The Gates of Hell, Chapter 7, The Accidental Tourist
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The Gates of Hell, Chapter 7
The Accidental Tourist
By William W. Kelso
Rodriguez wiped a filthy kerchief over his sweat soaked face. Madre de Dios, but it was hot! The jungle was sweltering, the humidity must be close to 100%, and the shade of the trees was no relief. And the swarms of mesquites and other insects, they were eating him alive, and from the sounds his two comrades were suffering similarly. He was mostly Indian, so should have been used to this, but he'd spent most of his life in Mexico City, so the jungle was just as hot and miserable to him as anyone. He wasn't going to take his clothes off and run around in a loincloth either. At least according to their 'guide' they were nearing their destination. He swung a machete and chopped down some more vines, only to reveal even more in a never ending tangle. Aiee, how could anyone have ever lived in a place like this!? He thought. As he continued his slog he remembered how he had come to be in this God forsaken place.
He'd been working as a bouncer in a gambling and titty bar, making pretty good money rolling drunks he had to 'show the door'. Of course he gave a cut to the local boss, but still he got to keep most of his ill-gotten riches. One night a sniveling little cur of a man had not been able to pay for his loses at the gambling tables, so he had taken him out back to teach him the error of his ways. He threw him against the wall of the alley and he landed in a pile of trash and piss as the club didn't have a bathroom that worked, so the alley served that purpose as well. He towered over the little fellow, outweighing him by at least 150 pounds; it was like David and Goliath, and he was Goliath. He picked the man up again and threw him back down, and as he started towards him the man had sat up, and gibbering, offered him a small heavy bag if he would 'let him go'. Not likely, thought Rodriguez, but he took the bag out of curiosity. But when he dumped pure gold nuggets onto his huge palm his whole attitude had changed. There must be thousands here! He solicitously helped the little fellow up, and bought his new best friend a drink at a bar across the road. To his surprise the little fellow had turned out to be an intellectual type that had fallen on hard times, a university professor no less. After he was good and drunk he had rambled on about a 'great treasure' in 'an ancient temple'. Rodriguez had heard similar stories before, every old Yaqui Indian or bandito had a similar story, but the professor was so intensely convincing, so serious, that he believed him. And yes, the gold had come from there, and there was more, much more. He had been a part of a team of archeologists, and had been the sole survivor. They had found a lost temple, but...something had happened to the others. Something had...taken them, one by one. No one had believed him and he had been discredited, and even suspected of murder. As a result he had fallen on hard times as he couldn't get a teaching job and no one would hire him for field work.
'Did he remember where this temple was?' Rodriguez had asked him. The old man had gotten a crafty look on his face, and said, 'Oh yes, I have a map!, but it is safe.' So he had helped the old man back to a seedy apartment he rented, little more than a shack, and another bottle of tequila later the old man had finally shown his 'good friend' the map. It had been rather cleverly concealed inside the hollow leg of a rickety old desk. Rodriguez had grabbed the map and examined it carefully. It was a good quality topological map, and the longitude and latitude was well marked. It was in the middle of nowhere down in the old Aztec lands, or more correctly in the area controlled by the Tlaxcalteca Tribe. It was still a remote and sparsely settled area, and the jungles probably held more forgotten cities. So the story made sense. And since he had the map; well, no more use for the crazy old professor.
He didn't struggle much as Rodriguez held a pillow over his head, being too drunk to even realize he was dying. Rodriguez waited until the squirming stopped, waited a few more minutes to make sure, then took the map and left. The old man didn't have anything else worth stealing. He doubted the local Policia would waste much time investigating the death of a crazy old derelict.
