The Shuddering

by Ania Ahlborn

“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. With the smell of burning flesh filling his nostrils, Sawyer found enough breath to scream.

“What are we going to do?” she asked meekly. Her tone gave her away. She knew their chances were slim to none now, but Ryan wasn’t about to acknowledge her suspicion. “What we were always going to do. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

Ryan blotted out the sun when he filled the entry of their shelter. At first his expression was nothing but confused, but as soon as Jane turned away from Sawyer, choking on her tears, his bewilderment was replaced with realization. Sawyer was gone.

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.

The tarmac was a line drawn in the snow, a line that despite all logic, he was sure those creatures couldn’t cross.

The husky took off, but rather than heading for the open road, she ran for the pines just shy of where they had come from instead.

istg if April is alive

She had jumped in front of one of those creatures to protect him and had died because of it. The least he could do was do the same for his sister, his other half, the one girl who had stood beside him through thick and thin.

Ew

He looked ahead, those creatures watching him with interest. His fingers tightened around his weapon. His weight shifted to his toes. And then he ran.

A tall pine was swaying in the distance while its brothers stood perfectly still, rocking as though someone was shaking it by its base.

But she continued to stare at the shuddering pine in the distance. Her eyes wide. So impossibly wide.