Caught Between a Rock, and a Soft Place by Longshot (f/m, qs, grim) Theresa trembled a little as she watched the small black and brown speckled head of a snake dance before her, its fangs dripping with venom. She almost wished now, that she'd stayed with her kidnappers. She took another ginger step back, and she almost screamed as her stocking clad foot sank into the earth behind her. She risked a quick look back to see her right foot encased in a thick brownish mud and only her tiny ankle was to seen above the surface. She tugged gently on her leg only to find that the mire refused to give it up. A hissing noise in front of her snapped her attention back to the threat before her. Dangling not a foot from her face was a rare species of poisonousness constrictor. Not that she appreciated this much at the moment, mainly because she wasn't a scientist and didn't know that the brown speckled boa was thought to be extinct, and if she did she would have probably wished the stupid snake had stayed extinct. However she was not aware of this fact and really only concerned with the fact that it seemed quite intent on her being it's prey. Her eyes ever on the snake she slowly slid her hands down her hose clad leg. Her captors being, in her opinion, sick as well as perverts had dressed her in nothing but a black t-shirt that was much too big for her and hung down to her upper thigh and a pair of black pantyhose. They claimed that this highly abnormal and totally inappropriate dress would keep her from trying to escape. She guessed there were other reasons, but those weren't important now. She grabbed her leg, and slowly leaned forward, hoping that slow movements wouldn't excite the snake any, and she could free her foot from the mire behind her. She shifted her weight to the free leg as she tugged at the trapped one, putting her even more off balance than she was before. However, with a soft *plorp* her foot came free from the mire, covered in a dark brown and very sticky mud. She slowly stood up, which apparently the snake took offense to and struck, missing her face by mere inches. The snake's sudden attack caused Theresa to almost fall over backwards as she tried to avoid it. She stood on the tips of her toes, arms windmilling, scared of what was ahead of her, and what she might find behind her. She managed to regain her balance silently thanking the years of dance class she'd been forced to take. Although her situation wasn't much better now She was that much closer to the brownish bubbling mud behind her, and the snake, apparently displeased with missing had loosened it's grip just a tad on the overhanging tree limb, and was now hanging about a half a foot from her face, well within striking distance. She uttered a soft cry of despair, wishing her boyfriend was here. Kevin was a level headed guy, not like the masked creep who'd taken her in the middle of the night, and dressed her worse than a cheap whore. Besides he knew how to handle snakes. Theresa sighed softly, because she knew he wasn't here, and would probably never find her out in this dismal marsh, and at the rate she was going, she may never see him again. She really wished he was here now though, she was really scared, and even if he couldn't save her, at least she'd feel a little better with him around, at least she wouldn't be alone, lost, and trapped. Her train of thought was interrupted again with an angry hissing, apparently she'd done something else to irritate the snake and it was rearing back for another strike. Panic took over and she turned and ran, directly into the brown mud behind her. She didn't get far and screamed in horror as she realized what had happened. She'd made it maybe four steps before her feet were trapped ankle deep in the soft brown mire. Tears began streaming down her eyes as she began to pull at her legs, still trying to run, trying to break free, pumping her legs up and down in the mud and with each frantic movement only sinking deeper into the mud. Almost exhausted from her panicked flight and futile struggle, she looked down at her feet to see that she'd sank to her hose clad knees. She looked back, and the snake was still hanging from it's branch, watching her. She thought if snakes had feelings this one was probably upset that something else had it's prey. She felt the warm sticky mud clinging to her legs, and beneath her feet, she couldn't feel anything solid. What was worse, where she had performed her panicked attempt to flee, the mud had been churned up and made softer, and she was sinking into it. She looked around desperately as she felt the mud creeping up her thighs. It wasn't a pleasant feeling for her, feeling this goo squeeze her legs. It entered her mind now that she might be in something more than mud, she might be in ... quicksand... She began to involuntarily tremble