RETRIBUTION by Paul Melrose (my pseudonym in 'Februs' where this story first appeared) With a whine of over revved engine and a grinding of gears the Land Rover lurched forward and finally picked up speed again, weaving its mazy pattern around the narrow dirt road which cut a swathe through the stark forbidding hills. Down below lay the Jamuna river and the border with Burma, the vehicle still an hour away from Rangpur and the UNESCO Bangladeshi aid camp. If the late afternoon sun and humidity were not bad enough, the atmosphere inside the Land Rover was positively simmering. 'Christ, Linda ...!' exclaimed Paula Freeman to the driver '...I thought you had a driving licence! Sort the bloody gears out, will you! If you do that again, you'll have my head through the windscreen!' 'Ah well, if it's only your head there won't be much harm done, will there, ...!' her companion retorted tartly '...now if it was your arse that got damaged it could be the end of the world as we know it! Still I expect that's insured against accidental damage and over exercise!' 'Very funny ...!' said Paula icily '...just cut the wisecracks, little Goody Two Shoes, and try to learn how to drive this thing! We've got a long way to go !' Linda Bell, flushing hotly, made to respond, then gritted her teeth and decided it was not worth the effort, the two girls subsiding into an icy silence as the Land Rover slowly edged its way around the hillside. Both girls were UNESCO volunteers who had asked to work in Bangladesh on the famine relief project and had been paired up to co-drive the relief trucks from camp to camp. On first meeting, both girls had struck up a friendship immediately despite their totally different styles and temperament. While Paula was a total extrovert, blonde and bubbly, Linda was almost the complete opposite. She was pretty and dark haired, but intense and bookish, almost painfully shy with strangers. As she steered the Land Rover around the narrow hillside, Linda tried not to let the irritation show in her face but she'd crunched the gears in trying to maintain the speed of the vehicle without changing down, anxious as she was to catch up on time. They were due back from Gaibanda with the months supplies at 6pm and she knew there would be a major panic if they were late, given the political sensitivity and danger of the area. There should have been plenty of time but Paula had other needs to satisfy, leaving Linda kicking her heels in frustrated anger and impatience. Paula finally emerged from the quarters of a UNESCO officer, flushed and smiling, to where Linda sat waiting in helpless fury. 'About bloody time too ...!' she'd shouted angrily '...now I'll have to drive like smoke to get us back in time. Have you no thought for anybody else, Paula? God, you're sex mad!' 'Oooh dear, is mommy cross ...?' Paula had teased, increasing Linda's anger tenfold, '...Come on, sweetie, lighten up ...sex makes the world go round. You wouldn't get so wound up if you had a man between your legs occasionally ...or often is even better! Perhaps you're not into men, my sweet! Is that it? I'll leave my knickers off on the way back if it makes you happy! You can drive one handed! I'm prepared for anything, darling!' The final gibe had sapped what was left of Linda's patience and she had simply exploded in rage. She knew Paula was joking, knew she'd overreacted but she couldn't back down, hence the frigid atmosphere inside the Land Rover. What was worse, she was angry because ... oh damn the girl! Linda felt the tears so close and bit her lip, desperately concentrating on her driving. She was brought suddenly down to earth as Paula brought her small fist down on the dash board in a gesture of annoyance. 'Oh shit ...!' she cried ' ...we've forgotten the snake serum. Christ, there's hardly any left on the base! We'll have to go back!' The Land Rover stopped with an exaggerated skid as Linda hit the brakes with force and anger . 'We've forgotten ...?' she muttered, her voice rising in fury ' ...we've forgotten? Christ almighty, Paula, you had the bloody list! You checked it off while I signed us in! Was that too difficult? If you weren't so obsessed with getting shagged senseless ...!' then she felt Paula's hand gently on her arm. 'OK, Lin ...,' Paula said quietly ' ...let's not keep fighting. I'm sorry I upset you and it's my fault but we'll have to go back. We can ring up from Gaibanda to explain and we can stay the night there. I'll tell them it was my fault but please, love, don't mention about Colin ...awkward, married you see! Linda raised her eyes to the heavens. 'Jesus, Paula, it'll be dark before we get there. It's a two hour drive!' Paula shook her head, seizing Linda anxiously by the arm. 'No, not if we get off the mountain road and go through the villages, its not...!' she said confidently ' ...it knocks three quarters of an hour off the journey and its easier to negotiate anyway. These mountain passes are bloody dangerous!' Linda's eyes widened with concern. ''We're not supposed to use that route, not with all the local unrest about. We've been warned, Paula, you know that!' Paula grinned. 