Bad Girlz - by PM2K (jungle perils,qs, grim)

[PM2K]

New story by me... not strictly quicksand, although it does have its role...

Bad Girlz - by PM2K
The humid air is heavy on Shiori's lungs, the very act of breathing a struggle. She gasps, then stumbles against a nearby tree, taking the moment to drag the back of her hand across her sweat stung eyes. She glances around, grim determination crushing the prettiness of her face, as the sharp network of branches and twigs she's been forcing herself through have torn and stained her white and grey school uniform.
The jungle appears endless, thick interlaced colors of green and brown stretching into the horizon in all directions. The sounds of movement causes Shiori to glance behind her. Three others emerge from within the green curtain, faces showing varying degrees of desperation and despair. Shiori looks over her companions; Misaki, the tallest of the four, and the most athletic; Riko, quiet and cold, who stands an inch shorter then Shiori; and little Aoi, short and slight, even among her Tokyo classmates, fiddling with her eyeglasses, which remain constantly coated with a steamy film of humidity.
Shiori frowns. They still look to her now to lead, as she had done throughout high school... her girl gang, something right out of the exploitation movies of the 1970s. Sheesh. She shakes her head, then informs the trio they will be resting here for a time. The three collapse where they stand, looking grateful for the opportunity.
Shiori tries not to stagger even as her own legs give out. If only they knew... She didn't have a clue where they were going... I mean, what do I know about navigating this green hell? she thinks to herself. Too tired even to wave off the clouds of insects buzzing around her head, she closes her eyes.
God... how could a senior trip end so badly? An image of a face floats before Shiori, forcing her eyes to snap open. "Kaori..." she growls, the name like bile in her mouth.

"Hold her down!" Shiori snarls angrily, as Riko and Misaki pin down another student to the bed. Kaori struggles desperately, flailing with the strength of one who knows they are about to die, but is determined to fight. Her eyes bulge as Shiori, who straddles the helpless girl, presses down harder. Her hand clamps down over Kaori's mouth and nose, shutting off her air. Aoi, cringing in the corner, sobs hysterically.
"Stop it! Please... she's my.... our friend! You're killing her! Please..." she keens.
"Shut up!" Shiori says angrily. "Just shut up! This is all your fault, you stupid bitch!" She flinches as one of Kaori's knees strikes her in the kidney. "Get her legs!" she snaps to Misaki, who nods quietly and lets go of Kaori's right arm to head towards the foot of the bed.
Aoi continues to sob, as Misaki reaches down to try and grasp the struggling girl's ankles. All my fault... all my...
Aoi had been absorbed into the gang by a form of osmosis. She had known all of its members since primary school, and they all lived in the same apartment complex, but she really had no one to call a friend.
Then by chance she met Kaori and the pair became inseparable. Here was someone outside the circle who really understood her and her needs, and their times together were bliss. Holding Kaori's nude form tightly to hers in the night was the closest to heaven Aoi ever experienced... and she could have cheerfully died in her lover's arms without the slightest regret in this world.
And then Shiori found out.
The spark was one of the gang's many after school activities which kept the local police hopping. This time, breaking and entering, with Aoi once again acting as lookout. But, distracted by thoughts of Kaori's warmth and her wonderfully musky scent, she let down her guard, and the apartment's owner, an elderly pensioner, walked in on them rummaging through her possessions.
It ended badly, and soon they were running, fleeing the sounds of the old woman's skull being crushed under Shiori's sharp blows. Aoi, distraught, fled to Kaori to tell all, who while shocked, agreed to keep her soul mate's confession to herself. But she urged Aoi to go to the police.
The day before the senior trip to the jungles of the mainland, Riko spotted Aoi and Kaori kissing passionately behind a garden wall. She reported this to Shiori, who, well aware of Aoi being the weak link in the chain which bound them together, began to plan...

