Chapter 1: Two Girls and a 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 ever.

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 tan, 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 had almost righted the truck when the sound of a siren became audible. A cloud of dust in the distance proved to be 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 open 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!"