THE SLAVES IN THE DESERT

Chapter One

 Two Half-Dressed Girls in the Desert

Clarissa and Megan had been close friends all the time they were at school. Megan was much taller and bigger than Clarissa. Clarissa, at eighteen, was five foot four and slight, with fair hair, blue eyes a pert little nose and slight, feminine chin.

Megan was darker haired, six inches taller and with features that were almost masculine in their strength. She had excelled at all sports and been the head girl in the final year. In all their time together it had been Megan who had looked out for Clarissa and made sure none of the other girls picked on her or bullied her.

The close relationship was about to be sundered now that they had left school. Clarissa was to go to Cambridge and Megan  was to train for the police. Megan’s parents were disappointed that their daughter had not set her sights higher, but Megan was adamant. So Clarissa would no doubt go on, in time, to become a judge  after qualifying as a barrister and Megan might find herself giving evidence in a trial presided over by her friend - or so they both joked!

In March, before they embarked on their separate careers the two set off on a tour of North America. Megan promised Clarissa’s parents that she would look after her as she had always done up until now.

All went much as planned until they decided to drive across from East to West, ending up in Mexico, where Clarissa had a distant relative. It was early May and they were somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Already the temperatures were soaring in this corner of the desert and the couple were appropriately dressed, with Megan in a short top and even shorter shorts and Clarissa in a fetching and tiny bikini. Megan was thinking how pretty Clarissa was looking these days, with her rich deep suntan,  when the truck hit an obstruction on the dirt road and lurched into a pothole, tipping half over.

“Golly, Megan! That was a pretty crap bit of driving!” said Clarissa. “I hope you don’t drive squad cars like that when you‘re a lady cop!”

“Just help me get this thing upright, Clarrie!” said Megan, sweating and panting as she tried to get the heavy vehicle back on four wheels again. It was midday and the temperature was in the hundreds already. Neither wished to be stuck here for any longer than they had to. Megan was almost succeeding  in righting the truck when the sound of a siren became audible. A cloud of dust in the distance materialised into a police car.

When it arrived two women officers got out and came to look at the damaged truck. They took in the two girls’ semi-nudity with what Clarissa uneasily recognised  to be a disapproving look. Megan was too busy  dabbing at her body to get rid of the sweat and grease to notice this puritanical reaction, and she was hardly one for picking up on nuances in any case. Clarissa lowered one hand to cover her pierced and bejewelled navel, the sight of which was clearly not pleasing to either of these rescuers. Clarissa was barefoot, but Megan, who had been driving, wore a pair of open-toed sandals. Clarissa found herself wishing that her thong bikini bottom covered more than precisely nought percent of her backside! These ladies were looking at her exposed cheeks with unconcealed horror. But when they spoke it was in a friendly enough tone.

“We’ll take you to the nearest town and you can arrange to have your vehicle towed away and repaired.”

This seemed reasonable and both girls took their minimal amount of luggage out of their car and got into the back of the police car. Clarissa rummaged around for something to cover herself more respectably and found a cotton dress which she slipped on, feeling better able to withstand the world’s gaze. Megan looked a bit worried.

“Funny thing, Clarissa! There are no badges on either of these cops and the car  doesn’t look right, somehow. You’d think they’d be showing some sign as to which state  or jurisdiction we were in. But they just  look vaguely like cops, but I suppose they do things differently here!”

“I suppose we didn’t cross a border or anything?” said Clarissa. “I agree, these two don’t look right, but they’d hardly be driving around like that if they weren’t genuine. The way they were looking at me was very worrying! I got the idea they regard us both as loose women and a threat to public morals! The sooner we are somewhere half-way civilised the better!”

“And we don’t seem to be going anywhere in the direction of any town I know of” said Megan. “I don’t like this!”

As she spoke, the car turned a bend in the road and in front of them, about five miles away in the flat shimmering desert was a set of buildings surrounded by a high wall. It looked dilapidated and deserted, but as they got nearer they could see that there were four towers at each corner of the quadrilateral enclosure and all four were manned.

“Looks like some kind of fort, maybe built by the Spanish.” whispered Clarissa.

The car was forced to drive slowly because of the appalling terrain and it took twenty minutes before they reached the building. A gate was opened and they drove inside.

The driver and her companion got out and opened the rear door.

“Come this way, please!” one of them said in a pleasant enough voice. The girls followed the two officers across a large compound to the main building and were shown into an office.

“Wait here and when your vehicle has been retrieved we will let you know. You can stay here overnight if it takes time to repair it.”

