Alien- Burnt Shuttle Desc

  The shuttle crashed into the ground about ten yards from the entrance to the cave network. If it had hit the actual mountain, it might have exploded; it might have spared us from its deadly cargo. Instead, it looks like it slid across the ground, ripping up rocks and destroying brush, until it came to a stop and burst into flames.

  Everything is blackened and charred, creating a perfect environment to camouflage the creatures. There could be a dozen of them, pressed motionless against the mountain, and we wouldn’t know until they struck. The grasses have burned away, the larger bushes and trees have been reduced to lumps of charcoal. Nothing lives here. Nothing is ever going to live here again. It’s like standing on the surface of a mined-out moon, one that’s about to be abandoned by its corporate owners for having nothing left to exploit.

  There are a few spots that are less charred than the rest, spots where the ash has been scraped away by the passage of chitinous bodies, or rubbed away by terrible claws. They all point toward the mouth of the largest cave, slowly converging together.

Echo, Chapter 15