Chapter One

 

Two girls were to be publicly flogged. They stood on Stage, completely nude, while the Governor made her preliminary speech. The whole of Harper Wood special unit was below them on the floor of Hall, standing to attention.

The Governor was saying, "These prisoners were warned. They were caned twice, they had twelve in Gym, and still they saw fit to continue their activities. It will now be shown that persistent misbehaviour will get as stern a response as necessary."

It was true enough, Vanessa thought as she stood in the audience, that Kim and Sue had had warnings. They stood there now, pale, staring above the audience's heads, but they'd seemed impervious to risk as they carried on and on having 'tumbles', as lesbian sessions were referred to in the jargon of this place.

But girls were always being caught at that, it was the standard hobby in this special unit for girl offenders aged between eighteen and thirty, and whatever the Governor was now saying, it was usually regarded as quite a minor offence, not like disobeying an officer for example. When caught they got the cane of course, six of the best on the bare bottom, but that was all, usually. Six of the best was the standard punishment for almost anything in here - there weren't many girls who'd never been caned by the time they'd served their six month sentence. But every so often Authority seemed to fear that they'd been too lax recently, and took action to remind everyone of the score. So Kim and Sue, having been whacked and warned two or three times, were now deemed suitable to be made an example of to everyone. Yet Melissa, the prisoner who risked it more than anyone, had got away scot free again.

A few places away her friend (perhaps surprising friend) Annette, an ex escort agency girl, was thinking the same. She also felt personally uneasy, for she was having regular tumbles with Melissa herself. She'd made a few attempts to give it up, but Melissa always charmed her into the next time, finding ways to fill her with desire. Besides, Melissa Bundy was the person to keep in favour with - the very queen of the prisoners, no less, the one that even the screws were bowled over by. But if they got caught, and they would be if they carried on and on, could even Melissa's luck hold out? - or even if Melissa's did, it didn't mean that she, Annette, would be treated with the same indulgence. She'd been caned for a tumble once, before meeting Melissa, and she had another caning on her record since the day she arrived. How long might it be before she herself was up there being flogged?

Melissa Bundy herself felt no such worries as she stood there in the Hall. She concentrated on enjoying the sight of Kim and Sue in the nude. It wasn't that she didn't feel sorry for them, but there was nothing she could do, and it wouldn't harm them to take pleasure from looking at them. Kim was a big girl and Sue a small one, Kim was more shapely and Sue more slender, but both were a lot more than passable. Melissa started planning a session with each of them when they'd had time to get over their flogging - no, a threesome with both! Melissa's eyes moved steadily, as if touching, over Kim's oval face framed by dark hair, then to her shoulders and her full but firm breasts, where she lingered. Then, as the Governor continued her spiel, Melissa's eyes moved down, to the hips as they curved outwards from the waist, then at last - it was a treat she'd deliberately been building up to - the swelling mound that was crowned by pubic hair, and the start of the slit, so clearly visible. Melissa's eyes moved further, down Kim's legs and their sudden slenderness, then up again and back to that crucial frontal mound. Soon she'd have to turn round, and they'd see her beautiful bottom. Meanwhile it was time to look at Sue...

Pat stood quaking as she watched the proceedings. She was a quiet, timid girl, who did her best to stay out of any trouble, though there'd been a period when it seemed to follow her around no matter what. This was the fourth public flogging she'd been forced to witness, and it terrified her every time. She was in the latter part of her six month sentence, so she could only hope it would be the last.

Sarah, standing not far away, considered that Kim and Sue had been stupid to end up like this. Sarah considered herself a sensible girl, and the two girls she was looking at had been anything but sensible. They hadn't tried to cut down the number of tumbles they were having, and hadn't increased their precautions to avoid being caught. In fact the opposite - Sarah herself had once barged into them when they were at it on the floor of Recreation Room behind some chairs, with a whole lot of other girls looking on and cheering. It was obviously a deliberate act of daring. There were a fair number of girls for whom the danger of being caught added to the thrill of a tumble. OK she was sorry for them right now, but why had they been so silly?

Rosemary, standing next to Sarah, was a hearty girl who usually took things in her stride. But she was intimidated by what she was witnessing at the moment. There was no danger that she herself would take unnecessary chances for the thrill of the risk. She was one of those less tempted to tumbles anyway, and preferred to remain a straight (well, by and large), despite the exclusively female company during her sentence. But you couldn't be intolerant in this place, and her heart went out to Kim and Sue for what they were going through.

The Governor finished her speech, turned and nodded to Officer O'Hara, the Chief Screw. "Proceed Chief," she ordered. It was time for the preliminary to the flogging: six strokes on the hands and legs.

There were two canes on a table at the front of the stage, one thin, one thick - the 'thin cane' and the 'firm cane', in the terminology of the unit. Chief picked up the thin cane. The screws surrounding Kim and Sue made them hold out both hands.

Crack! Crack! Chief Officer O'Hara raised the cane and brought it down with a sharp crack on each of Kim's hands. Kim gave a muffled cry. The Chief then did the same to Sue. Crack! Crack! Sue managed to be silent, but her eyes watered as the pain set in, and she stared up at the ceiling, breathing in gasps.

The Chief knelt to deliver two strokes to Kim on the lower part of the back of her legs. Crack! Crack! Then two strokes further down above the ankles. Another two resounding cracks. Kim gasped repeatedly, gazing downwards. Chief did the same to Sue. Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

That was the preliminary. Now the flogging would start in earnest.

Kim was turned round and escorted to a gym bar further back on Stage. It had two saddle seats over it, another bar beneath it, and a motor on one side. Sue remained facing front, still staring upwards above everyone's heads.

