The Shuddering

by Ania Ahlborn

The question of whether the Jeep would make it through the snow was irrelevant now. They had to make it, because Sawyer couldn’t go back inside that cabin again. Not after April’s announcement. Not after the way Jane had looked at him, wounded, betrayed.

Oh god how i would love that.

her fists pounding against her knees, a full-fledged temper tantrum—something he had yet to witness in the six months they had been together. “No no no no NO!” she yelled. “I’m not going back in there! I want to go home!”

Its not a temper tantrum dick. You humiliated and abandoned her. You proved you didnt love her and everyone knows it.

Swiping at her eyes with her sleeves, she swallowed her sobs, wondering whether she had overreacted; maybe what she had sensed between Sawyer and Jane had been nothing but her own jealousy, insecurity,

Do not let him gaslight you babe. Hes dying to cheat on you.

She’d embarrassed herself, especially with Ryan, sobbing like some hysteric. But the emotion had overwhelmed her—a deluge of frustration that had splintered into temporary insanity.

Pregnancy hormones be like that. Especially during times of abandonment.

There was a clearing ahead and she pictured it in her head—summertime, an expanse of grass and wildflowers. If they had only waited seven months from now, they could have come to the mountains when it was warm, packed up a picnic lunch and walked to this very clearing, a baby tucked into the crook of April’s arm. Sawyer would have brought his guitar. They would have flown kites and woven dandelions into crowns and done all the hippie bullshit that made April roll her eyes.

Heartbreaking that shes about to die.

“Well, you’re making me nervous.” A faint smile crossed his lips, assuring her that he remembered that particular pet peeve. She couldn’t stand it when people kept their coats on with no intention of leaving.

Same. And shoes

Her hand was torn from his grasp as she was snapped backward. He stared wide-eyed as the thing threw her onto her back, Lauren kicking her legs at the oncoming horror, trying to scare it away with her screams.

Noooooo

There was blood. So much blood. Lauren was still kicking at the thing above her, but with only one leg. Her other leg lay motionless in the crimson snow, detached,

Oh fuck

Lauren’s hips before burying its mouth in the massive, gushing wound below her pelvis. Its black eyes locked onto Ryan as it fed, challenging him as sucking noises punctuated the short-lived silence, broken by Lauren’s final scream.

Yikes

“Tell me what happened,” she sobbed. “Please.” Finally Ryan spoke, a reply so ominous it made the hair on Sawyer’s arms stand on end. “If I told you what happened, you would never leave this room again.”

Facts

If the coast was clear, Oona would come get them without incident. If the creatures had somehow gotten inside the house—climbed through broken windows, scavenging for food—she wouldn’t come back at all. Leaning in, Ryan pulled the dog into his arms, momentarily burying his face in her neck.

Such a hard decision.

April hadn’t been that bad. Jane had been quick to judge her, blinded by her own resentment, as though April had stolen something from her, when that hadn’t been the case at all. Jane wished she had tried harder to make her feel more comfortable within the group. She wished she had prodded her for conversation, had asked her about her likes and dislikes, had tried to be her friend.

Good. I hope the guilt eats at you.

The soft jingle of metal against metal had her tearing it open, horrified as a grand total of four hollow points rolled against a brown cardboard backdrop.

Ooft

“We have a gun,” Sawyer reminded him. “And what if it isn’t effective?” “And what if it is?”

Even if it is, theres more than four of them. Thats asssuming you got four headshots. Which you wouldnt.

It reeled back, swinging the arm that was being attacked, tossing Oona across the room. The husky hit the wall with a yelp, but adrenaline had her bounding to her feet, diving back into battle without a second thought.

Goodest gorl

Ryan bolted out of the living room and through the kitchen, slamming the open door shut.

Smart boy

And then she swept the largest Ginsu knife in their arsenal off the carpet, inspecting it. Ryan slowly glanced over to Sawyer, a dark expression drifting across his face. And from the way Ryan’s mouth turned up at one corner, she knew it was a good idea. It very well may have been a great idea. And it was all hers.

Skin it and wear it as a costume ?

“What’s this supposed to accomplish again?” Ryan asked, seemingly hesitant to hack up the thing in front of her. “They might have an aversion to the scent of their own blood, or the sight of their own kind dead somewhere.

Or you could be taunting and pissing it off more.

the food that would have sustained them for at least a week completely destroyed.

You said a few days last time...

But the fire was almost gone, not having been tended for too long. It was little more than a few licking flames, glowing embers at their base.

Put the couch cushions on it.

Jane understood in a horrifying flash of realization: Ryan was serious. If they were going to leave that cabin, they’d do it covered in blood.

TWD style

April had become part of the wilderness over twelve hours before. He didn’t want to believe it, but Ryan was right. She didn’t stand a chance. Not out there. Not alone.

Honestly i hope she survived but its extremely unlikely

“What?” he asked with a shrug. “Nobody called us for the keys. It was an innocent mistake.” Ryan stopped what he was doing, a look of sudden realization crossing his face. “Oh my god,” he said. “I just figured it out. Pops sold the place to those gray alien assholes. That’s why they’re so pissed.” He leveled his gaze on his sister when she failed to be amused.

Hahahaha idiot

picturing an unsuspecting hiker stumbling onto April’s body after the first thaw.

Sweetie. If shes dead they ate all of her...