again as she began to think ... the only thing she really knew about it was that, unless someone pulled you out, your chances of survival were nil. As the mud began to claim her upper thighs, she really began to wish Kevin was here. Theresa began yet another self defeating struggle again as she felt the mire  claim her waist. She'd watched her shirt fan out on top of the mud, and then sink down into it, and fear was really beginning to set in now. She turned to the left and right, twisting and turning in the desperate hope that somehow she could free herself from this sticky trap. Beneath the surface of the mire she felt her legs being pressed together, and through her struggles her toes had become pointed down, making sinking that much easier. She felt it suck her down, her rib cage, and down to her breasts, where she stopped sinking, for a moment at least. She looked around, perhaps for the last time hoping she might spot her only chance at survival. She tried the last thing she could think of, and tried to push herself back up with her arms. This, of course, failed miserably, only causing her arms to slide down into the soft brown quicksand. She screamed, a frantic cry of help, with tears streaming from her pretty brown eyes. She began to struggle again, trying to pull her arms back out of the quicksand, only resulting in the mire claiming her shoulders. She tilted her head back, dipping the rest of her, beautiful, long brown hair into the waiting mire, where most of it was already lying, floating on the surface. Theresa tried to breathe, taking gasping breaths as the mire squeezed her chest. Still not giving up hope she tried moving her nylon clad feet under the surface, trying desperately to find something solid to stand on. Which resulted in another panicked struggle as she found that the mire was holding her legs like rubber cement. She felt the mud climb up her neck and start to claim her face. She screamed as loudly as her limited breath would allow for, although without much effect. The screams came out as more of a croak, and could barely be heard by someone sitting underneath where the snake was... if there had been someone there to hear it. Theresa closed her eyes and squeezed out a few more tears, the last thing above the surface was her eyes and nose, and she felt them slipping in. She looked up at the sky, and the trees one last time, and really wished Kevin was here, as she slipped beneath the surface. Kevin rushed up to the pool in time to see the last of Theresa's brown hair sliding under the surface. He quickly tied the rope he had brought to the nearby tree, completely ignoring the snake which seemed to be paying him no attention either just kind of hanging there, unmoving. He dived into the mire after her and fished around, just catching a handful of hair which he pulled on. He eventually pulled Theresa out and to shore. Fighting a hopeless battle against time to revive her unconscious form with mouth-to-mouth, but he was too late. The quicksand had already stolen her last breath and her life. Kevin sat back, dejectedly, looking at Theresa's still, lifeless body. He mumbled, "It ... was just supposed to be a joke ... It ... it wasn't supposed to happen like this ... Your parents even thought it would be funny if ... I kidnapped you for this." He pulled a small box out of his pocket, and opened it. Inside a gold ring with a 1/2 carat diamond sat, sparkling in the fading sunlight. Kevin took out the ring and slipped it on Theresa's muddy, still warm finger. "I ... was going to ask you to marry me ... I ... didn't expect you ... to ... do this! I ... thought ... I could reach you in time ..." He picked up her body, and untied the rope. "It's only right ... that I die with you Theresa ... this is my fault, and ... I want to choose my final fate. I'm so sorry, I wish you could forgive me ... maybe... if there is something beyond, you will." He grabbed the snake as well, and threw it into the quicksand, it made no efforts to resist his efforts or the quicksand dragging it beneath the surface. "I thought that it might be funny ... watching you through the camera in the snake ... once you escaped ... scaring you a little ..." Kevin said as he took a few steps into the quicksand, carrying Theresa's lifeless body. "When I saw that you were panicking I rushed out here and ... I was too late ... and I'm sorry Theresa, and... although it doesn't mean much now, I love you." As night fell upon the marsh all was quiet. Theresa and Kevin were never seen or heard from again, despite searches by the police, families, and friends. The only evidence ever found was the small house that Kevin had taken Theresa to and some camera equipment with the only image being a brown, grainy screen. Only the quicksand, Kevin, and Theresa knew their fate, and none of them are telling.