If this is your Idea of Fun ...

                                  by Longshot
                                (f/f, qs, grim)


The  latest  from  my  twisted mind... I wasn't sure if I wanted to make this a
Vicki  Story  or  not  and  finally  just decided not. So, at any rate it's the
latest from my twisted mind.

                                       *

Tracy  awoke  with  a  horrendous headache. She shook her head gently trying to
clear  the  fuzziness from her vision and the pounding in her head. She blinked
as  she  looked around, everything was dark, with a fluorescent purple sheen to
it.  She  realized  it  was  from  the  blacklight  that  hung overhead, barely
illuminating  the  room. There wasn't much to see here, a plain wooden door and
four  empty  walls,  all  painted black. Tracy blinked as she tried to remember
exactly what happened that caused her to wake up - here.

She  remembered  she'd  been  walking  her  dog through the park. It had been a
mostly  quiet day, then Butch had started barking. She'd told him to hush, then
she  felt  something  poke  her  in  the back of the neck, like a bugbite, then
darkness.  But why would someone want to drug her? She pondered what she'd been
working  on.  She  was  a  reporter  for the local newspaper, and she must have
stumbled onto something big. If someone was willing to kidnap her then she must
have,  but  what was it? There was the drug deals out of the amusement park and
then  the  tuna  factory that was a front for some gun runners and all sorts of
things  she'd  blown  wide  open in the past. She groaned softly, realizing she
could have ticked anyone off.

Tracy  struggled to her feet, normally she was in excellent shape, but she felt
sore  all  over. She touched her shoulder and winced, realizing she was bruised
there.  Further  exploration  revealed  that  she  was  bruised all over, as if
someone  had  beat the hell out of her. As Tracy staggered to her feet, she was
glad  she  couldn't  remember  that.  She could also tell her dress was torn, a
large  chunk  from  the right side. She shivered as she wondered what else they
did to her. Raped her perhaps? The mere thought sent shivers down her spine and
made  her  head spin. The drugs seemed to still be in her system. She collapsed
to her knees, then she fell to the floor, unconscious.

A  man  walked  into  the  room  and  stood  over  Tracy.  Seeing  that she was
unconscious,  he  slid  a  hand  under her chin and looked at her face. "Such a
pretty  girl. It's a shame you're nosy too. But it's alright, we have plenty of
surprises  for  you,  and  when it's all said and done you'll beg us to tell us
everything  you  know." He pulled a syringe out of his pocket and stuck it into
her  arm.  "Time  to  rise and shine, little girl." He pushed down the plunger,
injecting a clear blue liquid into her arm, then walked out of the room.

Tracy  awoke again, the grogginess was gone, and the room had stopped spinning.
Tracy  looked  around  again  and inspected herself. Her shoulder length, sandy
blonde hair was a mess. Her dress had survived, mostly. It was a sundress, thin
straps  held  it  on her shoulders. It was tighter, complementing her curves to
about  her  waistline  where  it poofed out, allowing her to move easily in it,
while  it fell to her ankles. A white t-shirt that cut off at her midriff, with
short  white  sleeves,  designed to go with the dress. Her feet were covered in
white  socks  and  keds.  Other  than  the  bruises  and the tear in her dress,
everything  was  intact.  She  decided  it  was  time to get out of here before
something else happened.

Tracy  tried  the  door and was rather surprised to find it unlocked. Hoping it
was  just  stupidity on the part of her captors she began to run down the hall.
She  barely  noticed  the hall was dark and lit in a manner similar to the room
she'd be left in, but she stopped as the hall ended. Before her was a room with
a  chessboard  style floor. Black and white tiles alternated, and combined with
the  stark  white  walls,  made the room look like an abandoned entry hall to a
hospital.  She  shook  her  head  and  took a step onto one of the black tiles.
Before  she  could react, a blade shot out of the wall and tore into her arm as
it  passed  by  her. Tracy cried out and fell to her knees. She grabbed her arm
where it had been sliced and felt the warm blood trickle between her fingers.

