First scene of Book 1: Inevitable

The response has been nil on the writing prompts so I guess I won't give them anymore. Boo!

The following is the opening scene from Book 1 of the Just Sam series: Inevitable

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Every time I'm about to find something incredible, my body takes over, even when my mind knows it should proceed with caution. The scent in the air changes and my vision narrows to see nothing but the dirt before me. I know what lies beneath the layer of soil will more than likely ruin my career, but the smell of pine overrides the trepidation I should've learned well in the rainforest. Nothing makes the single mindedness go away, except to dig my fingers in the ground and ride it out until I discovered what wants to be released from the earth.

Forgoing the brush, I wiped away dirt with my fingers. I gently swirled away the sandy Florida soil, but my fingertips chilled despite the warmth of the earth. I knew I was close. Whatever is buried in this place needs to be touched by a human hand, not a synthetic bristle brush. It didn't spend centuries buried in secret to be treated with the plastic indifference of today's scientists. Archaeologists typically know better.

The dirt moved out of my way so quickly it was as if we were of the same mind. Tingling fingertips made me slow down. Close, we were so close. My hands hovered over the dirt, lying in wait.

“Carlos, grab the camera will you?” I hollered. Carlos, my number two on the dig, was a local worker. Initially, I'd been mad at Orson Naston, my boss, when he gave me all untrained workers, but I found that eager learners were better than workers improperly trained. Short and stocky, Carlos's appearance echoed the rest of the immigrant crew, save his slicked back pompadour. His fluent English is what set him apart and made him the preferred second in command.

He ambled out of the trailer, camera in hand, ready to document the impending artifact. I knew it was here. We were close, better to be prepared now then have to wait to unearth it because the camera sat in the work trailer.

“You find it, Mees Rojo?” Carlos's eyebrows waggled as he used his nickname for me, Miss Red, based on my hair.

“I don't know about it, but I suspect that I'll find something shortly.”

“I know it, Rojo, you found it.”

I stared at my hovering hands, now slightly shaking and tingling with pinpricks of static electricity. “Time to find out what it is.”

“Camera is ready.”

I lowered my hands to the dirt and pushed it away in a sweeping motions to side. Most archaeologists use a brush at this point, but I wanted to be the first to touch it. When it was time to remove it, I'll use a brush. Slowly a white protrusion emerged from the soil. My hands swept the dirt away in a flurry with more and more white appearing.

A gust of wind blew a rogue lock of hair across my face and obscured my vision the moment before I could see the artifact. Wiping the lock away, two deep holes stared back at me from a large animal skull. Pinpricks danced along my skin and I shivered at the intense pleasure pain feeling of the discovery. I stroked the slim bone between the eyes.

Rolling green hills, steep cliffs, deep rivers, tall ships, cold weather and forever to run. A wolf. I was a wolf and I was being hunted.

My rapid breathing snapped me out of my daydream. I breathed out surprisingly cold air from my too tight lungs and I did a double take at the skull. It was a wolf—but it was too big. Way too big. Too big for a Dire Wolf even.

It shouldn’t be in Florida at this stratum. Hell it shouldn’t be anywhere at any strata level, but it most definitely should not be here, by me. And yet I knew if something virtually unheard of or impossible were to surface it'd be right where I was.

I closed my eyes and wished it away.

“Mees Rojo, a dog! You found a dog… Mees Rojo?”

I tipped my head up and looked Carlos in the eye. He was close, especially for a skull so large. The only giveaway that it was a wolf over a dog was the size of the teeth compared to the skull. Domesticated animals didn't need teeth so large.

“Is dog, right?” His eyebrows bounced and his chest swelled. This was his first dig and the first find he was a part of.

“Close, a wolf.” I pasted a smile on my face. I could be excited for him, I swear I could, but I couldn’t help but feeling dread. All I kept thinking was, “Fuck, not again.”

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And now onto the video! This is a very good reenactment of what CoD and I have been up to while I've been here in MO!