'Oh come on, it's better than the mountains and the police aren't interested in us anyway, just the villagers opposed to the Government. We're harmless ...!' She paused and giggled ' ...The worst that might happen is that some of those hunky young guerillas with rippling chests and huge you-know-whats take us prisoner and then do what they want with us ...one after the other. You call that a problem ...???' and she rolled her eyes in a theatrical gesture of ecstasy. 'Stop that sort of rubbish ...' Linda muttered anxiously '...you wouldn't laugh if it really happened ...but I suppose we'll have to risk the villages. It's far too late to drive around the mountains. Christ, Paula, you really owe me one this time !' Paula squeezed Linda's arm in acknowledgement as the dark haired girl swung the wheel around on the tight track, backing up carefully on to a pull in before turning the Land Rover back towards Gaibanda. They soon located the steep hill which took them down the mountains and onto the plain that ran alongside the Jamuna river, the fertile life blood of all the small villages along the way. Paula settled back in her seat and stared out of the window, for beneath her devil may care exterior a sensitive and caring girl did exist, one who knew she'd put them into this situation through sheer carelessness and determined to make it up to Linda at the earliest opportunity. She knew too that silence was the sensible option at present, allowing Linda to talk when she'd calmed down. As they approached the environs of the first small village, Paula sensed that Linda was tensing up at the wheel and she squeezed her driver's arm gently. 'It'll be OK, Lin ...you'll see' she said softly and for the first time for ages, Linda smiled at her, a warm reassuring smile of affection. 'You're a pain in the bloody arse, you know that?' Linda muttered, grinning, and both girls laughed in unison, the tension broken at last. Paula had guessed right, for apart from a few stares from the local inhabitants they sailed through each village with no problems, Linda gradually relaxing as the journey continued. The girls were chatting merrily as the largest of the villages came into view, Linda decelerating as the first group of small huts on the perimeter were passed. As the vehicle travelled on, both girls stopped talking and looked anxiously from side to side for here there was a sinister change in the atmosphere. There seemed to be large numbers of men on the street all walking or cycling towards the centre of the village, one or two waving raised fists at the vehicle and , when the occupants of the vehicle were identified as young European women, some men had banged on the side of the Land Rover and shouted some unintelligible words of abuse. 'Christ, let's get through here sharpish!' Linda muttered anxiously and began to accelerate, nearly knocking a cyclist off his bike to loud shouts of anger from behind them. 'Take it easy, kid ...' Paula said softly '...just drive normally or we'll really upset them!' and Linda took the advice, slowing to her previous gentle crawl through the narrow streets. As they reached the end of the street, which opened onto the village square, both girls gasped in horror for the road was packed solid with men gathered in the square all shouting and yelling and there was no way through. In the face of this mob, both girls were grateful for the sight of two police vehicles on the opposite side of the square, in position to prevent through traffic and obviously blocking their route. At the sight of the Land Rover, now hemmed in by the shouting crowd, one of the police officers got out of his car and stalked across the square, brushing the tightly packed crowd out of his path, his face like thunder, until he reached the vehicle and banged on the drivers window. Tentatively Linda lowered the window and the policeman shouted 'Papers!' Linda reached under the dash and found both girls UNESCO permits, visas and passports which were peremptorily scanned. 'What are you doing here ...?' the policeman demanded in good English ' ...you people are told to use the mountain route. You have no right here!' Linda stuttered her apologies and explained what had happened and her fear of the mountain route after dark. The policeman listened, unimpressed, but nodded his head. 'Very well, but now you will have to stay here until we are finished and the crowd is dispersed. Lock the doors of your vehicle and you will come to no harm ...but women are not welcome here. Not on days like this!' and he stalked back to his vehicle before Linda could even enquire what he meant. She could hear the baying of the crowd now with the windows open and it frightened her, her slim body shaking as she closed the window and locked both the doors as Paula, her eyes full of concern, put her hand in Linda's and left it there. Suddenly, as both girls watched in bewilderment, another police vehicle drew up behind its companion on the far side of the square and the doors opened, two police officers emerging, one pushing a young man in his late teens whose wrists were handcuffed together. The boy was handsome but obviously terrified, his tear stained face betraying a fear of things to come. All he wore was a pair of light cotton trousers and the sweat ran down his broad chest, giving the rippling muscles a luminosity in the bright sunlight as he was pushed into the centre of the square by the armed policemen. The boy was pushed, his head bowed, towards the centre of the square where a tall, cross membered, wooden structure had been set up, augmented only by two cushions bound to it with rope about half way down. 