Rodriguez had talked a 'friend' of his he knew had some jungle experience to come along, convincing him by showing him the bag of gold nuggets. They sold the nuggets for a pretty good price, and used the money to travel to the town nearest the coordinates on the map. They had enough to buy a good used jeep, plenty of supplies, and everything they thought they would need. They had a hard time hiring a guide who knew the area though, as soon as they said where they were interested in going most people they talked to lost interest and told them they weren't interested. A few told them that 'few who went in, came out'. Of course Rodriguez and his friend, Valdez, thought that was a bunch of bullcrap. Just legends about some sort of local boogey man, neither of them believed in Chupacabras or any of that kind of nonsense. Besides, they were well armed. Finally they found a young man who seemed to be competent, who even though he hadn't been to that area, agreed to take them for a share of the treasure. They'd been reluctant to tell him about it, but didn't have enough money left over to pay him much.
They had driven as far as they could, then had to abandon the jeep four days ago. Since then they'd been slogging through increasingly dense jungle, the going slow and maddening. But according to the GPS they were getting close to the location shown on the map, they should reach it any time now. Tempers were getting short though, and the so-called 'guide' was threatening to turn back if they didn't find anything in the next day or two. So they continued their slog through Hell on earth, each hour more miserable then the last. Finally the entered a small valley, and almost without warning found what they had been looking for. They had passed carefully through a swamp at the mouth of the valley, and hacking their way through almost impenetrable jungle had; literally, stepped without warning into a clearing. One second jungle, then next a clearing of short lush grass with no weeds, no trees, and perfectly even making it look almost as if had been mowed. The clearing was completely overhung by the branches of the surrounding trees, and in the exact center was a large temple. It was slightly cooler in the clearing, not much, but enough so they could tell the difference. With weary groans they put down their heavy packs to take in the sight before them in wonder.
The temple was strange looking. Rodriguez was familiar with the types of step pyramids the Aztec's, Mayan, and other early cultures had built. This one reminded him more of those you saw in TV shows about Egypt and places like that. The sides were smooth and came to a point at the top. Moving closer he was also surprised to find the surface was completely smooth, there were no seams or evidence of building blocks, in fact the surface looked like slick fused glass though it didn't reflect any light, in fact it seemed to swallow it. The guide muttered something about 'unholy', and Rodriguez had to agree. He had a feeling no man had built this pyramid. They walked around the sides carefully, it had five of them, and on the far side they found an entrance. No door, just a gaping opening in the side of the building, large enough to drive a small truck through. The perfect grass went up to the opening and stopped, there was no sign of a path or anything. It was also perfectly quiet Rodriguez suddenly noticed, not a bird sang, not an insect buzzed.
They looked nervously at one another, each hoping another would be the first to enter the dark doorway. Finally Valdez pulled a flashlight out of his pack and entered, quickly followed by the others. No one wanted to be alone here, outside or inside. Switching on his own powerful LED flashlight Rodriguez followed the other two into the opening.
At first there was just a corridor, the walls the same slick fused looking stone that sucked up the light from their flashlights. Then suddenly they entered a chamber with rough plastered walls decorated with paintings Rodriguez recognized as Aztec. They showed the usual bloody sacrifices, but in this case they seemed even bloodier than usual. And stacked along the base of the walls in piles were skulls, thousands of them. Valdez crossed himself and fingered a Rosary and the guide and Rodriguez just stared in horror. But the skulls were ancient, whatever had happened to these people it had been a long time ago. He examined the chamber closer once his nerves had calmed down, and looked to him like the outer pyramid had been built over another one, you could clearly see where the smooth glass like material ended and the hand hewn blocks started. It was strange and unnerving, why build one building over another? There was another opening into another corridor, so they continued their search. The first chamber had contained only skulls, which was not what they were after. The moved down the new corridor, and soon entered into another chamber so large their lights faded into gloom.
The new chamber had a high ceiling supported by huge columns, and the construction was a combination of Aztec and the strange glass material. It looked as if the glass had been mainly used to reinforce and stabilize the older building. After staring for a few minutes they moved deeper into the chamber and soon found what they had been looking for. At the exact center of the huge chamber was a small platform with stepped sides; and on top was an altar. And again there were skulls, thousands of them, some with hair and mummified skin still clinging to them. And they knew what the dark stains running down the well worn stairs were. Everywhere they shone their lights empty eye sockets and mouths gaped at them, the ancient bones still somehow purveying a feeling of utter terror, and there was a faint smell of old death, and something else, a tinge of what smelled like...ammonia or acid?? The place was a charnel house.
