The Shuddering

her throat.
    “Troy!” Sid searched for his friend. “Help me!”
    “Dude.” Troy wavered in the shadow of the road, holding up what looked to be a broken pool cue in his right hand. “What the fuck is this?”
    Sid shook his head, rising to his feet. “This isn’t right,” he decided. “We need to call somebody. She needs help.”
    Troy threw the pool cue into the trees, craned his neck back toward the Land Rover, and yelled, “Call somebody!”
    A moment later Carla yelled back. “No reception, genius. Who would have thought?”
    “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,” Allison called out. “My parents have a landline. We can call from there.”
    “She smells like crap,” Troy whispered. “You really want to put her in your car?”
    Sid scowled at his friend. “Are you kidding?”
    Troy held his hands up in surrender. “It’s your car,” he muttered. “Hey, man, whatever.”
    “Miss?” Sid crouched down again, extending a hand to the girl the way someone would to a dog. “We’re going to help you up, okay? We’re going to take you with us where it’s safe and warm.” He slowly touched her sleeve, and when she didn’t jumpback or scream or try to claw him, he closed the distance, sliding his arm around her to help her up. Troy was reluctant, but he eventually fell into step, helping Sid lead the stranger to their car.
    Carla and Allison nearly sat on top of each other in the backseat, trying to give the feral-looking girl the most room possible, both of them shielding their mouths and noses from the stench. The smell was bad enough to make Sid’s eyes water, but he kept the windows rolled up and blasted the heater, if only to get their passenger warm.
    After a few minutes of silence, there was a murmur from the backseat.
    “Where are we going?” the girl asked, her words hardly above a whisper, her bloodied hair hanging in front of her face.
    After a beat of silence, Allison finally replied. “To my parents’ cabin.”
    “In town?” the girl asked, slowly looking up to look up at Allison and Carla.
    “No,” Allison said. “Town is almost twenty-five miles away. The cabin is just up the road by the lake.”
    “The lake…” the girl echoed weakly.
    “Yeah, the lake in the woods.”
    Suddenly the girl began to panic. She pulled at the door handle, as if ready to jump out of the car, but it remained shut, keeping her locked inside. She slammed her hands against the window, leaving bloody handprints against the glass as Allison and Carla gasped.
    “Hey, hey, hey.” Troy twisted in his seat, reaching back to try to soothe their passenger. “It’s cool, man, we’re going to get you some help, okay? Just sit tight. We’re almost there.”
    But the girl was thrashing. She spun around in the seat and pounded the back window with her fists, sobbing to be let out of the car.
    “Jesus, hurry up, Sid!” Carla yelled from the back as Sidney eased the car off the highway and onto the road that would take them to Allison’s parents’ place.
    “What the hell did you just sign us up for?” Troy asked Sid beneath his breath. “I thought we were going boarding, man. I thought we were going to carve the slopes, not play search and fucking rescue.”
    “It’s going to be fine,” Sid insisted. “We’re going to call for help, someone will pick her up. First thing tomorrow we’ll be on the mountain.”
    “Better be, man.” Troy sulked. “I’m not letting another season go by without putting my ass in a chair li—” His words tapered off as he furrowed his eyebrows, leaning forward to peer through the windshield.
    “What?” Sid asked, but he saw what Troy was looking at before Troy had the chance to reply. A tall pine was swaying in the distance while its brothers stood perfectly still, rocking as though someone was shaking it by its base. “Elk,” Sid concluded. “They rub their antlers against the tree trunks.”
    It was only after Troy leaned back in his seat that Sid realized the silence had returned. He craned his neck, shooting a look toward the backseat and the strange girl they’d picked up. She was pressed up against the door, so close to the window her nose was almost touching the glass.
    “It’s just elk,” he repeated, trying to soothe her. “Or someone cutting down a tree for firewood or something. Happens all