The Shuddering

the piercing ring in his ears. Gun powder soured the air.
    When the creature dropped to the carpet, it brought Jane into view, their father’s gun in her trembling hands.
    She couldn’t bring herself to look away from it, hardly flinching when Ryan bolted out of the living room and through the kitchen, slamming the open door shut. Sawyer approached the creature at Jane’s feet, still clinging to the fireplace shovel, ready to swing as he nudged it with the toe of his sneaker. Oona didn’t want anything to do with whatever it was, dead or alive. She cowered in the corner of the room, watching everyone else inspect the body while she kept a safe distance from the thing that had slammed her into the wall.
    “Jesus fucking Christ!” Sawyer yelled, dropping the shovel once he was sure it was dead. His hands flew into his hair as he backed away.
    “The food is gone,” Ryan announced, stepping back into the living room. He covered his nose and mouth a second later, shielding himself from the noxious stench of rotten eggs.
    “Gone?” Jane turned her attention to her brother, startled.
    “It raided the fridge, tossed it all onto the floor.”
    That left them with nothing but what was in the pantry, which wasn’t much at all. She looked back to the creature at her feet, taking a couple of steps back. “It was hungry,” she said softly.
    “You think?” Ryan asked, his tone verging on sarcastic.
    Pressing a hand to her lips, she felt another breakdown coming on, bubbling at the pit of her stomach like a witches’ brew. She swiped at her eyes, looking away.
    “What the hell is this thing?” Sawyer asked, refusing to approach it. “Look at the teeth.” They were massive, predatory fangs stained a deep yellow.
    Jane chewed on her bottom lip, considering an idea that was rolling around in her head, not sure whether it was ingenious orabsolutely stupid. All she knew was that if more of those things showed up for a fight, she and the boys probably wouldn’t be as lucky next time.
    Taking a seat on the edge of the couch, she stared at the gun still held fast in her hands. “I think maybe we should use this to our advantage.”
    Neither Ryan nor Sawyer said anything, and while she didn’t look up from the firearm in her grasp, she knew they were staring at her.
    “Aren’t there rubber gloves in the garage?” she asked, finally leveling her gaze on her brother.
    “I think so,” Ryan nodded, then shook his head just as quickly. “Rubber gloves for what ?”
    Jane slid the gun onto the coffee table, her fingers dancing on its edge. And then she swept the largest Ginsu knife in their arsenal off the carpet, inspecting it. Ryan slowly glanced over to Sawyer, a dark expression drifting across his face. And from the way Ryan’s mouth turned up at one corner, she knew it was a good idea. It very well may have been a great idea. And it was all hers.
    Sawyer couldn’t believe they were going to go through with it. He and Ryan were putting all their weight into trying to get the monster up the single step and into the kitchen. Despite its emaciated look, the thing weighed a ton. Sawyer’s fingers were on fire as he yanked on the blue tarp, the creature sliding along the carpet inch by inch as they dragged it, Sawyer’s joints screaming against the tension as he leaned back and pulled.
    The plastic sheeting slid across the hardwood of the kitchen far easier than it had across the plush carpet in the living room, and for a moment the boys stopped what they were doing, deliberating whether they wanted to do this in the kitchen or thegarage. But the garage had a steep flight of stairs leading down into it. They’d have to make multiple trips after they hacked the thing to pieces—up and down the stairs with body parts. The kitchen was a better idea. The door was right there. All they’d have to do was open it and hurl the pieces onto the porch.
    Jane took a seat in one of the dining chairs and covered her nose and mouth as the boys began to unwrap their gruesome package. Sawyer had seen his share of movies; he was waiting for it to twitch, to rear up and snap its teeth at them like a cheap jump scare. But the thing was motionless. He wrinkled his nose at the stench, not sure if it was the creature’s blood that stank or whether the thing spent its free time rolling around in its own excrement.
    Ryan made a face as soon as he unwrapped the tarp and that fetid smell hit him head-on. Jane murmured an “oh god”