'Oh my God, its a public execution!' Linda cried in horror, her face white with shock. 'No, it's not ...' Paula replied in a whisper, her voice hoarse and shaky '...look at the apparatus with the cushions! It's a public flogging!' No sooner were the words out of her mouth than a third policeman appeared in the square carrying a thick bamboo cane. At a sign from the officer with the cane, the boy raised his handcuffed wrists above his head and was turned to face the crowd. The boy's eyes were closed in shame and his lip was trembling as one of the policemen pulled the draw strings of the cotton trousers and they fell to the ground, exposing the boy completely naked, his light brown penis shrivelled with the fear of what was to come. 'Christ, Lin, they're going to cane his bare bottom!' Paula whispered, her voice shaking with excitement and Linda felt the perspiration on Paula's hand gel with her own. 'I've got eyes ...!' Linda replied testily' ...I can bloody see that!' but her hand gripped Paula's tightly, her tension apparent. The boy was turned round and his arms strapped to the apparatus, then following a gruff command, moved his feet apart to allow his ankles to be strapped to the device, his genitals now protected by the cushions. Both girls stared at the well muscled body on display, his lean brown back bathed with sweat, the perspiration running in rivulets down the base of his spine and then into the crack between his firm bare buttocks, their muscles flexing and tensing with fear and expectation. 'Jesus, he's beautiful!' Paula gasped, her breathing shallow and intense, her eyes shining as Linda turned briefly towards her friend, her face burning. 'Shut up, Paula! Just bloody well shut up!' she hissed, but Paula grinned and squeezed Linda's hand, the response immediate and intense. They watched and waited. The cane was raised in the air then it flashed down and struck the plumb centre of the bare buttocks, leaving an immediate red weal across the pale brown skin. The boy gasped and tensed, his buttocks thrusting forward until stopped by the cushions, the crack of his bottom opening and closing with the pain. The cane flashed down a second time on the same spot and this time the boy's head went back and his buttocks thrust forwards violently, the welt now livid. As the caning continued, the boy began to cry out and his reddening buttocks began to thrust back and forth in agony. Inside the Land Rover, Linda's throat was dry and her head was spinning. No longer conscious of the crowd, her eyes were glued to the spectacle in front of her. Her heart was pounding and her face was flushed as she watched the cane flash down again and again on the naked buttocks . Feelings of shame dominated her mind as she became conscious of the sensitivity of her nipples under the thin cotton blouse and of the dampness between her legs. She was suddenly conscious of low guttural sounds from the passenger seat and she turned briefly, her mouth dropping open as she stared at the bright eyed, excited young woman beside her. Paula was leaning forward, her eyes never leaving the scene in front of them, her one hand still gripping Linda's tightly. Her skirt was pushed up to the top of her thighs and Linda could see the stretched band of white cotton which had been pulled down almost to her knees. Paula sat with legs splayed wide, her free hand moving urgently under her skirt, her eyes bright, her face shining with perspiration. Linda turned back to the spectacle of the boy's ordeal, shocked by everything she was seeing, incapable of words but frustrated beyond belief. She moved her hand urgently to push up the hem of her skirt then stopped in disgust, biting her lip as she watched the caning continue. Eventually, after some twenty five strokes, the caning stopped and the boy was untied, his bottom a mass of crimson weals though no blood had been drawn. As the boy was turned to face the crowd once more to complete his humiliation , both girls gasped at the sight of his now stiffly erect penis. The policeman who had administered the caning made some coarse jest before he pulled up the trousers of the weeping boy and tied them at the waist once more before dragging his victim off to the waiting police car and driving away at speed. The crowd, which had been baying all the way through the caning, would have turned its attention back to the girls in the Land Rover but the police moved among them, dispersing them rapidly in the direction of their homes. The policeman who had originally demanded their papers strode across to the Land Rover and banged on the window, frowning as a shaken Linda wound it down. 'That's one boy who will not spread anti Government pamphlets for some time ...!' he said with venom, gazing at the trim, firm bodies of the two girls with undisguised longing '...and let that be a warning to you! If I catch you out here again without the correct papers, I'll take you to the police station and make sure you both get a good dose of what he got...with your pants down and without witnesses...and don't think that's an idle threat!' then he rapped on the side of the Land Rover and walked away. 