There is Evil out there by Fear359 (f/f, qs, grim) It is said that when things go *bump* in the night don't investigate, /run! And run fast and do not ever look back!/ Well for three young ladies, they didn't know the difference between run away and stay and die. Stacy, Amber and Marie went into the forest to go camping for the weekend. They all had hard jobs that took it's toll on all three of them, but they hung in there no matter what the cost. They all thought that they were tough, and that nothing could ever rattle their cages. The three women climbed into Stacy's S-10 Blazer and headed out on the road to get to their favorite camp site. None of them had been there in years, but they knew the area and knew that they would be safe. As they drove along the highway, they were laughing and talking about the old times they had, and how good it was to get away for the weekend. An hour later they were turning off the main road and headed to "Get Away Camp Grounds". The music was blasting and the girls were having a good time, when they saw a sign that said, "Get Away Camp Grounds 2 miles ahead". After about 45 miles on the bumpy dirt road the girls pulled up to the camp grounds, and Stacy pulled the Blazer into a makeshift parking place. The girls all jumped out and started setting up camp. Having been camping before it only took the girls about an hour and a half to get everything ready. It was about 3:00pm when they finished, and Maire wanted to go for a hike, and Stacy and Amber were up for it. The girls quickly got changed, grabbed their backpacks and took off down the trail. The trail was pretty clear which seemed strange to the girls, but no one really had a second thought about it. About 1/2 mile down the trail the girls came upon a small fence that said, "KEEP OUT! DANGER!". The girls looked at each other and they all got this look on their faces like, "Danger? We laugh at the face of danger!". So Amber was the first one to squeeze through the bobwire fence, Marie was next, followed by Stacy. They were looking around to see what the danger might be, Stacy said it was drug dealer, and Amber thought it might be a secret goverment project. Marie looked at both of them and laughed and told them they they were both crazy! * As the girls walked on they could see that the trail was getting smaller, and it was getting muddy. Amber said that it was a good thing that she had a great job, because her new Nike Hiking Boots cost a pretty penny. They all got a good laugh at that one and kept on walking down the trail. About 300 yards down the trail the girls thought that they heard something, and they stopped dead in their tracks. Stacy asked if they heard something. Amber and Marie both said that they thought that they heard something but they weren't sure. They waited a few minutes but heard nothing. So they went on their way. A mile down the trail it broke into 3 trails. The girls all looked at each other in a daze and Amber suggested that each of they take a different trail because they had to come back together somewhere, and if they didn't, they could turn around and come back here in an hour. They all took off down the three different trails, Amber went left, Marie went right, and Stacy took off down the middle. Marie's path took her through some very thick brush. She had to keep climbing over fallen trees and walking through some standing water on the trail. As Marie climbed over her last fallen tree, she noticed that the road sloped downwards. Marie was thinking, 'Good! At least I don't have to climb over anymore freaking trees', as she started walking down the hill. As she got about halfway down, the path got slick. She slipped, fell on her butt and slid down the hill. Screaming all the way down, Marie finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Standing up and looking back up the hill she knew that she wasn't going to get back up that way, so she thought that she would find another way. As she looked around for another way out, she turned back around and saw that the path was open and that it went back up on the other side. Looking down at herself - she was covered with mud - her boots were ruined, her blue shorts were now brown, and her white tank top was torn. 'Oh well,' Marie thought, 'I'll take a bath when I get back to camp.' As Marie started out for the other side of the pit she noticed that the ground here was strange. It seemed to bounce when she walked on it. To Marie it felt funny, but nice - it was like walking on a waterbed, and the way the ground moved with her every movement was great for her feet. As Marie got almost to the center of the pit the ground started to give, and Marie was now walking in a thick, heavy mud. The more Marie walked on the heavier the mud stuck to her boots. She was dead center of the pit when it was like it just opened up and sucked her in to her calves. At first she thought that if she kept moving her legs then the muck and mud would loosen up, and she could keep going, but the more Marie struggled the more the mud pulled her in. Before she knew what was happening Marie was in up to her knees in this stuff. Marie thought that this was getting her nowhere fast, and she had to get out of this stuff fast. So she threw off her back pack and put her hands in to pull her legs out, but after a few good pulls it wasn't working and when she tried to pull her arms back out she found that they too were stuck. Now in a panic she began to scream and scream loudly. The mud seemed to be almost alive, Marie thought. If she could only get her arms free she might be able to dig herself out. She rocked back and forth the best she could but all that was doing was driving her in deeper. The muck rolled up to her waist when it hit her like a ton of bricks. 