Then the officers left. Megan went over to the window and saw them drive away.

“It’s a funny sort of place, this! It seems deserted, but there are people on each of those towers. It’s almost like a Stalag, except there are no prisoners!”

“Maybe they are all out working in the heat!” joked Clarissa, who had come to stand next to her friend. “I’m thirsty! Let’s see if we can find some water.”

But when they tried to open the door, they found that it was locked.

“Odd. Well - there are no bars to the windows!” said Megan. Soon the pair were out in the compound, a large area of dried mud.

“It must get very muddy when it rains - if it ever does rain around here!” said Clarissa. “I wonder what goes on around in this place? Oh, here comes someone!”

The someone in question was actually three people, all female and all uniformed. All were armed and all looked anything but friendly.

“What are you two doing outside?” asked the leading lady.

“We got locked in somehow and climbed through the window. It’s hot and we’re thirsty. Our car broke down and a couple of police dropped us here and said we could wait until someone towed it away and got it fixed.”

“Get back inside! As for water - that is rationed. You’ll get some later when the others return.”

“What others?” asked Clarissa.

“The other prisoners. You are prisoners, now. Drugs were found in your car and you have been sentenced to thirty years hard labour. Get back inside at once.”

“How can we be sentenced without even being charged!” asked an irate Megan. “ Is this some sort of joke? Because I’m not laughing. I demand we be allowed to use a phone.”

“There is no phone here. Not for the use of prisoners. Go back inside!”

This instruction was accompanied by a threatening gesture with the rifle the woman was holding. When this had no effect, Megan was struck on the face, making her mouth bleed. Reluctantly the pair went back into the building. This time they were not shown into the office but marched along a long corridor and into a dark room with barred windows high up on the walls so it was impossible to see out.

“I still think this is some kind of practical joke!” said Megan, although her bruised face made her doubt this explanation inwardly. But she had to try and cheer Clarissa up, because the smaller girl looked to be near hysterical. She put an arm around her and felt her trembling gradually die down. Then she replied.

“It’s no joke, Megan. Not the way that bitch hit you! What if we’ve strayed into an area run by some kind of religious sect? It might be quite easy to take over a small community and impose a lot of mad laws. The central government probably leaves them alone, not knowing just how insane they are. We must have struck them as deserving of locking up. Maybe we were not modestly enough dressed, (especially me!) or maybe they just felt like picking on two strangers who won’t be missed for months and can never be traced. We’ve got to get away from here, Megan. Because we won’t get any help from others. We’re on our own!”

“Well, we aren’t going anywhere just yet!” said Megan who had just tried the door, which refused to budge a millimetre. “That door was built to withstand a tank!”

They had been there for three hours when the door opened and one of the uniformed women came in. She placed a tray containing food and water on the floor and left. Both girls tried to question her about what was going on, but she ignored them. They shared the meal and resumed waiting.

Two hours after this the door again opened and two guards came in. One of them carried a pair of garments over her arm.

“Get undressed, both of you. Then put these on. It’s all you get to wear while you’re here, so look after it!”

Megan looked as if she were going to protest, but another blow to her face convinced her to obey. Both girls took off all their clothes, except Megan’s shoes, since footwear was not part of the dress they had been issued with.

“Shoes too! Off with everything!” barked out the guard. So Megan joined Clarissa in being barefoot.

So Megan and Clarissa put on the grey briefs and blue cotton dresses which buttoned up down the front and came half way down Megan’s thighs and almost to Clarissa’s knees. Their own clothes were taken away and the pair left alone again - but not for long this time.

“I hope you get something to put on your feet, Megan! It’s so hot you’ll be burnt out in the open. Even I get a bit uncomfortable and I’m more used to it than you are. I guess the other prisoners are all out somewhere breaking rocks or whatever it is they have in store for us. We won’t get far on foot either, judging from what we’ve seen of the terrain.”

“I guess that’s the idea, Clarrie! No shoes means we’ll never get far on foot. And any transport will be well guarded - but stealing a vehicle is our only hope.”

“They can’t get away with this for ever, Megan! One day the authorities will get wise to this and it won’t be us behind bars, but the people running this place!”

“But how long will that take? I suppose we’ll know more when we get to talk to some of the others.”

They had only minutes to wait before they were ordered out onto the parade ground to be lined up for inspection. The other women were still being unloaded from the transport. They were a varied looking bunch, ranging from several girls little or no older than Megan and Clarissa to others who looked to be in their sixties, although Clarissa guessed they were much younger.

