yuri and Francisco were telling everyone to be ready. "If our prisioner comes out of that room, shoot him," Francisco said. "But only if we have to," Yuri replied. "What do you mean only if we have to?" Francisco replied. Yuri, who was visibly distraught, took a eep breath. "There's no reason to shoot him if he's unarmed. We can't just kill people because we're afraid of them!" Francisco was upset by Yuri's reply. "He nearly killed us Yuri, he doesn't deserve to live. If any of you don't shoot him, I will. That fucker is going to pay," Francisco yelled. To the rest, Francisco communicated a strong feeling of bravery, but deep inside he was terrifiedof Mr. Chet.This man going to kill him for crying out loud. Francisco wanted to bawl.

Mr. Chet finished Gustavo off by picking him up and grappling him, and finally slamming him on the desk, which broke into two once Gustavo came into contact with. Gustavo was spitting up blood, but he was still conscious. "Damn. You got better. You used to be such a damn pussy. You couldn't even take a single one of my punches but now look. You BLEEGCH," Blood got in the way of Gustavo's words. "You served me just fine,". Mr. Chet grabbed his ice pick from the the shelf and grabbed Gustavo by the collar. "You said these people would do anything for you. I'm about to test your word,". Just like that, Mr. Chet exited the room with the ice pick pointed right to Gustavo's neck. "If you want him to live, you better," Mr. Chet was interrupted by Francisco, who shot at him exactly 3 times. Mr. Chet covered himself behind Gustavo. Francisco stoppe shooting. "Give me my people and a vehicle out of here; I know you have at least 5," Mr. Chet demanded. "Or I can kill him. Then you guys will kill me and do what you want to my people. Just how loyal are you to this man?". "Fine, we'll give you what you want, just don't hurt him," Yuri said. "DAMN IT YURI, DON'T GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANTS. JUST SHOOT," Gustavo screamed. Nobody raised the gun at Mr. Chet, not even Francisco. "Come on guys, let's go fetch the prisioners," Francisco said. In about a minute or so, Francisco and a few more of Gustavo's soldiers brought Daniel, Jaime and Aguila back with them. They were blinfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs with wire. "Untie them. Tke the blindfolds off too," Mr. Chet instructed. Daniel, Aguila, and Jaime were freed from their restrains. "What the hell is this?" Aguila said. "Take them to a vehicle, Yuri," Mr. Chet kept instructing. Yuri sighed and gestured the 3 men to follow her. Mr. Chet followed her with Gustavo still in his grasp, whowas finally begining to pass out. Mr. Chet wlaked backwards with Gustavo covering him from ny gunshots the soldiers might fire at him. After exiting the door, Mr. Chet observed that the backgate to the school was being opened by Yuri. Daniel was ready to drive a Red Honda and had the shotgun seat reserved for Mr. Chet. "Get on, but don't take him with you," Daniel said to him. Mr. Chet smiled back at him and kicked Gustavo to the ground, where he finally laid unconsious. "The beagle beat the doberman I see," Jaime said to Mr. Chet, who was now seated. "Why of all the breeds of dogs do I have to be a beagle?" Mr. Chet asked Jaime. "Eh, it's just my way of thanking you for saving our asses," Jaime replied. "You don't need to thank me," Mr. Chet replied, modestly. The quartet drove north, getting the attention of the herd that was banging on the front gate earlier.

Ashton had watched Mr. Chet and the rest drive off from a safe distance. "Looks like I have to get out of here," he thought to himself. "But I'm going to have to stay the night. It's too dark to leave now,". Yuri closed the gate and called for help to move Gustavo. "Francisco, come on. Get me some help," Yuri demanded. "Alright, alright. Just shut up," Francisco replied. Unbeknownst to them, Ashton was watching them.

Trivia

 * Liza only appears in this issue as part of Ashton's imagination.