A moment passes, when she speaks again, her voice is horse.

Something crunched into my foot. She says, bones. The passage was full of them.

Skeletons were piled at foot high. It looked like they died scrambling over each other,

like they were trying to reach the ladder and escape something.

That's when I realized the streaks along the walls weren't paint. They were blood, old and brown.

My heart thrums. Could this be evidence of John's so-called experiments?

Did the bones appear to be mutated at all? Maria nods slowly.

Yes, some more than others. One skull could have belonged to a man,

but its jaw was elongated, like a horse's. A single twisted horn curved out of its forehead.

Another was flat. Square. It looked like somebody had rolled a person's head under a tractor,

but it had dozens of eye sockets, multiple mouths.

She brings a hand to her mouth and gags. She looks like she might be sick, and I can't blame her.

I'm beginning to feel a little light headed myself, though for another reason. Outside, we're losing light.

Night is approaching fast, and I'm worried it might be bringing something that I'm not ready

to deal with. Something violent. Deadly.

What was John's reaction to the bones? I ask, swallowing my dread.

His reaction? She mutters. Cheapses.

Well, he picked one up. Another skull. This one looked like he could have belonged to a woman,

maybe, but where the mouth should have been was something else entirely.

Mandables, like a wasp, or man. Whatever it was, it got John excited. His eyes did that creepy thing

where they bulged from his sockets, and down there in the dark. I swear they even glowed.

He held up the skull, just inches from my face and asked me how it made me feel.

...