diff --git a/lib/liquid/block_body.rb b/lib/liquid/block_body.rb
index 964758b65..98d28c9c1 100644
--- a/lib/liquid/block_body.rb
+++ b/lib/liquid/block_body.rb
@@ -251,8 +251,9 @@ def create_variable(token, parse_context)
         i = 3 if token[i] == "-"
         parse_end = token.length - 3
         parse_end -= 1 if token[parse_end] == "-"
+        markup_end = parse_end - i + 1
+        markup =  markup_end <= 0 ? "" : token.byteslice(i, markup_end)
 
-        markup = token[i..parse_end]
         return Variable.new(markup, parse_context)
       end