[me: I won't update often
Also me: update now it's been 2 days]

I woke up to Ryan violently shaking my shoulders, pointing out the windshield and lifting my backpack from off of my lap and into his. He was smiling, which he probably shouldn't have been because this heat was too much to be as happy or excited as he was. I'd barely gotten here and I already wanted to die from just hearing the triple digit temperature. 

"Wake up, we're here! You gotta tell Tyler and everyone they're probably wrong and that I'm way better than they are."

My eyes hurt and I didn't want to get up. My back was probably glued to the seat from sweat, and I was still exhausted from the plane trip and the car ride.

I reluctantly hopped out of the car anyways, rubbed my eyes to get the sand out, and started walking behind him even though I had no idea where I was going. When I finally looked up I was greeted with a large circle of eight bright red tents, all about the size of two mini vans squished together. A flagpole stood a couple feet away, waving a bright blue flag at the very top. At the bottom sat a faded white one, dragging against the dirt. A fire pit sat in the middle of the tent circle, plastic chairs gathered around.

Ryan ran over to the closest tent and tossed my things into the entrance, holding open the front flap for me to walk through.

The inside was way larger than I had expected. A small bed was bolted to the ground in the corner next to a bookcase and a couple chests, padlocks and all. A tiny generator hummed near the front, powering a lamp and charging a thin silver laptop.

"This is your tent. Patrick set it up for you last night after John called us over the walkie talkie. He was real excited you'd be out here; wouldn't wait running his mouth about meeting you all throughout dinner."

I glanced around again, taking it all in. I'd be living here for the next few months, and I was actually kinda glad it wasn't terrible. "Speaking of the other people, where are they?"

Ryan paused, placing his sunglasses over his eyes and sticking his hands in his pocket. "Well we got here at about four, so anytime now. It's Josh's turn to make dinner tonight, I believe. Unless they're bringing something back, which is entirely possible if they couldn't dig out that tooth."

As if on cue, voices neared the site, followed by the rustling of plastics sheets and the scuff of boots. Ryan shrugged and pointed out of the tent. "I guess they're back early then? Just in time, too. C'mon, I'll introduce you to everybody."

"Actually I'm kinda tired-" I started but he grabbed my hand and pulled me out through the flaps, the material burning my nose with a fake plastic-y odor. My mind was still foggy from the nap I'd taken.

A group of six all carried the edges to a large sheet, the middle drooping to the ground with every step they took. I would've helped but I had no idea what was going on, so I stayed back with Ryan and watched.

The tallest one was barking out commands the other five followed without hesitation, gesturing exaggeratedly with his head to where everyone should be stepping. His wild hair bounced comically with every movement, fingers gripping on to the fabric as if it were a lifeline. The angle I was at didn't allow me to get a clear view of his face, but I wish I was able to.

As if he had read my mind, Ryan pointed and whispered, "The tall one is Dallon, the one I told you about. He's in charge of Blue. I think he was the one to suggest a trip out here and recruit most of us, with the exception of Josh and Tyler. The 2 of them have had their jobs at the museum a little after the grand opening, but Dallon has always been there as long as anybody can remember. He's left a couple times, yknow for expedition trips to other places, but other than those few times he's stayed here."

The sound of rock hitting rock echoed through the near silent air as the voices stopped, the plastic sheet fluttering to the ground.

"Pete, you broke a chunk off," a small voice said, which matched to a boy with dark hair and pouting lips, sporting an old dusty blue t-shirt and worn out khakis. "We all literally told you a billion times to be careful with that corner."

"Yeah, well it could've been the tooth that broke. Or one of the other bones." A bleach blonde argued back, black roots showing through more than the oddly dyed shade.

A guy with bright yellow highlighter hair sighed and dropped his own corner, pointing down to the rock centered between all of them. "You idiot, there was a leaf imprint right there and you fucked it up."

Ryan draped his arm over my shoulder and wandered over with me, slowly and quietly in the midst of the disappointment.

Upon seeing the hunk of rock they'd dragged back, I could see why it was such a big deal it remained intact. A large tooth was embedded in the center, surrounded by various prints of vegetation and what seemed to be feathers. Impressive, to say the least.

The conversation ceased as Ryan cleared his throat and shoved me into the circle with him. "I told you guys I'd pick him up and not kill him. This is Breadbox Urie."

The tallest one - Dallon - frowned curiously at Ryan before glancing behind him to look me up and down. Like I'd been told, his eyes were a piercing icy cold blue that stole the breath from my lungs and stopped my heart, as if his height weren't intimidating enough. He wore a sandy vest with countless pockets and boots caked in dust and laced up an inch or so past his ankles, a dark red bandana tied in a knot around his neck. Ryan was right; he was like a God. "I think you mean Brendon?"

I nodded and everybody waved without another word. Either they were really shy or upset about the broken rock, but based upon the shouting I'd heard they were far from timid.

