How to use "sticking" in a sentence

He saw a hand sticking out from a pile of dead men and horses, a gold ring on its middle finger, shining in the moonlight

If you haven't yet read The Eyes of Darkness, I am giving away nothing important in the story when I tell you that eventually, in a search for her lost son, Tina ventures into the High Sierras in winter, where she comes across a paved road, in the middle of the wilderness, that features heating coils under the pavement to prevent snow from sticking to it