"NO!" Aoi surprised them all, including herself, by the strength of her cry. Even Shiori is startled, enough so she let up her grip on Kaori's face. The girl squirms, gasping, and her eyes lock on Aoi.
"Help me! Please... Aoi..." she manages to say, before Shiori clamps down her hand to smother her cries.
"Dammit... Aoi... would you just keep quiet..." Misaki says, finally getting a grip on Kaori's thrashing legs. "This is all your fault, blabbing to her about that old woman... " Riko glances over to Aoi even as she maintains her grip on Kaori's left arm. She smiles coldly.
"No, dammit! Let her go!" With a strength she never displayed before, Aoi dashes forward, and surprises Misaki by driving her shoulder into her. The impact knocks the larger girl onto the floor, with Aoi falling on top of her.
The sudden motion catches Riko and Shiori off guard, and both slacken their grips. Kaori bucks hard, and with her free right hand rakes Shiori across her face with her nails. Screaming from the pain, Shiori raises both of her hands to the bloody gouges. Freed, Kaori twists hard, sending her attacker sprawling into Riko, who whirls off the bed.
"Aoi! Let's go!" she says, launching herself towards the door. Aoi struggles to get up to follow, but is tripped up by Misaki, who grabs her left leg and twists, knocking her to the ground.
Hearing her cry, Kaori hesitates, glancing at her lover. Then something slams the breath out of her.
She falls to her knees, all of her remaining strength melting away. Behind her stands Riko, who smirks. With a jerk, her right hand pulls away from Kaori's back, revealing a long bladed switchblade, wet with blood.
"Oh... no.... Kaori..." Aoi says softly, unable to fully digest the moment. "Forgive me... please... I..."
Kaori's mouth opens, but only a thick trickle of blood bubbles out. She seems puzzled by her inability to say anything, but manages a weak smile to Aoi, as if to comfort her. Misaki rises slowly, her face frozen in shock. "Oh, Jesus... what the fuck did you just do?"
Riko laughs, a short chilling bark, then in one smooth motion pulls Kaori's head back. Before anyone could move, she slashes her throat, sending a massive spray of blood arcing over the length of the cabin's room. Kaori manages to make some soft bubbling noises before collapsing prone to the carpet, her life rapidly bleeding away into the ugly orange fabric. She twitches briefly before falling still, her stare locked on Aoi, who utters a thin wail as she watches the light go out of Kaori's eyes.
Riko looks over at the carnage, and begins to giggle. Misaki stares in disbelief at the amount of blood staining everything, even as she restrains Aoi, who struggles, utterly inconsolable.
"Holy crap..." Riko says, her face aglow in wonder. "Wasn't that something? I mean, I really did it... Did you see the way..."
Shiori rises to her feet, her face twisted by rage. Riko turns to look at her and feels her grin slide away when she sees her expression. Shiori storms over to Riko and slaps her hard across the face. The sound makes everyone jump.
"You stupid, fucking bitch! What the fuck did you do?"
Riko looks confused. "I... I don't... I mean, you said you wanted her dead..."
"Not like this!" Shiori said. "Christ... what a mess... You forget the plan? We smother her, dump her off that scenic lookout, wait an hour, then tell people she went out for a walk and never came back! Easy!"
The room falls silent, save for Aoi's quiet sobbing. Shiori shakes her head. "What a colossal fuck up... no one is going to believe anything we say now..." Misaki stands, letting Aoi go. She in turn crawls over to Kaori's body, lifting her head up from the carpet, and rests it gently on her lap. She brushes the dead girl's hair with her fingers, mewling quietly.
"What the hell are we going to do?," Misaki says, on the edge of hysteria. "I mean, how can we explain this? How can we..."
"Why bother?" Riko says, regaining some of her original composure. "I say we just walk away... tell people we went out and came back and it was like this... maybe blame it on resort staff or something..."
"Shut up. I need to think..." Shiori purses her lips, biting the lower one.
"Are you nuts?" Misaki says, glaring at Riko. "Thanks to your Battle Royale act, we're all soaked in blood! This whole room, our clothes, our suitcases, everything! What the fuck is wrong with you? Haven't you heard of forensics?"
"Nope..." Riko says waspishly. "What site can you download them from?" She slowly waves the knife around, which continues to drip blood.
"Both of you.... shut... the... fuck... up!" Misaki and Riko both look at Shiori, and fall silent at a glimpse of her fierce expression. "I think Riko is right..." she says. "We need to get out of here.... and fast."
"Okay..." Riko says, her face calm. She wipes the blade casually against the white bedspread, which is splattered with crimson, and folds the stiletto, concealing it on her person. "Where to?"
Shiori takes a deep breath, holds it, and lets it out slowly. She is all too aware of the weight of their stares. "Remember our safety lecture when we first got here on not to leave the resort area on our own..."
"Yeah... because of the jungle and the bandits..." Misaki replies. "But I thought those guys were history..."
"Maybe... but they have kidnapped people from time to time..." Shiori said, her mind whirring swiftly. "So, we head into the jungle... keep walking for a couple of days... then by the time they find us, we claim someone nabbed us, and we escaped... or ran away and hid from them when they entered our cabin."
Misaki stares at her, an incredulous look on her face. "Are you kidding? Who's going to believe that?" she says.
"You have a better idea?" Shiori retorts. "Kaori is lying dead in our cabin, and everything is splattered in blood. I'd love to hear how you'd explain that!" Misaki frowns, then falls silent.
"Right, it's settled..." Shiori says. "The bigger the lie, the more likely it is to be believed, right?"
Riko motions her head towards Aoi, who continues to cradle Kaori, quietly sobbing. "What about her?" she says, her eyes narrowing.
Reading her intentions, Shiori shakes her head. "We don't harm our own..." she says. "We'll take her with us, as always. Besides, this story will work better if there is just one body and not two to explain..."

