The Deathly Quest

Chapter 2

This chapter is dedicated to @IAmApplePie for genuinely liking my story.

PS:I wanted to surprise you with the dedication but you beat me to it! 

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"Okay guys, the jeep can't go in any further. We'll have to get off here," Dan declared with a air of finality in his voice.

"What? Walk where deadly snakes are slithering around," Susan panicked.

"Na-uh, I am NOT getting out!" Ashley agreed.

"Aww c'mon, there's no need to be afraid when I am here to protect you," David said winking at her causing her to roll her eyes and huff.

"There's no other way," Firenze said. "Out everyone."

With a lot of grunts and sighing everyone got out. Firenze hung the backpack with all the test-tubes, syringes and hung a camera around his neck. Even Ashley and Andrew took cameras in-case they came across something exotic. It was a forest after all!

"Hey guys! Look at those tracks in the mud!" Ashley pointed excitedly.

"Hmm..interesting," David said.

"Looks exactly like a track made by a massive Cobra," Paul observed.

The track seemed to be embedded deep in the muddy floor of the forest, portraying that the snake was heavy. There were stripes of narrow length rutted in the mud. The narrow lines ran length wise which meant that the snake had stripes on it's body which ran horizontally. The track seemed to be about a scale wide.

"Let's follow it!" Daisy exclaimed.

They all started following it, being very aware and conscious at the same time. Firenze was in the lead. After walking for about fifteen minutes, the trail ended at the trunk of a huge tree.

"Huh? So abrupt?" Ashley wondered out loud.

"Careful! That might mean that the snake's in the tree!" Daisy warned.

"Ohhh!" a gasp escaped Dan's throat who had just rounded the wide tree trunk and caught every one's attention.

"What's wrong?" Susan asked with concern on seeing his colour turn paper white. He seemed to be frozen in place. They all went round to him and were struck with what they saw before them...

The sun was begining its slow descent. The sky was a swirl of fruity colours which looked like a hand-i-work of some professional artist. The birds were returning to their nests in the trees and right in front of them lay Kate's dead body.

"H..how?" Ashley tried to force out the words but she couldn't. Everyone was too tongue-tied.

Paul bent down near Kate's body, eying her with a mournful expression. Silent tears flowed from his eyes. Her body once so lithe and beautiful now lay broken, bruised and bloated. He gently tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. Kate's eyes were still open depicting sheer surprise. He closed them realising with a sharp pang of pain that this was the last time he would see his own reflection in those brilliant blue eyes.

He felt as if he had been stuck underwater for too long. His lungs had a burning sensation and his heart ached. He couldn't breathe. His throat seemed to have clamped shut. Again and again he was being hit by the fact that Kate had died. The centre of his small world. But he couldn't quite register it. Her smile, he knew he would never forget and this distorted image of her body would haunt him for years to come. Being relentless and unmerciful never leaving him in peace.

Being hit by these realisations felt as if someone was beating the living daylights out of him. He couldn't take it anymore and before he knew it, he was in hysterics. The snake's bite was evident on her neck. It was swollen and the blood had dried up. A test-tube and a syringe lay near her body.

"Wha..why did she have a test-tube and a syringe with her?" Daisy asked between muffled sobs.

This seemed to bring eveyone's attention. They were all too transfixed by what they saw before them. For a while no one could conjure up a sensible answer.

"One thing is for sure...she walked all the way here from our initial camping place. The test-tubes show that she wanted to collect venom. But why alone? We already had plans to do exactly that," Andrew puzzled.

"Simple," Susan said who hadn't even shed a single tear.

She was met by seven pairs of questioning eyes.

"She wanted to show us up," she replied coldly.

"How DARE you say that?" Paul screamed, taking all his anguish out. "She is dead now! All because of you! Always taunting her for not being a very good scientist. She took you guys way too seriously and then paid for it by loosing her life! Might as well shut up now that she is dead!"

"Paul..she shouldn't have gone alone," Ashley said quietly.

"Damn right she shouldn't have! But she did because of you all," Paul screamed, his face beetroot red.

"Can't you accept the truth even when it's staring you in the face? She was dumb and it cost her her life!" Susan retorted.

"Why you.." and with that Paul tried to lash out at her but was stopped by Dan and David.

"Cut it out Susan!" several people scolded her.

"And Paul, on the whole it isn't our fault entirely," Firenze said earnestly, "somethings are bound to happen...." he trailed off.

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I seriously hope hope you guys like this chapter! 

Don't forget to tell me what you think.