Most  wore the same gear as the two girls, but quite a few were naked. And a couple only wore briefs. Many of the prison dresses were torn and in some cases the buttons had clearly been lost, as the women concerned had no means of hiding their breasts from the sun and the stares of the guards.

“I suppose some of them just had their clothes wear off them and they won’t get any more issued. Let’s hope we won’t be around long enough for that to happen to us!” said Clarissa in a whisper, scarcely moving her lips. She might have not moved her lips but both of them were shifting from one foot to the other. The ground was incredibly hot and even Clarissa’s  soles were getting blistered. One of the guards saw this and yelled at them to keep still. They obeyed and the agony soon became almost unendurable.

Once all the women had been lined up the roll was called, and both newcomers’ names were included. Then they were all left to their own devices. A group of women came and gathered around the two friends.

“Welcome to Hell, girls!” said a large woman, as tall as  Megan . “Hell, first because of the guards who’ll work you to death and hell from the inmates, if you aren’t careful! But this little treasure will be OK! I like sweet little things like you, honey!”

“Keep your hands of my friend!” said Megan, putting herself between her smaller friend and the woman. “You’ll have me to deal with if you touch her.”

“And me!” said Clarissa. “I won’t take anything lying down! Just lay off us!”

“Keep out of it” said a voice behind Clarissa. A hand was laid on her shoulder. “Let your friend take care of herself - if she can!”

Clarissa looked round and another big woman was behind her. This one looked less threatening than the one who was now squaring up to Megan, clearly with a view to beating her up.

“Megan can deal with that cow! Just watch!”

Megan indeed knew how to take care of herself. The big woman hit out at her and found herself on the ground, blinking dazedly.  She looked at the others of her group and they all made for Megan who was soon fighting off four women at once. This was too much, even for the skilled Megan who had excelled at martial arts,  and she was soon being pummelled by three angry women whilst being firmly held by two others. Then the guards came running up and Megan was left standing as her attackers backed away. She had a cut lip and bruised cheek but was otherwise none the worse for her little fight.

“Who started this?” asked the chief warder.

“She did.” answered the big girl who had started all the trouble. “I wanted her friend as my toy and she objected.”

“Is this true! Did you attack this inmate!” screamed the guard, whose rifle butt had  already crashed twice into Megan’s face.

“Yes, But she was….”

Megan got no further as she was sent sprawling by a swinging, clubbing blow from the warder’s rifle. She struggled to her feet, her face streaming with blood and her nose obviously badly broken. The terrified Clarissa was almost sick at the sight. The pressure on her shoulder was increased and the woman behind her whispered. “Don’t worry! They won’t kill her. But she won’t be looking after you for a while. Luckily, I will!”

“As long I as I become your toy, I suppose! No thanks!”

“I’d like you as my lover. I’ll be honest about that. But there’s no compulsion! I’ll look after you until your mate is able to again - and that will not be for a very long time!”

“Why? What’s going to happen to her?”

“Plenty!”

“Plenty of bad things?”

“Very bad things! I hope she’s strong. She’ll need to be!”

“And you’ll look after me? Why will you?”

“I like you. And you remind me of someone! Don’t keep looking at her! It won’t help either of you! You can’t help her now. I wish I could take you away from this back to the cells. But they’ll make us watch.”

“What will they do to her?”

“Beat her, humiliate her. Make her wish she was dead. It isn’t going to be pretty. But they won’t kill her. They never do. And all this was so unnecessary! I saw what was happening and was coming to sort it out when your friend got in first. She‘s a good girl, alright, but she‘ll wish she‘d thought first in the weeks ahead!”

Clarissa’s mysterious benefactor became silent, as did the rest of the chattering women, as another woman, whom Clarissa was later to know as Warden Kane, came marching across.

“What goes on here?”

“This new inmate assaulted Debbie, Ma’am.”

Once again Megan was asked if this were true, once again she tried to explain and once more she was clubbed brutally to the ground. This time she got up very slowly and Clarissa saw that her friend and protector was now very frightened indeed.

“Just answer either yes or no!” screamed the Warden. “Did you start a fight with this inmate?”

“Yes!”

Once again Megan was sent to the floor, her face becoming bloodier each time the rifle butt struck it. A horrified Clarissa hardly recognised her friend by this time, but the steady pressure on her shoulder warned her not to say anything. There was nothing she could do for Megan except pray.

“On your feet! You aren’t that badly hurt - yet!” ordered the Warden. And Megan obeyed.

“You address me as Ma’am! Once more - did you attack this inmate?”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

The warden turned to the senior guard. She ordered, “Deal with her!” and then walked away.