Anna sat on a log, hoping for a chance to rest. She had spent the day hiking with her boyfriend William, or Will as she preferred to call him. “Alright there love?” he asked kindly as she caught her breath on the log. “Yes I’m fine, thanks.” And then she slowly stood up and found her way into Will’s waiting arms. “This has been so fun.” She murmured lovingly into his chest as they embraced each other. “Any time with you is fun for me,” said will back, “but yes, today was very special.” Anna looked up at him. He was half a head taller than her and was gorgeous. He had bright blue eyes with gold flecks that shone brightly at her. His skin was a warm bronze that only somebody who spends a majority of their time at the beach could attain. His hair was dark and messy on top of his head, and was in need of a haircut, but Anna thought it was adorable when it fell into his eyes. “I love you” she whispered to him and he held her close. “I love you too.” He replied, and then they kissed.
They had only just broken apart and were walking again down the hiking trail holding hands when a voice from behind them yelled out, “Freeze!” Anna’s whole body tensed and she gripped Will’s hand tightly as he pulled her close. Without turning around, Will replied, his voice surprisingly steady for the position they were in, “Who is it? What do you want?” The voice replied, slightly louder this time, “Step away from the girl.” Will’s answer was immediate, “No.” Behind her, Anna heard the distinct sound of a gun being loaded, the person called out again, “Let’s try this again,” and he raised the gun, “step away from her, and put your hands on your head.” Will was mortified. He knew he had to protect her, but either way, she was in danger, of either being abducted or shot, the latter seemed far worse to him, and he complied. “Don’t worry love, you’ll be ok.” He whispered to Anna as he backed away, she replied only with a scared whimper.
The man then barked at Anna, his voice was low and husky, but had a dangerous edge to it that made Anna wince whenever he spoke, “Turn around and face me, no sudden movements, or I’ll shoot, and I warn you, I shoot to kill.” Anna knew she hasd no choice, and slowly turned around to face her soon to be captor. He iwas covered by shadows, and all that she could make out was that he was tall, big built, and was dressed all in black as well as heavily hooded. “Mmmm a pretty one, this should be fun.” He sing-songed tauntingly as he darted forward with surprising speed and seized Anna by the waste. Anna let out a loud shriek of terror before he clamped his hand over her mouth, silencing her cry immediately. Will reflexively sprang forward to help Anna but the man sent him a hard punch to the temple and he crumpled to the ground. Anna let out another scream, and the hand was over her mouth again, and this time he whispered, “One more time and he dies.” The man’s arms were now securing Anna’s hands behind her back with a thick rope as she sobbed quietly, not wanting to cause Will any more harm. Once her arms were securely bound behind her, the captor tied another rope around her ankles and began dragging her backwards. “Please,” she cried softly to the man, “Please stop. I don’t know what you want, but I promise we can get it for you, money, information, anything, just please let us go.” The man just chuckled in response as he dragged her now struggling body across the rugged terrain.
After several minutes of being dragged like this, cuts and blisters began to form along Anna’s feet and legs, causing her intense pain every time the man moved forward. “Please, I can walk, I promise I won’t run away, it hurts too badly, please, untie my ankles.” The man considered this for a moment, and figured that she was in no state to escape anyways, and a blood trail could be dangerous. He slowly untied her raw ankles and continued pulling her along. Anna had to run a little to keep up with his long strides as he pulled her forward for what felt like eternity, and the sun was setting when they reached a river, and he decided they were at their destination. He dragged her over to a tree and bound her to it, tightly. The ropes dug into her ribs and stomach, making it hard for her to breathe, but she knew he wouldn’t loosen them no matter how much she begged, so she just tried to take as shallow breathes as possible. The man stepped back and assessed his captive. Anna truly was a beautiful girl. She had long chestnut hair that flowed to the middle of her back in silken waves, startlingly vivid green eyes that now shone with fear and tears at her situation, and porcelain skin covering a slim but curvy body, which was now covered in cuts and bruises from the journey. The man then walked back to her and secured a gag over her mouth. “I’ll be back, I would tell you not to try and escape, but you couldn’t anyways, so what’s the point. Don’t try calling for help though; if I hear anything, your boyfriend dies. At the mention of Will a spike of terror rose through Anna’s body. What would happen to Will? She had last seen him unconscious on the forest floor after being hit by her captor, but where was he now? Still unconscious, or worse? She shuddered at the thought. Her captor then bound off into the woods and out of sight, leaving a terrified and struggling Anna bound tightly to a tree. She tried to struggle against her bonds, but she quickly found they were too tight for any chance of escape, and her struggle was only causing cuts to open across her body. Her aching body leaned across the tree, defeated.
