The Deathly Quest

Chapter 1

The flap of her tent fluttered in the air, tickling her face and waking her up. It was early morning, the sun was barely up. She snuggled into her warm and cozy sleeping bag.

"Hey Susan what's the time?" Ashley asked sleepily.

No response.

"Susan! What's the time?!" Ashley asked again.

"5:25..." Susan said sleepily.

"What? It's already time to wake up?" Ashley groaned.

 It was her duty to make breakfast. She groggily got up and went outside. It was a very peaceful time. It was not yet light, ebony clouds floated in the sky. The birds merely chirped fluttering from one tree to another. Light wind swayed everything within its reach and she could hear the near-by creek gurgling. There was a tinge of dull orange in the horizon. It seemed a perfect day to commence their mission. She merely placed a frying pan on the electric stove and started making breakfast for the entire team.

"Where's Kate gone to?" Daisy asked as she came out of her tent.

"She's not in there?" Ashley asked, her mind elsewhere.

"No! That's why I am asking," Daisy said.

"Oh then maybe she went out for a stroll," Ashley suggested.

"Yep! She's such a nature-freak!" Susan said accompanying them.

"Cut it out man! Nowadays you are always being mean to her!" Ashley said exasperated.

To which Susan just smirked.

  In a while, the boys joined the girls for breakfast and they all ate while discussing the plans of the big day. They were all eight in all:

Four girls, namely: Ashley, Daisy, Susan and Kate.

Five boys, namely: Firenze, Andrew, David, Dan and Paul.

"We should go deeper into the forest." Firenze declared. "That's where the rare/about to be extinct species of Cobras usually are," he emphasized.

"So should we start right after breakfast?" Ashley inquired.

 "No, let's wait for Kate. Are you guys forgetting she's a team-mate too?" Paul said. Who rather had a soft spot for Kate.

"Yes that WILL be better. We'll start as a whole team," Firenze said. He was practically the head of the team as he got straight A's even at university level and was a very good scientist.

 They all ate heartily, knowing they had a mission to accomplish. Later the boys helped the girls to do the dishes, just for the sake of killing time.

"Where is she? When the hell will she come back?" Susan whined.

"I am starting to get worried," Paul added nervously, "After all it IS one of the most deadliest jungles that we are in.."

"But we aren't even inside the jungle yet. We are still on the edge remember? That's where the helicopters dropped us," Ashley said.

After idling around for a good measure of time while everyone complained, they finally received orders from the command center back in their homeland-America to start the mission.

John, a big, burly and balding man and his partners would be helping them through out the mission from overseas had finally told them to get a move on.

Time's running out. Start the mission. Maybe you'll find Kate on the way.

The message from John read.

It was at 12 in the noon that they received the message and Kate hadn't returned since dawn. They all started the preparations right away assuming that Kate had just got lost. This wasn't unusual in the wilderness....She wasn't even threatened by the wildlife because it didn't start until 20 kilometres exactly. She was a big girl, she could take care of herself...

"Don't forget the test-tubes and the syringes!" Firenze yelled to his team.

"Yes sir!" Ashley shot back enthusiastically.

"And the mosquito repellent!" David muttered while swapping away at mosquitoes.

Dan, Andrew and Paul handled the tents and stuffed them into rucksacks. The girls floundered lending a helping hand now and then. At exactly 12:30 PM they loaded the rucksacks which weighed over a ton into the jeep which had been delivered by the private cargo plane. Right after they had set foot in the jungle from the private helicopter.

This was all thanks to John that they had access to these private helicopters, planes and now a jeep!

Dan took the wheel an immediately Susan lunged for the front seat. There was no way, she'd miss an opportunity to be with Dan.

"So where to?" Dan asked glancing in the rear-view mirror.

"Hmm..let's see," Andrew said, sliding his glasses higher and squinting at the map. He was good when it came to anything related to text or paper. He was a born bookworm...

"Presently we are right at the edge of this vast jungle, right where the helicopters dropped us. It's a very rough map. As one can expect since there ARE no maps of jungles. It's just something I Printed out from the net really.."

"Move on geek squad!" He was cut short by Susan.

"Right. About 20 km ahead, we'll get to see the real wildlife of this jungle. Whereas, the Cobras are present even deeper inside so for that a further more kilometres," Andrew said.

"Wildlife! Here we come..." Dan said while clutching the gear.