Horror Story

[Gildarts]

This was it. Hanging off of a swampy version of Niagra fucking falls. Would this be his end? Oh, sorry, let me paint the picture for ya.

Alex’s arm’s muscles had nearly split, Come on, I’ve benched double this and you know it! he coached himself through the agony that was splitting down his side. One arm was hanging onto Merrel, who’s and was slippery from caked on mud and obviously both of their sweat, shared from the exhaustion from the running.

A mammoth tree, about the size of a Redwood Sequoia had fallen over the giant gap like the savoir Golden Gate bridge in Alex’s hometown San Francisco. Somehow he’d managed to grab a limb and well, it was going to the swamp’s swirling core anyway. It was amazing because it was working. The swamp’s whirlpool wasn’t big enough to swallow the tree whole, which just meant they had a matter of time to use it as a bridge and attempt to get to safety.

“Merrel, keep hanging on, don’t you ever give up on me like that again man, we can use this tree and wait out this feeding frenzy, I need you to try to pull yourself up, your arms aren’t broken and I know you can do it, I’ll help with what I can with this one arm, but you’re kind of slipping, and my other arm is around the tree, holding onto us both, we can do this, you just have to trust me!” Alex called down to him.

What a sight it was. His friend’s hand in his, his life, in the balance, and the hurricane of sludge below, pulling them in, with the heavy, suctioning breeze. Merrel was holding on, the effort and strain pulling down on them with the gravity, however to Alex’s relief, Merrel was fighting too, he hadn’t given up his will to live.

“Come on man, we got this,” Alex said through the concealment of a wince, the bark of the Sequoia tree was grating into his flesh, especially with the added force. But the agony was worth it. To save his friend. To save their lives. To somehow, someway get out of this hellish mess. A swamp doesn’t just come alive and eat people, but apparently, this one did.

After a few moments, their muscles went into overdrive, Alex was sure his arms were going to fall off as he lifted Merrel, who now had his shoulder over the tree and was hoisting himself up like a cowboy. They sighed an expressive exhale of freedom, Alex blinked away the tears of pain that came, his right arm had likely torn a ligament or whatever, and Merrel’s leg was still in bad shape.

“It can’t do this forever,” Alex reassured his friend, “It’ll pass,” he was wincing between words, and Merrel caught his concealments. “But we have to get off of this tree and away from the mouth of this thing, physics class taught me that nothing can take this force forever, it’ll snap at the middle, where we are now once the wood gets too weak.”

“You’re hurt,” Merrel frowned, guilt-ridden across his mud-splattered face. It appeared he’d doubled the amount of freckles he had, which made Alex smile through the pain.

“One hundred thousand percent worth it, plus, you’ve got like double the freckles now, look at all that mud!” Alex chuckled, distractions from hopelessness however, never lasted long. He felt that in the pit of his stomach and started edging himself along, feeling the chafe and stab of splintering bark along his pants and gritting into his thighs and he moved down the long tree’s stump.

“Yeah? Well you look much better with a giant muddy mole for a face, you ass,” Merrel reposted with a sarcasm-laden tone, and followed Alex’s determined lead, wincing as his left shin was picked up and edged forward, balancing like a bull-rider in a rodeo, and especially careful not to look down at his fate that would have been.

They were almost there, after dodging a few branches and sharp sparks of wood, Alex, who lead, was just a few feet from the stump when…

“AHHH! Somebody help me!”

It wasn’t Merrel, it was a girl’s voice, Alex looked over his shoulder, his neck whipping from the speed as his eyes revolved back, to face his front. That was when his eyes fixed on her. It was Linny! She was on course for the very monster they’d narrowly avoided, she was, however, swimming in mud, it was up to her torso and though she was fighting it, she was losing. The consistency of the mud did look much more goopy and liquidy, less thick now, than when Alex and Merrel had been running in it.

Ugh, this is impossible, he grumbled to himself, but it was likely the colossal tree would hold up, and Linny was coming at them fast. She was nearly drowning in the mud, it had completely submerged her face at some points. Between her rapid breaths and struggle, she had managed to scream, “ANYBODY, PLEASE!”

She’d have been sobbing if she had enough time, but this was muddy muck that she was swimming in, and if you’ve ever tried to swim against a current, you know how tiring it can be on the muscles. Linny was drowning in her own fatigue.

