The Shuddering

open, running into the snow in her socks. Sawyer followed her, his hand clamped around one of her arms, the cold biting at his skin as he held her back.
    The screaming continued, impossibly loud for the fact that they couldn’t see where it was coming from. Jane was already crying, panicked, and despite the yell belonging to a female, she was yelling Ryan’s name, weeping it into her hands. Sawyer’s heart rattled in his chest, sure the screams were coming from April, sure that something terrible had occurred. Maybe she had stayed outside so long because she had hurt herself. Maybe she had stepped into a snowdrift or stumbled down the embankment into the ravine that flanked the drive and broken her leg.
    Sawyer tried to pull Jane back inside, pushing through his own fear, his pulse thudding in the hollow of his throat.
    “What are you doing?” Jane squealed, shoving Sawyer away from her, trying to get around him, but he wouldn’t relent, blocking her way.
    “Go inside,” he told her.
    “What? No!”
    “Go inside, Jane!” Sawyer yelled, turning to run down the steps. He stopped when Jane’s hands clamped over his wrist,squeezing it tight. “She needs my help,” he told her, tearing his hand from her grasp, then bolted down the stairs, running past the Xterra and toward the road where his Jeep sat incapacitated deep in the drift. He all but collided with his best friend as Ryan took the bend, his eyes wild, his expression unreadable.
    “Get back inside,” Ryan choked, frantically shoving Sawyer backward. But the screaming hadn’t stopped. It was weaker, but he could still hear it. Sawyer grabbed Ryan by his wrists, swung him around so they exchanged positions.
    “What the hell is going on?” he demanded. Where was April? Where was Lauren? Why the hell did Ryan abandon them? All he had to do was take a few steps down the driveway to see what was happening. Breaking free of Ryan’s grasp, Ryan clawed at the fabric of Sawyer’s T-shirt, desperately trying to stop him.
    “No!” he yelled. “Get the fuck back !”
    “Did you find her?” Sawyer shouted in return, panic seizing his throat, but he stopped short when he reached the driveway. A dozen yards away, there was a huddle of what looked to be naked men, their corpse-like skin glistening with splotches of red. They were shoving one another, fighting over a kill. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the amount of blood that was splashed across the snow between them. And then there was a girl, cracked open like a gourd, steam rising from her exposed entrails. Something in his brain clicked, identifying her— April . It was April, torn apart, his unborn child ground down to nothing between a demon’s teeth. But a flash of blonde hair upon red-painted snow snapped him back to reality.
    It was Lauren.
    Sawyer stood frozen in place, his mouth agape, his eyes fixed on the one creature that had stopped contending with the others and was now looking right at him, its nightmarish fangs clackingtogether. It canted its head to the side like a curious dog, that gruesome grin slathered in blood.
    Sawyer lurched backward when Ryan groped at his shirt, both of them stumbling up the stairs. But Sawyer wasn’t ready to go inside. Despite his terror, he had to get out there, had to find April. He shoved Ryan away, trying to get around him, only to have Ryan push him in return.
    “Get off me!” Sawyer yelled as they struggled, Ryan forcing him toward the open door while Sawyer fought to escape his grasp. Amid the panic, Oona let out a snarl, convinced her owner was under attack. She reeled back, her teeth bared, and bit down, her teeth sinking deep into Sawyer’s skin. But, teetering on the edge of what felt like insanity, he hardly noticed the dog chomping down on his forearm. Shoved inside the house, he watched Ryan throw the dead bolt into place. A flimsy lock wasn’t going to do a goddamn thing against the monsters outside—but it sure would do its job if April came stumbling up the porch steps and tried to get inside. She’d be locked out. Doomed.
    He stared at the lock, sure that lock was sealing her fate, torn between the safety of the group and the safety of the woman who carried his child. She was out there somewhere, hiding, waiting for it to be safe before she bolted toward the cabin. She was smart. Resourceful. She’d come back. She had to come back.
    He snapped out of his daze when Ryan grabbed him.
    “Jane, get in the pantry,” Ryan