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This wall looked manmade and ancient, flattened to a smooth surface years ago by hand tools. The wall glistened from years of water sliding down its surface, leaving glassy mineral deposits. But what had caught Lori’s attention and now drew them all a little closer was what was attached to the wall.
It was a man. His skin had been slit down his back and legs and spread like a gruesome canvas across the stone. The wall appeared to have absorbed part of him. He protruded halfway out of the wall like a body pressing through a taut, flesh-colored rubber sheet. The edges of his skin where they met the cold stone were either covered by mineral deposits or tinged in a brownish green moss. He was not even allowed the dignity of modesty as he hung naked.
His head seemed to be the only