"It's punishment... divine punishment..." Shiori bites her lower lip and turns to scowl in the direction of the voice. Aoi is leaning against a fallen log, legs drawn tight against her chest. Misaki and Riko glare at her with increasing irritation as she continues to whimper.
"Punishment..." Aoi utters again. "It's punishment... the judgment of heaven... against bad... bad girls..." Riko shakes her head.
Misaki snaps "Shut up... just shut up..." but makes no effort to get up from the jungle floor.
"That poor woman... and my poor, poor Kaori... oh, please forgive us..."
Shiori struggles to her feet. It has been only a day since the four had left the resort, and already they were on the verge of total collapse. Not only that, but she had lost her bearings almost from the moment they entered the jungle. For all she knew, they could have been within shouting distance from the resort, but thanks to the density of the vegetation, there is no way to tell.
"We have to keep moving..." she says. "Find some shelter or something... I know I don't want to spend the night out here in the open..."
"Oh? Didn't plan for sunset? That's a surprise..." Misaki says acidly. "I thought you had everything worked out..." Shiori casts her a cold glance, then glares at Riko, who is sporting a bemused and distant smile. There is something in that girl's expression I really don't like.... she thinks.
"We deserve this..." Aoi mewls softly. "We deserve to..."
"Would you just shut up already?!" Shiori snaps. "This isn't helping any of us..."
"No shit..." Misaki says, then stands. Looming a head and a half taller than Shiori, she uses every inch of her height to glower down on their leader, who returns her defiant glare.
"Something bothering you?" Shiori says, her tone icy. Misaki snorts.
"There is..." she says. "Do you know where you are leading us? Hell... do you even know where we are now?"
"The jungle..." Riko says, and starts giggling. Maybe it was the heat, or the exhaustion weighing on all of them, or the grimness of their situation, but for the first time ever, Shiori hesitates, and drops her guard. Misaki stares at her, seeing the flicker of doubt in Shiori's eyes.
"You really don't know, do you?" she says. "Oh my God... you don't know..."
Riko bursts out laughing, a chilling sound. Aoi falls silent, save for some low murmuring. "Look... wait..." Shiori says, trying to regain the control she feels slipping away. "I just need to get my bearings, that's all... This can work, if we just..."
"Stick together?" Misaki says, then she laughs, a horrible keening sound, dangerously close to sobbing. "Oh, that's rich... sticking together got us into this mess in the first place!" With that, the tall girl whirls around and begins to walk away, into the thickets.
"Wait, Misaki, wait!" Shiori calls out after her, inwardly cringing for sounding so needy. "You don't know... I mean, you can't..."
"I've had it... fuck this..." Misaki says over her shoulder, noticing how the other girls just stare at her. "I'll take my chances with the jungle... God knows, things can't get any worse than..."
She never finishes the sentence.
A large blur falls from the trees above and slams Misaki to the ground. Stunned by the crushing blow, she is dimly aware of a hot wet mouth closing in around her neck, and a large furry mass pressing down hard on her body.
"Kitty... what a big..." The thought flickers briefly through her mind, before the jungle cat's jaw crushes her neck with a brittle snap. Then all goes dark.

