TCHS Part Seven

Agan, and the eight remaining students split into four groups of two, while another student stayed behind. This was to guard the camp, and also to wait in case either Hailey or John returned. Agan was determined to find Hailey. Where the hell could she be?

He was terrified of what might of happened to her. To be honest, he could have cared less about what had happened to John. He blamed John for Hailey's disappearance. What had happened last night between them? All he could think about was John trying to take advantage of Hailey.

John was known around campus as a womanizer. The thought of that Neanderthal touching Hailey—his Hailey, made his blood boil. That being said, John was still his responsibility. He didn't want any of his students hurt, or killed. Even if he did try and take advantage of Hailey. Plus finding John probably meant finding Hailey. Of course that didn't mean he wouldn't knock John's teeth out if it was deemed necessary.

Agan and Eric kept shouting their names, but to no avail. As they walked around the rainforest, memories kept flooding back to him. He had almost forgotten how beautiful it really was. Ever since he met Hailey, something seemed to be calling him home. More than anything he wanted to show her the place of his birth. He had fallen in love with her the moment he first laid eyes upon her.

Before that day, he had never believed in love at first sight. It had been his fifth year at the university. She had walked into the lecture hall with two other young women. All three of them were beautiful, but there was something about Hailey. As the three women had sat down for class, she had looked up at him and smiled. Whether it was the smile from her ruby red lips, her chocolate brown doe eyes that burned right into his soul, or the shine of her tawny brunette hair—he knew then and there that she was the one for him.

For the entire school year, he would watch her from afar. He would see her around campus, always smiling, and so full of life. In his class he would try to use any excuse to get close to her, while trying to keep his true feelings for her hidden. The intoxicating lavender scent coming from her hair almost called to him. Best of all, she was one of the brightest students in his class. She was everything he had ever hoped to find in a woman, and at the time, he wasn't even looking.

Was it possible that she felt the same way? True she smiled at him a lot, but she smiled at everyone. He used to become enraged whenever he caught other guys, both students and professors, looking at his angel with lustful desire. He noticed she never really dated much. Was she waiting for someone else? If so, could it possibly be...him?

There were couple things keeping him from approaching her. One was the ten year age gap. He didn't know how she'd feel about that. He didn't like to brag, but it was well known throughout campus that many of the students had a crush on him. Maybe she was one of them?

Second was the fact that he was her professor. The University's policy was that professors could only get romantically involved with students that did not attend any of their classes. However, she was no longer one of his students. But would it creep her out if he told her how he felt? How could he even find the opportunity to even breach the subject with her?

That's when the idea came to him. Over the summer he could take some students on an archeological exposition of the Peruvian Rainforest. The very area where he himself grew up. She always seemed interested in his class, especially since she majored in paleontology.

He knew it would be the opportunity that he had been looking for, while also being the opportunity for him to kill two birds with one stone. Not only would it allow some one on one time with her, but it also gave him a chance to show her where he came from. Growing up in the small orphanage, he longed to get out of his small village in Peru, and see the world. However, when he first met her, all he could think about was bringing her back to the land of his birth. Not that he knew anything about who he really was.

All he knew about was that he was left at a catholic run orphanage, and that he had a mysterious benefactor that gave him the name, Agan King. Whatever the hell Agan means. As far as he knew, he was the only one in the world with that name. He asked the nuns if they had any idea who he was, or possibly where he came from.

They had no idea, but told him that he must have been a gift from God. If the gold treasure hadn't been left to him, the orphanage would have folded years ago. They honored the benefactor's request, and gave him half of the treasure they had received the day he arrived. However he didn't receive his share, until his eighteenth birthday.

Wanting to learn more about his home land, and were he came from, he used most of it to study archeology and paleontology. After eleven years of college and graduate school, he received his PhD. Soon afterwards, he received a teaching job at a university in America. Five years later he met his Hailey. It was as if his whole life led to him finding her.

But then he had to go, and screw it all up. He shouldn't have left her last night, or pouted like a small child. Perhaps he should have stayed around, and continued to have fun with the entire group. Maybe he could have charmed her by showing her his fun side. But between his headaches, and his anger over Eric interrupting the very moment he had been waiting for, he became quiet and withdrawn.

