The Shuddering

fire. Sure, the one that had wandered into the house appeared to have been, but what if they had fears as unique as humans did? What if the fear of fire wasn’t universal? Sawyer squeezed his eyes shut, trying to put all of the what-ifs out of his mind. Ryan stepped around him to get to the door.
    “Wait,” Sawyer said. “Wait, wait, wait. What about the blood?” The pot of blood was still in the sink, at the ready. But Ryan shook his head.
    “We need to save it.”
    “Save it for what? A better time? Are you kidding?”
    “Five miles is a long way. We’re taking it with us.”
    Again, Sawyer wanted to protest. There was no better time than the present. They were potentially walking into the snapping jaws of death. But before he could argue, the kitchen door swung open and the oppressive chill of the air hit Sawyer head-on, biting at his face.
    The snow crunched beneath their feet and Sawyer’s gaze darted to the torch blazing above him; he was scared that as soon as they were out in the open, it would blow out in the wind. But it stayed lit as they both maneuvered around the disembodied carcass and strewn innards on the deck. Jane shut the door behind them, sliding the dead bolt into place. She stared out at them, her palms pressed to the glass, the helpless look on her face rousing a wave of foreboding in the pit of Sawyer’s stomach. He took a moment to stare back at her, considering the fact that this might be the last time he’d see her, hating that if it was, he couldn’t see her smile instead.
    Eventually turning away, he followed Ryan around the side of the cabin, his boots feeling impossibly tight. They descended the stairs and immediately sank up to their knees in powder. Despite all the layers of clothing, the cold still managed to make Sawyer’s bones ache.
    They waddled around the Nissan, which was buried past its fenders. Sawyer searched the tree line behind them, his breaths coming in gasps now, steam puffing out of his chest like a locomotive. Ryan pulled open the hatch and grabbed a red gasoline container from the back before moving around to the driver’s side, fumbling with the little door that allowed access to the fuel cap.
    Sawyer saw movement. His heart hitched in his throat.
    “I see them,” he said. “Oh fuck, man, they’re here.”
    Ryan’s face registered alarm but he kept focused, snaking the tube he’d torn away from the washer into the tank as fast as he could. He put the opposite end in his mouth while Sawyer’s heart rattled inside his chest. A second later he was spitting onto the ground, exhaling a moan of disgust while the liquid hit the bottom of the gas can.
    “Sawyer.” Ryan motioned to the torch in Sawyer’s hand. “Give me that. Get the boards.”
    Sawyer gave up possession of the one thing that made him feel safe—who knew if a bullet would do a damn thing to those monsters, and for all they knew the pool cues would be useless as well. He pulled himself onto the Xterra’s running board, then unsnapped the clamps that held three boards on top of the car. He tossed them off the roof end first, and they stabbed into the frozen terrain like toothpicks, pointing up toward the sky.
    Ryan handed the torch back before shoving the unlit one between his legs, carefully pouring gasoline onto the rags twisted around the tip. Lifting it up, he touched it to Sawyer’s burning end. It burst into flames, the fire momentarily warming them.
    “Put that out,” Ryan told him, motioning to the torch Jane had lit. “Stick it in the snow.”
    Sawyer plunged the burning end into the powder, only to have Ryan pull it out a moment later, pouring gas onto the charred fabric, then relighting it with his own. He pulled the hose out of the gas tank, secured the cap over the plastic canister, and wrapped the leash that was attached to Jane’s board around his wrist. They weren’t even half done, and those things were getting curious. They were hovering just behind the trees, watching, waiting to lunge.
    Ryan felt like he was having a heart attack. His pulse rate was through the roof, whooshing in his ears like a drum. They had to get down to the Jeep for Sawyer’s clothes and back up to the cabin before the fire went out, and these demon fucks weren’t about to give them a running start if they ended up on the bad side of luck.
    “Maybe she’s in the Jeep,” Sawyer said after a moment of silence. Ryan said nothing as they moved down the slope. He didn’t dare look