The actions of the massive feline cause all three girls to jump back in shock.
"Jesus..." Shiori utters, watching Misaki's body thrash feebly beneath the predator. The sharp sound of breaking bones preclude any rescue effort, and soon her twitching limbs are stilled.
"Oh.... man..." Riko says, clearly awestruck by how swift the cat had been. Aoi merely cries out wordlessly, then dashes into the jungle, panic stricken.
"Wait, Aoi! Oh, you stupid..." Shiori curses, then heads off in pursuit.

The vegetation tears at her, making forward progress nearly impossible. Instead, she scuttles sideways, trying to weave a path between the trees and vines. Part of her is amazed someone like Aoi is able to move so swiftly through the tangled forest. The rest of her wonders why she is even bothering.
Because I don't want to be alone with Riko watching my back... The thought rises unbidden, but its truth cuts deep. Riko always unsettled her, but now... now she didn't trust her at all.
Shiori pauses in her search, listening for sounds of Aoi. Strangely, she can't hear anything to indicate where the girl had gone. What she does begin to hear instead surprises Shiori. Water. The gurgling of flowing water. It is faint, but the more she concentrates on the sound, the more distinct it becomes.
Water... a river? The river! For the first time since they entered the jungle, Shiori smiles, and a sense of relief begins to form. I get to that river, I have a way out of here, she thinks. And maybe... She begins to make her way towards the sound.
Maybe Aoi has come to the same conclusion, and is waiting for her on the riverbank. Maybe something happened to her and Riko... and Shiori is coming to the conclusion that may not be a bad thing. Things do happen in the jungle, she thinks. Bad things. If the dead could be made to speak, she is certain Misaki would agree....
The river appears suddenly, the sight forcing a sharp gasp from her. The water sound is a lot louder now, and she realizes much of it had been muffled by the landscape and vegetation, masking its location. A short laugh escapes Shiori, as she gazes over the roiling green waters. The resort overlooks the river, and further downstream are clusters of villages, small towns...
Eagerly, she works her way towards the water course, down the inclining forest floor, ignoring along the way the many welts crisscrossing her bare arms and legs sting, and the sharp pains in her cramping muscles... So intent on her goal, she fails to notice the ground, which is heavily carpeted in ferns and other green growth, suddenly fall away beneath her feet...
Losing her balance, Shiori tumbles painfully down the steep slope, seeming to hit every tree, branch and rock on the way. After endless moments, she finds herself falling free... then grunts as she crashes through a thick curtain of reeds... hitting the ground far below with a wet smack...

Aoi leans against a thick tree, tears running down her face as she struggles to breathe. The snarls of the big cat have faded, as did the sounds of Shiori's voice calling out to her. She couldn't even hear the noise of the bigger girl's progress through the jungle, either.
Sheer panic had carried Aoi a bit of a distance from the scene... large animals had always terrified her.... but the density of the jungle had kept her from going far. Her vision obscured because of fogged glasses, she had managed to run straight into the tree she is now using for support, a blow which knocked her senseless. The dense undergrowth must have hidden her from view, for Aoi was vaguely aware of Shiori passing close, but she had neither the air nor the strength to call out in response to her calls.
Now she was gone and Riko was gone and Misaki was dead and Aoi is alone... oh, God.... so alone... Aoi finds herself struggling to keep her senses, but is rapidly losing her grip... it is like a nightmare she cannot rouse herself from....
Like the others, she grew up with no close family. Only an elderly aunt cared for her, and she had died this past year. For years, all Aoi had was the other girls... no matter how bad things had gotten, they stuck together....
Then Kaori came into her life, and Aoi only realized then how much she had really been missing in her heart and soul. To find her had been bliss and a true awakening of her self. To lose her...
She tries to will herself to stop whimpering. Surely someone will be looking for them, if only to find out their connection to Kaori's murder. All I have to do is wait it out. If I keep running, it'll make things worse...
Aoi removes her glasses and wipes them on her tattered blouse. The act calms her down, and a strange sense of peace comes over her. Yes, she thinks, I'll wait right here for the authorities... I'll tell them everything... and accept my punishment with a light heart... Then maybe I can ask for Kaori's forgiveness...
The sounds of someone approaching through the brush makes her spirit flicker with hope. Without her glasses, Aoi can't see clearly, but she calls out, almost happily.
"Over here! I'm right..."
She never feels the knife enter her.
Aoi gasps in surprise at the weird combination of spreading warmth and bone-chilling numbness emanating from her stomach. Her fingers go slack, dropping her glasses. Extracting the blade, Riko steadies the other girl by gripping her shoulder with her left hand, then stabs her several more times in rapid succession, gliding the blade in effortlessly between the ribs. She smirks in satisfaction as Aoi slowly sinks down to her knees, blood bubbling from her mouth, then collapses against the tree she had earlier been leaning on. Her unfocused eyes look at Riko with an mix of astonishment and disbelief.
Wordlessly, she turns away from the wounded girl, and makes her way further into the jungle, following what she guesses is the path Shiori took.

