I am not a monster.

But there is a reason I survived when nobody else did.

There's magic in this world you know, it's not loud, certainly not colorful, and above all not common, but it's there. When I was nine a car accident killed my grandfather, I was sitting behind him at the time, granny next to him, granny adored grandpa, they got along so well.

Granny tells me we're going to take small solace from this tragedy, let grandpa help me. That grandpa would want us to do this.

"There is power in flesh. Flesh is not meat, flesh is forbidden meat, the meat of something the world calls too precious to eat, the most important thing to another living thing, its flesh. When you eat flesh, you earn praise and favor of Uriiga, god of conquest. You just need to call on his name, brag on your deed, and he will take notice, put some of his power in you,"

I was old enough to know it sounded crazy, what would Ms. Anderson my 3rd-grade teacher tell me to do? But I loved granny more than Ms. Anderson, I trusted her, and she did it first. She showed me exactly how to rip a small chunk out of the dead man's arm.

All I remember about repeating this action was that it made my teeth hurt.

"Now chew it in your jaw, until there is no flavor of blood, I know it is yucky child, I'm sorry,"

I did as I was told, then just as told I spit it out.

"Behold Uriiga, we are so ruthless as to sup the flesh of our dying ally, our dying family, behold us!" she said quietly.

And it was done.

No flash of lightning, no boom or smell of smoke. I worried granny had simply gone insane from what she'd seen. Though she seemed so calm, dazed and heartbroken, but calm. She told me to tell nobody what we'd done, but to remember this ritual, in case I ever needed it. We stayed in shocked silence until the ambulance arrived after that. Nobody in our shitty county hospital cared enough to investigate the bite marks, it wasn't what killed him so it didn't really matter.

There was nothing else particularly remarkable about my life, save that I rarely got sick and the symptoms were always mild. That and everyone noted me as a quick healer. Granny always smiled knowingly when people said that.

Maybe she was just insane, hell maybe I am, but I can think of no other reason why of 300 vault residents put on ice, I'm the only one alive right now.

Thanks for reading!