Mired

An officer finds herself in a life and death situation of the strangest kind

Bethany lifted one foot, then the other. Still, it did no good. She looked around. Still, that did no good. She was up to her knees now.

"God damn it, this is ridiculous," she said to the scrubby pines. Only the sound of the water down the hill on the shingle answered her.

She looked over at her cruiser again. Ten yards away; might as well have been a hundred.

Two inches above her knees now, and she was starting to get nervous. "Who the hell gets stuck in quicksand outside of a movie?!" she shouted in frustration.

Her radio was in the car with anything else that would have been useful. Bethany thought of other situations she in her career: the fire from which she had saved an eighty year old woman 's vicoius goddam chihuahua; the time she had been shot her through the goddam shoulder; the night she almost got run over by the goddam fire engine. She'd experienced a lot and survived a lot. Now, right in the middle of the civilized world, Bethany's life was in danger of being taken by goddam quicksand!

"God damn it! HELP!" she screamed, the slimy cold now six inches above her knee.

Incredibly, she saw the sparkling bumper of another cruiser coming up behind hers.

"Jennings!" she shouted, recognizing the rookie. "Get a stick and reach it out to me!"

Jennings did as he was told, looking confused. Bethany took hold and pulled hard to try and extricate herself. But Jennings hadn't been ready for that— and he came in right next to her, floundering and spluttering!

Her feet now freezing and her mid-thighs cold and wet, Bethany looked and the sinking muck-covered young man and shook her head at this absolute deadly absurdity.

"Well God damn," she said.

NOTES: ▶︎

Word Count: 300
Submitted for "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 
Prompt: Use the phrase "This is ridiculous"