Chapter 3: Clarissa Makes Friends - Hot Megan Hangs Around

"I think it's beginning to work, Miranda!"

"Maybe, but I still don't fancy running hour after hour in this heat! But you're right about getting the feet hardened up. It hurt the first few days, but as you say, it's beginning to work."

It was three weeks since Megan and Clarissa had been falsely imprisoned by the local police in this desert gaol. Megan still hung in her cage and seemed to be surviving. Clarissa had seen her a couple of times at night, being let out and exercised by a friendly guard. She wondered if this woman might ever be of help to them in an escape attempt, but when Miranda had been asked, the idea had been well and truly scotched.

"They'd all be in prison if the outside world heard about this place. They may be nicer than the others but they know what side their bread's buttered. We have to rely on ourselves alone, Clarissa. Us and Megan if they ever let her out!"

Clarissa and Miranda were inseparable by this time and Megan noticed, from her high vantage point, just how affectionate the couple were becoming. At first it had saddened her to think she was losing Clarissa, but as time went by she was just grateful that her friend was being looked after and seemed to be happy enough considering her circumstances. It hurt her that Clarissa never looked up at her, but she hardly thought that this was deliberate callousness on her friend's part.

Megan's face still bore the marks of her rough treatment. Her nose had been smashed twice by the blows of the guard's rifle butt and there was a scar across her forehead, which she could feel whenever she touched herself there. After five days a friendly guard who had fed her had let her out for a few minutes and helped her clean herself up. As Miranda had said, her first full day had been the worst. She had made the mistake of moving around too much and had quickly found that it was essential to conserve one's strength during the day as the heat beat down with such terrifying force.

The two girls had known that it was hot in this part of the world but this was the first time they had both, in their different ways, been exposed all day to the hundred degree plus inferno. During her first week, she had burned in the fierce sun but her skin was now almost black and proof against the worst the sun had to throw at it.

Her worst fear was that if and when she was let out of this cage, whose discomfort was still almost impossible to bear, she might be permanently deformed from being forced day after day to be in this crouching position. It had been five days before she had been let out for a short time and another seven days before the same friendly guard had been on duty again. Since then she had not been freed at all and despair was beginning to set in.

"How much longer will they keep Megan up there, do you think?" Clarissa asked Miranda during the first break. They had finished eating and drinking and were stamping on a few sharp stones to keep the soles of their feet in their newly hardened state and even get them thicker that ever.

"I don't know. The last woman to be put in there was in for seven weeks. Before that, there was one in the cage for eight. And the only other person I ever saw up there was in for four weeks and then transferred to an inside solitary cell where she still is after more than a year. But they had all been previous offenders. Megan is only a first time offender. I think she should be out within the next couple of weeks. But don't bank on it, Clarissa!"

"If we have to wait for her to be freed and then become as fit as we are, that could mean three more months before we make a break for it. That's almost four months we'll have been here and we both have careers to be starting, Miranda. We're wasting away the most important time of our lives."

Miranda, too, was a young woman on the verge of a career. She had been due to go to a medical school three years earlier before being seized in a similar manner to Megan and Clarissa. Unfortunately she had not left word of her whereabouts before setting off on her lone tour and had no idea if her relatives were still looking for her. Both her parents were dead and her nearest relative, an aunt, had never welcomed the responsibility of looking after her deceased brother's child. As Miranda had grown into a woman, and a woman with a decided sensual preference for her own sex, Auntie had just about washed her hands of her.

The whistle went. Clarissa and Miranda kissed each other on the mouth and took up their pick-axes, resuming the pulverisation of rock which took up all their long working day. There was a cheer from the other women to see the kiss. Clarissa was a lovely girl and Miranda tall and handsome, strongly built and with more than a hint of masculinity. They made a striking couple and all could see how utterly infatuated Miranda was with the smaller girl, who clearly returned her affection, at least in part.

Two more weeks passed and Clarissa pronounced her own feet well and truly up to the task of getting rapidly out of sight of the prison, especially if they could escape not too long before dark. One problem was the need to travel quickly. Miranda was sure she would be out of breath after only a few miles.

"If we run around the compound in the exercise period, they might suspect we were planning to make a break. But running on the spot in the cell! That could be the answer! But Stella would need to be told."