Aurelie's Mexican Vacations

Chapter 20: The desert

Aurélie prudently straightened herself and peered out of the hole. Violent light and heat welcomed her and for a moment she could see nothing. When her eyes were accustomed to the harsh rays of the sun, she saw that she was in the middle of a vast bare area, covered with a mix of sand and pebbles with the occasional boulder to break the monotony. A few dry shrubs were scattered across the desert scape, interspersed with tall saguaro cacti. High in the blinding-blue sky, a few vultures were soaring in circles, probably attracted by the strong smell of dead corpse that was emanating from the coffin. Aurélie shivered. She looked around to see if Pablo or any sign of human presence could be seen but her head was just barely above ground level and she could not see farther than a hundred of metres.

She tried to stand up but was brutally reminded of the presence of the heavy spiked ball chained to her breasts when it yanked on the bar that was piercing them. She moaned and tears came to her eyes as she knelt back down, massaging her throbbing chest. She waited for the pain to recede and then pulled on the chain, lifted the ball and put it out of the hole. Then she hoisted herself out, doing her best not to yank on the chain again. As her wrists and ankles were still transfixed with thick bolts, moving them was painful and she could not use too much strength. Moreover, the soft ground kept crumbling under her efforts. Getting out of the hole was not easy.

At last however, she managed to roll on the desert ground, next to the spiked ball. Her lower legs were still hanging down the hole, as her ankles were chained to that heavy rail. The chains were about one metre long and  were already taut. The French girl would have to lift the rail out of the coffin in order to go farther. But for the moment she just needed some rest. Lying on her back, panting heavily, she was trying to recover from the pain she felt in her wrists and breasts. The chain was still coiled inside her mouth, keeping it wide open. The dry, hot air of the desert was already desiccating her tongue and her forced-open eyes.

Aurélie knelt by the hole and grabbed the chain that was leading into it. Bracing herself, she pulled on the chain and pulled the rail in a vertical position. Then she began to hoist it out, centimetre by centimetre. It was difficult to the poor, tired girl as the rail was weighing two thirds of her own weight and she had probably never lifted anything as heavy. After a lot of efforts, she managed to bring the rail out of the hole and lay it on the ground. Panting and sweating, she realised that she would have to drag that dead weight with her. The prospect was not pleasing.

She looked around for any clue about where to go. In all directions the desert was extending to the horizon. No sound could be heard, no pattern in the vegetation or soil could be detected. The only hint was the tracks left by the car that had brought her here. Following them might be the shortest way to civilisation. At least it was the surest, as she would not risk to get lost. But it also was the surest way to fall back into her torturer's claws. Aurélie hesitated a lot and then she decided that she would follow the tracks until she could find a better solution. Maybe they would lead her to a road, or she would see hints of a nearby village.

And thus she began to walk under the warm morning sun. She had to carry the spiked ball by its chain so as to prevent it from bouncing against her belly and pull down on her stretched breasts. At the same time, she had to drag the rail behind. As it was chained to both her ankles, it remained perpendicular to her line of walk, ensuring maximum friction as it trailed behind her. With each step it tugged on the holes pierced behind her Achilles' tendons, causing pain.

After some time, Aurélie noticed a change in the monotone colour of the area in front of her. As she approached, painstakingly, it appeared that the truck had passed over an area filled with very small cacti. It seemed to extend on each side as far as she could see. She could either walk along it and hope to go around, or follow the tracks. Finally, the French girl decided to try and follow the tracks. Maybe, the wheels of the car had crushed the cacti enough to make them harmless.

And thus she began to walk, stepping carefully on the tracks left by the car, trying to avoid stepping on the needles. By now, her eyes were very dry and it was difficult to see. With each step, the spiked ball that was dangling from her breasts was bouncing against her belly and thighs, stabbing its pricks into her skin. She had been right in guessing the car had destroyed most of the cacti, but some had just been buried under the gravel and their spines were darting up angrily. Whenever she stepped on them, the thin needles would pierce the skin of her soles and break, remaining buried in her flesh and torturing her feet with every step. The poor girl could not even try to remove them as she would have needed to sit down, something that was impossible in her present place without adorning her butt with a nasty collection of cactus needles.

Her progress was often stopped by the rail getting stopped by the plants, forcing her to manoeuvre it over them. On one of those occasions, she failed to notice another cactus just in front of the one she had just passed the railing over, and it stopped both her feet so suddenly that she lost her balance. The heavy ball hanging from her breasts sent her face down over the sand and cacti. Her entire front-side was covered with spines. Her breasts looked like pincushions and even her face had not been spared.

