There was light in the sky when we stopped again. The door opened and we got out, I shivered in the cold. It was really cold, the sun wasn't up yet.
Around us the land was strange. Was this earth? We were standing on dried cracked mud. White mud. The mud went on as far as I could see in all directions. Beyond the mud were dark mountains.
The man brought out thongs and threw them on the ground. "Put these on, ladies, and if you look in the distance ahead, you can see a building. Walk to that. I'll meet you there." We stood around and looked at him. "Go ahead now," he shooed us on, "it'll stretch out your muscles and warm you up. Hup, hup, hup." His style was relaxed now. Whatever he was concerned about before, it wasn't bothering him now.
Jeannie was first, she finally started the three of us on our way. She started walking and we followed. The walking did feel better. After five minutes I wasn't freezing to death, and soon it was lighter and I was pretty good at missing the cracks in the hard mud, so I wasn't stumbling so much.
As we started off, the man drove the van away from us. In a couple minutes it disappeared. Finally, for the first time in hours, he wasn't around. We sort of wondered where to go, but the building was the only feature we could see, and it was really cold, so we kept going. What point was there in being free and frozen to death?
When we arrived, we found a small camp in a depression in the mud waste. The ground looked flat forever, and this hole suddenly came up out of nowhere. In the hole was a big charcoal grill, a big tent (which was the "building" I saw), a small latrine, a picnic table, and a large chair on a platform. There was also some sort of wood platform and frame that look sort of like a gallows for three.
We stood at the edge of the pit wondering what to do. "Untie me." said Alma. She turned her back to me. "Ooh hurry, he's coming." she said. I looked back, and sure enough the man was behind us walking quickly our way. I turned back and started working Alma's knots. It wasn't too hard to loosen them, and in a few seconds her wrists were free. "He's looking our way." she said. She kept her hands behind her and untied mine. He was only twenty feet way.
"Anyone still tied up?" he said as we walked into the group. About half of us were. He helped untie Lorry, then Miss McLaughlin. When her arms were free, he turned her around and fondled one of her breasts. He rubbed it with the back of his hand, then twisted the nipple gently between his fingers. Miss McLaughlin didn't slap him or anything, she just stood there.
"Very nice, very nice." he said quietly. Then in a loud voice. "Ladies, there's eggs and bacon and other food in the tent. Why don't some of you fix breakfast? Oh, and take your ropes with you, tie them around your waist, you'll need them later."
I was starved, I didn't need to be told twice. I hurried for the tent, it was warm inside and filled with breakfast fixings. It took only a moment for me to decide I was hungrier than cold. I grabbed some eggs, Alma grabbed some bacon, Trish grabbed something else, and soon three of us were in front of the grill, fixing bacon and eggs.
For about a half hour all of us milled around the camp site eating breakfast and relaxing. The man, I finally noticed, was as naked as the rest of us. The only difference was he was wearing running shoes, not thongs.
The sky turned bright all over, and sun was almost up. The mud flat turned from white to light gray, and the mountains turned from black to deep tan at the base, dark green up the flanks and white on top. It was a spectacular dawn. I'd never seen anything like it, anywhere. What other wonders would we see?
The man finished eating. "Ladies, follow me, please." he said. He walked over to the chair on the platform, and sat down in it. We gathered in front. "Hurry, hurry." he encouraged the slowpokes, and I could see him count to make sure we were all there.
"Ladies, you are about to embark on a special adventure. It's an adventure, and an opportunity.
"You have gone through several selection processes to get here this morning. Your parents selected to give you good educations. Your passed another selection when you were accepted to attend camp We No Orings, and finally you were selected when you chose to partake in Kidnap Night. The result of all these selections is that you are all bright, healthy, active, well educated... and mature enough to have an interested in matters sexual." he looked around at us and beamed."
"Well, I guess so." I thought, "Selected, but not elected. What is he leading up to?"
"The adventure we are on involves founding a new human civilization, far from here."
"I have been empowered by an alien race with the task of colonizing a new world. They don't understand humans well, but, by fortuitous accident, I have gained their trust, and I'm using the resources they have put at my disposal to create a colony. You ladies," he swept his arms out to indicate all of us, "will be co-colonists. The foremothers of a whole new world."
"You're crazy!" said Jill.
