Chapter 2

Loretta stood naked above the dead guy's headless body, holding the spear. His head that dripped blood was impaled upon the point.

"Now!" She cheerfully announced, "'Bloodthirsty Traveler', explores ... Beelzebubia!"

Then she stopped smiling. She looked around herself at the dark red foliage surrounding her on both sides of the narrow trail, rising high above her, cutting off her view of the sky. She saw the black muddy trail ahead of her, and the yellow mist that engulfed her body, while she sweated heavily in a heat that really was "hellish"; rising from below the ground. She looked down at the dead guy. Then up at his head on the point of her spear. Then she looked around for anyone.

Who am I saying this to? She wondered, I've just said the same words that the Hostess of that Demonic Travel Show said to a TV camera and microphone. I don't see any camera or microphone.

Then Loretta called out, "Hello!" Her voice trembled. "Whoever you are who's doing this! Okay! You've caught me!"

She began whimpering. "Now I've heard about a lot of bad things that happen to girls like me, who get captured by demons, and trapped in Demonic Dimensions. I have no idea what you're gonna do to me, but whatever it is, please don't get me pregnant with any of your demon spawn again! I've had enough of that!"

Loretta listened. She heard no sound; not even a breeze rustled the foliage. All she did was stand there, above the guy she'd just killed, while sweating in the heat that rose from below her. She wondered if someone else was hiding in the foliage.

She called out again, "Remember the wish! I said that I wish I had the life of that TV Show's Hostess! That did not involve her getting pregnant! Is that okay with you? If it's not, just kill me now!"

She waited, and watched trembling, while listening and bracing herself for a fatal blow. After about a minute she hadn't died.

No answer. She wondered, Does that mean that whoever the Demon is, that's doing this to me, has accepted my terms? Maybe it means that he doesn't care what

I've said, and he'll make me the mother of his demon spawn anyway? Maybe it means that he isn't there or that nobody is?

Okay then. Let's see where this trail's heading.

Then "Bloodthirsty Traveler" Loretta Carolton, stepped over the headless guy's corpse, and moved forward along the trail. The ground underfoot was warm. She'd gone about a half dozen steps, when her feet sank into the very warm black mud, up to her ankles.

"Quicksand." Her voice continued trembling. "Of course. Wouldn't be much of a Demons' Dimension, without a naked woman sinking into quicksand, would it? Fun's already started."

She took two more steps, and sank in over her ankles. Then she tried to pull her feet out, and sank down to the middle of her calves. Now Loretta began to panic. She tried to push against the thick, hot, gritty muck with her feet, and sank in over her knees. She tried to kick her way loose, and went in even deeper, up to her hips. The muck around her legs was very tight, hot and she had no idea how far she'd sink, before she reached the bottom.

"Okay!" She shouted with full panic in her voice. "I get it! You don't accept my terms! I don't care! They're not gonna change! I'd rather be dead, than have another demon baby growing inside me!"

She sank in further, up to her waist in the quicksand, and continued to sink.

"I'm still not having any of your demon spawn!"

Now she was up to her breasts in the muck.

She began screaming at the top of her voice. "I thought I was gonna have that TV Hostess' life! She didn't die like this! That means I'm not supposed to die like this either! There's nobody here to watch me die; but millions of people saw her get killed on TV! Isn't that supposed to happen to me too?"

Loretta continued sinking deeper. The hot, tight, gritty muck rose over her breasts, and reached her shoulders.

Again she thought, maybe nobody really is watching or listening.

She heard a loud crack to her right, followed by the sound of creaking and of a heavy object crashing through the shrubbery. A red leafed tree came crashing down through the foliage toward her. She shut her eyes, and threw her forearms across the top of her head, shielding her skull and made a final scream, preparing to get pounded to the bottom of the quicksand.

The tree smacked down onto the trail, right in front of her face, just missing her head.

Loretta opened her eyes, still screaming. She raised her forearms and grabbed onto the narrow tree trunk in front of her. Then with a firm grip on the trunk, she slowly pulled herself up out of the quicksand and rolled sideways, stretching out along its length.

She lay there whimpering and panting, looking at the narrow hole that she'd made in the quicksand. As she watched, the mud slowly smoothed over the spot, where she would now be drowning, with hot, gritty muck in her lungs, if the tree hadn't fallen just where and when it did.

She waited until the mud smoothed over, and again looked solid enough to walk on. She had caught her breath.

Then she wondered, What do I do now? Is there quicksand on both sides of this tree trunk? Am I trapped here? Well I can't stay here, and I can't go back. If I go back, I'll die. If I go forward, I'll probably die too.

I'll go forward. First I'll go sideways. I'll move around the muddy patches, while gripping onto the foliage along the side of the trail, and stepping on the roots. At least that'll get me to...Get me to where? To whatever's at the end of the trail; whatever that is. Probably something that'll kill me.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

That's okay. Let him, or her, or it, try. Killing me has never been easy. Yes it has. I've just always had Jimmy Manetti around, or Michelle the Vampire Staker who’s not a convicted criminal. Now, neither Jimmy or Michelle is here.