Carefully, she stood back on her feet and began to pull the needles out of her flesh, one by one. Alas, half the time the spines just broke into her flesh, preventing her from removing them. The pain was difficult to bear. Once she had done her best, she lifted the rail over the cactus that had blocked her way and continued her progression until at last she walked again on dry sand and pebbles. Aurélie was tiring fast. She was panting and sweating and moaning from the pain. The hot sun was blinding her dry eyes and she could hardly see anymore.

At some point, the tracks reached a large rocky area where they all but disappeared. There were some broken rocks but it was impossible to determine whether they had been fractured by sun heat or under the weight of the truck. Sharp ridges in the rock bed were hurting her feet and it also was sizzling hot. Eggs could probably have been cooked on its surface. Aurélie made an attempt to walk on it but the pain was too high and she hastened to get back to the relative comfort of the gravel, her soles feeling as if they had been seized on a frying pan.

If she wanted to find the truck tracks again, she would have to walk all over the perimeter of the rocky area. The border between the bedrock and the pebble was not sharp but rather, the rock "dissolved" into pebbles, leaving a fringe of crevices and stones that went smaller as one got farther from the solid, contiguous "frying pan". As Aurélie wanted to avoid walking too much, she had to stay as close to the solid bedrock as possible, and thus she had to find her way through a mosaic of stones of various sizes. She had to be careful not to twist an ankle or stumble. Also, the rail had a tendency to get stuck in the spaces between the stones, forcing her to turn and lift the rail out. This was a painful and tiring work and she was progressing with painstaking slowness. At last however she distinguished a place where the stones had been recently disturbed. She had found the tracks again and she resumed following them.

She continued her progression under the hot sun. Her stapled-open eyes were now dry, filled with dust and sand. They were burning her immensely but she had no more tears to wash them. Her vision had decreased accordingly, and all she was now able to perceive where blurry colours. Following the tracks left by the car was difficult now. Moreover, dragging the rail behind her had exhausted her a great lot. The hot Mexican sun was drinking the sweat as soon as it poured from her skin pores, except under her armpits and into the folds around her sex. She had to make frequent pauses where she collapsed on her knees and rested her forehead on her forearms set on the burning ground. Her mouth was parched and dry as paper. At some point, the chain that had been packed in her mouth had fallen from it. Since then it had been dangling down, yanking at her tongue and septum with every step. She had tried to pack the chain back into her mouth but without success. The weight of the chain was keeping her tongue outstretched, resting against her chin and preventing her from closing her mouth. As a result, the warm desert breeze kept blowing dust into her gaping mouth, increasing her dehydration and thirst feeling.

As she toiled forward ever more slowly, she lost track of the time. At some point, she saw several vultures flying around at some distance. She would have avoided them, but the car tracks seemed to lead straight at them and she preferred not to move away from it, as she was not sure she could find it again. As she approached the place they were circling around, she began to notice the smell of rotting flesh. The vultures were busy around a hole in the ground. Was it another victim of the sadistic man?

As Aurelie came closer, her blood froze as she realised that the body the vultures were feasting on was Maria's. Pablo had somehow driven the truck along a very wide loop. He must have stopped somewhere to erase the tracks after having left the loop, or maybe he had driven away on the patch of bare rock where no tracks would be left. Aurelie felt desperate. She would have to follow the tracks again and investigate for any other track nearby, or sign of sand moved recently... That is when she noticed that with the rail trailing behind her, she had been erasing the tracks herself. It was now very difficult to see! And even more so with her eyes close to being blind!

Still there was nothing else to do but try. She decided to walk back on her own trail. She would first investigate the naked stone bed and it would be easier to reach by returning along her path. By now, she was walking very slowly. After each step she had to stop and rest. Her legs seemed unable to carry her any farther. Her breasts were killing her and her lower belly was bloodied by the spiked balls, while flies were swarming on it. Exhausted, unable to stand up, she continued her progression on all fours, still dragging the rail behind her.

As she crawled on the sizzling gravel, she perceived a shadow zooming past her. Contorting her neck, she looked at the blinding sky and saw that some vultures were now circling above her, their dark shapes forming a strong contrast with the whiteness behind them, enough to allow her dry eyes to notice them.

She heard something behind her. Turning around, she saw one of the black birds making little hops on the ground, following her, turning its head as it examined her body, measured her movements, obviously trying to decide whether they were those of a dying animal. Aurelie waved her arms and forced her parched throat to emit a croaking hiss. The scavenger realised there was still some fight into this prey and half-flew a couple of metre away, stopping when it saw that the girl was not pursuing her.

