THE SLAVES IN THE DESERT


Chapter Seven

More Hard Times for Clarissa


One of the girls had tried to get away from the prison by climbing over the wall, after a searchlight had been disabled, presumably by an accomplice. The girl had soon been caught and hauled back to the prison where she had been roughly interrogated and then brought before the assembled prisoners, all forced to stand stripped naked for hours in the full heat of the sun. As the rest of them watched she was whipped by two prisoners before being put into the cage to stay for some months before going on to the next stage of a series of horrendous punishments that would take up the remainder of her five year sentence.

Clarissa had been detailed to whip this miscreant and refused, earning herself a spell in a stinking cell, chained to the wall, before being brought back to rejoin the rest, all standing in line, burnt and parched in the heat. The warden had told them all that she wanted the accomplice to own up to her guilt, failing which, the entire prison population would remain where they stood, thirsty, hungry and fainting from heat exhaustion, until she did. She had left them all with a further hour to see if a confession was forthcoming, but none was. Three more hours had passed by now and only half the women were still standing. Miranda, Clarissa and Megan were on their feet, but Stella had fainted, her body horribly blistered where the sun had seared her unprotected skin. Clarissa looked helplessly at the poor girl and finally her pity for her and anger at the guards’ cruelty meant that she  could take no more.

She knelt down beside her and gently licked her back where it looked to be sorest, hoping that the moisture might do something to ease the pain. There was a shriek of anger from a guard and Clarissa ignored it, continuing to do what little she could for her poor cell-mate. Soon she was dragged away and taken back to the cell, where she was chained again to the wall and told to remain standing. All night long she stood there until, just a couple of hours before dawn, she fainted. In the morning she was taken out and brought back to join her comrades, who were lined up for the second day in a row. After more than twenty four hours without food or drink, Clarissa was more dead than alive and she knew that in a couple of hours she would be lying senseless on the ground.

"How was it, Clarissa?" asked Miranda, shocked at the sight of her. She looked hollow-eyed and grey under her suntan.

"Bad! How about you lot? Have you been fed?"

"Yes. We got bread and water last night after dusk when they finally let us back in. Stella is better today, I think. Aren't you, Stella?"

Stella nodded, but Clarissa could see that the fourth member of their little group was still in a very bad way and would be joining her on the ground before long. Already Clarissa was finding it hard to keep upright, the ground seeming to be undulating and heaving like the sea. She felt sick, despite her stomach being empty and after twenty minutes she looked stupidly at the ground as it zoomed up to hit her hard on the face. She lay motionless and after five minutes, Stella too, fell heavily to the ground.

Megan was about to kneel down beside her two friends to see what help she could give them when salvation came in the shape of Melissa's cell-mate, who stepped forward and admitted to having helped her friend escape. Soon another whipping was in progress, this time administered by a guard, the prisoners being all far too weak by this time to do a good job of slicing up another unfortunate's back. Since there was only one cage and not enough room in it for two (it could hardly hold one!), the accomplice was staked out on her back on the ground, her limbs so taut that her arms and legs were almost out of their sockets, where she would get the sun for the maximum period possible.

After this the other women were allowed back inside and told that, after being fed and given three hours' rest, they would be taken back to work. Those who still had clothes to wear were told they might dress again, so Stella had her burnt body protected once more.

"That was so good of Clarissa, yesterday!" she said as they rested in the cell. "I take back all I've ever said about her. If she gets happiness from having sex with Miranda, then good luck to her! I just hope she'll be back with us soon!"

"I think we may have a long wait!" said Megan sadly. "If my case was any guide, she won't be with us for months - maybe as long as a year."

When the rest had been sent back inside, Megan had picked up the senseless Stella and Miranda had been about to do the same for her lover, but an angry guard had told her to leave Clarissa where she lay. As they all climbed on to the truck having had their much needed rest, they saw that their unfortunate friend was still where she had fallen, with two guards standing over her, presumably to make sure she made no attempt to escape even though it was obvious that Clarissa was quite incapable of moving anywhere in her state.

As the sound of the diesel engined vehicle faded, Clarissa was picked up and taken to the Warden's office, where she was given her first drink in over two days. It revived her a little, but not much and a concerned Warden ordered her to be taken to her own quarters. When Clarissa woke up, after having been delirious for some days, she wondered if she was dreaming! She was in a proper bed with proper sheets, for the first time since leaving the motel the day before their arrest.