“LINNY! We hear you!! Raise your arms, we’ll try and grab you, but you’re moving fast, there’s a giant tree, if you can, grab the roots of its stump and we can pull you up!” Alex yelled and then turned over his shoulder, “Merrel, be ready for her if she misses, it’s up to us to catch her.”

“You don’t think she’ll be able to grab on?” Merrel questioned.

“If you’ve ever been caught downstream in a river, everything’s slippery and everything is against you. It’s a nearly impossible chance, like I said, it’s up to us.” Alex nodded and then got an idea.

The muddy waters had increased their pace, flooding as fast as a river and as fluid as one too, there would be a slim chance of them being able to pull her in. At least, from here. Alex winced as he grappled down the dense roots of the stump, they were long and thick and firm and he was about to take the plunge. His eyes had found him a spot wedged in between two very strong looking roots, a perfect spot not to be swept away and the perfect place to catch Linny before she fell in. He could do this, it was going to be tight, but he knew he could.

“LINNY, we’re over here, try to get close to my voice!” Alex shouted as he stepped into the gushing mud and felt the immediate chill of the waters, pulsing and raging against his skin, bashing him against the roots that were getting more and more slippery with every moment he stood in between them. He gulped, he could no longer see Linny from this vantage point, had he missed her already?

“There she is! She’s coming, really fast. It looks like she conked her head on something, cause she isn’t moving at all. Get ready to grab her!” Merrel said as he edged forward, ready to be a part of the rescue.

In flashes between waves, Alex saw her. She blended in so well with the chocolate and coal covered mud, but there she was, like a smooth, ocean-lapped rock, he could see her face and her arm sticking out and headed for him. Alex gulped as he felt the pain in his right arm and opted to use his left in that case.

“LINNY!!! We’re here!!!” he shouted over the rushing sounds force and pressure whirling together. She grew closer, floating amid the mud as he head bobbed up and down with the ever inconsistent speeds. “LINNY! WAKE UP!”

Alex’s voice was desperate, he was begging her to come to life, but her ears were likely submerged and full of swampwater. Shit, shit, SHIT! He felt helpless, but a smaller log came around and bumped her closer to him, her lagging arm was just within his arm’s reach! He went for it, leaping nearly over his rooted brace and his grasp surrounded her slimy hand, holding onto her with all his might.

“Linny!” His hand was in hers and he had begun yanking her forward using the bone of her wrist as a good place with hard bone that could handle a good grip, though she might have bruises there in the morning.

“Wake up!” Now, it was him against the waves, Alex was feeling the flood of swamp over his shoulders and he winced as his right one wrenched with pain. The swamp was alive, fighting him, draining him, as though he was between the swamp and its dinner.

“No, I won’t let you take her!” he told himself as he released his hand on the root and used both hands on her wrist, he was pulling with all his energy and the flooding whirlpool was still winning. He felt the tread of his shoe slip and the massive root that was keeping him firm hit him in the diaphragm. Alex went under the surface, sludge surrounded him in immense streams and everything clung to the cage of rooted webbing from the tree, he held onto the girl’s wrist with his good arm and his lungs were burning, screaming for air. He denied them. Air meant letting her go.

Come on, just a little further, she’s depending on me. His shoes seemed to find a stable foothold and he pushed upward, breaking through the tremendous surface once more, and hacking up some mud from his lungs. Shit, that had been close.

This was his second chance, except he didn’t see it coming. No one saw it coming. He was holding onto her, trying to pull her to him, away from gravity and the hunger of the swamp’s belly, when SLAM! It blindsided her with enough force to rip the girl away from him. It had all happened in a blink, and Alex still couldn’t believe that her hand was no longer in his.

“L-Linny?” His mouth turned downward in a helpless red frown as he shouted, “LINNY! Linny no! Godammit, NO!”

But it had happened. She’d been taken from him. The swamp had won and it had been all too easy. Alex’s mind receded to that place of memory as he replayed what had happened, moving the memory in slow motion before he’d realized that reality was still upon him. His hand, he’d felt her slip away so gently, like melting ice on a warm spring day. Now, she was gone, devoured by the mouth of the beast.

The whirlpool began to slow, taking a sacrifice for a meal as though that had been its desire. Suddenly, the swamp water was completely still, as though nothing had happened. She would be forgotten, eaten by nature. And the two survivors would be left with the memory.

Filling the newfound silence were the ringing sounds of Alex’s heaving, empty sobs.