But despite their horror at the grotesque sight it was the treasure that drew their eyes even more. It was piled everywhere in haphazard way. It spilled down the steps, was piled on the floor, heaped on top of stone tables. Everywhere the glint of gold and silver, turquoise and gems, jewelry and silver bars, rotted leather bags of gold dust and nuggets spilling onto the floor in mounds. Tons of it. With shouts of glee they ran to the nearest piles, running their fingers through gold chains and small bars, ceramic jars full of uncut gems, heaps of gold nuggets, each lost in dreams of splendor. Rodriguez was the first to recover, and looked at the others as they dug through piles of treasure. There was so much there should have been plenty for everyone, but then again Rodriguez was a greedy man, and saw no reason to share any of what he had always thought of as 'his' treasure. The other two had helped him to find his treasure, so he no longer had any use for them. He drew his knife, and stepping up behind the guide grabbed him around the throat and with a quick upward stab stuck his knife in the man's liver, and with a twist pulled the knife out. Totally paralyzed by the sudden horrible agony the guide couldn't even scream, and was dead almost before he hit the ground. Valdez had been so occupied pawing through a jar of gems and stuffing his pockets he didn't notice any of this, so was caught unprepared when Rodriguez slipped a garrote around his neck, and lifting up the smaller man twisted the cord as he kicked and struggled silently, his eyes bulging as his face turned blue from lack of oxygen. His desperate kicks and struggles quickly grew uncoordinated and weak, slowed down, then stopped and he hung limply. Rodriguez kept his grip for a while longer, and then finally let the body slump to the floor. All his, it was all his now.
"Bravo, came a strange rasping voice from the shadows, you certainly didn't waste any time, and I must say I approve of your techniques, most effective. And they say my kind are evil."
With a startled oath Rodriguez pulled his .357 magnum revolver and shined his light in the direction of the voice.
"Who is it, who is there? He snarled, show yourself!"
"As you wish." The strange voice replied.
Rodriguez watched as a darker shadow stirred, and then moved into the beam of his light. His eyes bugged out as he saw what his light revealed, and with a scream he raised his revolver and opened fire, every shot a direct hit at such close range. When the hammer fell on an empty chamber he kept pulling the trigger, not even realizing his pistol was empty as he stared in horror.
"Really, the thing chittered at him, please stop that, it's annoying!"
With another scream he threw down the useless pistol, and turning ran as fast as he could towards the entrance to the corridor, only to find it blocked by a huge stone slab that had quietly been lowered into place. Gibbering he clawed at the huge slab, then froze as the horribly inhuman voice said,
"You can't leave unless I want you to, and I don't. You belong to me now, but what I will do with you remains to be seen. Now come here human. Do NOT make me come to you."
Shaking in terror, but knowing he had no choice but to obey the command, Rodriguez slowly approached the altar again. As he did several globes on the pillars nearest the platform suddenly flickered into a bright, but cold, blue tinted light. They completely illuminated the source of that horrible voice, and he had no doubts as to what was revealed. El Diablo, Madre de Dios! He thought in terror.
The first impression he had of the thing was, insect. But closer examination revealed that while it had some characteristics of an insect it most definitely wasn't one. At least not one as Rodriguez understood it. It looked very much like a Praying Mantis, albeit a huge one close to twenty feet long. It had a large somewhat triangular head with huge jewel like multi-faceted eyes, large mandibles and a maw of hard segmented parts, long antennae or feelers, and multiple multi-jointed legs. The foremost pair folded like a Mantis's, wicked serrated edges clearly visible. The other legs supported a chitin armored thorax and segmented abdomen that was long, and looked almost like a serpent's tail as it appeared to have scales. It had what looked like a cluster of tentacles between its front pair of legs, and they waved lazily in the air, seemingly at random. But what was most odd was it was covered in what looked like feathers, mostly on its back. Rather pretty, multi-colored, feathers. If the bullets that had hit it had any effect it wasn't apparent, and somehow he doubted that they had at all. The thing suddenly tilted its head, clearly examining Rodriguez in return.
