for those of you who havent watched The Thing, go do it now then read this.
as we all know, MacCready and Childs were left after the explosion, Mac was unsure about Childs and where he was after the lights went out, and he "randomly" made it through the explosion to find him. the game picks up with you being an operative who was sent out there to make contact with the base. you find a charred corpse not to far from the base. who's is it?
hopefully the prequel and MAYBE sequel will answer all our questions. as said before, these are still just rumors.