As the world slowly comes back into focus, Shiori is made aware of two things almost immediately. She is soaked to the skin, and is nearly overwhelmed by a rich, earthy stench. Struggling to make sense of this, she opens her mouth to take a breath to steady herself only to be forced to spit out a wad of thick, foul tasting muck instead. Lifting her head, she glances around to find herself lying in a marshy area, surrounded on all sides by tall reeds and jungle grasses.
Where the hell....? Shiori sits up slowly, pushing herself upright using her hands, which sink slightly into the sodden ground. Frowning, she sees she had been lying face down in dark-colored mud. Looking upwards, she manages to catch a glimpse of trees standing atop the cliff face she must have tumbled off of during her rush to get to the river.
How the hell did that happen? she wonders. The river didn't look that far away... and this gorge came as a complete surprise. Shiori curses her own carelessness. She had based her bearings on the light bouncing off water, but the forest's lushness screwed up her sense of distance.
Groaning, she slowly flexes each joint and stretches each muscle, and after completing her inventory comes to the conclusion her body is in working order.
"Lucky..." she says quietly. If not for this wetland, she would have broken her neck.
Standing slowly, she finds the ground to be wet and spongy underfoot. Under bare feet, she corrects herself, realizing she has somehow managed to lose her shoes in the fall. The mud feels rather nice, if a tad slimy, and looking ahead into the curtain of reeds, she sees the way in front of her looks relatively clear of rocks and other sharp objects.
Shiori nods to herself. She had already ruled out trying to climb the cliff to head back, and decides to keep following the sounds of water, reasoning this marshy area should be lining the banks of the river. Unmindful of the fact her blouse has torn open, she begins to push herself forward through the thick reeds.

Riko stands at the edge of a cliff, and whistles softly. While she hasn't seen any sign of Shiori since leaving Aoi behind, the presence of this land feature leads her to believe maybe she wouldn't have to go through the trouble to gut her too. Pity... she thinks. I would have liked to have seen the look on her face...
Peering over the edge, Riko shudders. She never liked heights, and the thought of tumbling off to lie broken at the bottom of the gorge makes her cringe. Looking straight ahead, she spots the glistening sparkles of moving water, and smiles. That's the way to go...
Walking carefully along the cliff, parallel to its edge, Riko wonders again if Shiori had fallen off. No matter... even if she hadn't, a smart girl like her would have done what she is doing now, looking for another way down, while following the general direction of the river. If she did, Riko would catch up to her eventually...
Shortly before the jungle cat had snapped Misaki's neck, Riko had been thinking very carefully about the events over the past day or so. Like Aoi, she came to the conclusion search parties would track them down eventually, once they stopped moving. Once found, she also had no doubt sooner or later her friends would let slip, either by accident or design, that she had killed Kaori.
Never mind Shiori herself decided she had to die and Misaki agreed... if it came out, it would end up being all Riko's idea. Maybe Shiori would take advantage of that to pin the murder of the old woman on her too...
Even if those two held true, Aoi, who had been tricked into inviting her lover over to the cabin, certainly wouldn't keep quiet about it....
Riko's decision came surprisingly easy, coming moments after the cat eliminated her biggest obstacle, and Aoi's panic did the rest. Now with that little bitch out of the way, and Shiori likely dead or crippled, all she had to do was follow the river's course.
After all, there was no reason why someone who bludgeoned to death an old woman in her apartment wouldn't be capable of killing others, forcing them into the jungle at knifepoint, before a jungle cat attack allowed Riko to escape...
She smiles, picturing the scene played out to her rescuers, who shake their heads in amazement at her incredible tale of survival against the odds... so unlike her brother, the coward who murdered their parents while they slept, then was later killed in a police ambush while running with the Yakuza. The brother who taught her everything, including how to use a knife... sliding it home into her mother's heart while he held a pillow over her face to muffle the screams....
Riko stops in place, and looks at the stiletto, which she had been carrying all this time after stabbing Aoi. She is reluctant to part with it, yet knew she had to get it away from her. Despite her snarky comments earlier in the cabin, she knew precisely what forensics was...
With a grunt, Riko straight arms the knife well into the distance, losing sight of it as it arcs its way well beyond the edge of the cliff. She sighs, staring after it for a time, then continues to follow the path she has set upon...