Not recognising where she was, she got out of bed and found that she was still very weak and dizzy. She had to steady herself by leaning against the bed before feeling confident enough to cross the room to the door. When she opened it, there was a guard outside. So this was not a dream! She was still a prisoner - but not in the infirmary.

“Where am I, Ma’am?” she asked the guard.

“Go back to bed. You are in Warden Kane’s quarters. She was worried that you might die and rob us of the fun of punishing you for what you did the other day!”

“The other day? How long have I been here?”

“Three days. Now get to bed. Enjoy a bit of comfort while you can. Standing all day in that stinking cell is what you’ll be doing soon. But not until you’re well enough to be whipped first in front of all the prisoners!”

“How bad a whipping will I get, Ma’am?” she asked.

“Five prisoners will each give you twenty lashes and then you will be left in the sun until you heal. After that you go to the cell and there you will stay until you rot. If you fail to remain standing you will be taken out and whipped again. Every now and again when you have become nice and pale skinned we will take you out to be put in the sun and burnt until you blister. No one refuses orders in this place. As long as you are here you and the two involved in the escape attempt will be examples to the rest.”

“Can I say goodbye to Miranda before I am taken from her for ever? It’s not a lot to ask, Ma’am.”

“I will arrange that. Now get back to bed. We want you well quickly in order to start you off on the long road of pain ahead of you.”

The guard pushed Clarissa back inside and shut the door. She went over to the unbarred window and looked out. The window was on the first floor, and there seemed no way down without jumping, which might break a leg. But she was still too weak even to think of trying anything. In her condition she would not make half a mile without passing out. Even so, she had no intention of going through the horrors that had just been sneeringly described to her. This was a better place to escape from than either the cells or the working party.

The truck was parked not far from the building, although that was not a lot of use without the ignition key and Clarissa had absolutely no idea how to “hot-wire” a vehicle. Her family background was in no way criminal, her father being a judge and her mother a historian. Megan might have some idea, but she was locked up together with darling Miranda and Stella. She was already tired from her exertion and belatedly obeyed the guard’s injunction and got into bed, soon falling asleep, although she had time to remove the top sheet before dropping off. It was far too hot even for that light covering.

Clarissa had no idea how long she had slept, but it was still light and still very hot when the unfriendly guard came in with food and drink, which she consumed without letting on how hungry she was. It would, she decided, be sensible to appear to be recovering more slowly than she really was. Each day she delayed her whipping was a day she could fathom out a way of escaping. And once she was chained to the wall of that cell, she was lost. And she had little or no faith in the ability of her companions to escape without her to lead them. Megan was a fine, brave girl, but no genius! And Miranda and Stella were not a whole lot better, much as she loved the former!

Next day she was favoured with a visit from Warden Kane, a middle aged woman with the kind of face one associates with axe murderers played by the late Joan Crawford. This far from amiable lady said little, but grasped Clarissa’s wrist and took her pulse.

“Still rather on the weak side! You went too long without water. We almost lost you, which would have been a pity! We have such things planned for you, Clarissa! And you were doing so well before your act of disobedience. We might in a few weeks have made you a guard and put you in charge of the work party. And now you are to be flogged and put into one of those evil-smelling cells, to be taken out only to be flogged again and kept in the sun until you burn! Silly Clarissa! It doesn’t pay to have a soft heart in this cruel world! What a shame that this lesson has come too late!”

“At least I’ll maybe get to see Miranda when you take me out! That will make up for everything!”

The Warden smiled grimly.

“You will see nothing when we take you out for your floggings and sun torture, because we will blindfold you and prisoners will not be allowed to talk to you.  But we will bring Miranda to see you in a couple of days, shortly before we judge you fit to be flogged. Now get some rest, my dear, and get well quickly. I am getting impatient to watch you suffer!”

“Why not take me out and do it now? Note I don’t address you as Ma’am any more! You evil bitch!”

“Because I want you to live through it all! Not only that, but stay conscious so you can appreciate all the pain we will give you! Now rest awhile, my pretty one! Because, soon enough - just as soon as you’re strong enough to bear the pain and appreciate it properly,  you’ll never know comfort again!”

“She’s mad” said Clarissa to herself as the door closed behind the Warden. “Being given power of life and death by those Elders has turned her brain! But they won’t stop her!”

This was true enough. The women in this prison were of no further interest to the elders, who trusted the Warden and her bunch of female thugs to make life hard for the inmates. But Clarissa was forgetting that one of the guards was not a thug!