Instead of filming, I followed the kitchen out into a hallway. My lamp found a staircase going up, the steps strangely free of mud. Most of Hesper was buried in silt, but not this house. Something kept it clean. I started up the stairs to find out what.
Halfway up, my lamp caught a row of photographs still hanging on the wall, glass intact. A family of four, smiling on a dock. But in every single photo, their faces were turned away from the camera now, looking down the stairs, toward me.
I climbed past the photos, telling myself faces don't move. At the landing I found a wet trail of small footprints leading into one room. I followed and found the family seated at a second table, just like the kitchen one, but this set had a place for every member of my crew, name cards and all.