For the first time since she had entered the jungle, Aoi feels close to peace. The oven-like heat, the suffocating humidity, seems far away now, lost in a comfortably cool pool of numbness. Breathing is becoming a chore, but even the realization she is bleeding to death doesn't bother her, neither is the fact she cannot see clearly, her glasses lying out of reach.
I wonder if anyone will find me, she thinks, suddenly bothered by the possibility no one would pray over her bones. The idea she may end up haunting this place as a result would have made her sit up with a start, if she had any strength left. Maybe... maybe that is just... Aoi sadly concludes. I've been doing bad things... people have been hurt.... people have died... as a result. If only I had done something... like Kaori wanted me to do.
A small tear trickles down her left cheek. She is comforted by the thought at least Kaori had someone to lay her soul to rest...
A blur dances in front of Aoi's eyes, but she no longer has the ability to move them, and even to squint in an effort to focus takes more energy than she possesses. The blur nears and begins to coalesce. Aoi tries to say something through a mouthful of blood, but cannot. She is dimly aware of a shape beside her, and wishes she could turn towards it.
Then, Aoi is surprised to feel two hands gently take hold of her face, and as her vision clears she finds herself looking into the smiling face of Kaori. With all her heart, Aoi wishes she could move her arms to embrace her. In a moment, she finds that no longer matters, as Kaori reaches down to hold her close instead....