"I-I'm Dallon," he smiled sheepishly and shook my hand, gesturing to the rest of the people standing in the circle "a-and this is the dream team."

"That's Josh. He's a paleobotanist, specifically specializing in fossilized plants of the area out in this area." The yellow haired one smiled, showing off teeth brighter than Ryan's. It made sense why he was upset about the plane leaf being broken.

"Tyler is a paleobotanist too, better with algae and fungi." The owner of the small voice grinned at the introduction too, waving again only to return his hands back to the large pockets of his khakis.

"Pete is an expert with footprints, even if he breaks the prints sometimes," Pete shrugged, holding his hands up in defense. "And Patrick right there next to him is slightly more careful with tracking. They make quite a team when it really comes down to it." A much smaller guy popped out from behind Pete, large framed glasses balanced on his nose, smile wide too.

"Spencer over there is a taphonomist, he's really good at finding out why the fossil is, well, a fossil." He was hidden behind the next person, giving a short smile before disappearing again.

"And Ryan is a paleobiologist, and thankfully he's one of the best at what he does." Dallon bumped into Ryan's side, receiving an elbow to the chest in return.

"You flatter me. But Dallon is the very best paleozoologist around, I swear on my entire career." He said, placing his hand over his heart like he was reciting an oath. They argued back and forth for a minute over who was better until Pete threw the broken corner of the rock at them.

"Ladies, ladies, you're both pretty. But now I'm curious, Brendon. What do you do? I've heard Jon tell us about how amazing you are but that's really about it."

I froze. I'd heard about every single subdivision they'd all decided on, listened through the lectures of each position, studied my own branch for years, and I'd forgotten the name. Only I could forget the name of my own profession.

"I, uh, reconstruct ecosystems and environmental factors based upon fossil and subfossil evidence."

Then they all froze in my place, mouths wide open in either shock or horror. I couldn't exactly tell. Dallon bit his lip and adjusted his weight to one side, the first to move. God, I couldn't stop staring at his eyes. There was something about them, unsettling, troubling. I'd go as far to say terrifying.

"A paleoecologist, then? How old are you, Brendon?"

"27?" I cursed myself for phrasing my answer as a question, regretting it more at their shocked expressions. Even Dallon was stunned, and he was the one that had recruited me. Well, at least I think he was. I kinda hoped so, too. I'd been told we were all close in age, so I hadn't understood the sudden surprise.

Ryan broke the silence with a weak cough, unintentionally scoffing before beginning his sentence. "I was that old when I got out of college. How'd you land one of the hardest fields, get out early, and land a job with a museum?"

"I graduated high school at sixteen as a junior, went straight to college, got to the highest degree in less than ten years and went right here."

Josh crossed his arms and smiled wider. "Dude, that's the coolest thing I've heard all day, and Tyler told me a joke about a dog in the desert." Pete agreed and everyone followed behind him, congratulating me on the accomplishment.

The sun retreated from sight over the horizon, enveloping the camp in near complete darkness. The only light was from the lamps stored inside the individual tents, probably the only light for miles around.

"We'll get back to the site tomorrow, alright guys? We can bring Brendon too. He might have some ideas as to what we found."

Regret churned in my stomach again. If they were relying on me to determine the animal, I was in far over my head. I wasn't the best at that stuff, only good enough to effortlessly breeze my way through school. Everybody said I was amazing but I always doubted them.

Everyone wandered to their respective tents, Dallon's ending up directly across from mine and Ryan's to the left of mine. Ryan sat in my tent with me for a bit while I unpacked and went through everything they'd set up for me.

"What'd you think? Do you like everybody so far?"

"Yeah, they're cool. Is that Dallon guy okay though?"

Ryan frowned, swinging his legs against the chest he sat on. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged, stuffing a handful of shirts into the box next to him. It was an instinct, really, probably not even right. "Okay look, he seems a little off. There's something about him and I just can't place it..." That was a lie. I could place it. His eyes terrified me. I'd seen pictures in National Geographic and other magazines, even met some people with similar eyes, and nobody had ever had anything similar. Maybe I was overreacting, but it was an uneasy yet undoubtedly gorgeous blue, and I didn't like it one bit.

"It might be the eyes. You know what I mean now that you've seen them for yourself," Ryan interrupted quickly and shot up, heading to the front of the tent "he always complains about his eye color being too bright and cold or something. You'll get used to it eventually, everyone dwells on it once they meet him."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone," he confirmed with a sigh, as if he'd done it himself a thousand times, "They're beautiful though, aren't they? I don't like him in that way, but man, those eyes could kill..."

"They're really something." I agreed, pushing the worrying instinct aside. It was stupid. Dallon was a nice guy. The only thing wrong was my overreactive imagination. Ryan pushed aside the entrance to the tent, ducking under and waving goodbye.

"Goodnight Ryan."

"Night, Breadbox."