'Oh my God! I've walked right into quicksand!' And when that thought hit her mind, any and all control that she had was gone. Marie started to buck and thrash around like there was no tomorrow, and the more she thrashed the more she sank. The quicksand was like nothing Marie had ever thought it would be; sure, she had seen it in the movies, but she didn't think it would be like this. It was like this stuff was enjoying itself, loving the way that she tried to get out only to sink deeper into it. Marie kept trying to free herself, but the quicksand had her, and it was not letting go. It had a grip on her legs like a vice. The more she struggled the softer it got, but the more it hung on to her. It was too weird to put into words. The quicksand had pulled Marie to her neck, and she knew that if the girls didn't show up in the next few minutes she was gong to die. So she tilted her head back and tried to be as still as she could. She could barely breathe, this stuff was loose, but it was thick as hell and crushing her. Marie yelled one more time for Amber and Stacy, begging them to come save her from her deadly trap, but there was no sound at all from anywhere, and Marie felt herself slipping in more and more, as the quicksand began to pull her under. Marie tried to scream once more only to find her mouth fill up with foul tasting muck, as the quicksand finally pulled her under. Stacy's part of the trail was in her mind breathtaking. The beauty of the trees, the sound of the wind blowing through the trees was a sight to see and hear. As she came to a clearing Stacy heard something and turned around quickly, and what she saw made her blood run cold. It was a vine about the size of baseball bat coming right at her fast, and before she could move or scream the vine wrapped itself around her right ankle and pulled her right off her feet. Stacy then started screaming as the vine was pulling her to God knew where. The vine was pulling her along the ground, towards some dark part of the woods, and Stacy knew that she had to get out of this and fast. The vine pulled her into a dense part of the forest and then it stopped and let go of her ankle. Stacy sat up rubbed her ankle and got up to go back the way she came. As she got up and turned around she couldn't see where the opening was, so she looked down and saw the marks that she had made in the trail and started walking that way. As she got near some funny looking bushes 3 vines came out and slowly started moving towards her. 'Oh no! Not that again!' thought Stacy, and with that in mind she turned around, and started running full speed. About 20 yards into the dense forest she saw a small opening in the tree line and made a beeline for it. Stacy glanced over her shoulder to see if the vines were still chasing her, and they were - and they were closing the gap between them fast. Stacy turned back around just in time to see a small stream in front of her, and she knew that if she ran though it the vines would catch her. The stream was only about 4 feet across, and with one giant leap Stacy went airborne. It seemed like forever, but Stacy hit the ground and kept on running. After about 25 yards she made it. As she turned around, the vines had stopped just short of the stream. Shaking her head Stacy thought, that was really weird, but as long as they didn't follow her she didn't care. Stacy started walking down the dark trail. It was like night and day, one side of the trail was bright and sunny, and this side of the trail was dark and nasty looking. As she walked on the trail was getting slushy and soft. As Stacy stopped and looked down she could tell that it had either rained here earlier, or that there was a river or stream nearby. She started out walking again, and the ground became more and more firm. As she looked out ahead she could see a break in the forest that looked like a way out of this nightmare, and she didn't think twice, she just started running for it. It was aobut 150 yards away, but to Stacy it felt like 150 miles. As she broke out of the dense dark part of the forest she stopped and looked around, and what she saw made her almost forget about the vines. It was a lake, a big and beautiful lake. She didn't remember a lake being here, but then again she didn't remember the forest being alive either. So she figured that she would take a dip in the lake get cleaned up and find another way back to the girls. Stacy started walking towards the lake when she heard something that chilled her to the bone. As she turned and looked she saw it was the vines again. This time it was 10 coming at her. They were about 40 yards away from her, moving very slowly. Stacy didn't want to turn her back on them so she started walking backwards towards the lake. She thought that if she could get to the lake she would be safe. As she started to slowly make her way to the lake the ground was becoming soft again, but she didn't have the time to find a new way to get to the lake, so she kept on backing up. The mud was slowly getting sticky, and it was all over her sneakers, making it harder and harder to walk. Stacy figured that she was about 20 yards away from the lake when the vines stopped coming towards her, and started backing away from her. At first she thought that it was because the vines didn't like water, and when she took another step back she knew why. As Stacy put her left foot down she felt her foot sink into the mud past her ankle, and when she looked down she could see that her red reebok was covered in mud. But before she could pull it out again something came out of the mud and wrapped itself around her ankle. Thrown backwards her right foot came down about a foot behind the left one, and something grabed her right ankle. When she looked down, Stacy could see that it was two vines waiting in the deep mud. They just held her there, and Stacy couldn't break the hold of them. The more she tried the tighter they held her. Stacy tried to pump her legs up and down, maybe that would get her out of this. The mud was soft and maybe, just maybe, she could get