Delicious Reptilian Meat

Holt'

small wooden tokens. One of them had a crudely drawn X on it. The rest were blank. We

k then, maybe ten years old. I reached into the bag, my hand shaking uncon

sister Clara; her t

ry reprieve, but it also meant the noos

g. "She closed her eyes, her face deathly pale, and pulled out

nd, stood entirely motionless,

childish wail. He pushed past the adults and gr

lve was forged in iron. He grabbed Hoover's arm, driven mad

cked and screamed. His mother looked at him, her eyes a heartbreaking mix o

agged Hoover's mother t

ng suspended in the air. Hoover

knocking rattled the cabin

ined suspended mid-air. All

or weeks. The snow had sealed the roa

eat-grandfather shou

the wooden door: "It's me! Your c

sp sucked the a

eat-grandfat

ed the starving villagers. Shocked, my

fur coat dusted with snow, carrying a massive burlap sack ov

of a young deer inside. The room instantly erupted in cheers. They threw themselves at the d

to his mother, watched it all u

ef was painf

ias's face was flushed from the

g felt incre

, creepi

o smooth, too precise. It was too perfect to be a living, bre

lt his sk

venison and swallowing it whole. Hoover felt a wave of nausea

.

d, my voice trembling,

He closed his eyes, a violent tremor shaking his entire body. "He wa

e landing on a framed photo

standing next to a stern-looking man. That was my great-grandfather, Robert. The picture

inted at the photograph. "Look clo

my hands shaking. I sta

andsome, even. A stron

aw it. The unsettling deadness in his eyes. It was a face that was altogether too

over me, making my limbs feel heavy as

d the photograph. I wanted

spered. "Why... why d

ur instinct knows. It sees right through the

into my brain. That flawless, smiling face h

ey eat Elias?" I as

telling me that Reptilian mea

s the on

ectly. He stared at the faded ph

mporarily. One small deer wasn't nearl

. He was just a little boy back then, maybe five. He was shaking all o

ain, his face carved

ome grotesque flower. He saw Elias devour another

r consumed her, leaving nothing but a wet stain on the floor. And then, he saw Elias re

ly. The imagery was so viv

to a whisper. "He tried to tell the adults, but they brushed it off. They

. We knew we

how it is-the elderly, the children, the women, those who ca