"What...what ARE you!?!" Rodriguez blurted out.
"I? I am what you would mostly likely call a demon, the thing said; those who worshipped me here once called me Quetzalcoatl. You would be unable to pronounce my true name."
"Demon?" Rodriguez said in a small terrified voice. "You are from Hell?"
"It is what you primitives call the world I come from, but it is not Hell as your legends think of it, though there are parallels. And it has nothing to do with your silly superstitions. I am not a supernatural being, merely different, and far superior."
Rodriguez noticed the thing produced its 'voice' by rubbing its 'mouth' segments together in a rasping buzz, but it was clearly understandable.
"What, what are you going to do with me?" Rodriguez asked.
"Well, that is the question, isn't it? The thing chittered, but it is largely up to you. But for now, do you mind?" The thing asked, indicating the bodies of the two dead men with one of its legs.
Not having the slightest idea what it meant, Rodriguez merely shrugged his shoulders and waved his hands in the air.
"Thank you, most kind of you to share your kills." The thing said.
As Rodriguez watched in revolted horror the huge creature stripped the two bodies naked and then proceeded to swallow them whole, the mandibles gripping and stuffing them into the machinating mouth segments, the bodies disappearing rapidly into the churning maw. He watched as two lumps slid into the things abdomen, causing it to bulge noticeably. When it finished the thing reared up and he could see the bottom of its abdomen was translucent, the two nude bodies of the men clearly visible in the things swollen belly.
"Ahhh, the thing said, that was delicious; it has been long since I have feasted so well! I am pleased. Once I was given sacrifices almost every day, but that was long ago."
"How old, I mean, how long have you been here?" Rodriguez asked, curious despite the situation.
"I have been trapped in your world for a very long time, but I am not sure how you tell time. I was already old in my own world when a rift opened and I found myself stranded here, an accidental tourist as it were. It was not so bad at first as the primitives worshipped me as a God, and I taught them much that was to their benefit, how to build, how to plant and rotate their crops, and much more. As you can see they also brought me offerings, but I have no use for these trinkets. I much preferred the flesh and still beating hearts of those they fed to me. But then others came, much more advanced, and my followers were destroyed. I have not had any visitors in quite some time. You are the first to offer me sacrifices in hundreds of your years, but I have occasionally had the odd explorer to dine on."
"Are, are you going to eat me too?" Rodriguez asked in a trembling voice.
"There again, that will depend on you. I am full for now, my hunger temporarily satiated. It is nice to feast on human flesh again, it is so much tastier then the monkeys or other animals that are my normal fare now. So you are safe, for now. Whether you remain that way will depend on several things."
"Such as?" Rodriguez asked.
"I tire of this world, the demon said, I wish to go home. But there are no rifts opening on this part of your world right now, they are all much further north from here. But I cannot leave this valley as the priests who once worshipped me also imprisoned me here using some technology; magic to you, from my own world. They were more clever then I had thought. If you set me free I will reward you."
"You mean you won't eat me?" Rodriguez asked.
"But of course not, the creature said, if you set me free I will find other prey. Besides, it will be quite some time before I need to eat again."
"What about the treasure?" Rodriguez asked.
"The trinkets?" The demon said, picking up some heavy gold chains and examining them. "They are worthless to one such as me, I have never understood you humans preoccupation with certain minerals. You may have it all; I had no interest in it."
"All??" Rodriguez said in a daze.
"Yes, that is what I said. The creature rasped, and I can give you eternal life as well. Will that be enough to entice you to set me free?"
"E-eternal life?" Rodriguez stammered.
"Yes, the demon said, that is what I said; do you have a hearing deficiency?"
"Uh, no, but, um, HOW?" Rodriguez asked.