A  booming  voice  called  out  to  her mockingly. "Tsk, Tsk, Ms Frenza. You're
falling apart before the fun even starts."

Tracy  looked around quickly, forgetting about her arm for an instant. "Who are
you? Where am I? Why did you kidnap me?"

The  voice  laughed.  "You'll  have plenty of time for questions later. But for
now, you need the rules of the game."

Tracy blinked "Game? I'm not playing any games."

A panel slid out beside her with a strip of white cloth. "No one asked you what
you  would or would not do. Take the bandage, unless of course you just want to
bleed all over yourself."

Tracy looked at the cloth skeptically, but deciding it was either it or destroy
her  dress  further,  she quickly grabbed the cloth and pulled it tightly about
her arm.

"Excellent,  Tracy.  Now,  the  rules are simple. Cross the room, moving as the
piece we allow you. The pieces are chess pieces, and you may move as far as you
like  within  it's limitations. If you stray from the path, then another of the
blades will be there to greet you."

Tracy  gave  the  room another look, she wasn't much of a chess player, but she
knew  enough  to  see  that she was in the white queen's position. The door was
across  from  her  in  the  black  king's  space. She heard a bong, and a light
indicating  a  Bishop  piece  lit  up.  Tracy  decided she wasn't going to take
chances  with  more  blades, so she took off towards the left wall, diagonally.
She heard the bonging noise again and looked up. The bishop was gone and a pawn
appeared. She took a step forward and waited. The rook appeared. She decided to
realign  herself  with the door. She smiled, she was three steps away. "This is
too easy," she mumbled to herself. The bong again and the knight came up.

Tracy  made  a  face.  "The  /knight?/"  She walked forward her two spaces. She
paused.  The door was right there, all she had to do was step forward one more,
open the door and run through before the blades caught her. She bit her lip; it
was  now  or  never. She rushed forward, but before she could reach the door, a
searing  pain  ripped  across  her left ankle. She stumbled, and another ripped
across her right shoulder. Tracy screamed in pain as she grabbed the door knob.
A  white-hot  streak  of  pain  across  her cheek, she fell to her knees as she
turned the knob. She cried out as another blade ripped across her back, and the
knob fell off in her hand, almost at the same time. Tracy slumped over; she was
bleeding  all over, another blade whizzed by, clipping a few falling strands of
hair,  and sending a swift breeze across her bleeding cheek. "Please stop!" she
whimpered.

"You broke the rules. You loose this game."

Tracy  noticed  the blades had stopped and started to pick herself up. Then the
floor disappeared beneath her.

Tracy  screamed as she felt herself sliding down a chute. It spiraled down into
darkness, finally roughly depositing her onto a stone slab with a sudden jolt.

"Welcome  to  the second game, Tracy. Perhaps this time you'll pay attention to
the rules."

Tracy  looked  up  at  the  room. A gray floor seemed to go on endlessly in all
directions.  She  was  sure  the  walls were painted like that to mess with her
head. "What do you want from me?"

The  voice  laughed  again.  "You're  not ready to know that yet. Pick your way
carefully through the maze, or else you may find yourself gasping for breath."

Tracy  looked  around  "What  maze?"  A  tentative  step  forward  answered her
question.  The  grey  floor  squished under her foot. "Ewww!" Tracy sighed. She
didn't  have a lot of choice. She was bleeding from several places and couldn't
afford  to  wait  around  to bleed to death. She stepped forward again, and her
blood soaked shoe disappeared in the greyish ooze up to her ankle. She followed
suit  with  her  other  foot,  stepping forward through the ooze. She grimaced.
"Look on the bright side Trace, at least your ankle stopped bleeding."

Tracy  slogged  along,  turning from time to time; she seemed to be doing well,
even  though  she still wasn't sure where she was going. About then, things got
worse.  Tracy took another step forward, fully expecting the ooze to accept her
foot  to  her  ankle.  However, she almost lost her balance when it didn't stop
there.  She  quickly brought her other foot forward and both legs sank to their
knees  in  the  sludge.  Tracy looked behind her and could see she'd traveled a
good  distance.  Her wounds had stopped bleeding, but she was getting weak from
the  loss  of blood and the constant struggle through the ooze. She bit her lip
and paused to rest. She glanced down as she felt something odd against her bare
legs. The ooze had slid under her skirt, and began to engulf her thighs.

Tracy  gasped,  she  was  sinking.  She pulled at her legs trying to free them.
"What  is  this  stuff?"  she  groaned as she discovered that she couldn't move
either  of her legs. Her skirt flared out as she sank into the ooze. "You can't
do  this! Please ... help me!" she cried out, looking around the room. "Please,
help me!"

The voice came back on again. "Hmm? Yes, you are in a bit of a spot aren't you?
You found the deep end of the cement pool. And the door was so close, too!"

Tracy  glanced down at her quickly disappearing thighs. "Cement?" she cried. It
explained  the  gritty  texture of the ooze, why it was scratching at her legs.
She was sinking into wet cement! She reached down into the goo to pull her legs
free.  Panic was setting in as she envisioned herself as a block of cement. Her
hands  slid  in  easily,  almost up to her elbows, but pulling them free wasn't
quite  as  simple.  She  grabbed  her  thigh and almost screamed. Her thigh was
covered with a thin layer of semi-hardened cement.

Panic  set  in  and she began to squirm, twisting her hips, pulling to free her
arms  from the cement, struggling madly. Her efforts only increased the suction
the  cement had on her body, causing her to sink deeper and faster. She saw her
waist,  then  her  rib  cage  disappear.  Panic  subsided  into  silent terror,
partially  because  she  couldn't  move  anymore.  Her arms were trapped at her
sides,  and  her  toes  pointed  downward. She was a human fence post, set into
cement  and  waiting to dry. Her breasts seemed to float, half submerged on the
surface.  Tears rolled down her face, mixing with the dried blood and splatters
of  grey  cement as they streaked down her cheeks and dropped off her chin into
the  waiting  trap below. "Please," she whimpered. Tracy found she was having a
hard  time breathing as the vice like cement seemed to force all the air out of
her chest. "Please, I don't want to die."

The  voice  again,  taunting in tone. "What's wrong Tracy? Are you in over your
head?" It laughed for a moment, and seemed to smile in triumph. "Perhaps you're
ready to talk now?"

Tracy nodded. "I ... I'll talk. What ... what do you want to know?"

The  voice  sighed.  "You  make  it  too easy. Nno, you'll entertain me a while
longer. You aren't ready to talk yet."

Tracy  screamed as best as she could in protest and tried to struggle, twisting
her body however she could. She managed to push her shoulders against the ooze,
and  bury them in the process. She felt the gritty sludge crawl up her neck, it
was  torturous. She tilted her head back, she knew this was the end. She didn't
know what she stumbled across, but she wished she hadn't now. She felt the ooze
slide  into  her  ears,  clogging  them. She could hear her heart pounding, her
lungs  straining  to  get  air,  then  she  tasted  the  grit.  She  tried  to
involuntarily  spit  it out, but more flowed in, she was eating the cement, she
fought to move as darkness closed in on her. Then there was silence.

Tracy  was awakened violently as she splashed down into water. She thrashed and
kicked  frantically  then broke the surface. /Air!/ Breathing had never felt so
good.  She  gulped  in  huge breathes of air as she tread water. She opened her
eyes and looked around. There was a cloud of grey dispersing through the water,
grey  and  red.  A  short  distance away she could see a beach. She swam to it,
pushing  as  hard as her tired, twenty seven year old muscles would let her. As
she reached the beach she collapsed exhaustedly on it. She looked herself over.
She'd lost one of her shoes in the cement or maybe in the lake. She didn't know
and  didn't  care. She was alive and that was all that mattered. She pulled off
the  other  shoe and threw it into the lake as well. She looked up as a greyish
drip  fell  into  the lake and saw what looked like a trap door in the ceiling.
"So that's how I survived," she murmured.

Tracy  began  walking,  she figured her next trap awaited her on the island and
there was no sense in keeping them waiting. Walking was harder with her greyish
dress  plastered  against  her  skin, but she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to
remove  it.  She  walked  up the beach towards what looked to be a jungle. "Why
not?  First  floor is a chessboard, second a wet cement maze. Why shouldn't the
third  be a tropical island?" She walked into the thick undergrowth, and thorns
and  stiff  leaves  tore  at her clothes and exposed skin. The terrain made the
choice about removing her dress for her, slicing it nearly to ribbons before it
caught  on a branch and tore the rest of the way. Tracy stood dumbfounded for a
moment,  in  a  wet  t-shirt which exposed her midriff, white panties and white
socks.  She  sighed  as  she looked at her destroyed dress. "It's not worth the
effort," she mumbled as she began to pick her way through the jungle again. She
was  scratched raw when she saw the clearing, the plants having had a field day
with the tender exposed flesh.

Tracy  made  a  beeline for the clearing, sure it looked suspicious, but it was
somewhere  to  rest  for  a  few moments. She stumbled into it, leaving a small
trail  of  blood drops behind her. She walked out to the middle of the clearing
and fell to her knees again, then she collapsed and passed out again.

She  didn't know how long she'd slept, but when she awoke the "sun" looked like
it  had  just  risen.  She  picked  herself up and prepared to brave the jungle
again. As she tried to take her first step she noticed she left foot refused to
move.  Looking  down  she saw a strange, green plant, wrapped around her ankle.
Tracy  sighed  and  grabbed  her leg and began to tug. The plant decided to tug
back  and pulled her ankle into the ground. "Hey!" Tracy cried surprisedly, and
she was even more surprised when a second tentacle snaked out of the ground and
wrapped itself around her other ankle. Then everything went chaotic.

Tracy  felt  the  ground  get wet through her socks, then felt, mud against her
ankles.  She blinked, and tried to walk forward, but found she only sank to her
calves.  "Help!"  she screamed though she wasn't exactly sure who would listen.
The mud around her legs had turned soft and slimy, and she was sinking into it,
fast!  Tracy  glanced  around looking for anything to grab. Salvation presented
itself  in  the  form of a tree branch. Tracy grabbed on and clung tightly. She
felt  the  mud  start to cover her thighs, then stop. She tried to pull herself
up,  but the mud and whatever else had her was too strong. She gasped as as saw
two  more  tentacles  creeping  out of the mire heading for her arms. Something
told her this wasn't going to be like the last two, this would be for real.

"Help!"  she  screamed  again.  "Anyone!" The mocking voice didn't come on. The
vines  wrapped  around  her  wrists  and jerked them away from the branch. They
pulled  her  hands  towards  the  mire,  leaving  her  looking like some sort a
sacrifice.  "Please  ..."  she  begged. She was extremely scared now. The voice
didn't  come  on, why hadn't it? She heard a rustling in nearby bushes. "Hello?
Help  me! I'm sinking!" She jerked against the vines which drew her deeper into
the  sticky  mud,  her  crotch just centimeters above the brownish goo. A knife
flashed and sliced through one of the tentacles, then the other.

"Give  me  your  hands  ...  quickly  before  it takes them again and pulls you
under!"

Tracy  didn't  ask  questions  she  just  followed  directions. She grabbed the
outstretched  hands. "Please don't let me go ..." She felt herself being pulled
free,  whatever it was had let go of her ankles. She finally felt her legs come
free  of  the  mud,  and  she  was  pulled into the bush. She lay on the ground
breathing  heavily.  "Thank you," she panted. She looked up to see a woman in a
tattered grey business suit. Her feet were covered in black, tattered hose, her
skirt  had  holes  in it, and her blouse was ripped in several places. "T-thank
you."

The  woman  nodded.  "It's  alright, we have to stick together around here. You
were  lucky  we  saw  you  come  in. That quicksand plant would have had dinner
otherwise."

Tracy  paled.  "Quicksand  plant?"  She  looked down at her bare muddy legs and
shivered. "Where are we?"

The  woman  shrugged.  "None  of  us  knows.  So  what are you? Reporter? P.I.?
Lawyer?" She looked over Tracy's clothing or lack thereof. "Maybe ..."

Tracy  glared at the woman. "Don't even ... I'm a reporter. My dress got ripped
to shreds."

The woman nodded. "My name's Heather. Yours?"

"Tracy."

Heather nodded. "Welcome to our little deathtrap."

Tracy sighed. "So where are the others?"

Heather shrugged. "Dunno, haven't seen them in days."

Tracy frowned. "So what did you do to get here ... and where is here?"

Heather led Tracy over to a large rock. She poked the rock with a stick several
times  before  sitting  down  on  it.  "We  think  this  might  be an alternate
dimension.  But  none  of  us  have  ever found a way out, or at least left any
indication  they  have.  We  disappear all the time, but most of the time a few
days  later we find a scrap of clothing next to a quicksand plant or another of
the  innocent  looking traps around here." Tracy sighed softly. Heather nodded.
"I've  been  here  a  few weeks. I miss my husband and kids. You get used to it
though."

Tracy  looked  up  at  her. "I'm sorry. I don't really have much family. It was
just me and Butch, my dog."

Heather nodded. "It'll be better for you here."

Tracy frowned. "You act like there's no hope of escape."

Heather  nodded  as  she  stood.  "You and me are all there is. We lost the one
woman  who  might have had a chance. She's been here a year, a scientist, who'd
made  a  fuss  about  some toxic waste or something one of McDougan's factories
were spilling into a local lake. But I can't make heads or tails of her notes."

Tracy nodded. "But it's something to go on."

Heather  nodded.  "I'll take you back to the camp. All her notes are there, and
we might can find you some clothes, too."

Tracy  looked  down  at her muddy legs and blushed. She'd forgotten all she was
wearing was a short t-shirt, panties, and socks.

Heather led her back to the camp, on the way explaining the basics of survival,
what  was  good  to  eat,  what  wasn't.  She left out the parts about how they
figured these things out, and Tracy decided she really didn't want to know. She
explained  about  the wildlife she knew about. The quicksand plants which would
wrap their victims in tentacles and drag them into their feeding sack. The sack
was  filled with a digestive enzyme that looked like dirt but with a jet stream
of water could be changed into a quicksand like substance. There were the rocks
that  weren't  really  rocks,  she called them changerocks. They would wait for
someone  or something to touch them and then engulf them. Changerocks were like
giant amoebas, engulfing anything unlucky enough to get too close to them. They
didn't  particularly  like the taste of humans but were generally too stupid to
realize  this  until  they'd actually already suffocated the victim and started
trying  to eat them. Human flesh was also apparently poisonous to the creatures
as with the few victims they'd found the dead changerock was next to them.

Tracy shivered at the thought. "Sounds like a lovely place you've got here. The
wildlife seems particularly friendly, it must be so much fun."

Heather  shrugged  with  a grin. "It's an adventure, but I miss my family." Her
grin turned to a soft sigh.

Tracy  nodded.  "I  suppose  if I had a family I could sympathize, but the only
adventure  I  want  to  go on is the one that gets me out of here. With this, I
could bury McDougan. Or at least write a best selling Sci-Fi novel."

Heather giggled. "Not if I do it first."

The  two  women  giggled  and teased each other the rest of the way to camp. As
they arrived, Heather started preparing dinner.

"Hey, Tracy!" she called.

Tracy looked over from where she was relaxing. "Yeah?"

"Would you mind watching this a few minutes? I'm gonna go get some more wood."

Tracy nodded. "Sure, just stir it every few minutes? Whatcha cooking anyway?"

Heather  nodded.  "It's  a stew we've made out of some of the edible plants and
one of the more normal animals. It's really good."

Tracy  shrugged.  "I  may as well get to like it, not like I get a choice." She
giggled.

Heather  nodded  and  laughed,  then  headed  off into the brush outside of the
clearing.

Tracy  looked  up  after  a  few minutes, it had taken Heather quite a while to
collect  firewood,  and  she  wasn't quiet certain how long she was supposed to
cook  the  stew.  Guessing from her own cooking skills and the thickness of the
stew,  it  was ready, so she set it aside and went out to look for Heather. She
headed  off  in  the direction she'd seen Heather go and began calling for her.
"Heather?  Where  are  you?"  After  a  few  moments,  she heard a muffled cry.
"Heather?"  she  called  again.  "Where are you?" The muffled cry came from her
left,  and  she  began  to  run that way. It was luck alone that allowed her to
notice  that  the  ground  was  softening  under  her feet, and stop before she
stumbled into the same trap Heather had.

Heather  was clinging desperately to a branch, fighting a losing battle against
a  hungry  quicksand plant. She was armpit deep in the slimy goo that comprised
the digestive sac she'd told Tracy about. "Heather!" Tracy cried.

Heather  looked  over,  her  arms  were covered with vines, and one had wrapped
around  her  neck.  Tracy  guessed it was adrenalin and survival instinct alone
that had kept Heather alive this long.

"Run, Tracy!" came the hoarse reply.

Tracy looked dumbfounded. "I can't leave you!"

Heather  shook  her  head  gently  but  the distraction of talking to Tracy was
costing her. The plant tightened it's grip and Heather's hands came free of the
branch.  Tracy watched in horror as it pulled Heather's hands below the surface
and started to drag Heather's head under as well. "There's more here, Tracy ...
run,  before ..." Heather's last words were cut off when the quicksand began to
fill her mouth.

Tracy's  eyes widened as she saw Heather go under. Her heart told her to plunge
in  after  her  and risk her life trying to save her friend. Her brain told her
that  it  was suicide, she couldn't fight the grip of those plants. A rustle in
the grass and a tap on her ankle made the decision for her. She ran.

Tracy  went back to the camp for a while. She found some clothes that would fit
her,  a  red  blouse  from Heather's things, a black skirt from another's, some
black  hose, that weren't overly destroyed and her own socks. It was mismatched
and  she  looked  a  bit silly, as the blouse was a size too small exposing her
midriff  , the skirt was several inches too short, and the hose was too big for
her  showing  from  where  her  blouse cut off. She didn't care though, she was
covered with clothing, and most of it was in better condition than her own. She
began  to  study  the scientist's notes. Apparently the girl had found a portal
and it went home. She'd been through it once to test it and could come back and
was  going to rescue the others, but she'd not made it back to camp. She'd left
a  copy behind in case something like that happened. Tracy could follow the map
easy enough, but the exact steps in activating the portal confused her. She was
determined to escape now, to avenge Heather and the other girls who'd died here
in this - whatever it was.

She  spent a restless night, dreams of Heather plagued her sleep. She could see
Heather  extending  a  vine covered arm, begging for help, asking Tracy why she
wouldn't  save  her after she'd risked her life to save Tracy. Tracy tossed and
turned  most of the night and awoke in a cold sweat several times. She tried to
push  the  dreams  of  Heather aside and get some rest, but it was to no avail.
When she could sleep, it was restless.