'Filthy sod!' Paula exclaimed angrily, then she noticed that Linda was red faced and crying softly with humiliation. Gently she touched Linda's hand but it was snatched away in anger. Breathing softly, Paula looked anxiously at her friend. 'They've opened the road ...,' she said gently ' ...are you fit to drive?' 'I'm not a bloody kid ...' Linda snapped ' ...yes, I'm fit to drive, now let's get out of this damned place!' Paula watched with tender concern as her companion choked back her tears and, with shaking hands, started the Land Rover up and eased it forward, crunching the gears once more in her nervousness. Out on the open road once more the tension in the Land Rover was again electric, neither girl breaking the silence for ten minutes or so until Paula asked softly 'Lin, why are you so upset with me. That wasn't my fault. I couldn't stop it!' Linda threw the vehicle around a narrow bend and then turned her flushed face to her companion. 'No, but you enjoyed it, didn't you! I saw what you were doing! Oh Paula, how could you be so ...so ...' Linda choked on the sentence, the words stuck in her throat as she felt the gentle hand on her arm. 'And you didn't, I suppose! Come on, Lin, admit it! I saw your face and heard your breathing. Don't come the saint with me! You loved it, didn't you! Wasn't he just beautiful in the nude? Didn't you wonder how it would feel to get that cane across your bare bum in front of all those men? God, it was so exciting!' The vehicle had reached a stretch of open plain as Linda suddenly swerved violently off the road and into a clearing partly sheltered in trees as Paula held on to her seat. 'Lin, for God's sake ...!' she gasped '...what are you ...?' Linda leapt out of the vehicle without reply and marched round to the passenger door. 'Out ...!' she commanded angrily ' ...get out of there ...NOW!' Paula, too stunned to argue, did as she was told. 'Christ ...!' she muttered anxiously ' ...you're not going to leave me here are you? Look Lin, I know I've been stupid and its all my fault, but please don't ...' 'Shut up or I will leave you here ...' Linda answered tersely ' ...and just for once in your life do as you're told without questions! Understood ?' Dumbly, Paula nodded, her face a picture of surprise and bewilderment as Linda went to the back doors of the Land Rover and opened them up. She spent a few seconds in the back of the vehicle before re emerging, her hands behind her back. 'Right, Paula, here's the way it is ...' Linda said forcefully, then as she saw her friend's mouth open ' ...shut up, I said, or I WILL just abandon you !' and Paula miserably shook her head and closed her mouth. Linda began afresh. 'Thanks to you, we're over an hour late, we forgot the snake serum AND we blundered into a very dangerous situation which could have had awful consequences for us. I hope you're satisfied! What's worse is that you thoroughly enjoyed the show and yes, you're right! To my shame, I enjoyed it too ...and it's given me a damn good idea! So I'm a dyke, am I? That's what you inferred, Paula ...shut up, I said ...and that's pretty hurtful, don't you think? Well, it's a good job you remembered some of the items on our shopping list because now I'm able to reward you for that remark.and make myself feel a damn sight better into the bargain!' Paula's mouth opened once more in disbelief as Linda brought her hands in front of her, hands which were holding a three foot long garden cane made of stout bamboo. 'Lin, you can't ...!' Paula cried weakly but it was impossible to keep the excitement out of her voice ' ...you can't do that to me! You can't' 'Really ...'?' Linda replied quietly ' ...oh I think I can! Anyway I thought you were dying to experience the cane across your bare bum ...or was that more hot air? Well, you're going to get it anyway and I won't have to force you or threaten to leave you here ...you know I'd never do that! All I need to do is to give the real reason why we're in this mess to the whole base when we return ...and you will be really popular with Mr Colin Middleton and his wife, won't you!' Paula gasped in horror, her face red with a mixture of emotions. 'Lin, you can't! You wouldn't!' she shrieked as Linda grinned in anticipation. 