The Shuddering

by Ania Ahlborn

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