Struggling in bubbling, sacrificial quicksand

Put fingers to keyboard and make your fantasies come to life!
User avatar
AK47
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 12:46 pm

Struggling in bubbling, sacrificial quicksand

Postby AK47 » Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:12 am

Another one of my first-person stories. Enjoy!





The fog was so thick in the woods that you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you. The thicket was clearing up, only a few dead trees appeared in front of me here & there, leaning unnaturally. I was careful to watch myself in this area, there had been stories of savages living in these woods that would kidnap hikers & kill them as sacrifice to some spirit they worshipped.
I heard a noise & turned my head around to see that it was nothing. But I continued to walk forward with my head turned back. I walked for a couple more feet like this before I stumbled into a huge pit, cause I wasn’t watching where I was going. I fell about 5 feet and landed with a thud onto a cracked-up surface of dried mud. I shook my head but then quickly got up, this seemed like a perfect place for some headhunter to jump down & shishkabob me with a spear & I didn’t want anyone getting the drop on me.

I stood waiting there for a minute but nobody showed up. I looked around & saw that I was standing in a giant 5 foot deep hole in the ground that was about 20 feet wide. I could faintly make out big & small trees surrounding the pit through the fog. I spotted a single piece of frayed, thin rope stretched at about waist-level across the middle of the pit.
“This is weird,” I said out loud. Now it was time to get myself out. I walked to the edge of the hole & reached over to climb out. At the same time, I felt the earth move under my feet, like it was shifting beneath me. Undeterred, I began hoisting myself up over the steep angle of the pit’s edge…only for it to give under the weight of my arm that I was using to push myself up. I slid back down the pit, but there wasn’t a thud when I came down that time.


CRUNCH-KABLOOP

I looked down & saw that my legs had broken through the dried up mud surface. I was now up to my knees in creamy, brown mush.
“Oh, awesome,” I muttered. I went for the hole’s edge again but now I couldn’t reach. “Ugh, dammit.” Then I remembered the rope & turned around. It was only a few feet away. “So this is what you’re for!” I began slogging through the mud towards the rope, breaking up dried surface along the way. I looked across the pit & saw that the cracks in the surface were beginning to fill up with wet, creamy muck. I was nearly at the rope when I felt a drop off. The mud made a muffled bubbling sound as I sunk up to mid-thigh. The mud was now looser & made ripples around my legs. I felt myself settling in even deeper, I looked down & saw that I was slowly sinking. Then, all around the surface, bubbles starting forming & popping.

“Is…is this quicksand?” I nervously asked myself out loud. My mind flashed to the movie scenes where someone would fall into a pit of quicksand but would be rescued quickly before they went under. I wouldn’t get a rescuer out here in the middle of nowhere. “Guess I really do need this,” I said as I looked at the rope. I grabbed it & gave it a tug.
I heard a snap & the rope quickly went limp, then quickly snaked out of my hand like it was being retracted by some kind of machine. Along with that, a bunch of torches all around the edges of the pit above me lit up! The lit torches illuminated animal skulls tied to the trees surrounding the bog. I quickly realized my predicament, this was some kind of sacrificial bog.
“Oh…oh no,” I said as the reality set in. I looked down & watched myself sink in up to my hips. Then I remembered that I just need to keep still in this stuff. I just needed to keep still, I would stop sinking & then I could work on a way to get myself out of this quagmire.

So I tried remaining as still as possible. I kept settling in deeper. My heart began to race as the quicksand crept up my waist & half-way up my abdomen. This wasn’t working. I continued to settle into the pit deeper & deeper.
“HELP?! SOMEONE! I’M STUCK IN QUICKSAND!” I cried out. No answer, just the breeze blowing through the woods. I was on my own. There was nothing around for me to grab onto, so the only choice I could resort to was trying to “tread” in this stuff. I began bicycle-kicking my legs & stroking my arms in the creamy brown quicksand.
My descent was slowing! I was still sinking but I was buying myself more time. I continued to look for something to latch onto, but this spot was perfectly inescapable. I was right in the middle of this bubbling pit & my only chances at salvation were high up on the edges of the bog, way too high & way too far for me to reach. I sunk in up to my chest.
“Think, think, think!” I said to myself. But I drew a blank. There really was no way I could save myself from this stuff. If that thought wasn’t bad enough, I was already starting to become exhausted from struggling in the bog. My resistance became less intense…and I began sinking faster again.

“HELP! I’M CAUGHT IN QUICKSAND!” I futilely shouted, again; nobody was coming to help. The muck churned, swirled & bubbled as I settled in up to my shoulders. I kipped & squirmed to slow my descent but it was no use now. The quicksand had me now & I was totally helpless.
Who would’ve thought I’d end up here? Trapped in a pit of killer quicksand & sinking helplessly to my own demise.
Bubbles popped with loud splats as I descended up to my neck in the quagmire. I kipped again, this time, the quicksand punished me by surging me down deeper very quickly. The cool creamy clay lapped at my chin.
Then, I felt my foot hit a gas deposit. The entire bog began to bubble more violently as the muck became even looser.
“No, please, don’t!” I begged the quicksand. But it was too late, I felt myself surge under & I was completely sunk. I struggled & squirmed to reach the surface again, but it was of no use. My lungs burned for air. I lashed & lashed until I could take no more, and the quicksand claimed another victim.

Stephymink
Posts: 177
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:41 pm

Re: Struggling in bubbling, sacrificial quicksand

Postby Stephymink » Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:01 am

I enjoyed this story a lot, thanks for posting it!


Return to “Stories”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest