THE SLAVES IN THE DESERT

Chapter Five

Clarissa is Whipped - Megan is Freed


Megan had fallen asleep during the afternoon. Perhaps sleep was the wrong word. Drifting in and out of unconsciousness was a more accurate description. This last day had been the hottest of the summer and every time her skin touched the bars of her cage it was blistered. Although it was hell in her continued confinement she wondered how Clarissa  was coping as she worked for ten hours a day in the same heat. Every day she eagerly looked out for her friend as the returning truck disgorged its contents of exhausted women and each day she breathed a fresh sigh of relief as Clarissa jumped nimbly to the ground and helped Miranda get down. It made her sad and angry to see how happy these two were together and how seldom Clarissa bothered to look up at her. But at least Clarissa was surviving.

In fact, Megan was forced to conclude that she was not only surviving but thriving. She could not see the two lovers sunbathing nude each evening because there was a building blocking the view - Clarissa had enough feelings not to distress Megan any more than she need. But the spring in Clarissa’s step and the laugh that came out of her so often could not be disguised. Clarrie was enjoying this novel experience! She had obviously found love in the tall and handsome Miranda, who clearly doted on her. And heavy labour had done wonders for the smaller girl’s physique; even under the grey dress it was obvious Clarissa had filled out remarkably.

This evening Megan was startled to see Clarissa was naked as she jumped with her unfailing eagerness off the tailboard of the prison truck, helping Miranda down - as if Miranda was a cripple! Clarrie was taking charge of her lover - that was very plain to see! Three days passed and Megan never saw Clarissa dressed  in all that time. Then the blessed Wanda, the humane guard who had taken more and more of a liking to Megan, whose courage amazed her, came on duty and let Megan out to walk about and straighten up after ten days of constantly being bent double.

“Why is Clarrie naked, Wanda? Has she been punished in some way? She looks happy enough, but they’ve taken her clothes away.”

“She had them stolen, Megan During this heat she asked permission to take them off while working and one of the other women stole them. She’ll never get them back, but my guess is that doesn’t care! It’s so hot that who needs clothes anyway? And she and Miranda work together nude all day. It gives then both a kick and the guards like the show so all are happy, you might say!”

“As long as she’s happy, Wanda. You will look out for her, won’t you?  I worry about her and I promised her parents I’d look after her. Fine mess I’ve made of that!”

“That scheming little madam can look after herself, Megan! With having Miranda wrapped round her little finger, she has all the protection she needs from the other women and  the guards  all like her. She’s a very likeable girl, as I’m sure you know! Not only that but she makes herself useful in all sorts of ways. That‘s a girl who‘s not afraid of hard work or dirty work. They have her looking after the solitary cells and that‘s a horrible job but Clarissa never complains. You‘ll see her more often when they transfer you!”

“Transfer me! When will that be and for how long?”

“In six weeks when  one of the solitary girls gets out. Then you go in there for five years. It will mean no more walks at night, Megan. They’ll put you on a long chain so you’ll be able to get to the door and collect your food and put your bucket to be changed, but you’ll be in chains all the time and never let out.”

“I prefer being in the cage to that!” Megan was horrified. “I can’t face that, Wanda. You’ve got to get me out of here. If I could only get over the wall and could make a run for it! I’d be shot I suppose but at least I’d have a sporting chance!”

“You know I can’t do that, Megan. Just try to cope and survive. Now you must get back inside again. See you next week!”

Next day Clarissa was alone except for the guard. She had a crazy notion that she must do something for Megan.

“Permission to speak, Ma’am?”

“Granted, Clarissa! What can I do for you?”

“I want my friend Megan let out of that cage. I know she did wrong starting a fight, but I think she’s been punished enough. And I won’t do a stroke more work until she’s free!”

With this Clarissa threw down her pickaxe and sat on the ground, looking defiantly at the guard.

“Get up, Clarissa. I promise I’ll try to help. But get on with your work. I mean what I say, Clarrie! I’ll do the best I can. Don’t force me to whip you, Clarissa!”

“I want you to whip me! I’ve been rotten to Megan! I deserve a good, long, hard  and bloody whipping for the way I’ve behaved. Go on - whip me!”

The guard obliged and when she had finished Clarissa staggered to her feet and resumed working, the blood trickling down her back from a dozen cuts.

“What happened, Clarrie?” asked a horrified Miranda when she rejoined Clarissa after returning from a separate group who had been working half a mile away. I heard a woman being whipped, but had no idea it was you!”

“I went on strike! And each day I’ll do the same until they release Megan. I’ve had enough of seeing that poor thing stuck up there day after day, week after week, month after fucking horrible month. I’ll not do another stroke for these bitches!”

And she threw the pickaxe in the direction of the guard, causing her to duck.

“Fucking Hell, Clarrie! You’ll be for it now!”