"If I'm crazy, why are you here?" he raised an eyebrow as he stared back at her. She had no answer for that.
"Here we begin a combination of your training for living on this new world, and selecting specifically for living on this new world. This next couple days, I'm afraid, are not going to be easy ones. This next selection is for endurance. It is, I'm afraid a test, and one you must pass." He looked a bit concerned now.
"Ahead of us are a series of camps, much like this one. You must walk from one to the next successfully. If you don't, there will be no one to come rescue you.
"We have to walk dressed like this?" Alma asked.
"You do." he responded. "You have thongs, and that's it."
"I won't do it." said Jill.
"You don't want to be the foremother of a whole new world?" asked the man, "A true Eve? Revered and respected in this life, and a person remembered for millennia after?"
"No. I want to be Jill, and I want to be back at We No Orings, Right Now!" She stood up and looked around. "Which way do I go?" she said.
"Any way you like." responded the man, and he looked around, too.
Jill looked around, even more flustered. "Which way do I go!" she yelled with surprising belligerency for a medium-size teenage girl. I'd heard her use this tone at camp, and it often got results.
The man looked as if he was acquiescing. He looked a bit cowed, looked around a bit, then pointed behind Jill. She turned around, and started off at a quick walk. Her body language was clearly radiating "Don't even think of getting in my way!" She had kind of cute bounce to her ass when she walked naked and angry.
Suddenly we were all thinking, "Was getting out that easy? I don't believe it." I thought about getting up. Lorry did get up and followed after. The man watched them for about ten seconds, then ignored them and talked with the rest of us.
"As I was saying, this next selection will be difficult, and, unlike the previous selections, there is no way of backing out. You either make it, or you die."
We all looked at Jill and Lorrie.
"No... They haven't done anything irretrievable yet. They can come back.
"Who here has any experience living in a desert?" the man asked.
Anne Marie raised her hand.
"When is the best time to travel, Anne Marie?" asked the man. He knew her name!
"If we have to travel like this, at night." said Anne Marie, "It will be too hot during the day, and we will get a killer sunburn.... Literally!"
"Very good!" said the man, "These are the kinds of things you will have to learn about our new world, and learn them quickly. This is why I'm bringing young ladies, such as yourselves, and not older ladies."
"Excuse me." I said, "Aren't Jill and Lorry going to get roasted? Won't that hurt them?"
The man looked at Anne Marie. Anne looked at the sun, just rising over the mountains.
"Not yet. The UV won't be seriously bright for another couple hours. If they are wandering out there after 9 or 10 AM, they will roast." she said.
I looked out the way Jill and Lorry had gone. I was kind of surprised to see they had stopped about a hundred meters from the tent. They were looking around.
The man said, "So, I suggest we spend today resting under this tent. I don't know about you, ladies, but I'm tired from driving all night. There are bedrolls around for all. Make use of them as you see fit."
With that, the man got up from his chair and yawned. He took his folding chair over to a pantry-looking sort of box, leaned it on the side, and got out a sleeping bag. He took it back to the platform, and lay down on it.
"What nerve!" I thought, "Here he is among ten hostile women, and he doesn't bother to protect himself in the slightest?"
But, I had another worry. I ran out to Jill and Lorrie. Thank goodness they still hadn't gone much further. I told them what Anne Marie had said about the sun. It didn't add to their day at all! Jill's mouth started opening and shutting in frustration.
"He pointed this way." Jill said.
"Do you believe him?" I say. Clearly she was still standing here because she saw nothing, and didn't.
She looked at him lying under the tent, thought some more, worked her mouth some more, and said, "We can find the van he brought us here in, and take that back. We only walked about twenty minutes from that."
"If he didn't move it." I say, "If you can get it started. If you don't roast and die of thirst, which will happen if you spend the whole day in it to stay out of the sun..."
She said, "We can try. It's only six o'clock or so now. We have three hours before the sun gets damaging. I see our tracks." She switched to command voice and said, "Come on, Lorry." and she started walking. She didn't even bother to invite me.
Lorry hesitated, and then followed.
I went back to the tent and got a sleeping bag. When I saw her walk off, my body told me in no uncertain terms, "You didn't sleep well last night." and now I could do something about it. I got a sleeping bag out, and I slept.