Tim too had gotten to feel more like a fatherly figure to me while I began to see Avery as more of an equal than anything else. It was like once I realized his feelings (or lack thereof) toward me and started interacting with everyone else, my silly infatuation with him began to dissipate. Had my crush on him stemmed from the fact that he’d been the only boy around me, the only person to really show me any kindness until now?

I was mulling that over when Jake abruptly brought his horse to a stop, causing Sadie to skirt around him. I pulled back on the reins and looked dead ahead to where Jake’s unwavering focus was.

The smell of rot hit me before my eyes picked up on it. Far up the path, in the middle of the snow, lay a body, lifeless and immobile. Its skin was pale, though not as white as the snow, and was clothed in what looked to be animal hides.

“Are they dead?” Jake asked me quietly as the rest of the group came to a halt behind us.

“Smells dead,” I said. We exchanged a meaningful glance. Even though it looked different from what I’d seen before, we were still too far away to properly check, and the smell was still the same as before: rancid and unforgettable.

“Don’t you think we oughta go over there and check?” Tim asked. “They could need our help.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Oh, goodness me,” Donna cried out from the back. I turned to see her bring her horse around Avery’s and toward us. Her face was collapsing with concern. “Someone’s hurt out there.”

Jake raised his hand to motion for her to stay put. “We don’t know that just yet.”

She shook her head, her blonde curls springing. “But they could be alive. We have to go check on them.”

“We’ll have to ride past, at any rate,” none other than Isaac shouted. “We’ve got guns if anyone tries anything.”

Donna frowned at him with disdain. “Tries anything? There is a poor soul out there who needs our help.” She gave us the same look. “You should be ashamed to call yourselves Christians. My heavens.”

And then she clucked to her horse and started off toward the fallen body.

“Donna, no!” Jake yelled. He kicked Trouble’s flanks and started after her. I was about to head out too but he yelled at me over his shoulder, “Everyone stay back!”

Donna was already dismounting and running through the snow toward the body, her calico skirts held high. Jake was quick off his horse, seeming to vault off with ease, but it was too late. Donna was already bending over the body and touching its shoulder with her hand.

“I think he’s alive!” she cried out excitedly.

Jake was so close to getting to her, just a few feet away, when the fallen person lifted up their head, and with an open, snapping mouth, engulfed Donna’s outstretched hand.

It was alive, indeed.

My hand flew to my mouth in horror as Donna let out a horrific scream that was made of terror and pain. Jake grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back and out of the way. But it was too late. She was missing her hand from the wrist down. It was now in the unhinged jaw of the person who was sitting up in a squatting position, hair wild and white, clothes cloaked around it like a dressed-up dog. Blood poured down its chin, staining the snow.

Before it could even move, however, Jake had his revolver out and shot the man through the chest. The man slowly looked down at the bloody hole with idle curiosity before chomping down the rest of Donna’s hand, her fingers twitching from the movement like she was waving goodbye. Jake watched, totally frozen, as the man swallowed it down like it was a piece of roast, his crazed, pale eyes glued to us. Then, with a final smack of his bloody lips, he ran off into the trees and disappeared.

Meanwhile Donna was still screaming and bleeding profusely, blood spurting everywhere. Jake ripped off his coat, trying to wrap it around the bloody stump. It took all of us a moment to snap out of the shock of what just happened.

I immediately kicked Sadie over to them and jumped off of her into the snow, running toward the horror, while Isaac and Hank spurred their horses off into the trees in the direction of the man, hooting and hollering in their pursuit.

Jake was trying to hold her in place, but Donna was wild and even too much for a man like him. I quickly grabbed his coat and tried to hold it on the stump, trying not to breathe in the stench of rot and blood nor look too closely at what was unfolding, while Jake held her back. Soon Tim and Avery were at our side, with Meeks too disabled to do anything but watch a fate worse than his own.

“What the hell was that thing?” Avery shouted. It was rare to hear him curse but I’d be surprised if we weren’t all cursing now. “What was that? A person?”

I shook my head, tears of horror and frustration threatening the sides of my eyes. “I don’t know. It looked like a man, but no man could do this.” And that was true, not only on the moralistic side of things but physical as well. Donna had small hands, but he had put his entire mouth around it and bit it right through like he was eating a carrot.

“Demon!” Donna shrieked, flailing against us. “Demon! The Lord is angry with me!” Then she started babbling too fast to make any sense and began to collapse to the ground. Tim and Jake lowered her gently, and once her head was back against the snow, she promptly passed out.

“Please don’t let her die,” I said out loud, though I wasn’t sure to whom. I liked Donna a lot and she would not have been here in this situation if it wasn’t for me.

Jake felt along her neck and gave me a nod that looked exceedingly grim considering his face was streaked with her blood. “Pulse is weak, but it’s there.” He looked to his coat I was holding around the stump, how the blood kept pooling out underneath. “We need to stop the bleeding right now or she will die.” He looked to Avery. “Avery, I need you to go get the first aid supplies from the mule’s pack. Bring everything we didn’t use on Merv.”

Avery nodded, happy to be useful, and took off back toward Meeks and the mule. Only the crunch of his footsteps stopped right away.

I looked over my shoulder to see Avery standing still in his tracks. Further down was Meeks on top of his horse. Both of them were staring at something that was crawling slowly out of the forest, heading right for them.

While the man who attacked Donna had been partially clothed with disheveled white hair, this man was naked and ice blue. He looked just like the one who had taken Meek’s pinky.

Now he was pulling himself forward on his hands and knees as he came out of the snowbank, struggling to get up. I couldn’t help wondering if he was hurt or dying, even though there was no blood on him. Was this some sort of ruse that these creatures put on, pretending to be wounded or dead to gain sympathy? Surely they had to be smart enough to know it wouldn’t work a second time.

“Meeks, get out of there!” Jake yelled at him. But Meeks seemed too scared to even get his horse to move. Avery reached behind him for his knife, not taking his eyes off the creature who was still crawling forward toward Meeks.

I looked to Jake. “Throw Avery your gun!” I said frantically.

His eyes widened. “I don’t reckon a gun will do the trick.”

“Jesus Murphy, that just can’t be,” Tim swore and brought out his revolver. “This will at least scare the horses away.” He fired a shot at the creature and hit it in the shoulder, the snow around it quickly growing red with blood.

It didn’t stop him but it did scare the horses, so much that Meek’s palomino reared up, and with Meek’s useless hand, he was unable told on. He went flying off the back of the horse, landing in a puff of snow just a few feet away from the creature.

We all held our breath as the creature raised its head to look at Meeks. Then with one last burst of energy, the creature lunged and landed right on top of him.