That means I am gonna die.

Okay then! I won't be a wussy about it! I'll die fighting! Kill as many of them as I can first!

She looked around for her spear, with the dead guy's head on the point. She didn't see it.

It's probably deep down inside the hot gritty muck, with my sandals. So I won't die fighting. I'll just die, but I won't be a wussy about it.

It's time to go.

She got up on her hands and knees, and crawled along the tree trunk for a few feet, to the side of the trail. Then she gripped the trunk of a standing tree, and pulled herself up onto her bare feet.

Loretta began moving sideways, stepping from tree roots to tree roots with her bare feet. She only had to go several yards, with her hands gripping the tree trunks, until she came to where the black muddy patch ended and a layer of thick red grass carpeted the trail.

She stepped out into thick carpeting, and with her bare feet hurting. She resumed walking away from the quicksand, and the headless guy she'd killed.

Then she went around a bend in the trail.

Here Loretta's way was completely blocked by a gigantic, open red venus flytrap. The carnivorous plant's open pod stretched out across the trail, rising halfway to her knees. That was the height at which she could easily trip and fall inside. Each side of the pod was as long and as wide as a door. If she fell into it, the plant would snap shut around her entire torso, and also parts of her upper arms, thighs and head. She didn't know if she'd be able to fight her way out. If not, she might die very slowly, and she had no idea how much that would hurt.

Beyond this plant, another venus flytrap was snapped shut, around a very large bulge. A woman's forearms stretched out limp, from between the plant's overlapping fronds, pointing in Loretta's direction. The dark hair on the top her head was visible. The woman's handbag lay on the ground to the side of that second plant. On the opposite end of the bulging pod, the woman's feet were sticking out pointing downward, with a pair of blue denim slacks hanging from them.

Slacks and a handbag. Loretta thought, clothing and maybe items I'll need. Probably some money. Credit or debit cards? Do they accept credit cards in a demon dimension? Why not? They were invented in one of them, weren't they?

Now how do I get around this plant that eats women, to get to the handbag and jeans?

Loretta looked around. There was a large grey stone at her feet. She reached down, picked it up with both hands. It was very heavy. She raised the stone over the plant, and then dropped it into the center of the open flytrap. Both sides of the pod immediately snapped shut. Loretta rushed around the first plant and came to the handbag, lying beside the bulging pod of the second.

Loretta stooped down, picked up the large, slightly worn, dark green handbag, and looked inside. There was a wallet, lipstick, comb, hair-brush, and other items. She opened the wallet. It contained four twenty dollar bills, two fives and three singles; all U.S. currency. It also contained a pair of ATM cards. In the handbag, there was also a pair of mailed notifications, with the cards' pin numbers, advising the owner to "Memorize this number then destroy this form."

The pin numbers had been mailed to a "Paula Ramsey, Beverly Hills, California."

Loretta then put the cards back in the wallet. Then she put the wallet and the notifications back in the handbag.

She spoke to the woman inside the bulging red pod. "I hope you won't mind me using these Miss or Mrs., or Ms Ramsey, but since you're dead, you won't need them anymore; and as long I'm still alive, which probably won't be for all that long, I will need them."

Loretta then moved over to where the woman's feet were sticking out of the plant, and removed the pair of denim slacks that were hanging from them. This uncovered a pair of sneakers on her feet.

Loretta held the slacks up against herself. They would fit very comfortably.

She slid into the slacks. Then she reached over, untied the sneakers, removed them from the dead woman's feet, and put them on her own.

"Sorry again Miss or Mrs. Ramsey," she said, "but you're not gonna be needing these either."

Loretta asked the giant flytrap, "Does this make me your accomplice in murder and robbery, or are you mine?"

Then Loretta stepped away from the flytrap, with the dead Miss or Mrs. or Ms. Ramsey melting in its mouth, and continued on her way along the red grass carpeted trail.

Now how do I get back to L.A.? Loretta wondered. If I try to go back the way I came, I'd have to avoid getting swallowed alive by a giant venus flytrap. Then avoid getting swallowed alive by quicksand, and then avoid getting my head chopped off by some headhunter. If I manage to avoid all that, then what? If I get back to the door of that thatched hut, open it and step through the doorway, will my apartment still be on the other side? Will the thatched hut still be there? If it is, will it eat me?

I'm getting totally paranoid!

"’Well just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.’"

The trail through the dark red jungle made a sharp turn to the right. Loretta stepped around it, and heard a loud distant rumbling. The ground beneath her feet began trembling.

She thought, Quicksand again? No. The ground's staying solid. It's a minor earthquake, like we have in California all the time. Even the rumbling. Except that this rumbling is much louder than you'd expect to get from a tremor this small.

She followed a turn to the left, and saw the end of the trail. There was an opening in the jungle, and a bright greenish light ahead.

Loretta hurried along the earthquaking trail toward the opening, thinking, This is where I'll get killed, just when I'm within reach of safety.

She reached the end of the trail and stepped through the opening, out of the dark red jungle.