"I can give you an injection, a formula which will freeze your metabolic aging at this exact point in time. You can still do everything you do normally, eat, drink, mate; in fact your sexual drive will be greatly increased, you just will cease to age. None of your cells will die or need to be replaced, and should you suffer damage you will heal rapidly. I do not offer this gift often, but I TIRE of this place! If you refuse, well, you will keep me company until I grow hungry again."
"What will you do if I set you free, destroy the world?" Rodriguez asked.
"Of course not! The demon said, I am not THAT powerful! No, I will merely seek an area where the rifts occur most often, and hopefully locate one that is big enough, and will last long enough, to let me pass through. Though, of course I will have to feed from time to time."
"So I get the treasure AND eternal life if I set you free?" Rodriguez said.
The creature gave an exasperated sounding buzz, and said, "That is what I have been saying all along. You humans really are dense, you know that!"
"What do I have to do?" Rodriguez replied, not quite sure if he'd just been insulted or not. In actuality he was fairly dense.
"Excellent, the demon said, in the jungle near the old road to the temple there is a stone column. On it are a series of carvings in four rows. Press them in the follow order and it will deactivate the force field. It effects only organisms from my own world, humans can pass freely through it, but it interferes with my neural signals. Should I attempt to pass my bodily functions would cease. Once the field is down return here for your treasure and I will give you the injection."
Rodriguez made sure he understood the proper order in which to touch the carvings, it was really pretty simple, just touch one character in each row in the right order from top to bottom. The demon showed him where the old road was; or had been, as only the faintest of clues indicated its existence. It had been paved with blocks of stone, but only a few poked up through the thick ground cover and mulch. As the demon watched Rodriguez hacked a way through the jungle and disappeared from site.
The demon was anxious that the human would do as he had promised; it had been trapped here for far too long. It had been experimenting with opening rifts between worlds, and had finally succeeded, but an error had caused it to be trapped here. It needed to take the knowledge it possessed back to its dying planet where it was one of the dominant life forms. With its knowledge the denizens of Hell could open up large permanent rifts between the two realities and escape their dying world. If felt confident this world would fall quickly before their might, but knew it would be a vicious battle. Humans, for all their shortcomings, could be quite clever and tenacious, and just as brutal and merciless as his own kind. During his long exile he had developed a grudging respect for the capabilities of humans. He rubbed his gripping arms together, a habit he had when he was nervous or excited. The soft rasping sound was loud in the quiet clearing.
Rodriguez found the column where the demon had indicated it would be; and clearing it of vines and creepers could feel a faint humming coming from it. It didn't look like other ancient Indian artifacts he'd seen before; it was a grey slick stone that was cool to the touch. As he looked at the 'carvings'; they looked more like buttons to him, he thought about what he was about to do. He would unleash that, that thing on the world. But like it had said, what could it do? It was certainly a scary thing, but it was only one, besides, it just wanted to go home. Sure, he could just walk away and leave it stuck here, but the treasure, and eternal life! No, he was tired of being poor, and that treasure was HIS, he had killed for it. So he pushed the four buttons in the correct sequence, and the humming sound faded away.
When he came back to the clearing he demon was dancing around in a frenzy, opening and closing wings he hadn't previously seen, making loud chittering sounds of obvious happiness or joy. When it saw him it stopped, and said in its strange rasping voice,
"You have done it! You kept your word, now I will keep mine. Come here human."
Uncertainly Rodriguez did as the demon said, but when it suddenly lunged and seized him in its horrible grip he screamed.
"You lied; you said you wouldn't hurt me!" Rodriguez yelled as he was lifted towards that horrible head.
"Oh, do be quiet, the demon rasped, I'm just going to inject you now."
But Rodriguez just became more vocal as a long sharp looking proboscis pushed out from a sphincter like opening just below the demons mouth, the sharp black needle like stinger dripping thick mucus. The demon plunged it into Rodriguez's abdomen and pumped a thick fluid into his body, then it set him down and Rodriguez collapsed with his arms wrapped around his stomach.