It seemed like hours before her captor returned; this time with Will draped over his shoulders like a rag doll. Will was not a small guy, years of surfing had earned him muscles that made every girl swoon, so the fact that her captor could carry him with such ease made her feel sick with fear of the possibilities of what he could do to her small frame. He dropped Will to the ground by the riverbank. Her eyes quickly searched his body, looking for signs of life; she let out a sigh of relief (or would of if those damn ropes weren’t so freaking tight) when she saw his chest rising with quick, shallow breaths, shallow, but there. “Well my pretty,” Anna’s feeling of relief was quickly filled with horror as her captor set his gaze on her bound body, “now the fun can begin.” He then walked over to her tree and untied, she only realized how weak she was when the ropes were untied and she found herself unable to stand, and falling onto the mossy ground beneath her. “Get up.” Her captor barked at her, as she lay on the ground, motionless. She then found whatever strength she had left and made her way slowly, and painfully, to her feet, only to see the barrel of a gun pointed straight at her head when she straightened up. She let out a gasp of fear and reflexively stepped back onto the riverbed behind her, which quickly melted and swallowed her up to he ankles as soon as her feet touched the ground. Anna let out a horrified gasp as she gritty substance closed around her ankles. She tried to step forward onto solid land, when she realized that the sand had secured around her feet, leaving her trapped and sinking, she then realized with horror what was happening, she was sinking in quicksand.
“No! Shit! This can’t be happening!” She cried out as the hungry sands swallowed her calves. In her terror she began fruitless efforts to free herself, all her previous weakness from before gone, and replaced with an intense energy to survive. Her pointless efforts to escape only led to the sand pulling her down to just below her knees, and she could feel herself slipping under more with every second. “Will! Will wake up! Help! I’m in quicksand! WILL!” she yelled out to her boyfriend, but he was still not responding. Terror seized her every molecule as the sucking sands settled above her kneecaps, sending shivers across her every body. Anna darted her head in every direction, searching hopefully for anything to pull herself out with, any chance of freeing herself, when her eyes landing on her captor. “You,” she spit at him, “you did this. You sick son of a bitch! Let me out! I swear to god, if you don’t I’ll-“
“Sink slowly to your doom?” he cut her off, “Oh I know darling, but you sure are putting on a good show for me. Why don’t you try to get yourself out first, then maybe I’ll help you if you’re hopeless beyond compare.” Anna was in shock. He had meant for this to happen. Her sinking and struggling were somehow amusing to him. She suddenly felt sick, and angry. Fury replaced fear as she scooped up a ball of the deadly sand and flung it at her captor. The efforts brought her down a few more inches, and the sand was now settling around her toned thighs. Fear was back again, and worse than ever. “Oh god, no. Please, somebody! Anybody! HELP ME FOR FUCKS SAKE! I’M IN QUICKSAND! HELP!” The sun had now completely set, and she knew in her heart that there was nobody left to hear her cries.
Anna was now desperately trying to claw for something to save her, as the sand claimed her hips. Sobs escaped freely from her trembling mouth as her fingers grabbed at grass, trying without success to pull her self-free of the mire. Seeing that this wasn’t working at all, Anna began to struggle. She frantically twisted her hips, trying to loosen the sand that was now gripping her body like a vice.