'I will if you disobey me. Now turn around and bend into the vehicle low over the passenger seat, Paula! That's it, right over with your hands gripping the drivers seat! Far as you can with your bottom up high!' Paula gasped but hastened to obey, her body shivering with mild fear but a great deal of excitement as she waited submissively, her hands gripping the drivers seat, her legs slightly arched, her ample bottom pushed up through the thin skirt as she trembled in anticipation. She took a sharp intake of breath as Linda's deft fingers found the zipper of her skirt and within seconds it fluttered down around her ankles, followed rapidly by her panties. She lay red faced and bare bottomed across the passenger seat of the Land Rover bewildered by the tremendous excitement surging through her loins. Linda was experiencing similar strange sensations as she stared in delight at the beautiful naked bottom offered up for punishment at her hands, a surge of adrenalin coursing through her body, her crotch suddenly moist with desire. She flexed the whippy cane for a few seconds and drew it back, bringing it down hard across the plumb centre of Paula's bare buttocks. The experience of watching those lovely bottom cheeks indent under the cane stroke, then spring back, quivering slightly as the red weal began to glow across the punished rear was equalled only by Paula's choking squeal as her back rose up from the seat, her hands fluttering desperately in the air for a second before settling for the second stroke, her breathing tense and desperate. That first cane stroke was more painful than Paula had ever envisaged but somehow she gritted her teeth and made herself ready for the second. She closed her eyes, determined to force back the tears which were already gathering as the white hot bar of the first stroke became a myriad of embers which seemed to spread out over the expanse of her bottom. Then she heard the hiss and had no time to even gasp before the cane again struck her bottom with a sharp crack. This time the squeal was louder, almost a plea, as Paula rose up from the seat, her hands frantically moving towards the site of the pain where a pink weal was begining to form. She hardly recognised the voice from behind her, so sharp and dominant was the tone. 'Get down in position immediately ...' Linda ordered ' ...and if you rise again or try to rub your bottom, I'll double the punishment!' With a frantic cry, Paula obeyed immediately, bending forwards once more to grip the far side of the driver's seat, her reddening buttocks thrust out once more. The third stroke whipped down across the lower slopes of the quivering bottom and this time Paula howled in pain but held on desperately to the seat. Someone surely had placed a red hot iron on her buttocks and now there was no attempt to hold back the tears as she shook and sobbed but hung on for all she was worth. Linda was shaking too as she stared at the results of her endeavours, trembling with a desire which she had tried desperately to deny as she gazed at the beautiful bottom which lay submissively in front of her. Her throat dry, Linda raised the cane once more and brought it sharply down across the plumb centre of the reddening globes. She was delighted by the response as Paula's squeal reached new decibel levels and the fourth tramline appeared across the once flawless buttocks. Despite the intense pain forcing genuine tears of anguish, the heat in Paula's buttocks was already spreading like a forest fire into her loins and she gasped as the tingling, sensual burning engulfed her vagina, her sex out of control, hot, moist and hungry. She began to tremble as she waited for the next stroke. Suddenly, shamelessly, she needed both Linda and the cane, wanted them desperately. Paula bent lower , then kicked her legs out so that the skirt and panties fell off completely. Quite slowly she parted her legs as wide as the cramped position would allow and thrust her bottom up as far as she could, hearing the gasp behind her. 'God, you randy little bitch!' Linda whispered softly as she stared with mounting excitement at the moist, blood red lips under the quivering bottom cheeks. Hardly able to breathe she raised the cane once more and brought it down hard. Whaaap, the cane bit into Paula's bottom once more and she squealed and bucked but kept her position, her breathing now frantic and excited as the burning glow created sensations in every part of her body. She lay in wait for the next, for she could hear Linda's excited breathing getting louder but the stroke didn't come ... why was she taking so long? Suddenly she felt soft hands around her waist, stroking and kneading her belly and loins and she began to sigh softly with pleasure as , against her hot bottom, Paula felt the wispy touch of body hair, then the warmth of another naked body as Linda began to embrace her, her warm bare loins grinding gently into Paula's bottom as the blonde girl began to moan in delight. Paula cried out as a warm finger began to encircle the lips of her vagina before intruding softly, finding the clitoris, stimulating her, the little button swelling and hardening under the soft touch. ''Get up and turn round!' the voice ordered and, as if in a dream, Paula obeyed. Her face flushed with excitement as she stared at Linda who stood, completely naked, cane in hand. 'So you were right ...,' the dark haired girl said softly ' ...I think I was just jealous. Now make love to me or I'll cane you again and this time you'll really know about it!' Paula put her arms around her friend and kissed her full on the lips, her hand straying to the warmth of Linda's moist vagina. 'Anything you say, mistress ...' she said softly ' ...it will give me great pleasure to do your bidding ...' she paused and grinned ' ... but even if I do give you pleasure ...and I will ...I've been very careless and I think you should give me another caning at bedtime. The sort a naughty girl really deserves!''