In the morning, Adelaide was awake early and training with some of her warriors. Despite being in the middle of a war, the training never seemed to ever stop. Adelaide knew she needed to make sure her warriors were ready for war, even if she had to push them until breaking point. After all, they were known for their harsh punishments and even harder training routines.

During one of her breaks, she quickly noticed how one of her warriors weren't entirely paying attention to her fight and got herself slammed to the ground. Rolling her eyes, Adelaide walked over towards the pair and helped the girl back onto her feet. "Pathetic. You're better than this, Harper," she hissed, her eyes narrowing.

Harper looked at Adelaide, nodding her head as she looked almost as if she was going to cry but she refused to let her tears fall. She blinked them back, swallowing her pride. "I'm sorry, Commander. It won't happen again, I promise."

Adelaide cocked her head to one side, almost studying Harper's face before she raised a hand and slapped Harper across the face. "It better not, because next time, I won't be so kind."

Rolling her eyes, Adelaide pushed past Harper and walked off, her second in command and guards following close behind her. She walked towards the edge of her part of the camp before stopping and sitting down on the grass, watching members of the Holloway, Tower and Museum Crew mingle, her fingertips grazing over her tattoo subconsciously.

She didn't fully notice the small group of kids around the age of fourteen sit down in front of her, carrying small plates of disgusting looking food. Adelaide almost gagged at the smell of the food but forced herself to ignore it, just like she normally did with food.

The kids figured that since Adelaide didn't have her war paint on and didn't look like she was going to kill everyone, she wasn't as scary; therefore, easier to talk to.

"How did your people survive after the fire?" One asked after a few moments of silence.

Adelaide shrugged, looking down at her dirty and chipped nails before quickly covering her tattoo with her sleeve. "It's rather easy – the Revenant don't come onto our side. After the fire, they just left and haven't returned since. But within the first year; we lost around seventy percent of our current population. Most of us starved to death, but others got hypothermia. You talk about how hard it was on your side, but you forget that a vast majority of your side wasn't burned to the ground, leaving you little choice to survival but turning into what you named us 'savages'. We had to make difficult choices to ensure our survival."

"You didn't kill people and eat them, did you?"

Adelaide didn't answer for a while, giving a sideways glance towards the group, noticing it slowly get larger and larger as kids slowly began to sit in front of her. "We did what we had to."

Looking at the kids in front of her, she felt like she was back at the museum – where she would tell the younger kids stories and she'd leave out all the gore and replace it with something else. But that life was gone and now she was a completely different person because of it.

"How did you do it?" Another kid asked, sitting up straighter as he looked up at Adelaide.

Adelaide frowned, sitting forward a little while also being careful not to get too close to the kids. "Do what?"

"Become the commander; the leader of them?" He clarified, sitting back down a little.

"You guys better settle in, this is going to be a long story and not one for the weak stomach..." Adelaide sighed heavily, her shoulders drooping as she sighed before licking her lips and starting her story.

"I came to the South to get away from everything, to be alone. I had no idea that there were survivors – I mean, sure, I'd heard the stories like everyone else but I just guessed they weren't true. Anyway, I arrived at the gates that blocked off their side from this to see a whole group of sickos there, breaking down the gates and them struggling to keep them back.

I knew I needed to help them so I did, I dropped my stuff and grabbed my weapons and joined the fight. I did the best I could but their previous commander was dead before I got there; I would've said I saw his body but by the time I arrived, it was just a sword and some torn clothes.

After all the sickos were taken care of, they let me in. Mostly as a thank you but well, I did need to go through their camp to go further south. They asked why I was there and I told them. They knew who I was; the girl who survived the Great Fire, the battle of Lambeth Bridge and countless attacks from the sickos. They needed me more than I needed them and they knew it.

They told me their commander was dead and if I would be willing to step in – since I did save their lives and all. I said yes but the second in command was pissed since he was technically in command now and he had no say in the matter and he wanted to remain as commander. In their world; there was only one way to settle this – a fight to the death. The winner takes all, the loser dies.

Giving that I didn't really have much left to live for; I accepted his challenge.

If I died, at least I'd go down fighting; a warrior's death.

The fight took place the next day and I was honestly prepared to die in that arena; I knew I didn't have the strength to go against someone who had more experience than I did so I mentally made my goodbyes and prepared myself for my death.

Boy, was I wrong.

When the fight came to be, I was given a sword to fight with since well as you know my weapons were destroyed by the gym bunnies and my throwing knives weren't exactly going to be helpful against another person. And they were serious about this fight; we were given proper weapons to fight with – none of that wooden sword bullshit. This was the real deal.

The sound of drums and people's shouting flooded my eardrums, almost deafening me as I walked into the arena. It was like an old football stadium but the walls around the grass were higher – probably to keep the fighters from going into the crowd but whatever. And there was no grass, probably to stop the fighters from falling over, I'm not quite sure.

Over the sound of drums, a voice spoke up. 'Your challenger; Adelaide Milton of North London Crew. She will be going against William Gregory of South London Crew. Their fight will be to the death; the winner will become our next commander and lead us to war. In single combat, there is only one rule; someone must die today. You may begin.'

Before I realized it, William was charging at me at full speed. I barely had time to react and get out of the way as his sword narrowly missed my face. I avoided his attacks, dodging some while doing backflips over others; it seems all those years spent in the ice rink and the gym actually paid off – just not in the way my mother would've thought.

I don't remember most of the fight, to be honest, I don't even think I want to remember. There was a lot of blood, that's what I mostly got from it. But what I do remember is that my sword was knocked out of my hands and thrown away while I was kicked in the stomach and I fell to the floor. I saw William's sword over me, ready to be plunged into my chest.

I closed my eyes, awaiting and accepting my death but something inside of me told me that I wasn't going to die like that. I wasn't going to die a coward. DogNut didn't die for me to die like that.

Somehow, I had the strength to kick his legs to knock him down as I forced myself back onto my feet and sprinted towards my sword, picking it up just in time to dodge one of his attacks.

I hit William with the handle of my sword and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground. I stood over him, my grip growing tighter on my sword. 'Get up, this won't be a fair fight if you don't get up,' I told him, knowing that I didn't have the guts to kill him. I killed sickos, not people. I protected people, I didn't kill them.

William shook his head, throwing away his weapon. 'You've earned this position, Adelaide of North London. Take it, it's yours.'

I didn't wait to be told twice so I shoved my sword into his chest and watched as the life left his eyes but I knew the crowd around me wouldn't be satisfied with that kind of death. They wanted a show; this whole time, that's what they wanted. They didn't want to see one of us die, they wanted a show.

I knew I had to cut off his head, so I did. I had to prove myself that I was a savage like they were and give them what they wanted. I held it up by his hair and said the only thing that came to mind as the entire crowd fell silent. 'Are you not entertained?!' I shouted, throwing away his head before storming out of the centre of the arena, intending to leave as the crowd erupting into shouts and cheers. I paused as I was about to exit the arena as I listened to the crowd, they weren't just cheering anymore; they were chanting my name.

'Adelaide of North London is victorious. All hail our new commander!'

That was when I knew that my life would change. I wasn't going to be Adelaide of North London Crew anymore, I was Commander Adelaide of South London. I proved myself worthy of the title and they accepted me as their leader."

Note

This is the badass story of how Adelaide became commander and I think this was one of my favourite chapters to write. I'll get more into the story next chapter, this was mostly a filler and a flashback but it was kind of necessary.

Until next time;

Lorna.