They Ate Me Alive, Now I Rule The Apocalypse

Veyra’s POV

Forty-three days after the apocalypse began, my family decided to eat me.

I sat on the cold floor of our locked underground shelter, my wrists bound behind my back.

My lips were cracked, my stomach cramped with hunger, and my wolf lay so weak inside me that I could barely feel her presence.

Outside, the Hollowborn howled.

Inside, my family sat around an empty cooking pot. The last sack of grain had run out two days ago. We had been rationing water by the spoonful, and the youngest child had cried for so long that he barely had the strength to make a sound.

I gave him my food yesterday. I had given everyone something during these forty-three days. My jewelry had bought supplies.

My strength had kept the shelter running. I had even crossed infected territory to retrieve medicine for my mother. Now she sat against the wall, crying.

My half-sister, Seren, sat beside my husband. Draven held a knife. Nobody would look at me.

I glanced at the rope cutting into my wrists, then at the empty pot. A strange uneasiness crept through me.

“Why am I tied up?” I asked.

My mother covered her mouth.

“Draven?” I turned toward my husband. “What’s happening?”

He placed the knife across his knees. “We cannot survive another day without food, Veyra.”

“I know, we can still try reaching the northern depot.”

“Six warriors died trying to reach it.” His voice remained calm. “The nearest settlements have fallen. The Hollowborn surround this shelter, and we have no livestock, no grain, and no way out.”

I waited for him to suggest another plan but he didn't.

“Then we’ll ration what remains,” I said desperately. “I’ll find something. I always do.”

Seren began sobbing. My husband looked at me. “There is nothing left to ration.”

I stared at the people gathered around us. My aunt lowered her head. One of my younger cousins hid behind Marielle.

Then Seren whispered, “You’re the only one we can sacrifice without destroying the family’s future.”

For a moment, I thought hunger had made me misunderstand her.

“What did you just say?”

Seren pressed her hands over her face. “I don’t want this, Veyra. Please believe me. But you’re stronger than the rest of us. Your sacrifice could keep everyone alive until help arrives.”

I looked at Draven, waiting for him to tell her to stop. He didn’t.

“You’re going to eat me?” I whispered.

“It’s a necessary sacrifice,” he replied.

I pulled against the ropes. “I’m your wife!”

“And I have a responsibility to protect my people.”

“Your people?” My voice cracked. “I helped build Blackthorn! My inheritance paid for your land, your defenses, your trade routes. I fed your warriors when their families had nothing. I gave away my own food to keep the children alive!”

Draven watched me without blinking.

“When your pack needed medicine, I risked my life getting it. When everyone was frightened, I stood beside you. I gave you everything I had. Does none of that matter?”

His expression barely changed.

“I don’t have the luxury of sentiment, Veyra.”

Those words hurt more than any insult could have. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t confused. He had considered my death and decided it was reasonable. I turned toward my mother.

“Mum, please.”

Marielle raised her tear-streaked face.

“Remember when I was eight and had that terrible fever?” I asked. “You stayed beside my bed all night, holding my hand because I was afraid I would die.”

Her mouth trembled.

“You told me you would never let anything happen to me.” Tears blurred my vision. “I’m still your daughter. Please, Mum. Don’t let them do this.”

She crawled toward me, and for one foolish moment, I believed she would untie me. She cupped my cheek.

“My baby,” she sobbed.

I leaned into her palm. “Please take me home.”

Then she whispered, “Seren cannot survive this.”

I pulled away.

“What?”

“She’s weaker than you. She’s lost so much weight. I cannot lose another child, Veyra.”

I stared at her, unable to comprehend how those words could come from the same mouth that had once kissed my forehead when I was sick.

“What makes my life less valuable than hers?”

Marielle had no answer. She simply knelt before me and whispered, “You must forgive us.”

My mother wasn’t trying to save me. She wanted my forgiveness before she helped destroy me.

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed when she reached for my hand.

Nobody moved. I looked around the shelter, searching for a single person willing to remember everything I had done for them. My aunt turned toward the wall. My cousin cried into his mother’s dress. The youngest child watched me with frightened eyes. Not one person came forward.

Seren eventually approached me, kneeling beside my bound legs.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

I stared at her. “Did you ever love me?”

She lowered her eyes.

“Answer me!”

“You always had everything, Veyra!” she cried. “Everyone respects you. You controlled the supplies. You could have shared more with us!”

I almost laughed. For years, I had paid her debts, defended her mistakes, and comforted her whenever she felt overlooked. I had never thought of those things as debts she owed me. Somehow, she had turned my kindness into proof that I hadn’t given her enough.

“You wanted my husband,” I whispered. “You took him, and now you want my life too.”

Seren covered her face. She didn’t deny it.

Draven stood. “Enough. We cannot waste any more time.”

When the others dragged me forward, I fought with what little strength remained. My knees buckled, and I screamed for my mother, my sister, and my husband.

Nobody rescued me. The violence blurred into pain, terrified voices, and the awful knowledge that the people holding me down were the same people I had spent weeks trying to protect.

I remembered my mother holding my hand through the night. I remembered Seren crawling into my bed during thunderstorms, whispering that I was the only person who made her feel safe.

I remembered Draven kissing my forehead on our wedding night, promising we would build a beautiful family together. I had believed them.

Now my mother stood against the wall, refusing to meet my eyes. Seren cried while participating in my death. Draven watched to ensure nobody wasted their last chance to survive.

“Mum,” I whispered one final time.

She turned her face away. That hurt more than anything else.

I had not died because I had nothing left to give. I died because my family believed they were entitled to everything I possessed, including my life.

Darkness crept over my vision. Then I heard a howl. It didn’t come from the Hollowborn outside. It came from somewhere deep inside me. My wolf, silent for weeks, suddenly stirred.

~You were never supposed to die here.

I opened my eyes as sunlight streamed through the curtains of my bedroom.

I sat up so quickly that I nearly fell out of bed. My wrists were free. My body was whole. There was no blood, no rope, no empty cooking pot.

I stumbled toward the calendar beside my bed. The date was three months before the Black Moon.

I was alive. I had been given another chance. And this time, my family would never get another bite.