The Shuddering

by Ania Ahlborn

“Ape,” he whispered, trying to catch April’s attention, but his uttering her name only made her increase her pace. “April.” He caught her by the hips, trying to hold her still as he began to wither inside her.

“Tom.” The nickname slithered past her lips, and as soon as it hit his ears he went limp, his heart hitching in his throat.

And then Pete went involuntarily still, a sensation he couldn’t quite place spreading from his stomach out to his limbs—hot and cold all at once. Suddenly he crumpled to the ground as the creature pulled its free hand away, and for a moment hope speared his heart. It was letting him go. He was going to survive. Like a shark, the thing had come to realize that Pete wasn’t its rightful prey. But its fist clung to something long and gray—something that felt like it was tugging on Pete’s insides like a rope or a string. Before he had enough time to process the scope of what was happening, the monster began to eat, pulling entrails out of Pete’s belly like an unbroken cord of sausage. A scream ripped its way out of his throat. Pete shot out an arm and grabbed at the strand of slick viscera, jerking it backward in a gruesome game of tug-of-war, as he fought for what was rightfully his, fought the horrific feeling of himself literally unraveling from the inside out. The savage ceased its chewing, seeming bewildered by the fact that its gutted game was fighting back.

Holy shit

She wanted to openly roll her eyes and ask her where it was that April planned on going in such weather, and then banish her to the upstairs study like the unwelcome little bitch she was.

“Like I want to hang out with your preppy-ass friends anyway.” She scowled. “It’s like spending a weekend with Donnie and fucking Marie.”

Grl BYE

The creature grabbed her flailing limb, crouched low to the ground in a pool of gore-drenched snow, and, in a move that was a gruesome imitation of a sex act, lifted 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.

“What do you want me to say?” Ryan asked. “I couldn’t take inventory of the garage that doesn’t belong to me because I was busy shitting my pants.”

If it was just me and Ryan, we’d spend all night kicking the shit out of it or something.”

He swallowed against the lump in his throat, every breath harder than the last, his guilt over April subsiding enough to let a wave of calm drift over him. He had been so sure that he had lost her, but he’d been wrong. He hadn’t lost anything. They’d be together soon.