Beautiful Crime ※ DogNut

nineteen

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 Reverent 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.