Dora arrived first the next morning. Her gray hair was done up in a bun and she bore her usual kindly expression; she wished Anne a good day before refilling her water bowl. A few minutes later, Tamara entered the door of the hut opposite the latrine where Anne was squatting; Dora said something to her and she laughed.
They led Anne out to a flat grassy space between two posts and attached her wrist and ankle bracelets to each, spreading her in the traditional wide X that exposed the entire surface of her body to the whip.
Dora brought three of them from her collection. The short-handled leather one was best to begin with; it was the easiest to control. The longer one with knotted cords produced broad swaths of fine red lines on a girl. And the riding crop left dark dramatic welts on her, quite lovely. Dora smiled at the memory of some past session.
Tamara began with the first; a quick learner, she could soon make Anne scream or moan at will.
Mid-morning she paused; the exercise had left her hungry. Anne was too, but it was not her place to request food.
Tamara took a banana from her bag and had it while Dora wiped down the whip, which had accumulated a quantity of sweat and touches of blood from the morning's work. She started to put the skin back when Dora stopped her; she wanted to show Tamara something.
She detached a strip of peel and held it up to Anne, who ate it at once. She pulled off another with the stem attached and handed it to Tamara.
Emulating Dora, she held it up to Anne who took it all, including the hard dry end. She repeated the game with each of the peels until Anne had eaten the entire skin and kissed her hands.
"It saves on garbage disposal," Dora observed and they discussed her diet.
Anything you would offer a pig was suitable, and the variety was good for her.
Anne recalled the pleasure she got from eggshells and coffee grounds that Francesca gave her sometimes. In her previous life she would never have noticed their unique textures. She tried to show her gratitude then by bowing and touching the floor with her head.
Hung up like this now, all she could do was blink and smile at her benefactor.
Tamara spent the afternoon practicing with the knotted cords and the crop; by the end of the day Anne was covered with deep pink and blue-black streaks from her neck to her knees.
The sight of her marks appealed to the officers that evening. Some used her twice, a younger one even a third time as his comrades cheered him on.
* * * * * * * * * *
The lessons lasted for nearly a week, and they ended abruptly on Friday.
After a morning of crop practice Tamara and Dora left Anne alone for an hour at lunchtime. As she hung helpless from the posts, two large dogs ran at her followed by the commander calling to them. They menaced her angrily.
Anne was terrified of dogs; she squeaked in terror as he approached to pull them away.
They did no physical harm to her, but Anne remained fearful. He stroked her breasts to calm her, and she was beginning to regain her self-control when Tamara arrived and saw them.
She flew into a rage and reached for his bayonet. He held it away from her; she told him to get rid of his whore if he wanted to share her bed that night. He promised to dispose of the girl before the end of the day.
About ten minutes later, a pickup truck came for Anne. Two men got out; they lowered her from the posts and she followed them meekly to it. She took a last look at the camp before they tied her hands and feet and slid her into a cage.
Not far from the camp was a mangrove swamp. The truck pulled off the road and stopped beside it. So, she was going to be weighted and thrown in. She wondered if she could prolong her life by offering herself to the men; it might buy her only five or ten minutes but each moment was precious to her now, so close to the end.
They came around to the back of the vehicle. Anne was desperately thinking how she could market herself to her assassins. But she was wrong; they merely wanted to check the lock.
They got back in the cab and drove off while Anne tried to stop shaking. Unable to see over the walls of the truck, she awaited her fate.
Eventually it stopped again. They slid her out and laid her on the ground. One of them played with her for a moment until the other called to him from the truck and they drove off.
She looked up at the sky with no idea where she was. She seemed to be lying on a patch of grass, and there were trees overhead; she had not been abandoned in the jungle at least.
