[i]Damn it, how far did we go?[/i] Thought Ivan, finally pulling himself up onto the branch and into a position where he was at least fairly safe from falling. However, he had nowhere else to go from here. He was completely trapped by the mud, unless.... 

Ivan was about to do something very, very stupid. He knew it, too. He took a small knife from his pocket, and started sawing away at the tree trunk where it was thinnest. He hoped to cut the tree top down, forming a bridged to the next tree over. This was an unbelievably dumb idea. He was more likely to hurt himself or simply waste time than actually form an escape from the sentient mud. But it was the only possible solution he saw.

The tree finally snapped, a few feet of branches and trunk falling into the next tree over, a sturdy looking pine. Ivan started to carefully climb his way across his makeshift bridge, feeling it bend precariously under him. 

He got to thinking as he was making his way across... what was he going to do once he got to the pine? Throw pine cones at the mud until it stopped pursuing him? He growled in frustration, gripping the branches so tightly it made his fingers and palms start to bleed. He had no idea what he was doing.