Gasping for breath, Shiori stops, ankle deep in dark slime, and tries in vain to wipe away the sweat which pours down her face, stinging her eyes. Cursing to herself, she no longer feels the thousand cuts left by the grasses she has spent hours wading through, nor the itch of the countless mosquito bites riddling her bare skin.
Trying once again to get her bearings in the tall reeds, she is stymied yet again by their height, which has their tops swaying a good foot and a half above her head. Even the sounds of the river are proving to be useless to get a direction off of, as down here in the reeds, the waters' babblings seem to be coming from all directions at once.
"Fuck!" Screaming out loud before she explodes helps a little, but Shiori suspects no one is nearby to hear it. She slowly shakes her head. Where did I ever get the idea this would be an easier path to the river?
The trek has been a merciless and endless slog, which has left her arms streaked and legs black from swamp muck up to the hemline of her tattered skirt. She had earlier removed her torn blouse to try and fashion some sort of head covering, leaving her bare from the waist up save for her white bra, which is now spattered with mud and grass juice.
That hat was now lost, the victim of a bog hole which opened up beneath her, plunging Shiori waist deep in mud. After some panicked struggling, she had managed to free herself, but lost the blouse in the process. Now, hours later, her head splitting from the beat of the merciless sun, which had burnt her exposed skin red, reeling from exhaustion and dehydration, she is wondering if she would ever get out of this green hell.
Staggering forward, her right foot snags something under the mud's surface, and with a cry Shiori topples forward, landing awkwardly with a splash. Rising again from the spongy soil, she feels her bra strap let go, and her firm breasts spring free from their constraints.
"Of course..." she mutters, then decides to hell with it. Trapped for so long beneath fabric, the humid air feels soothing against them, so she decides to leave herself bare. When it came down to it, she is too tired to even care anymore. Standing up, Shiori moves forward again, pushing aside reeds as best as she can, while her feet keep feeling their way carefully. She thinks of the others - Misaki, who she met at the government-run school for children without families, poor little Aoi, helpless as a kitten, Riko, dependable in a fight but always with a chilling look in her eyes... They always looked to me for leadership, she thinks. We've always come out on top. Now... how did this go so wrong? How?
Lost in thought, Shiori finds herself surprised by a clearing which appears beyond the reeds. Stopping at the edge, she sees a flat expanse of dark mud, maybe ten feet across, streaked with green and spotted with small tufts of grass scattered about. In the center lies a shallow puddle of water, but it was beyond that which really catches her eye.
Through a thin gap in the reeds beyond the muddy expanse, Shiori can clearly see the gently rolling movement of water, with just a hint of whitecaps. The river! It's the river! Shiori stares at the sight for a few moments, uncertain if it is real. She finds herself sobbing with relief, and before she is fully aware of what she is doing, her legs are moving her forward in a rapid lope.
The mud gives readily beneath her feet, and she sinks from ankle to shin in a single step. Anger and frustration over yet another barrier to her goal gives her the strength to rip free and leap forward... only to plunge up to her bare thighs in mire.
"Dammit!" With the river beckoning, Shiori thrashes and twists around, attempting to free herself. Straining forward, she makes a bit of forward progress only to sink further, this time past her hips. Reaching downwards with her toes to find some sort of support to push against, Shiori feels nothing solid beneath her, only more churning mud. Her actions cause her to slip deeper into the muck, and finding herself now waist deep and sinking sends a shiver of alarm to vibrate through her body. Watching the shallow puddle slowly vanish into the mud before her eyes, which quakes slowly in response to her motions makes her wonder if she is stuck in...

"Quicksand? No way!" Riko shakes her head in frustration and disbelief, and grabs hold of her bare leg to pull hard. Her efforts fail to budge it from the iron grip of the mud. Rising upright once more, she frowns.
After following the ridge downwards, Riko had reached the reeds several hours before, and had been running into trouble as Shiori had. Unlike her, though, she had retreated to be closer to the ridge, and has been trying to stay to the edge of the reeds and more solid ground.
Still, it remained tough going, with this damned glue-thick mud everywhere. Several times, Riko had gotten stuck, and it was only after a mighty struggle was she able to break free. Now it appears her luck has run out as she finds herself knee deep and stuck firm in the muck.
The thought she might be caught in quicksand was dismissed as fast as it appeared. First off, it is clearly mud, and second she can feel its bottom firm beneath her feet. Still... Riko doesn't like being held fast like this... memories of that big cat still make her shudder, and God knows what else is out here. She leans forward again, grabbing her right leg with both hands, and pulls. Nothing. The trapped leg doesn't move an inch.
"Crap..." she mutters. Force isn't getting me anywhere...
Riko had just come to the conclusion she is going to have to dig her way out when she hears something bulky moving through the nearby grasses. An icy stab of fear cuts through her stomach. Frantically, she tries to free herself from the mud, splashing and clawing desperately at the wet earth. The sound nears, and seems to speed up, dashing towards her with terrifying speed...
With a frightened squeal, Riko catches a glimpse of a wide, triangular-shapes head, then the python breaks cover, and in an instant coils itself around the trapped girl, starting from her knees to loop around the rest, trapping her arms tight against her sides. Riko utters a cry of sheer terror, her mind shredded by hysteria. Giant snakes were a nightmare come to horrible life, and this one is intent on crushing the very life from her struggling body...
The snake responds to her motions by tightening its grip on its prey, even as it continues to work its way upwards. Riko is finding it harder to take in air, the coils clamping vice-like against her waist and chest. The python is a young one, and not as strong or powerful as an adult would be. Under an adult's coils, Riko would have been crushed within minutes, but with this particular snake, her death struggle is prolonged and painful.
If I had my knife, I might have a chance... she thinks, even with my arms trapped... Waves of terror sweep through her, giving her the strength to keep fighting to free herself, but the python is just too strong to dislodge. Driven by instinct, it continues to coil around her. Riko cries out as the creature's head passes close by, and for a moment sees herself reflected in its cold, reptilian eyes. Then it sweeps past, as it loops itself around her neck...
Feeling the python's dry skin rub against her throat sends Riko into a panic, but all she can do is writhe in place. The mud continues to hold her firmly even as the coil slowly begins to strangle her.
Unable to move, to resist, all Riko can do is gurgle. Her eyes bulge out of their sockets, her tongue extends, her face darkens, and a thick stream of spittle bubbles out of her open mouth as the python's coils keep tightening, squeezing shut her airway. Her body jerks and spasms grotesquely, then topples backward, legs still stuck firmly in the mud.
The python continues to tighten around Riko until all movement ceases, then looks over its prey. It may have noticed itself reflected briefly in Riko's lifeless eyes, but it didn't dwell too long on it. Instead, the python unhinges its jaw and begins the long process of swallowing the meal it worked so hard on securing. It takes nearly twenty minutes to ingest Riko's head, but she is well beyond caring. Taking in her shoulders takes several hours. The rest is easier.

