Matt

As I picked up a length of dried juniper, I noticed something half buried in the sand near a clump of greasewood.

It was a bundle of bones.

Not a skeleton laid out in any recognizable pattern, but a bunch of small bones, probably rabbit or something, wrapped up in what looked like dried weathered leather, tied with a strip of yucca or sinew.

The whole thing was crusted with red dust and looked old, like it had been there a long time.

Someone had shoved it into the sand deliberately.

Hey, check this out, I called.

Ryan walked over, wiping his hands on his shorts.

Miguel was right behind him, cradling an armful of branches.

The hell is that?

Miguel asked.

Probably some kind of, I don't know, kid's idea of a creepy art project, Ryan said, but his voice didn't sound as casual as the words.

He nudged it with the toe of his boot.

The bundle rolled a little, and a few loose bones spilled out.

One of them was a lower jaw, tiny but unmistakably that of some small mammal.

The teeth were still intact.

It looks like those stick charm things from that movie, Miguel said.

Blair Witch Desert Edition.

If it was a movie prop, it'd be plastic, Ryan said.

This is real bone, probably from some predator's stash.

Coyote, fox, they'll drag stuff around.