Wha?
Last night at the Central Oregon Writers Guild's monthly meeting [someone I know is their blog director :-D] , our guest was a local film maker and screenwriter, Brian Johnson. It was a great presentation. I don't know much about screenwriting. Apparently, it's more of a crapshoot than getting a book published.
So?
Well, you know those hokey movies on the SyFy channel on the weekends? Mega Shark vs. Mega Squid and the like? Well, it's a secret fantasy of mine to write those movies. Honest. I'm not putting you on. I even love watching them.
People say: Are you serious?
Me: Yup.
People: Why?
Me: Because it would be a blast. Just pure fun. I like to get silly now and then.
In that vain, I shall begin installments of my story, Terror in the High Desert. At least every other Friday, I will add to the story.
Terror in the High Desert
Part One - Spelunking on a Wednesday Afternoon
Brit fingered the carved symbols on the wall. She was unfamiliar with the languages of the tribes that had once lived in the area and could not read it. But, the symbols shot like electricity through her fingertips. It seared. Burned. As if the lava had never cooled. She jumped back shaking her hand. "It's a warning."
Paul and Jen looked back at her, the blare from the lights strapped to their foreheads blinding her. "You can't read that stuff," Jen said. "Quit clowning around."
Brit pointed to the painting above the symbols. It was faded, but there was no disputing its intent. "Does it look all warm and fuzzy to you?" Red dots covered better than average stick people lying in pools of red. There was nothing friendly looking about it.
"We've been through," Paul paused as his brain strained with thought. "We've been through dozens of these lava tubes already, Brit. What are you getting all jittery about?"
Just feet into the cave, the brilliant high desert sun had been cut to a faint shadow hidden beyond curtains of darkness. The descending rock also cut the dry heat by at least twenty degrees. The cooler air was still dry, however.
"It's just that … " Brit cautiously touched the symbols again. They were cool and smooth like the surrounding igneous rock tempered by long ago fires that were long burned out. She shivered and shrugged on her jacket. She couldn't shake off a feeling of trepidation, however, as she followed after her friends.
Hmmm, what will happen? Is it just another lava tube like the hundreds of others? Well, that wouldn't be much of a story now, would it? Stay tuned. Same Gangsta Cow Channel, Same Gangsta Cow Time [Fridays].
Copyright Spring 2010, M. Pax, all rights reserved
