A Long Road to Fortune/Issue 9

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

10 years earlier
The hour was sunny. The wind was blowing with mighty force, something rather unusual for Tecpan. Sun and wind on the same day was all but common in such a place. The focus on the view was inside a school. La Salle was it's name. Inside many kids were happy, making new friends, coloring and playing with each other, just having a good time overall. One of these children, however, was not happy, not well. This young boy was Ashton who just sat down on his chair in his blue classroom, looking out the big windows int the playground. The teacher, whose face could not be seen, stood next to Ashton. "Ashton, why don't you go out and play with the other kids?" the teacher asked. Ashton buried his head on his desk and replied "Because they don't like me,''. "Well, surely one of them does. You're a very obedient kid and so behaved as well. You could be a good example for them. They need the discipline," the teacher said. Ashton ignored her comments. Soon, the teacher left the room. Ashton was alone once again. This time he looked up at the roof, the nice display of all the constallations seemed to aliviate his negative feelings.''

Issue 8
Ashton was sprinting back in full speed to Valdez, who was crying for help. "Hold on Valdez, I'm coming!" Ashton responded. Two groseros stood in Ashton's way. One was a woman and the other was a man. Ashton knew both of them, or at least used to. With mighty swipes from his machete, both of them were gone for good. It had only been about a day and half since Ashton finally woke up from his coma but he was already starting to forget that these groseros are people that he used to know. After clearing his way, Ashton arrived in Valdez location. Valdez was on the southwest corner of the field from the main gate. He was backed up against a wall and he was ready to pull out his gun. Ashton pulled 2 of the groseros off of him and dug his machete into the head of one and crushed the other grosero's head with his foot. This seemed to hurt Ashton a bit, since he was not used to doing such a thing, even if the flesh and bones on the groseros was weaker than those of humans. Valdez finally axed the other grosero that was on him and dropped to his knees, deep breaths from exhaustion.

"I got bad news man," Ashton said. "The gate's been closed and locked. Mr. Chet, Daniel, and the military men are gone. I heard a gunshot, rna to the gate, so that's how I know,"

"Wait a minute, slow down," Valdez said. "They're gone? Why would they just go and lock us in here?" Valdez responded.

"Didn't you hear me, I said I heard a gunshot! I don't they simply up and left, something happened to them!" Ashton responded. "We have to find Liza, and Mendoza, and get out of here!"

Valdez nodded and both boys ran off. "I think we should spli-"

"No Valdez, we're not splitting up," the sudden outburst surprised Valdez, in a good way.

"Alright then, lead on Mr. Huevos," Valdez said, with a dastardly grin on his face.

Ashton and Valdez continued on to the east side of the field. These directions where taken with coordenance from the gate, so they were really going north, where Mendoza and Liza had gone off.

Back at the marketplace, Mario Galeana was helping Jose Quintero with the west wall, the wall that had been compromised the night before, thanks to Paco Barrera.

"So why'd you decide to help me on guard duty all of a sudden, Mario. An angry, sociopathic bastard like you usually just does nothing but be angry all day," Jose said, clearly mocking him. Mario took a deep breath and pretended to ignore Jose's comments. "Why'd you lose it when Ashton put Sofia down? That was the right thing to do and you knew it man," Jose said.

"Because I was angry. I wasn't angry at the kid, I was mad at myself for letting my aunt Sofia turn and become one of those dammned things," Mario responded.

"But that doesn't mean you had the right to pummel the kid," Jose responded. "Maybe you should apologize to him,"

"Yeah, right. What I did was wrong but that punk is still a delinquent," Mario responded.

"I guess that's fair," Jose responded. "So the twins are yours now I bet,"

"Yeah....I won't let anything happen to them. I already let their father down when I couldn't save their mother. I will take them through this thing, at whatever cost it may take. Those kids are not going to die..." Mario said.

Jose began to spot an incoming herd. This herd was smaller, with only around 20 groseros there. "I'll go get some help. If you want to take your anger out on someone, I'd suggest them," Jose said. Mario nodded, grabbed his metal pipe and climbed down the wall.

He rushed a grosero and smashed it's head in. More groseros came for Mario but he kept fighting them off, showing no restrain whatsoever. A noticable vein was visible on his forehead. After a few minutes, Jose arrived with Pepe, Jacobo Barrera, and Pedro Suares. The later two overweight men looked ridiculous next to Jose and Pepe. "Here goes nothing..." Pedro said, as he rushed a grosero with a baseball bat.

Back at the soccer field, Ashton and Valdez had reached Mendoza and Liza. Both had already killed a large amount of groseros and their numbers were beginning to thin out. "Bad news. We're locked in. Mr. Chet and the rest are gone,"

"What?!" Liza and Mendoza said, clearly shocked to hear the news.

"The basketball court, is it safe?", Ashton asked?

"There's only about a dozen groseros in there," Liza said.

"We're going in then. It's better to be locked in with a dozen of these things than 30 anyway,"

On the northeast side of the soccer field, there was a small basketball court with a gate of it's own. It had some walls that could be jumped with enough resilience.

Everyone entered the basketball court. Liza and Ashton shut the gate behind them and Ashton placed his machete in between the handles to keep the groseros out.

"We're going to need a plan," Mendoza said. "From the benches we can land inside the kindergarden. I assume it's clear there and we can scout it for supplies. For now, we have to kill these things so they don't get in the way in the future,". Ashton and the rest nodded. After some time, the groseros were wiped out. Ashton proceeded to climd atop of the highest bench and land on one of the roofs in the kindergarden. He lowered himself inside and looked around. The kindergarden looked desolate and unmaintained. Mendoza and the rest watched Ashton from the bench. Ashton looked around the classrooms and decided it was clear. He came back to the wall and signaled everyne that it was clear. Liza went back for Ashton's machete and continued down into the kindergarden.

"Look around. Take anything that might be useful," Mendoza said.

Credits
Ashton Valdez Jose Quintero Mario Galeana Jacobo Barrera Pedro Suares Pepe Liza Sgt. Mendoza