Several  days  passed as Tracy tried to puzzle out the calculations. Several of
the  others  who'd been here before her - she noticed all were women - had left
various  notes  as  well. Some were just personal things, "If you find this and
you  get  back,  please  tell  /whoever/  I love him". Others were more useful,
things  like what was safe to eat, how to spot the quicksand plants before they
spotted  you, how to rescue someone from the quicksand plant. Locations of safe
food to eat, what it looked like and how to catch it, various other little odds
and ends she found useful. She hadn't seen anyone come into the area in several
days,  which  she  guessed  wasn't  unusual as there had only been eleven total
people  before  her, including Heather, in the past year. She wondered if there
were  more  and  they  were just unrecorded, or if Heather had hallucinated the
group.

She  spent  what  seemed  like  weeks,  learning  the terrain and where to find
things. She was almost surprised when another person stumbled into camp. A lone
figure,  female,  a  younger woman like herself, with shoulder length fiery red
hair.  She  was wearing black jeans, a white short sleeved blouse, black socks,
and  white  keds.  A  pair of glasses tumbled off her face and into the dirt in
front  of  her.  Tracy  stood  up  and  picked  the  girl up. "Hey now ..." she
whispered  comfortingly.  "Drink  this, it'll make you feel better." She had no
real  idea if the girl could hear her then, but she seemed to drink the offered
water willingly enough.

The girl came to shortly after and glanced around. "What ... where?"

Tracy smiled. "Welcome to nowhere."

The  girl blinked as she looked over Tracy and her mismatched attire. "What ...
happened?"

Tracy  sighed.  "You're  in McDougan's dumping grounds. You're the first person
I've  seen  in  weeks. What's your name? I'm Tracy." She extended a hand to the
girl.  "Oh  yeah,  here's  your  glasses,  they  fell off when you fainted back
there."

The  girl looked dumbfounded a moment at the offered glasses, then slipped them
on. "I ... don't ..." She blinked. "I guess I do wear glasses."

Tracy nodded slowly. "What's your name?"

The girl shook her head "I... don't know. I can't remember much."

Tracy  nodded.  "Well,  it doesn't matter much; you don't need to remember much
here. Not about your former life, anyway."

The girl looked at her funny again. "Why not?"

Tracy shook her head. "Because you and me are the only people here."

The girl nodded. "Oh."

Tracy  smiled and offered her a bowl of some freshly made stew. "Have something
to eat, and I suppose you should pick a name. Be nice to have something to call
you rather than /Hey you./"

The  girl  accepted the bowl and began to eat quickly as if she hadn't eaten in
days.  "I  dunno,"  she  mumbled  between  bites. "I wouldn't know what to call
myself. Why don't you pick something?"

Tracy  shrugged.  "Well,  you  do remind me of my best friend's kid sister. Her
name's Julie."

The woman nodded. "Julie it is then."

"Well at any rate Julie, I'm glad you're here."

Julie  looked  up as she finished her stew. "Hmm, not bad. Why's that anyway so
you have someone to talk to?"

Tracy smiled. "Well that too, but I think I can get us out of here."

Julie nodded. "I suppose that would mean more if I knew where I was."

Tracy  looked  out  at  the surrounding landscape. "Yeah, it would, Julie," she
mumbled solemnly. "It really would."

Julie looked out to where Tracy was. "Is it that bad out there?"

Tracy  nodded. "I think I've been here a month, the longest known was a week if
I remember right, maybe two. After a while you stop counting though."

Julie  cocked her head. "You look familiar, now I remember they had a report on
you ... said you were missing or something. I think they think you're dead."

Tracy  nodded. "If my plan doesn't work, we may as well be." She pointed to the
small pile of clothing. "It's not really mine, but the owners are long gone. If
your clothes get too badly destroyed, it's something to wear."

Julie nodded slowly. "I'll keep it in mind."

The  two  women  slept through the night peacefully. Tracy was happy to finally
have  company.  She  had  someone  to  talk  to,  and if her translation of the
calculations were correct, someone to help her escape. The next morning the two
women  had breakfast. Tracy seemed overly excited, she selected a semi-tattered
red  dress,  though  nicer  looking  than most of the clothes and the stockings
she'd  been  wearing  for some time. She discarded her muddy white socks. "Look
your best Julie, if I'm right, we're going home."