Oh, god.... this... this can't be happening... Shiori struggles desperately to keep above the thick slurry of mud and grit, but is rapidly losing the fight. She can't believe how swiftly the muddy bog has sucked her down. Once sunk to her waist, in no time at all her navel slipped under, then her ribs.... all while she fought to get any sort of handhold or traction to get out of this stuff, to no avail.
The muck baffles her to no end. It acts loose and watery, yet remains thick and heavy, like being trapped in bottomless muddy pudding. Shiori pauses in her struggles only to have the stuff thicken around her. Now her bare breasts press against the dense surface, and it takes all her strength to keep her arms above the mud.
Looking around once again, she sees nothing within reach to grab onto and use as a lifeline. Shiori battles to keep from panicking. If I stay still, I should be able to float in this stuff, she thinks, but that doesn't seem to be working. To emphasize the point, she feels her nipples stiffen as the cooler mud oozes over them, and shudders at its touch as it slowly fills her cleavage. Below, her feet remain trapped, pointed downwards in what feels like far thicker stuff. But it too relentlessly sucks hard on her limbs, dragging her down deeper with each passing moment.
Shiori bites her lower lip to keep from whimpering. I'm going to drown in this swamp filth... I'm going to drown and no one will ever find me...
Scowling, determined to chase away such thoughts, she decides to try to swim out. Sitting here passively and waiting to slip under went against her nature. Better to die fighting, she thinks. Gathering the last of her strength, Shiori lunges out with her arms and claws at the thick mire, while thrusting forward as hard as she can. To her growing despair, all the action does is drive her down to her shoulders, while trapping both her arms under the muck. Desperately, she tries to pull her limbs free, but succeeds only in pulling herself down deeper, and a cry escapes her as the mud flows over her shoulders to surround her neck.
"Oh god... please... no..." The mud is everywhere, relentlessly weighing her down, sucking hard on her form... Shiori's struggles beneath the surface become more frantic, causing the mud pit to churn and wobble in all directions. She cries out for help out of desperation, and tilts her head back as thick wet earth flows over her chin to lap at her bottom lip. The mud cradles the back of her skull almost gently, even as it stops up her ears and surrounds her upturned face. Shiori feels herself slipping under, and her cries trail off to whimpers once again.
So close... she thinks, catching one more glimpse of the river beyond the reeds. So...
For a moment, Shiori thinks she sees four figures standing along the edge of the reeds... two stand apart, their stances angry, while two others hold each other close.
"I'm sorry... sorry..." she finds herself saying, as the muck presses against the corners of her eyes and mouth. "Please... forgive..."
The two angry figures vanish with a sharp hiss, as if they were flames blown out from a match. The pair linger for a moment, then slowly fade away, heads leaning against each other. Then Shiori slips under, the muck filling her mouth and nose, forcing a thick spray of bubbles gurgling out to mark her passage as she vanishes beneath the thickly heaving surface.

[Viridian]

That was some pretty heavy stuff. Very Battle Royale-esque. Nicely written!

[kham]

Nice work, some good stuff in this one

[PM2K]

Thanks for all the comments! Yep, I'm a fan of multi-perils myself. Something for everyone...