Sawyer winced at the noise, trying to figure out why he had brought April up here at all. Sure, they had had their issues, but what the hell did he expect to happen with Jane being here? Why couldn’t he have loved what he had rather than wanting what he had lost? It was pathetic. He was pathetic.

And bingo was his name-o

Sawyer rolled his eyes. The jacket was biting into his armpits and the pants were riding up his crotch. And her boots were an impossibility unless he broke all his toes.

She should have sucked it up and gone out herself instead of risking him breaking her clothes or them dying because he cant move properly...

And then there was the question of whether those things really were afraid of fire. Sure, the one that had wandered into the house appeared to have been, but what if they had fears as unique as humans did?

Ooft imagine

Ryan pulled the trigger, nearly dropping it when it snapped his wrist back on the recoil. The monster froze in place at the blast, startled by the noise. But Ryan had missed. His hand was shaking so badly he could hardly aim at all.

Standard

burying the end of the cue deep between its ribs. The thing stumbled backward as if in surprise. Its arms flailed around the stick jutting out of its chest, trying to grab at it with its large, cumbersome claws. Ryan took its distraction as an opportunity. He took another step forward, jabbing his torch into the thing’s face, purposefully aiming for one of its eyes.

Good for you bud

“What the hell are you doing?” “We need to get these off.” She began to cut, but he shoved her hand away, grabbing the shears and sliding them across the floor. “How do you expect to get out of here?” Ryan demanded. “He’s wearing your coat.” Jane blanched at the realization, at the huge mistake she had almost made.

Atleast Ryan is on the ball

Sawyer’s back was sliced into thirds, his ribs peeking through layers of skin, fat, and flesh.

Whoaaa

“We need to stop the bleeding now.” She said nothing as he slowly stood, leaving Sawyer where he lay. And she felt her legs go weak when Ryan stepped into the living room and thrust the small iron shovel into the flames of the fire.

Ryan is the real MVP

Bringing the painting down into the hall, Ryan lashed it on top of both boards. He stood, examining their handiwork, and nodded in satisfaction.

Wat, hoping the creatures think its a threat?

She grabbed the handles of the pot, hefted it up to her waist, and tipped it over Oona’s clean black-and-white fur.

Thats so fucking wasteful

They looked like a pair of serial killers fresh from a sloppy kill, and they smelled as good as they looked. Oona was having a sneezing fit, rubbing her face against the floor, desperately trying to get the stuff off her skin.

Bless

They would remain covered in this stuff until they hit the highway, and then—Oh god, she thought, imagine seeing three bloody hitchhikers walking down the road. Nobody will stop. Nobody in their right mind would ever slow down.

Lol yeah goodluck explaining that one

“We’re going to make a shelter, okay?”

A shelter that will stop a gang of wendigos? hahaha ok

The snow hadn’t just gotten the back of his neck. It had gotten his torch as well.

Feck

The beast towered over him, standing on its hind legs, its impossibly wide jaws pulled back in what looked like a nefarious smile. To Ryan’s horror, he found himself staring at an oozing lesion just above those massive teeth, one of its eyes all but burned away.

Vendetta vendetta

He sprang forward, jamming his foot on top of the torch that was still jammed between the monster’s teeth, putting all his weight into holding it and the creature’s head firmly in place. And then he reeled back and swung. The ax blade sank into the beast’s neck, a crimson spray arching upward, atomizing foul-scented blood across an otherwise flawless expanse of white.

Ryan is a fucking boss

Ryan pointed the burning torch toward them and sprayed April’s hair spray in a graceful swoop. Jane yelped as a wall of flame went up around them. The savages reeled back and scrambled away.

Shotgun Ryan for my zombie apocalypse team

he approached the dead demon in the snow, secured a boot against the thing’s massive head, and yanked the table leg from its jaws. He held it up to Jane’s fire, waiting for it to catch. When it did, he turned back to the carcass in front of him, sprayed the thing with aerosol, and lit up the dead.

Hell yeah

shoving a corner of the tarp aside. Jane shielded her eyes against the glare of the sun, the snow sparkling around her like diamond dust. Ryan’s plan had worked—the small bonfires he’d built around the opening to their shelter had kept those things at bay. They had survived the night.

Its a miracle

Sawyer was gone.

Sad

claimed by the things that had taken Lauren, that had most certainly taken April.

We'd better get a definite answer on April before this ends

Fucking Sawyer, he thought. Just a few more hours. A few more hours and they would have made it. They would have survived this thing.

He was never going to make it.

He stepped up to it and jerked the pool cue out of its gut, the creature’s blood spraying out onto the road in a fan of gore. After a few seconds of thrashing, it fell to the ground, the ax still firmly embedded in its flesh. Ryan stepped around the thing so that he was standing directly over its head; he angled the cue downward. His face twisted with vengeance as he sprang up and stabbed the creature through its eye, the pool cue clacking against the asphalt, piercing the thing clean through its skull.

Ryan is a badass monster hunter

The creature crumpled to the ground and seized before going still, well within the boundary of shadow, the ax still in its back.

Good one Jane. Why cant you go for the neck like a useful person

“We can’t leave her here,” Sid said, looking back to the girl. “We need to take her into town, to the police station or the clinic or something.” “The cabin is closer,”

Nooo not the cabin

Sid scowled at his friend. “Are you kidding?” Troy held his hands up in surrender. “It’s your car,” he muttered. “Hey, man, whatever.”

Atleast Sid isnt a cunt