He should have known better then to leave her alone with nine male students, and three male tour guides. He saw the way they were all looking at her, especially when she came out in her alluring red bikini. Any man would be a fool not to show interest in her. What the hell was he thinking?

It should have been him, not—not that John to walk her back to her tent last night. If he had, perhaps she'd be safe in his loving arms right about now. But instead, she was now missing. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. He wouldn't be able to even go on with out her. What if she—? No, he wasn't going to think like that. No matter what happened, he was going to find her—alive!

"Professor King!", Eric called. "I think I found something!" Agan's heart began to race, he was terrified that it might be some sort of evidence that Hailey was in a lot of trouble. He ran over to him as quickly as he could.

"Look.", said Eric. "As he pointed down to the ground. "It looks like these tracks were made by a snake like creature, but they're huge"

What the hell? Thought Agan. My god! Was it an anaconda? No! Dear God! Please say that an anaconda didn't get them. Please tell me that my angel isn't—

Suddenly! They heard a loud chorus of snakes hissing all around them. Out of nowhere, one of them jumped out and attacked Eric.

"Eric!", cried Agan, as he saw the young man scream in terror. Eric's eyes rolled back into his head, as he slowly fell to the ground. Immediately, Agan got down on the ground next to him to search for a pulse. It was there, but it was faint. He had to get Eric some sort of medical attention as soon as possible.

He grabbed a hunting knife, from his belt. Agan was prepared to cut the wound, so he could suck out the poisonous venom. Since he was raised near the rainforest, that was one of the skills the nuns taught all of the orphans. He was about to do it, when someone began to talk to him.

"Put down the knife, Agan," he heard them say. Agan turned around, and to his horror, he saw that the voice was coming from one of the snakes, but he was talking to him telepathically.

"The boy is still alive, for now," said the snake, "The venom he was given was just enough to knock him unconscious."

"What the hell is going on?", cried Agan. "Dear God! How are you, a snake communicating with me?" All of a sudden Agan's emotions turned from fear, to anger.

"Where's Hailey?", he growled. "Where is she?"The snake began to laugh.

"So concerned about the girl.", replied the snake, "Just like our master. Not that we could blame either one of you. She is quite lovely, isn't she?"

"What have you done with her?" He asked in anger.

"What?", asked the snake, "You're not even concerned about the missing young man, as well?"

"What have you done with Hailey?", cried Agan.

"Don't worry about your pretty friend," replied the snake. "She is with our master, our King. I can assure you she is being well taken—care of. "

"King? What King?", exclaimed Agan. "So help me God! If he so much as laid a hand on her I'll—!"

"You'll what?", exclaimed the snake, "You know perfectly well what king I am referring to! You're originally from here! You know the legend of the Naga King! And as for laying a hand on her, I can assure you he has laid much more than that last night!"

"You bastard!", cried Agan.

"Funny," the snake slightly chuckled. "You don't know how right you are." With that, it lunged at Agan, and sank its sharp fangs into Agan's neck. He cried out in pain, as he began to slowly weaken. As he looked at his attacker, time itself started to slow down. The last thing he saw was the snake laughing maniacally at him, before darkness over took him.

"Ow my head!", cried Agan. Wherever he was, everything seemed to be spinning. As he began to regain more of his consciousness, he could see that he was in a cave. But not only that, he was also in a cage. There were actually two cages in the cavern. One containing just himself, while the other contained Eric and the other eight students; including the one who had been left behind to guard the camp. He couldn't reach them, but he assumed they were still alive.

Why would someone want to cage dead bodies? Agan began to feel immense amounts of guilt. He covered his face with his hands, and began to cry. He was in charge of there well being. As the leader of the expedition, they were all his responsibility, not just Hailey. Maybe if he hadn't been so distracted by his feelings for Hailey, they wouldn't all be in this predicament. His own childish selfishness endangered all of them, including Hailey.

"Oh I wouldn't be so hard on yourself, Agan." , he heard a voice sneer. Agan looked up, as he lowered his hands from his face. As he looked at the man speaking to him, for a brief second, he thought that his tear filled eyes were causing him to see things. To his shock, and horror, the Naga King stood before him. The snake man then let out a maniacal laugh.

"Welcome home, Agan.”

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