What looked to be a clearing in the forest turned out to be a bottomless pit of sticky quicksand that Toby has found himself mired in.

He stepped into it oblivious, thinking it was merely just a dirt footpath, but his rubber foot quickly sank into the mucky mush. He stepped forward again, this time trapping his other leg in the quicksand.

“Ungh!” He grunted as he trudged forward. Sloughing through the soft earth as it pulled him in deeper. Once past his knees, he could no longer continue wading through, and he sank into the sludgy quicksand.

Now up to his waist, the muck sloshed and squelched as it clung to his body. He struggled and squirmed helplessly, but this only served to mire him deeper.

“Help! Please!” Toby called for help but of course, no one answered him. His pleas for assistance startled a flock of birds from the tree canopy above him and they flew off into the sky. A flew leaves danced and twirled as they fell from the tree tops towards Toby. He watched as they landed on top of the quicksand and merely rested on top of the hungry earth that was quickly devouring him. As if to tease him as he sank, the leaves didn’t weigh enough for the muck to suck them under the surface.

Toby attempted to use his arms to “swim” out of the quicksand, but this only increased his peril. The muck was thick and sticky, once his arms went underneath the surface, he couldn’t get the back up.

Toby grunted and panted as he worked himself into exhaustion with all his struggling. Dripping with sweat, he continued to slide deeper and deeper into the pit, now enveloping his chest.

The suction of the quicksand pressed against his chest and abdomen. He could still breath freely, but he felled as through the earth was squeezing him in a gentle but firm hug.

Soon, Toby’s shoulder disappeared below the quicksand. The submersion of his shoulders caused the muck to churn and bubble as it pulled him down, splattering his face in the process.

Toby looked up at the sky as he began his final plunge. The quicksand enveloped his neck and head, swallowing his ears so that he could no longer hear the outside world, just the churning and bubbling of the muck.

Toby still couldn’t feel the bottom. He had hoped he would before he was completely submerged, but of course, the quicksand traps were made to be deep and seemingly “bottomless”.

This moment of realization that quicksand would soon overcome stirred a panic in Toby. He yelped and begged for rescue and began thrashing and struggling in the mud. From the surface, you wouldn’t be able to tell much, his face was still visible, but the struggling of his arms and legs merely stirred the quicksand as through it were a thick stew. From the surface, it appeared as though some of the mud was gently churning.

Toby took a deep breath and closed his eyes as the he slipped below the surface of the quicksand. It churned and gurggled as it hungrily swallowed his face. Leaving behind no trace but swirls in the mud and a few bubbles here and there.

Toby would be pulled out eventually as the guards keep a close eye on the quicksand traps. He’ll be rescued and hauled back to the facility and placed back into storage, where he belongs.