Chapter 12- Not Making Quota is Punished
The women walked slowly back to camp, tired after a long day slaving in the hot sun. For Barb, Eula, Dorothy and Priya, in particular, there was no hurry because they were not looking forward at all to today’s assembly. But the consequences could only be delayed so long; eventually they reached the assembly ground and fell into line with the other prisoners.
Warden Noba was going to handle this herself. “Cross, Moore, Brown and Raman, step forward,” she ordered. Reluctantly, the 4 foreign women obeyed. “I am very disappointed in your work today. You have failed to meet your quota and I cannot allow that to go unpunished. 24 lashes each. Cross and Moore can go first. And Brown and Raman, you better watch every lash, especially you, Raman.”
Barb and Eula pulled their T shirts over their heads. They looked almost like sisters, with delectable breasts and slim builds. They walked to the two whipping posts, looking defiant but scared. The guards buckled the manacles around their wrists and pulled the chains up, raising them up on their toes. Then the guards went and each got a whip. They looked at the Warden. She nodded.
View attachment 404298 View attachment 404297
Each guard drew their whip back and struck. The leather whistled through the air and cracked as it struck Barb and Eula’s naked shoulder blades. Priya could hear the two women struggling to draw breath and see them pulling on the chains that held their wrists, trying to escape, though the metal was sunk deeply into the unyielding wood. The guards struck again and then again. There were now 3 vivid red horizontal stripes on both prisoners’ backs.
It was very hard for Priya to watch their suffering, knowing she was a partial cause of it, and also that she would soon suffer in her turn. But she dared not look away, both out of fear of incurring the Warden’s wrath and because the spectacle was so intensely arousing.
By the sixth lash, Barb was moaning and Eula was muttering, “Oh, God, it hurts.” The first spots of blood showed on Eulalia’s back after the 8th lash and on Barb’s after the 10th. After the 12th, the floggers paused to catch their breath and take a sip of water. The two women tied to the posts were sobbing softly, inhaling deeply between sobs, trying to make up the oxygen deficit in their exhausted bodies.
Soon, the refreshed floggers were ready to deliver the second half of the punishment. They struck hard, the crack of the whip resounding through the camp over the screams of the pitiful victims. By the 15th lash, blood was trickling from several spots on both Barb and Eula’s backs, running down and staining their shorts. After 20, it was flowing freely down their backs. By this point, the women legs had stopped struggling against the manacles, too exhausted to do more than whimper as the final lashes licked at their flesh.
Finally, it was over. The guards lowered the chains and unbuckled the manacles from around Barb and Eula’s wrists. Both of them collapsed on the ground. The guards pointed at 4 prisoners, who stepped forward. Two approached each of the flogged women; one took hold of their ankles and one grabbed their wrists and they carried them off the assembly ground.
“Brown, Raman, your turn!” the Warden shouted. Priya stripped off her shirt. It felt good to get the wet cloth off her body, to feel the air on her nipples. She looked over at Dorothy. Both of them had larger breasts than Barb and Eulalia and Priya’s coffee-colored skin made a nice contrast with Dorothy’s paler hue.
They walked together to the posts. The guard buckled the leather manacles, still wet from the sweat Barb had left behind in her anguish, tightly around Priya’s wrists. He hauled up on the chain attaching the manacles to the post, forcing Priya up on her toes, which caused her poor aching feet to react with distress.
View attachment 404300
Priya looked over and saw that Dorothy was attached to her post in a similar manner. She saw the guard walk behind her and turned her head to see what he was doing. The whip was drawn behind him pausing before the strike. Then, Priya heard the whoosh as the leather split the air. She closed her eyes, too frightened to watch, but she heard the crack and felt the impact against the skin of her shoulder blades. For a second that was all she felt, that and the air being driven out of her lungs. But, after a moment, she felt the fire in her back, overwhelming her, growing stronger before finally ebbing a bit.
Just as Barb and Eula had, Priya fought mightily against the bonds, with no more success than they had found. The second stroke left her dazed, her head filled with pain, her eyes seeing only bright lights. She couldn’t imagine anything worse, but the next strokes were pure, unadulterated agony. She would have done anything, degraded herself in any way, to get them to stop. Priya heard howls of agony at each of the next few strokes. Was it her or Dorothy? She couldn’t tell.
View attachment 404299
Finally, the lashes stopped. Was it over? Surely that wasn’t 24. She glanced over at Dorothy. She could see that Dorothy’s back was lined with wheals, some leaking blood. Priya knew hers must look the same. Dorothy looked over at her, her face wracked with agony, as Priya knew hers was.
All too soon, Priya heard the whistle of the lash and felt the awful agony of its bite. No, it hadn’t been 24, only a brief break, so the floggers could keep hitting at full strength. Priya could feel blood trickling down her back in a few spots, growing worse as each stroke abraded more skin.
By now, Priya had lost count. The world was reduced to her back and the leather that was tearing her apart and the sensation of blood now flowing rather freely down her back. She tried to look at Dorothy, but she couldn’t see, as her eyes were clouded with tears and sweat and her brain overwhelmed with the pain.
Finally, there seemed to be no more cracks of the whip. Could she dare to dream it was over? She felt the tension on her arms relaxing and the soles of her feet touching the dirt. Then she felt the manacles being removed from her wrists, her arms free. Priya collapsed on the ground.
Soon, strong hands were grasping her wrists and ankles and she was being carried off the assembly ground and into a hut. She could see Barbara and Eulalia lying on cots on their fronts, their backs cleaned, the lacerations dressed with a cream that Priya guessed was Dr. Fong’s improved miracle concoction. On the next cot, she saw them laying Dorothy down, her back a mess of bleeding cuts and wheals, as her own must be.
The attendants worked on Priya, cleaning her wounds, as she herself did for the women who were caned at the Punishment Center where she worked back home in Dorsbury. The disinfectant stung as it worked into the wounds, causing her to moan in pain, as Dorothy did on the next cot. Finally, they slathered on the cream, which did soothe the burning somewhat. Priya asked if they could also put some on the soles of her feet, which been cut up by the jungle plants. She was gratified that in the midst of the frightful pain that she had suffered, they extended her that minor, but welcome kindness.