"Ohhh, damn you, it hurts!" Rodriguez shrieked as he writhed and kicked from the terrible burning agony flowing through his body.
"Of course it does stupid human, the demon rasped, your whole physiology in undergoing a major mutation. When it is over you will no longer be technically human, but a new species. One of a kind. When you have recovered join me in the temple, the trinkets are yours."
For close to an hour Rodriguez moaned and squirmed on the ground, but slowly the agony peaked, then rapidly faded, to be replaced by a feeling of...wellness. In fact, he realized as he shakily got to his feet, he'd never felt better in his life. His sore aching back felt fine, the tooth that had been bothering him no longer hurt, and he felt, well, virile. He reached down and stroked his aching erection, and if felt incredibly good. He wanted a woman! But, now for the treasure!! He would worry about his erection later; he could have all the women he wanted now! He would enjoy tying them up and doing...things to them before he fucked them. He was a pervert and a sadist, and liked to do things with sharp knives and long pins. His 'lovers' rarely survived, but sometimes lasted for days.
The demon was nowhere to be seen as he entered the temple, so he made his way to the heaps of treasure. At first he just stuffed gold and other riches into his pack at random, but then realized it would be best to take only the most valuable items. It might be some time before he could return. So, gems and smaller art objects would be best. The bars of gold and silver would have to wait. So he filled his pack with emeralds and rubies, jewelry encrusted with precious and semi-precious stones, smaller golden figurines and other jewelry, going for quality, as opposed to quantity. He also filled his former 'partners' packs as well. Just as he was finishing he heard a faint scuttling sound as the demon approached.
"Are you ready human? The demon asked, it is time for use to leave."
Rodriguez thought about asking the demon to carry some treasure, but figured that might not be a good idea. So he heaved up his pack and put it on, then struggled into the other two as well, tightening the straps securely. He must have had over a hundred pounds of gems and gold in the packs, but was surprised, and pleased, that it felt like much less. He found he could carry the weight easily. He was not only immortal, but much stronger as well! Now if only that erection would go away. He might have to stop and jack off pretty soon if it didn't.
"I'm ready." Rodriguez said.
"Good! The demon rasped, I will accompany you as far as the entrance to the valley, and then we will go our separate ways."
Sounds good to me, Rodriguez thought, staring at the two bodies now showing signs of digestion in the demons translucent stomach, the sooner the better.
They left by the old 'road', and when they reached the column the demon paused and rapidly pushed several buttons. A second later there was a dull 'KRUMP!', and a hot wind came blowing through the jungle for a few seconds before dying away.
"What did you just do?" Rodriguez asked.
"I initiated the automatic destruct sequence in the temples power source; it is now a smoldering crater of melted rock." The demon replied.
"WHAT!, screeched Rodriguez, but the treasure!"
"Destroyed as well." The demon replied.
"But you said it was ALL mine!" Rodriguez snarled in anger.
"True enough, the demon said, but I did not say anything about my not destroying the temple, and the treasure just happened to be in the temple."
"You, you tricked me!" Rodriguez whined.
"Perhaps, that is open to debate. The demon said, but you have the choicest and best the treasure had to offer, you will certainly not be poor. And you will have plenty of time now to find more."
Rodriguez perked up some at that reminder. Yes, he did still have a fabulous treasure, and would live forever, young and healthy. So the damn demon had screwed him out of the rest of the treasure, but so what, he was still coming out ahead, big time. Very well, you big ugly bug, he thought.
As they neared the exit from the valley Rodriguez couldn't help looking up in morbid fascination at the slowly dissolving bodies in the demon's stomach. Their skin had pretty much sloughed off and the fluid in the stomach was turning pink as their muscles and fat layers began to dissolve. Due to its size the demons stomach was swaying in the air at head level just a few feet away as it walked & slithered along using its long insect like legs and serpentine tail. It was the strangest looking thing he'd ever seen. It looked part insect, part reptile, and part bird. They walked down a gentle slope to the swampy area at the mouth of the entrance to the valley, and Rodriguez didn't watch where he was going as he took another look at the horrible creature walking next to him. He stepped over a fallen log, and took several steps out into a small clearing before breaking through the layer of leaves and other debris covering the quicksand bog. Before he even realized it he was sucked down up to his waist. He lunged towards the edge, but it was too far away.