loose and get away. Stacy began to move her legs up and down as hard as she could, and she could feel the vines begining to lose their grip, and then all at once they let go at the same time. Stacy couldn't believe her luck. Now all she had to do was get down to the lake and swim to the other side. But as she tried to pull her right foot up, her left one sank in the mud. So she tried the left one only to find her right foot go in deeper. It seemed that the more she tried to get out the more the mud sucked at her feet. Once again Stacy began to move her legs up and down, trying now to break the hold of the mud that had her feet. After two minutes Stacy felt the ground shift underneath her feet, and it was like she was falling. The mud sucked Stacy down to her kneecaps, and before she knew what was happening, the mud was pushing down on her feet pointing them downwards. Stacy tried with all her might to get out, but the mud was just too damn strong, and she was getting tired. The mud made a gurggling sound that scared Stacy. It almost sounded alive, and it kept on pulling her in more and more. Stacy was now at the point of passing out, and then it came to her. Mud ... sinking ... quicksand! "Oh shit, I'm in quicksand! Somebody, andbody! Amber, Marie! Help me! I'm sinking in quicksand! I need your help! Please!" The quicksand kept on sucking Stacy down. In just two minutes it had pulled her in up to her breast, and it seemed like it didn't want to stop there. It felt hungry to Stacy. She didn't know why because she had never been in quicksand before, but it felt like it was alive, and wanted to eat her alive. Stacy gathered up her remaining strength, and fought like hell to get out of this quicksand, but the harder she fought, the harder the quicksand sucked her in. Stacy had been pulled in up to her chin when her left hand felt something. It was a log. If she could somehow get turned around she could use it to get out of this quicksand. As Stacy slowly tried to turn to her left, a vine shot out of the quicksand and grabbed her left arm, and then another one shot out and grabed her right arm, and pulled them into the quicksand and then let go. As Stacy tried to pull her arms out of this sticky trap she found that her arms were now trapped, and with one final scream Stacy was pulled beneath the depths of the quicksand. Amber was walking along talking to herself when she felt that she was being watched. She called out and said, that she knew someone was out there, and that she knew kung-fu, and would kick their ass if they didn't leave her alone. She waited for something to happen, and when nothing did she went on with her walk. As she came around the bend in the trail Amber saw a flower that she had never seen before. It was just off the trail to her right, and she wanted to get a closer look at it. As Amber stepped off the trail the ground was covered in mud, but the flower was sitting on this small hill even with the road, and it was only 20 yards or less away from her. As she started walking the ground slowly started to suck on Amber's feet. At first she thought it was funny, but on she 10th step, her foot went in up to her calf, and she couldn't pull it out. Amber tried and tried, but she could not get her left foot out of this mud, so she put all her weight on her right foot, and pulled, and she was surprised when she felt her right foot go into the sucking mud with a loud slurpping sound. Now with both feet stuck Amber had to do something, so she tried to rock herself out, but the mud was not letting go of her ankles. So she tried to pump her legs up and down to get free. For a moment it felt like the mud was getting soft and losing it's grip on her ankles, and then it did. Amber's left foot came out of the mud with a loud pop. So she put her left foot down next to her right, and it again sank in the mud. Amber started to pump her legs again, and this time something happened that she had not expected. The mud turned soft and Amber was pulled in to her knees. Panic hit Amber like a runaway freight train. She kept on pumping her legs to get out of the mud, but the more she pumped the more to mud sucked, and Amber was losing this fight fast. Amber started screaming at the top of her lungs. "Help! Marie, Stacy! I'm trapped in some kind of mud, and I can't get out! And it's pulling me in! It's like ... No! No! /NO!/ Stacy, Marie! Help me! I think I'm in quicksand! I mean, I /am/ in quicksand! Please help me!" Amber was pulled in up to her waist in a matter of 30 seconds, and then she felt something strange. Something was pulling on her feet pointing them downwards. Amber had seen enough movies with quicksand in them to know that if her feet got stuck in that position she was done for. She struggled with all her might to keep her feet level, but the quicksand had other ideas. And the harder Amber struggled to keep her feet level the more ground she lost to the quicksand. After 5 minutes of trying to keep her her feet level Amber was neck deep in the quicksand, still calling for help. She was being pulled into mother earth. Amber had put her arms out, hoping to be able to float in this stuff, but the quicksand was just to strong. The mud gurgled, and Amber screamed as two vines came up out of the quicksand and grabbed her arms and pulled them in. She fought with the strength that she had left, but it was no good, the quicksand pulled Amber down hard, and fast. A truck came driving up to the pit where Marie sank, and two men got out and began to dump some kind of chemicals out of the back of the truck, and stickers on the side of the cans said "DANGER! HIGHLY UNSTABLE!". One of the men asked what this stuff was. And the other one answered, "Hell I don't know, and I don't wanna know. The boss said, dump here, and that's what I've been doing for the last 2 years. Besides who's gonna come out here anyway? We've got signs posted that say, KEEP OUT!"