Chapter 8

Emma sat on the sandy beach and enjoyed what might well be the last reasonably warm and sunny day of the year. When they had brought her here a few months ago to begin her three years as a human guinea pig, she had looked rather longingly at this beach, regretting that she would never get to spend any time on it. And here she was!

It was just about warm enough for the still naked girl to lie in the rather anaemic sun, but Emma was far too nervous to relax for long. The helicopter, bearing an irate and frustrated Professor and his assistants (or goons as Emma preferred to think of them) might be zooming down on the island at any time. She was surprised it had taken so long as it was.

She had been out of that hellish open air laboratory for three weeks now and was amazed that they had still not come searching for her.

Ever since that dreadful experience with electrodes clipped to her most sensitive parts and the three hours of continuous torment that the already contrite and repentant girl had suffered, she had been determined to escape - either that or die trying to.

After the Professor had judged her to have had enough for the time being, she had continued to lie on the table despite the clips having been released, too weak and too mentally shattered to move. Finally she had got to her feet, replaced the folding table in its slot in the wall, tidied up the Punishment Room and left, walking slowly and unsteadily back to her sleeping quarters which, mercifully, were not locked for a change. But she could have slept anywhere in the terrible state she was in.

For three more days she had been ordered back to that awful room, crying and pleading for mercy, assuring them in a piteous voice that she would never be guilty of uncooperative behaviour again. Each time they had put her through the same three punishments always ending up with the metal clips and the current slicing into her womanhood.

As she lay on the beach and listened to the seagulls and the waves beating on the shore and against all the treacherous rocks which surrounded the island, she remembered again the horrible odour of singed pubic hair and retched for the thousandth time. She tenderly felt the affected parts and was relieved to see and feel that they were healing up nicely at last.

It was a thunderstorm that had saved her. One night, as she waited for the sleeping quarters to open for her, a bolt of lightning struck both the island's transformer and standby generator and the camp was without current. Emma had scampered over the no longer electrified fence and fled. In the morning a maintenance crew had arrived and repaired the damage. But the idiots had not looked inside the compound and Emma's absence had not been noticed at the time.

She had seen the helicopter leave and made a rude sign at the departing crew. For once no jolt of current punished her. It had felt wonderfully liberating! She spent the next hour rehearsing all the foul words she had ever learned and applying them all with a wealth of invention and originality to the Professor and his team of assistants.

Unfortunately she had not had time to steal more food than she could carry in one go. Because of a fear that the electricity might come on at any moment, she had been afraid to go back for more. In one of the huts used by the maintenance crews was enough in the way of food and bottled water to last her a month or two with care - great care.

She was always a clever girl and had lived in the country a lot as a child so she was not totally lost out here in the open. She knew what berries were safe to eat and what were not. She managed to catch a few fish after rigging up a makeshift line. She was quite a good survivor. The only real worry for her was her lack of clothing. In a few weeks this would be a fatal state to be in. Or, if not fatal, then certainly not too comfortable.

But it was still a lot more comfortable than walking on that wire covered ground being lit up like a traffic beacon every time she exercised her God given right to free expression and independent thought! She'd far sooner freeze to death out here, a free woman, than go back to have the Professor play a few more of his little tricks on her! But it puzzled her that he hadn't come to look for her.