Excalibur {Complete}

1

I had been in love once. Or, rather, I thought it was love. Turned out that the guy I thought to be the 'one' was nothing more than an abusive dick. In light of that, I had always told myself that if my boyfriend ever turned around and hit me or screamed at me that I wasn't going to stick around; that I was going to knock him on his ass and beat the crap out of him for touching me like that.

But we all know how that goes.

It doesn't.

He was a very handsome guy, tall with blonde hair and green eyes. He was muscular too, knew a lot about street fighting and had even taken classes in jujitsu or some shit like that. That had only been a thing many years ago when classes and jobs and having a life actually happened. After the wars and after the downfall of the greatest powers on earth, getting by with your life was a struggle.

It was like an apocalypse except with no zombies or aliens or anything strange like that. No, rather it was simply the fact that the powers of the world had expended too much of their resources and literally destroyed the land and economy they'd been running off of. Sure, in some places there were still people trying to get the government back together as well as the military rebuilt and things like that. However, out in 'no man's land' where many of the citizens had ended up, it was a free for all.

Gangs were the ones in power. If you weren't a part of one you either died or you were forced into joining one. Becoming a part of a gang was beneficial, though- food, water, and supplies were all controlled by the different gangs. Fights were always breaking out over dominance in a certain area, and smaller gangs were constantly swallowed up by the larger ones.

That was my life for many years, starting with the downfall of the empire when I was seventeen, to the chaos afterwards. My boyfriend, whom I later found out to have already been a part of a gang long before I met him, was head of the second largest crew in the area. I stayed with him for a long time, safe from other gangs attacking and with plenty of food and water to sustain us.

Our group was around a hundred or so people and growing by the day. How he even managed to control everyone the way he did was beyond me. Though, I think at the time I had a pretty good idea of what it was he did to keep everyone in line, I just didn't want to admit it. I really was an idiot. Eventually I was forced to see the truth of just how demented he really was, and that was what sent me packing.

I was sitting in the room we shared in a hotel building that we'd claimed our own a couple years back. It was a rather fancy hotel too; gold leafing trimmed the walls, exotic styled furniture in all the rooms. I never would have been able to afford such a place in my life. Then again, that life ended a long time ago, and times were different. Hell, it wasn't so much about having money anymore but about who could outgun who.

Seated in one of the large cushioned chairs near the window, I could see outside to the street down below. Several black vehicles were parked outside; they were the cars that belonged to the group I was with. Titan was a rather large gang with all kinds of different people from all over. Alik, who was in charge of the entire group, was my boyfriend, and he had a horrid temper.

The door burst open, tearing my gaze from the black shiny vehicles down below and from the group of people that stood outside leaning against the cars talking. Just about everyone had some sort of gun or weapon on hand, usually more than two. The men downstairs were no different. Alik strode into the room, his green eyes dark with his irritation.

I knew that look well and stayed in my seat, a frown on my face. Someone had irritated him, and he was about to start ranting and raving. My body tensed as he settled his gaze on me. I watched him carefully, eyeing his every movement as he paced. The black shirt was tight across his frame, his blonde hair a mess as he'd been running his fingers through it in frustration.