"Quick, Rodriguez yelled, help me! It's quicksand!"
The demon squatted down on its tail and looked at him, and cocking its head, said,
"Now why would I want to do that?"
"But, but, I'm sinking! It's quicksand, please!" Rodriguez said as he struggled, the thick muck slowly heaving and undulating around him.
"How interesting, I've never seen anything like this 'quicksand' before, the demon said, we do not have it my world. We have little water there. It will be interesting to watch what it effect it has on a trapped animal."
"But, but PLEASE!" Rodriguez pleaded, he was already in up to his chest, and realizing the treasure was helping to pull him down faster tried to slip out of the packs straps, but it was hopeless, and all he did was get his arms trapped in the thick sucking mud. He slowly slid in up to his armpits, the muck gurgling as bubbles; smelling of death and decay that had been released by his struggles, reached the surface and burst.
"Noooo, please, Rodriguez screamed, as he tilted his head back, I don't want to die like this!! Please, help me! I'll be your slave; I'll give you all the treasure!"
The demon started cleaning its eyes with one of its feelers, and replied, "I have no need of a slave, and the treasure is worth nothing to me. But do not fear; you will not die."
Rodriguez, only his tilted back head remaining above the surface of the quicksand now, felt a stirring of hope. He said,
"You mean you'll help me??"
"Nothing of the sort, this is fascinating. The demon said, I merely reminded you that you will not die, you're immortal. You can't die."
"But, but I'll drown in the mud!" Rodriguez gasped as the muck began creeping up his chin towards his mouth, the weight of the treasure dragging him down. Had it not been for that extra weight he probably could have dragged himself free.
"No, said the demon, you'll only feel like it. In fact, you'll feel like you're drowning or suffocating the whole time you're at the bottom of the quicksand, even after it fills your lungs. From the looks of this terrain I estimate the swamp will become solid ground in a few hundred years, and then become sedimentary rock. Of course that will take millions of years, but you'll be around to experience the whole process. Who knows, in a few more million years maybe it will erode and you'll be released, or maybe never. You may still be there when this planet eventually dies and drifts through space as a lifeless hulk, except for you. It will be an interesting experience, but I doubt you'll enjoy it."
"NOOOOURP, GAG, splutter, PLEEAASSEE, NUGGUUURRRRGGLLEE!" Rodriguez screamed, as thick sludge eagerly filled his gaping mouth and nose and started flowing over his eyes. "NUUUHHHH, PLLAARRGHHHUURGGLE!" Sluuuurrrrrpppp, bloop, bloop, sluck! "MMMPLLLFFFFUURRGGGGLOMPH!" Guuurrrgggllleeee.
The demon watched, fascinated, as the man's terrified face slid beneath the surface of the thick gurgling mud. A kind of whirlpool effect formed, the muck heaving and bubbling from the desperate struggles going on below the surface, a grasping hand briefly breaking the surface before disappearing again for good. Slowly the surface disturbance settled down until only a few random bubbles reached the surface to burst, until even they finally stopped as Rodriguez's lungs filled with slime. Over fifty feet down now Rodriguez slowly sank into the eternal embrace of the earth, his struggles slowing as the thickening muck impeded his movements until he was finally immobilized. He wished he could at least reach his still rock hard erection and jack off, but that side effect could only be relieved by having sex with a female. He would remain hard and aroused, for eternity, in his prison of earth. No light, no sound, no air, no anything. He would feel like he was dying forever; his lungs full of first mud, then stone, but he would never be given the release of death.
The demon watched as the surface of the bog became quiet again, new leaves falling to cover it in preparation for its next victim. Finally the creature stood up and walked around the bog and continued on its way. It had a long journey ahead of it, but at least its belly was full.
The End
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