As he turned to climb from the stream he flicked the torch away from the exposed arm, and the hand closed into a claw.

Bone gasped and fell back, stumbling across the stream until his back was pressed against the opposite wall. Sand tumbled across his shoulders, head, and the back of his neck, like fingers playing across his skin, as he aimed the light directly at the corpse.

The hand was mostly closed. Unmoving. It must have been like that before. Hadn’t it?

“Fuck’s sake,” he muttered, and this time he kept the light directed onto the buried body as he edged up the stream until he could climb out.

He moved deeper into the cavern, heading towards a darker space at the rear which appeared to be a low route into further caves. He had no idea how deep or extensive this cave system was, but it was constantly edging upwards, the levels of silt thinning the further inside he went.

Pausing to adjust his belt and jacket, Bone heard movement behind him.

He spun around and cast the light back the way he’d come. Shadows dashed for corners, crevasses, and behind rocks. Nothing else moved, no more sounds echoed from the walls.

“Fuck’s sake!” He was spooking himself.

He ducked down and started crawling through the narrow gap towards the next cavern. He remained alert for any sign that the gap was growing too narrow to navigate, and was conscious that he didn’t know what lay ahead. If this was just a crack that led nowhere he did not want to trap himself, or become wedged, or find himself slipping down a slope into a narrowing space, unable to turn around, stuck forever until—

He heard something ahead of him. He paused, head tilted as he listened. The sound came again. It sounded like something moving against stone, scraping and shushing.

Having come so far, he wanted nothing more than to flee.

He carried on, and soon the light disappeared into a larger chamber ahead of him. He crawled out into it, kneeling up and stretching the stiffness from his back.

As he stretched, the light landed on a corpse.

It was propped against one wall. Shreds of material hanging from its bony form were moving, swinging, although the body was motionless. Still, and staring right at him.

It was little more than a skeleton, head wrapped in loose skin, teeth exposed. Long, sharp teeth. Its arms were fixed out to either side, but other limbs hung free. Wings. They were leathery and thin, tipped with claws that opened and closed, opened and closed, clasping at the air as if trying to gain purchase on nothing.

Bone stared at the creature’s dead, dark eyes, and it started to scream.