There was a rustling ahead. Something was moving in a patch of plant-life that had sprouted in a particularly damaged portion of the facility. Something alive.

The plants swayed back and forth, and the creature within stirred more as it was approached. There was a dark, hunched shape, with a long tail and two small arms, twitching and fidgeting slightly as it slowly turned its head to face the frame pilots...

... And then sprang from the foliage.

The startled wallaby bounded away with considerable speed, having never expected to see human beings of any sort in this place. It seemed it had been feeding on the plants in a relatively sheltered area.

Its little paradise had been disturbed by the pilots investigation, but it had been too stubborn to leave until it was approached more closely.

Far more concerning, however, was what was entangled in the plant it was eating.

The bones were bleached white, but still recognizable. There wasn't a single scrap of flesh remaining on them, perhaps obviously due to the environment.

But the skeletal remains were intact enough to know that it was human, and to see the way the skull had clearly been pierced by something incredibly sharp, and the ribcage seemed to be sliced open, cut at odd angles.

The person who had died here was doubtlessly especially unlucky.

But to those who had seen the dead before, such a sight was perhaps not especially disturbing.

The fact that all the birdsong had suddenly ceased may have been moreso.

[@ERode][@JDubs]