Well, turns out they're not alone. There's a third, unfamiliar creature stuck in one of the cages- she's been here for about two days.

they eye her.

She's an.... odd creature, to say the least. Her head is ratlike, but made out of some sort of leathery-patterned stone. Her face lacks any features; it's nothing but a flat surface with little curves where eyes should be. Her neck is long and unnaturally thin, meeting a humanlike torso with rock-grey, unusually smooth skin that's eerily skinny. Her bottom half is the body of a peacock spider (which are actually quite cute btw), fit with all eight legs and the little mating-ruffle. Where the spinneret of the spider should be is the body of a rattlesnake, even having the head. She's also only 4 feet tall which just makes it even weirder.

...

ok.

So that's an... unpleasant sight. To put it lightly. The scientists also found out the hard way that her rocky upper half is immune to electricity, so the shock collar is on the neck of the snake part instead.

ok.

So she sits there quietly. She's all scratched up and injured- one of her spider-legs is in a cast.

they stared.

Something must've attacked her. Something big, from the looks of it.

ouch.