The captor smirked. This was his favorite part. Watching the girls thrash around and struggle as they tried to save themselves, but only driving themselves deeper. The look of horror on their faces when they realized this always sent an erotic shiver down his body. He licked his lips and continued to watch the show put before him.
Meanwhile, Anna was trying harder than ever to free herself. She was twisting her hips around frantically while digging at the sand around her body, but both were just sending her in deeper, and the sand was now creeping up towards her navel. Anna realized this quickly though, and became still as the sands shifted beneath and around her. Fear paralyzed her as she realized that she was now sinking rapidly. She tried shifting her feet around but only managed a mere centimeter, but that was enough to shift the un-sturdy bottom beneath her, causing her to sink to her ribcage in a few seconds. Anna let out a scream. She screamed and screamed until she couldn’t anymore, and now the sand was beneath her breasts, but she had stopped sinking, for the time being. Anna was mortified. It was suddenly dawning on her that she was doomed. With her one hope of surviving lying unconscious mere meters away. An idea popped into her mind. Maybe, if she could reach Will, she could somehow shake him awake, or something like that, so that he could save her. With her captor preoccupied with staring at her disappearing body, she tried to move forward to reach Will. Bad idea. This one tiny movement has caused her to sink mid-breast, and breathing was suddenly becoming extremely difficult, as the sand tightened around her ribs and chest. “NO!” she shrieked.
Her captor suddenly became hard, he sighed in ecstasy as he watched her begin to shriek and cry for help, and he swore he heard her begging for mercy somewhere, but he was not paying attention to her voice, only her beautiful body, which was slowly disappearing into the deadly sands in front of him.
Anna was wishing that she had dressed more lightly as it dawned on her that her heavy duty hiking pants and sweatshirt were helping to drag her to her doom. She somehow managed to pull of her baggy sweatshirt revealing a white tank top turned see through from the moisture of the sands beneath it, but at the cost of sinking to past her breasts, and breathing was now barely possible. Every part of her body was screaming in agony as the sands squeezed her with an impossible tight grip, where she was already cut and bruised. Anna had never known pain and horror like this before, and she realized she never would again, and that she would never do anything again. This was where it ended for her. She let out a sob as she called Will’s name, but he still didn’t wake up. Anna had one last hope; she scooped up a ball of the wet, sucking sand, and threw it at Will. To her shock, and delight, it landed on his cheek, and the coldness jerked him awake. He sat up groggily and looked around, confused.
“WILL!” Anna screamed, the sand was now up to her collarbone, and keeping her arms out of the sand was becoming painful, but she knew it was the only way for her to have a chance of survival. “Help me! I’m in quicksand, hurry! Please!” Will’s blue eyes found her body almost completely concealed in the quicksand, and his heart nearly stopped. There she was. The girl he had fallen in love with five years ago, and had silently pined after for 3 of those years before plucking up the nerve to ask her out, and now she was shoulder-deep in quicksand. “HOLD ON! ANNA HOLD ON! I’M GOING TO SAVE YOU! DON’T WORRY! I LOVE YOU!” But holding on was becoming harder and harder, and she swore she heard one of her ribs crack as the sand slowly crushed her, but she didn’t have enough air to cry out. All she could do now was sob silently as the quicksand slowly claimed its next victim.
Meanwhile, the captor upon seeing Will awake, was furious. He wound up his fist, ready to strike that pestilent boy, but found that he had been expecting a blow, and yelled in pain and rage as he grabbed and snapped his wrist, and sent a punch towards him that sent him crashing to the ground. Will only had one moment to feel triumphant about beating the captor, before realizing how hard it would be to save Anna. The sand was wrapped around her body tightly, and he could see the life draining away from her with every tiny breath she took. Will quickly picked up the longest and sturdiest branch he could find, and extended it to Anna.