Julie nodded slowly, she wasn't quite sure where home was, but her friend Tracy
didn't  steered  her  wrong  so  far,  and  it  had to be better than here. She
remembered  the  rock  that  had  attacked her and left her drained, she'd just
managed  to  beat  it  off  and  stumble  towards  the  smell of food until she
collapsed. Tracy had fed her and given her water and seemed nice.

She followed along with Tracy, avoiding things that the other woman told her to
avoid.  When  she got too close to a plant and a tentacle whipped out and tried
to  grab her she learned to trust Tracy's instincts. They walked to what looked
to be a huge circle drawn in the dirt of a clearing.

"What's this?" she asked.

Tracy  smiled.  "It's  our  ticket  home.  One  of  the girls here used to be a
scientist and she figured out the secret. But it takes two people to activate."

Julie nodded slowly. "Oh."

Tracy  smiled.  "Which is why I needed you." She giggled excitedly. "Okay stand
here.  And  I'll stand here, and what we have to do is to concentrate and focus
our  internal energies. If it works like she said then the portal will activate
and we'll be sent home."

Julie nodded. "What if it doesn't?"

Tracy  shrugs.  "We've  got  nothing  to loose. Take off your shoes. The rubber
soles will ground the energy."

Julie  shrugged  and  kicked  off  her  shoes.  She really didn't care, she was
willing to do this for her friend.

The  two  girls  stood  in concentration for some time, then they began to feel
something.  "Julie!"  Tracy  called  excitedly.  "It's  starting!" She felt the
ground get softer, just like the documents said it would.

Julie  nodded.  "I  feel it." She frowned, the ground was getting soft and wet,
nothing  Tracy  said  mentioned  anything  wet.  Then  again  they were Tracy's
instructions  who  was  she  to dispute them. She let the warm wet sticky stuff
roll  over  her  socks  and  start  to suck at her ankles. Maybe the portal was
supposed to do this. She was sinking into something.

Tracy  felt  the  ground  roll  gently  over  her  stocking feet. She smiled to
herself.  It was starting! Soon they would be ... Her thoughts were interrupted
suddenly  as  something  snaked up her left leg, then her right. She opened her
eyes  and looked down. Two greenish tentacles had wrapped themselves around her
rapidly descending legs. "Shit!" she cried. "Julie, run!"

Julie tried to run forward but she found her own legs getting wrapped up in the
tentacles. "I can't! I'm trapped! Something has me!"

Tracy  shook  her  head.  "I'm  so  sorry,  Julie!"  She  started to cry as the
tentacles  drug  her  stocking  clad  legs  into  the deadly ooze. "It's all my
fault!"

Julie was confused and continued to struggle as more tentacles came out to hold
her down. "What is it, Tracy?"

Tracy couldn't answer, between her sobs and fighting to keep her head above the
surface  of  the mire. It didn't take long for the plants to make short work of
the girls. They drug them down quickly and with little resistance.

Up  in his observation booth McDougan laughed. "Well there's two less nuisances
on my list."

Another  man,  a  business  partner who happened to be watching shook his head.
"Effective, but cruel."

McDougan  shrugged.  "I  found out where the holes in my operation were and got
rid  of an annoying reporter at the same time. I of course had one of my people
plant those documents explaining how to escape. They lead to a pit of quicksand
on the island. Most of the tentacles and things are just holograms. Amazing how
you  can  get  away  with poisoning someone or making them think they are being
dragged  into  quicksand  by  plants,  forcing them to make themselves drown by
struggling  harder.  The  mild  hallucinogens  we've pumped into the area's air
don't  hurt that image at all either." McDougan laughed. "It's a very effective
deathtrap."

The man nodded. "Now that your demonstration is over and I've seen your twisted
idea of fun, when can I see about purchasing one of them?"

McDougan smiled. "Come into my office and we'll talk."