On the second shift of the second full day Gwendoline and Harriet were working together, the guard with the spanking fetish turned up on duty.  Gwen was quite pleased to see him, as Harry had told her all about him!  Although she had never sought for this kind of experience since her marathon session with Mrs Travers (a lady Gwen had met several times since, but on a purely social basis!)  she still had a slight hankering - an involuntary spanking from this fellow held no terrors for her -  quite the reverse!  It was clear to Gwen, however,  that Harriet was hating it.  Every time the strap descended on her reddening bottom,  Harry's face registered both pain and an angry loathing in equal measure.

Gwendoline decided that something really should be done about it - but what?

Her chance came when the pair and their supervisor were directed to a remote part of the facility, where they were all temporalily out of sight  of anyone else.  As the noise of the leather once again rang out its crisp staccato crack, this time on Gwendoline's rather appreciative hindquarters,  Gwen's leg shot out and her dusty and hardened foot caught the nuisance right in his face, sending him sprawling, losing his grip on his gun as well as the strap.

Gwendoline swept up both gun and strap with one hand and helped the man to his feet with the other.  She returned his weapons to him and then addressed him, hoping he understood at least some English.

"You'd hate your colleagues to know you let a mere woman do that to you!  I won't say anything, if you don't.  And please leave my friend's bottom alone in future.  You're more than welcome to do what ever you damned well like to mine"

The startled man grinned broadly at this.

"You are a brave young woman - my God you are!  My mother is like you - she's scared of nothing and nobody.  Let's get back to work, shall we, girls!"

He backed up this request with a mighty blow of his restored strap to Gwendoline's bottom, a blow which caused her to squeal with delight.

....................................................................................................................................................................
At night, the two discussed the events of the day.

"You took one hell of a risk  there, Gwen.  But thanks all the same!  I was getting so fucking bloody pissed off with that guy!  It seems the pair of you  have got something mutually satisfying going for you, in your respective twisted ways!"

"It takes my mind off the boring nature of the work, my sweet.   And so much nicer than that session they gave me on the first day"

"That must have been utterly horrible, Gwen!  They gave me half an hour in there after I last made a run for it.  My throat was raw from screaming for days after.  I didn't hear you scream, though.  I can't quite make up my mind if that's because you're so very much braver than me,  or because you rather enjoyed it."

"It was an interesting new experience, Harry.  It is always good for me to explore the furthest limits of my endurance,  so that I can find out just how much I can take and know a little more about myself.  In that sense I welcomed the hours I spent with those very inventive, original and dedicated people!   However, I don't want to go back there for a while, except possibly  to kill them all!"

................................................................................................................................................

Next day the guard with the strap was absent.  He was nowhere to be seen the day after that either,  and Gwen asked the  fellow charged for the time being with keeping an eye on them, where the other guard was.  The man thus addressed motioned Gwen to stand against a post with her arms over her head.  He then proceeded to use his strap on her, starting at her shoulders and working his way methodically down to her bottom.  When he had finished he told her to get back to work. As she took up her spade, she turned to the man again.

"Now that you've half killed me, perhaps you'd like to answer my question."

He made as if to resume his brutal treatment, but turned away, muttering,

"Gone back home.  Mother very sick"

"Thanks.  I do so hope she gets well" said Gwen,  and resumed working.  She walked a little stiffly for the rest of the day but was otherwise none the worse.

...........................................................................................................................

"I hope you think that information worth the rather high price you paid to get it!" said Harriet that night as she examined Gwen's bruises.  You really do stick your neck out!"

"All knowledge is power, Harry.  It may come in useful."

.....................................................................................................................

Two days later the guard returned.   When she was sure no one else was looking, Gwendoline asked after his mother.

He replied that she had died.  Gwen placed her hand on his arm in a gesture of sympathy and then stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, telling him that she had lost her father a couple of years ago and understood something of his grief.  She then resumed working by Harriet's side and for the rest of his morning shift neither girl's rear felt the stinging kiss of his strap, much to Gwen's regret!

When he came back  on duty for the final afternoon shift,  he was still abstaining from his usual lambasting of Gwen's by this time leather-hungry buttocks and she asked him why.  He said he was sorry for what his friend had done to her the other day and did not want to hurt her again, especially as she had been so kind to him.

"You'd better return to hitting my friends bottom, then!" she replied to Harry's amazed horror.

Back in their cage, with another sore bottom,  she rounded furiously on Gwen, asking what the fucking bloody hell she thought she was doing!

"If he looks to be going easy on us, his superiors might think him guilty of fraternising with us and going soft and he'd be in trouble and we'd lose him.  Let's face it Harry, he doesn't hit you all that hard  - he just likes the way our arse cheeks wobble like jellies and go red when he slaps us - and we NEVER have our two-hourly drink refused by him OR get worked  half to  fucking death like with some of the others.  Just grin and bear it until he comes back to slapping me again.  Any way it'll only be a few more days now."

"How can you be so sure of that, Gwen.  You've done nothing to get us out of here - all you've done is annoy one of the guards and get yourself beaten up.  We'll never get out.  You shouldn't have come - what's the use of both of us getting killed?"

"I'd sooner be here with you, my darling Harriet, than anywhere else in the world.  As for the both  of us being killed - I wouldn't want to live any more if anything happened to you."

"What about Jim and your little boy, Gwendoline?  You must get back home for their sakes - don't  forget that!"

"We'd better both survive then!"

"Gwen - if you know something I don't, for heaven's sake tell me.  Don't you think I've a right to know?"

Gwen looked at her friend and shook her head.

"What if they took you to that ghastly room, Harry.  You'd be telling them everything they wanted to know within minutes.  Just trust me and be patient.  Jomo says there is a festival in a couple of days, when they will all be celebrating something or other.  He will be going home to his mother's funeral.  I'm glad he's going to be out ....."

 "You were saying, Gwen?"

"Nothing, Harry.  I said fucking nothing!"

Harriet flushed angrily at this.

"I won't tell them anything if they torture me, if that's what you're so scared of.  I might scream the place down, but I'd say nothing.  I swear it, Gwen!  I swear it!"

Gwen looked uncertainly at her friend for some moments and then,

"With any luck, Jessica and the others should have got to a telephone by then and when they speak to your friend Mr Mboyo,   the Government will hit this place with everything they've got - they'll have to, because it will be their one and only chance.  Just don't look excited, Harry.  Act just the same as usual!  If the rebels suspect anything we're both going to suffer for it."

"Why didn't you all bring a radio with you, Gwen?  We could have been out of here by now"

"Not if the rebels had picked up our signal, we wouldn't.  I'm not totally fucking stupid, Harriet - which is as well for the two of us, since you obviously are - too much sun over the past couple of years!"

"Well, Gwen - Here's something I bet you never thought of.  When these bastards have one of their festivals they let us partake of it as well.  We get to be staked out in the sun all day and night with nothing to eat and only a cupful of water at just before dawn and another just after sunset.  It's not a fucking picnic, I can tell you."

"I know what they'll do to us, Harry!  Our guide spoke to a sweet old man who tried to give you a drink on a previous such occasion and got a rifle butt in the face for his pains.  Don't you see Harry we'll be out in the open and not cooped up in here when things start to happen.  And I bet we're strong enough to pull one of those stakes out of the ground.  Just look at this fabulous collection of muscles we've built up between us!"

"You don't understand Gwen.  The only thing to do in order to stay alive is to be still - conserve your strength and don't get dehydrated.  If you try struggling to get free, you won't last out the day"

"I do so wish you would try to be a bit more positive,  Harriet.  You are a real disappointment to me sometimes!"