Snap. There goes another rib, Anna thought to herself as her body screamed in agony and pain, that’s when she saw the branch. At first she thought she was hallucinating, but then she realized that it was Will, she was going to live. She grabbed onto the branch and Will pulled, but they both quickly realized that Anna did not possess the strength to hold on, she was too weak. “Don’t worry, I promise you. I will save you. Please, hold on!” Will assured her as he scrambled to find a way to get her out. He spotted a rope that was lying around a tree, he then realized with horror that that rope had probably been used to tie up Anna, rage filled his body. He sprung forward, seized the rope, tied it around a tree, and sprinted to the edge of the riverbed. “Anna! Give me your hand! Hurry!” the sand was up to her neck, and was making its way towards her chin, she had maybe one minute left before she either suffocated, or was finally dragged completely under by the deadly sands. Anna reached forward with the last of her strength and Will grabbed her hand. He tied the rope securely around her elbow and told her to hold on with everything she had, which at this point wasn’t much. “ANNA HOLD ON! I’LL GET YOU OUT!” Anna could only nod in response, with caused her to sink further down to her lips, which were shut tightly to block sand from entering. Will saw this and pulled harder. Anna moaned in pain as she was slowly pulled out of the mire by her wrist. Will had managed to get her out up to her collarbone when he realized this wouldn’t work, he needed a new plan. That’s when it hit him. Leverage! That would help get her out quickly and more easily! He found another rope and tied it to the one tied to Anna, which gave him a rope that he could easily fling over a branch and pull on from the other side to free Anna, using a combination of his strength and body weight, she would be free within minutes! “Anna I’ve got it! You’ll be out soon! But Will doing this had put slack on the rope, and she quickly had sunk past her lips, and the sand was dangerously close to blocking her nose, which would mean death within seconds.
Will pulled with everything he had, and than tied to rope around his waist and leaned back as far as the rope would let him. This caused Anna to rise out of the mire quickly and effectively, she was free now almost to her ribcage, but he needed to keep going. After ten more minutes of mixed pulling and leaning on Will’s behalf, Anna was now free up to her waist, and was still rising. Slowly, but surely, Anna was almost completely free from the quicksand, until she was out completely, and was now dangling in the air from her wrist, which now appeared to be broken. Will ran over to Anna, still pulling on the rope to prevent her from falling back in, and grabbed her body. Anna was in shock. She was free. Will had her. She was going to be all right. She kept repeating these things to herself until her exhaustion took over and everything went black.
Anna awoke lying on a soft patch of moss, every part of her body shrieking in agony. She let out a moan which Will picked up on immediately. “Anna! You’re awake! You’re safe now, you can relax, that evil son of a bitch is gone.” But Anna couldn’t relax. Will was soaking wet, and was covered with gashes and nasty-looking bruises.
“Will,” she said horsely, her throat felt like sandpape as she tried to speak, she realized it was from her screaming earlier, but she continued on anyways, “what happened? Are you-“
“I’m fine darling. He woke up, and put up a fight, but he’s gone now, for good.” Anna was about to ask what he meant when he said ‘for good’ but she quickly realized when he saw the pained look on his face as he stared at the quicksand that he had just hours before saved her from. The captor was gone, died the way he tried to make Anna. Karma’s a bitch when you are Anna thought to herself, and then turned to Will, “He’s dead, isn’t he?” she asked.
“Yes,” Will confirmed, “but Anna please listen I-“
“No. I’m not mad at you Will. He would’ve killed both of us if he lived. It had to happen. I love you, no matter what.”
Will just stared at her, he couldn’t fathom how a guy like him could have ended up with a perfect girl like her. She was smart, compassionate, kind, and not to mention drop dead beautiful. He whispered back “I love you too, forever and always.” And then scooped her up princess style and carried her back to the trail, where a dispatch team had been sent to look for them, and lowered her onto the stretcher. Anna and Will both thought to themselves, ‘It’s over. We’re free. Life is fine.’
THE END
