The monitor clearly showed a ribcage. Ribs. A spine. Pelvic bones. This wasn’t a statue. It was a human being.
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But the horror wasn’t just the presence of a skeleton. We had seen mummies before. The horror was in how they died. The bones weren’t arranged in a burial pose. The ribcage was expanded to the limit, as if the person had taken a deep breath and never exhaled. The mouth was open in a silent scream, the jaw dislocated.
“My God, look at the legs,” I whispered. The tibia bones were shattered, as if the person was running and was overtaken by something heavy and instantaneous. The substance coating the body had penetrated every pore, replacing soft tissue with stone in seconds. It was instantaneous petrification.
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