Helpless
Alastrine stumbled.
She put out her arms but they bent easily under her weight, as she didn't have time to lock them. She hit the ground hard, twigs and sticks pushing into her bare fur like knives as she rested on the ground. The jackal pushed herself up from the ground and got to her feet, spitting on her palms and rubbing them against two scratches on her legs. They were minor cuts, very little blood, but nonetheless they were open wounds. Alastrine leaned against a tree, getting her breath.
The jackal had been walking for hours, and she still had a ways to go before she arrived at her destination. The only choice she had was to press on through the forest. The seemingly never-ending trees on either side of the path offered no distractions, either. Alastrine pressed on, but eventually the lack of scenery got the better of her and she sat down to think.
It was nightfall when Alastrine awoke. She turned, surveying the road to her left and right. She pulled a compass from her pocket and checked it, then stood up, stretching. She turned left and began to walk again.
The trees may have seemed boring during the day but at nighttime they were terrifying. Every step Alastrine took she would jump up from shock just from the sound of her own feet breaking twigs beneath. She kept her pace up, but moved more erratically, sometimes looking back over her shoulder. The forest was deathly quiet and Alastrine didn't think she could take it anymore. The young jackal broke into a run.
She ran on and on, not stopping until she wore herself out. The Jackal bent over double, her stomach tearing itself apart but refusing to vomit. Deep breaths, in and out, became Alastrine's life. For every breath she took, she felt a little more alive. The jackal bitch turned about, suddenly realizing the path had led her out of the trees. To her left was a lake.
In terms of "serene beauty," the lake was the most beautiful thing on the planet. The murky water eerily reflected the full moon, creating a fair amount of visible light but certainly not enough to see properly. There were no ripples in the water, absolutely none, and the whole area was deathly quiet. Alastrine felt sickened by the view, both overcome by its beauty and shamed to interrupt it.
Alastrine approached the water's edge, getting on all fours. She pushed her muzzle into the water, lapping it up without complaint. Her throat had been begging for water or any liquid, and she didn't bring any as she had expected to make the trek in a single day. The water was full of algae but Alastrine wasn't about to let that stop her from quenching her thirst.
Alastrine stood up, wiping her muzzle, and began to walk along the path again. The path, to her delight, followed the lake, staying by it's side. A sudden chill motivated the jackal to thrust her paws into her pockets, and shiver. She decided two or three more hours of walking and she would reach her destination, but she could barely see in the dim light. She kept moving, as quickly as she could at walking pace.
As fast as she moved, the water kept up with Alastrine. She had been going for five hours after leaving the lake, and still she had not found her station. The bitch clutched her lower abdomen, suddenly desperate for a toilet. Of course there were none, but there were woods on either side of her and the bitch decided to take a slight detour.
Alastrine found a tree and pulled down her pants, bending at the knee. She realized suddenly that in the dim light she might be peeing directly into the crotch of her trousers. The thought certainly didn't appeal to Alastrine, so she kicked her pants and panties off before crouching again to piss.
When she was done Alastrine wiped herself off with her paw and wiped the paw on the dewy grass below. She felt around for her trousers but realized suddenly she couldn't feel them. She took a few blundering steps into the direction she kicked them, but she couldn't feel the fabric under her paws, despite how complete her search was on the ground below.
Alastrine stepped in something wet, like very liquid mud. She would have pissed herself had she not already gone, and she let out a shrill cry. She took another step, her second going much deeper. She had been attempting to overstep whatever she had stepped in but it was as far in as she could move her foot. Her second paw fell into the muddy sand.
The jackal tried to pull her back foot up from the odd liquid but she couldn't move it. She was so expecting it would slide out easily, in fact, that she fell forward when it didn't. Luckily, this time, her arms DID lock and they buried themselves up to the elbow in the mud.
Alastrine screamed, her shrill cry a stark contrast from the otherwise dead night. She fought to pull her limbs out, and with a burst of effort, she freed her paws. She flailed blindly, catching a tree limb above her. She gripped the limb hard, pulling herself up, but it was no use. Her feet stayed planted in the ground.
Alastrine waited there for hours, her grip weakening. Still, morning didn't arrive and she became more and more maddened. Her paws tried to hang on but her hold on the limb grew weaker as the very Earth itself tried to suck her down. Why hadn't Alastrine just pissed on the side of the road, she wondered! She was off the path, no one would ever go off the path exactly here to come looking for her. She would have to rescue herself.
Alastrine realized wading through the mud was not impossible, and she moved as far as she could, following the limb. She felt it go up after she had followed it a few feet, and realized she could neither turn around nor pull herself higher. Her only hope was that there was dry land directly before her, for her to pull herself up on. Alastrine crossed her fingers and let go of the branch, jumping forward.
Mud! There was no land, and she had no way out. The jackal stood, naked from the waist down and being pulled lower into the mud constantly. She tried flailing again but there were no branches to protect her this time. Alastrine screamed again, for help. She begged, she cried, and she shrieked, but there wasn't another person for miles. The sudden realization hit the jackal, that she was going to die here!
Alastrine pushed her upper body into the mud, a new determination flowing through her. She attempted to swim but the mud pulled her down, too much. She had been in almost up to her waist and now she was in up to her breast. Working as hard as she could, Alastrine freed one paw from the mud, reaching up. Her own weight pulled her down, and her neck was soon under. The jackal tilted her head back, looking straight up.
The mud sucked her in, inch after inch. With her outstretched paw she waved, her muzzle now the only thing free of the mud. Her cries were unheard, and she only managed a quick breath before her muzzle was sucked under too. Her paw continued to wave for a few minutes, sinking constantly, before the mud worked its way past her elbow, up her arm, and past her wrist. The arm ceased to flail, and the quicksand slowly pulled it under along with the rest of the Jackal. The pool bubbled slightly, long thick bubbles, and then returned to the still state it had been before the Jackal had arrived. Centuries would pass before quicksand would be disturbed again.