The Shuddering

he.
    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.

    The stereo was turned up loud enough to rattle the windows of the Land Cruiser, but that was the way they liked it—loud and fast as the trees whipped past the car, each icy turn taken just alittle too fast, each mile of highway rolling beneath them with reckless abandon. Troy sucked in a lungful of smoke while his right arm jutted out the rolled-down passenger window, his hand skating along the cold current just beyond the car. Carla and Allison sat in the backseat, singing along with the music between bouts of drunken laughter, the bottle of Jack they’d cracked open three hours prior nearly half gone. Sid was the only sober one of the bunch, but he intended on remedying that as soon as they reached their destination.
    “Do you see this?” he asked, dipping his head to bring his chin level with the top of the steering wheel, gazing up at a mountain covered in fresh snow. “It’s incredible,” he said. “I haven’t seen snow like this in years, man. This is going to be off the hook.”
    Troy rolled his head to the side, offering his friend a lazy grin. “Gonna tear it up,” he mused. “Gonna tear. It. Up.”
    The Land Cruiser took another curve, fishtailing when it caught a spot of black ice beneath a back tire. The group tensed, holding their breath in unison as the music kept on, the thud of bass shaking the door panels. Sid eased his foot off the gas, taking the needle of the speedometer down from sixty to forty-five.
    “Goddamn,” he grumbled, turning the music down a notch, ready to complain about how whoever had salted the road had done a shitty job. But he didn’t get the chance. The SUV took another mountain curve and Sid slammed on the brakes, the girls flying forward, both of them crashing into the seats ahead of them with a squeal.
    “What the fuck , Sidney!” Allison screamed.
    “Great,” Carla snapped, holding the bottle of Jack at arm’s length, the front of her shirt and pants soaked in alcohol.
    But the boys didn’t respond. They were too busy staring at the girl huddled along the side of the road, shivering, covered in blood.
    “Holy shit,” Troy said, his cigarette clinging precariously to the swell of his bottom lip.
    Sid slowly rolled the Toyota forward, road grit crunching beneath the tires.
    “We’re stopping?” Allison asked.
    “Jesus, Allison.” Troy craned his neck back. “You want to leave an injured human being along the side of the fucking road?”
    “What if it’s a trick?” Carla asked, sounding tense. “What if she’s a decoy and some psychopath is waiting for a car full of suckers to stop and help, only to slash our throats?”
    “Ridiculous,” Sid said beneath his breath, easing the car along the side of the road. “You guys are drunk.”
    “I bet she’s one of those wild people, the kind that live in the woods all their lives. I bet she has rabies,” Carla said, searching for something to dry herself off with. “Which you deserve to get after that little stunt, Sid.” She dropped her voice an octave. “Fucking asshole.”
    Sid pulled the e-brake and both boys immediately popped their doors open while the girls watched them, Allison’s face twisting with concern, Carla rolling her eyes at the whole thing.
    Troy was unsteady on his feet, the Jack making him sway. He immediately fell behind, but Sid’s steps were balanced, slowly closing the distance between himself and the girl along the side of the road. He shot Troy a look, holding out a hand to tell his friend to stay back before crouching a safe distance away.
    She was sitting in the last slice of sunlight as if to warm herself—the wedge of sun not more than a few feet wide.
    “Hello?” Sid said, nervously catching his lip between his teeth. “Miss? Can you hear me?”
    But the girl didn’t respond; she only trembled, mute. Sid cast his gaze down the road ahead. There was blood—lots of it. Theremust have been some sort of accident, but where were the cars? Where were the bodies?
    Sid narrowed his eyes, inching closer to the girl, his nose wrinkling as soon as he got a whiff of whatever covered her. “Hey, there,” he said, unsure of himself. “Are you okay? Were you in an accident? Are you hurt?”
    Just as Sid was sure the girl wasn’t going to reply again, he was startled by the weak whimper that bubbled up from