I remember it like it was yesterday...

I remember my final gang war. That was a war to end all gang wars... Going back on it now... I’m ashamed of what I was back then...

Back around about 20 years ago or so, I was the main man of an incredibly powerful gang (called the Black Crocs, saying as we were mostly all crocodiles or reptilians of some sort). The top dog, one might say. It all started with me and my childhood friends slinking around dark alleyways as a group of shady teens... But then one of my buddies had the mad idea of getting involved in the black market. A shady idea for sure, but I just couldn’t say no...

With that, we ended up getting involved in a lot of dark affairs. At first, we used the black market to buy guns and illegal drugs... But then we grew to control the black market... Other gangs around the area HATED us... HATED our guts... They wanted in on that sweet, sweet business... They were out for our blood... And our power...

Many violent street fights broke out between our gangs... One of these particular fights, I even lost of my legs! I had to go to one of the black market ‘surgeons’ for a leg transplant (he done it for a good price, because he liked me). The other gangs seemed relentless and mercilous, no matter how many of their members we killed, they always seemed to come back, bigger and badder than before!

The people of the city were condemned to their homes, too petrified to leave in fear of being shot or perhaps even worse... I couldn’t admit it then, but I was afraid too... But not for myself... I was afraid for my family (I had a pregnant wife, along with a son and a daughter!)... What if the other gangs got a hold of them? What if they held them hostage? They might’ve killed them if we didn’t surrender all of our wealth and power to them...!

I couldn’t allow that to happen... But at the same time, I couldn’t surrender to the other gang either, as they would still kill me anyway for getting on their bad side. It was a lose-lose scenario for us... It was hopeless... We were starting to run low on men after several weeks of this gang war, yet our enemies appeared unharmed by the gang war... In fact, they were stronger than ever! I’m pretty sure they had double the men after the first week and they kept getting stronger each day!

I thought that was me... I thought that my life was about to come to an end...

As I was surrounded by men aiming their guns at me... I thought about my family one last time... Their smiling faces... Their loving eyes... I felt a single tear drop from my eye as all of my memories suddenly flashed before my eyes...