But Clarissa was not punished again, and that evening as Stella and Miranda tried to treat her back the cell door opened and Megan staggered in!

“Come with us, Clarissa!” said the guard who had just pushed the dazed Megan in to join  Stella, Miranda and Clarissa “The rest of you be ready to be called out into the compound in ten minutes!”

“So she finally did the right thing! Good for her!” said Stella, who had seen from a distance as Clarissa had made her act of defiance. “I just hope she doesn’t suffer too much for it. Come on, Miranda! Let’s get ready to help Megan! She looks fit to drop!”

The other two explained how Clarissa had defied the guard earlier and been whipped. All three agreed that it had been very brave of her and that her troubles, far from being limited to one whipping, had probably only just begun.

Soon all the women who were fit enough were lined up on the compound and Clarissa was brought before them and strapped to a recently constructed post with a cross bar at about chest height.  They tied her legs to the base of the post and her arms were stretched out and tied to the cross-bar. The evilly grinning guard then addressed the women.

“This prisoner stopped work and demanded that her friend be freed from the cage. In view of the fact that she is a hard worker and cheerful prisoner who has made herself useful both to her fellow prisoners and the staff we have agreed to free her friend who will now be allowed to rest and the start working with the rest of you. But we cannot allow insubordination of the type we all of us witnessed today. The prisoner, Clarissa Creswell will receive twenty five lashes and remain tied here for three days. She will be given water three times a day and fed normally. Does she have anything to say before the punishment is carried out?

“Yes! I don’t want any more to drink and eat than Megan was given. And I deserve a lot more than twenty five for the way I treated her, Ma’am!”

There were murmurs of admiration from the gathered prisoners, even Debbie looking impressed.

“Very well! You will be fed and watered only once daily at sunset and will receive forty lashes. Carry out the punishment.”

Debbie was ordered to give Clarissa the lashes and refused, to everyone’s surprise.

“I can’t, Ma’am. And not one of my people will take the whip to her, either.” There was a cheer. Then Clarissa spoke to Debbie.

“Don’t get into trouble just because of me. I’d whip you if I were ordered to and I’d put everything  I had into it. I‘d make the blood run down your back and make sure you were scarred for life. So don‘t be squeamish, Debbie! Lay them on well!”

Back in the cell later that evening Miranda was in tears and Megan and Stella tried to comfort her but all their efforts were quite fruitless and none of the three slept well that night, thinking as they were of Clarissa, weak and bloody after her whipping and tied up for three days in that merciless heat.
“I didn’t hear her cry out once, not even when they rubbed the salt in afterwards.” said Stella. “If you want my opinion, I think she was enjoying it!”

“I thought so, too.” answered Miranda. “She’s a lovely girl. And a very strange one. I’m glad she came here, Megan. I know that sounds cruel, but I think she’s glad too.”

Clarissa was glad beyond words to have met Miranda. She was also pleased that Megan’s time in the cage was finally over and that it was she who had secured her release. But she had not enjoyed being whipped either the first or second time. The forty lashes had cut into an already sore and torn back. Her feat in remaining silent as Debbie whipped her had led Miranda and Stella to wonder if she was getting some kind of pleasure out of it but they were quite wrong!  She felt that her beauty was being marred for ever as the leather bit into her flesh, and this did not please her one little bit.

Fortunately for Clarissa, Debbie had not wielded the whip as vigorously as she could have done. For one thing, she still had hopes of getting the lovely young thing away from Miranda and further to that, she was tired to the point of total collapse after ten hours backbreaking work in temperatures of approaching one hundred and twenty degrees. So Clarissa’s scars were not to prove permanent, although they would not fade completely for several months. She soon fell asleep as the daylight faded and she was left alone, tied to the whipping post.

She woke in the morning to the sound of the truck taking the women to the familiar place of work. In the first days Clarissa had hated that spot, with no shade and only hours of hard work, pushing her tired thirst-ridden body to keep going between breaks, but now she wanted nothing more than to be in the truck with the others. She might have heard the others driven away but she did not hear them return. Standing in the heat for all that time had been too much for her and she was soon unconscious, mercifully oblivious of the swarms of flies which buzzed around her, covering her face and feeding on her  wounds. The backs of her legs where her blood had trickled down were black with the teeming mass of voracious insects as was the patch on the ground where her blood had collected..

The returning Miranda and Stella looked anxiously at Clarissa’s  slumped and motionless body.  The evening brought a lessening of the heat and this caused her to revive a little. She was able to drink her mug of water and eat the piece of stale bread, which would be her sole sustenance for two more days, before becoming unconsciousness again.

Wanda, the guard charged with feeding her, stroked her head gently and kissed her cheek.

“You are a brave girl, Clarissa. And thanks to you, Megan won’t suffer any more. I wish I could help you two! I wish I could help myself get out of this nightmare!”