Kim bent over the left-hand saddle seat, her bottom facing the audience, full-on. Everyone gazed, fixated. Kim's hips were wide, yet her bottom was not big, though fully rounded. Her two rear cheeks seemed perfect in shape, rising either side of the parting between them. The gap between the top of her legs was just visible. Melissa, and quite a few others, feasted their eyes.

Kim was made to stretch right over the bar, further and further, till they could see her face upside down. Her ankles and wrists were shackled to the lower bar to keep her in position. A screw pressed a button, and Kim was raised up into the air.

In the old days, before the unit was closed for a while following a riot,[1] the bar had been raised manually - a screw would wind a handle round and round. But now it had been mechanised, and the bar rose, with Kim doubled over it.

A screw picked up the firm cane - the real business cane for the flogging. She applied chalk to it, back and forth. The reason for chalking the cane was unclear, but it was something they did in public floggings. The chalked cane was handed it to Chief, who mounted a large footstool and stood behind and to the side of Kim.

She raised the cane up high. The silence in Hall was intense.

WHACK!

Chief brought the cane down in a dramatic wide arc to crash onto Kim's bottom. It sounded almost like a cannon shot. People could be seen to jump. Kim let out a huge cry, with lesser cries after. The cheeks of her bottom vibrated, and the cane seemed to dig in, creating a wide groove. Chief held the cane there for several seconds after striking, and when she removed it the groove was already red and deepening.

Chief paused a moment, adding to the drama, then she delivered the second stroke.

WHACK!

Kim let out another great cry. She choked back further cries as best she could. A girl being flogged usually tried to be brave, but total silence was near impossible. Another wide red weal had appeared.

The governor turned to Chief, who paused. Some quiet words passed between them. There was something they evidently didn't like. The governor said some words to another screw, who left the platform.

Everyone waited, while Kim stayed bent over displaying her rear, sobbing and writhing, and crying out when she couldn't prevent it. But no announcement was made about the delay, and they all had to wait, everyone but Kim completely silent.

Eventually the screw returned, carrying what looked like a rolled up towel. Helped by two other screws, she pushed it underneath Kim, between her and the saddle seat. The effect was to raise Kim's bottom higher, so she was bent over even harder, and her cheeks looked firmer. It seemed they wanted her bottom to not vibrate so much, and the groove left by the cane to be less deep.

The governor nodded, and Chief resumed.

WHACK!

Sure enough Kim's bottom vibrated less. But the sound of the stroke was fuller, and the weal was even redder. Kim let out another great cry.

Chief looked at Governor again, who gave another nod. Chief got on with the remaining strokes for this part of the punishment.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Each stroke left another red weal - if not a welt - and Kim gave out more cries. By the last stroke it had become screams. It was a terrific thrashing, and better control was beyond her. Her bottom was now a frightening spectacle: red weals were on every part of the cheeks, and on their sides as well, and were darkening rapidly.

That was the end of the first set of eight. Chief returned the firm cane to a screw. There was a pause while a screw chalked the thinner cane. While she did so there was a sound of a fall on the floor of Hall. Someone had passed out, at sheer fright from the spectacle presumably, perhaps a new girl who hadn't seen a public flogging before.

There was more pause while screws went down to the floor of Hall and the person was carried out. The rest of the audience had to stand silent, with Kim over the bar, gasping, crying, and even screaming, her bottom writhing furiously from side to side.

It almost seemed a mercy when the flogging resumed. Kim would now receive eight strokes with the thin cane across the back of her thighs.

Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!

The first four strokes landed just below Kim's bottom, all close to one another. They were less powerful strokes than on the bottom, but they still left weals, and the sound was still awesome. Anyone who'd had strokes across the back of the thighs with the thin cane knew its different pain, sharper and wildly stinging, its own agony.

Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!

The second set of four landed further down the thighs, nearly half way to the knees. Kim gasped and sobbed, with one loud yell.

Chief handed the thin cane back to the screw at the table. It was now to be the last and most excruciating part of the flogging - a second set of eight on the bottom.

The firm cane was chalked again and handed back to Chief. Chief took the cane and raised it high.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

The existing marks on Kim's bottom were darkening and darkening. New lash marks went on top of the existing marks, on a bottom already writhing in agony. Kim screamed, howled and groaned, and writhed side to side and backwards and forwards.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

At last it was over, for Kim. She rested over the bar, crying, panting, writhing, jerking, and trying to kick her shackled legs. Not that there was any releasing of her yet. She would have to remain where she was, doubled over the bar, her rear quarters presenting a memorable and terrifying spectacle. Meanwhile Sue would have her turn.

Sue had stood there facing front, grim and staring, as she listened to the sounds behind her. Now she turned and was taken to the bar. Melissa and others admired her more slender, but still very feminine shape, with two firm round cheeks jutting out in a backwards curve. The bar was lowered, and Sue bent over on the second saddle seat. She stretched, stretched some more, and was tied in position. The button was pressed and she was hoisted into the air, next to Kim. The firm cane was re-chalked, and handed to the chief.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Sue jerked compulsively as she received each stroke. She managed not to cry out as much as Kim, but she couldn't prevent all sounds from escaping from her.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Lash marks appeared across her bottom, darkening and widening. Sue tried to kick her legs, but could only jerk her body on the bar.

The firm cane was handed back to the screw at the table, who put it down, took the thin cane in her hand, chalked it back and forth, and handed it to Chief.

Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!

The eight strokes on the back on Sue's thighs resounded through the Hall.

The canes were swapped, and the firm cane chalked again.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

The second set of eight on the already-flogged bottom was as ever the worst part. Sue gave gasps, howls, eventually screams. Next to her Kim had settled into a steady moaning, with a circular writhing over the bar. The colour of her bottom was turning from purple to black and blue, centred on huge injured patches on the cheeks.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

It was over.