Somewhat relieved, the French woman turned away and took again to crawl forward, dragging her anchors behind her. She heard the vulture hop prudently behind her, while more of its kind were circling above her. From time to time, when she remained immobile for too long, some bird made a low-altitude pass over her, its black eyes eagerly staring at her. Those false alerts kept Aurélie on her toes. She knew she could not afford to rest. She had to remain active and be ready to scare the vultures away. In time this began to draw on her energy as much as dragging the rail was. Judging by the height of the sun, it was close to noon. She still had eight or nine hours of daylight. If she could survive them, she would be safe from the birds until the next dawn.

But as her strengths diminished, the birds of prey became bolder, flying lower, making more frequent survey passes. After some time, she heard the sound of flapping wings behind her and as she looked backward, she saw that a second vulture had joined the first. By now, Aurélie had reached a point where dragging the rail had become almost too hard. She had to combine the strength of one leg and two arms to move one side of the rail, before switching to the other side. And in between she had to recollect some strength. Her lungs were burning. They had accumulated dust and sand and were not working with their usual efficiency. Her chest was heaving deeply as she tried to forced them to gather more hot air. She kept her head hanging lower as she was braced on her arms, her filthy red mane resting on the ground around her face.

At some point, while she was recovering her energy in such a way, she felt a sharp pain in her left sole. Instinctively, she kicked her foot in a rattling of chain and hear a ruffle of flapping wings behind her. Looking back, she realised that one of the stragglers had grown bold enough to steal a peck at her. A red wound was throbbing in the middle of her sole. The other vultures, seeing that one of them had succeeded in getting some meat from their soon-to-die prey, got frantic. Several of them landed, surrounding Aurelie while remaining way out of reach of her legs and arms. The Red-head tried to scare them by kneeling up and waving her arms but with little success. The birds contented themselves with half-opening their wings, getting ready to take off without actually doing it. After a few more failed attempts, they realised that their prey could not actually harm them and they began to inch toward her, swinging their naked neck from side to side as they tiny eyes tried to gauge her resistance.

One of the bird landed on the rail behind her, spreading its wings to balance itself when the French girl tugged on the heavy metal object. The added weight was slowing her down even more. After yanking on the chains a few times she faced the bird and tried to kick it. It hopped away, easily dodging her attack, but it came back to the rail as soon as she turned her back again.

More and more animals started congregating around her. Maria's fat body had probably been entirely consumed by now, leaving only clean white bones. The vultures wanted another meal now. Aurélie saw them getting closer and closer. She tried to kick or punch them, to throw stones at them. At first, this scared them away a little but they grew accustomed to her feeble attacks and soon they hardly reacted when she moved. With two vultures perched on the rail, Aurélie could no longer move forward. She was anchored to the same point now. She felt so tired. Her limbs were heavy. Her wounds were torturing her. She was nearly blind. She was on all fours, shaking her arms from time to time to scare the closest birds.

A vulture felt hardy enough to attempt a peck at one of her legs. She twitched as its strong beak pinched the skin of her calf. The raptor hastily drew back its head but not before it had managed to catch a piece of warm flesh, which it gulped down with relish. It came as a black avalanche. Frenzy got the other birds as they saw that the meal was ready and helpless. They all gathered around her at once, clawing and pecking at the girl's naked body.

It was impossible for her to scare them away with a heavy ball dangling from her breast and unable to raise her feet much to kick them off. She tried to scream but her throat was too parched and coarse. She curled into a ball, on her knees, ducking her head between her arms to protect her face.

Any part of her body that she tried to cover and protect caused others to be offered to the hungry beasts. Soon enough the skin from her back was peeled raw. She tried to shove the bare necks of the birds away with her arms but then her breasts became vulnerable by those surrounding her head. Her elongated breasts were an easy target where they protruded from her sides. Aurelie's buttocks and thighs received also a lot of attention as the flesh was softer and prominently exposed by her fetal position. A vulture took her right breast in its beak and began to pull on it, stretching the soft piece of bruised flesh away from the crying girl's torso while the others took the opportunity to bury their beaks on it at several places

The pain in her back, buttocks and thighs was tremendous. Aurélie tried to resist the urge to protect them, knowing that that would offer more tender parts to their eager beak. But soon the agony was too much. With a strange croak, she bounced and rolled on her left side. Immediately, the birds that had been perched on her back had take off and land a few metres away. Unfortunately, they were soon enough replaced by new birds, even more hungry than them.

Before she had a chance to cover herself again, a pair of vultures were at her abdomen while a third one tried to peck at the flesh of her crotch and inner thighs  By closing her legs she managed to catch the bird's neck, strangling it, while it kept a morsel of vulva firmly held in its beak. It was a struggle for survival of two desperate animals. However the bird was not alone. Its co-species were using their beaks and claws on her back, distracting her. She reached between her legs and grabbed the bird's neck with both hands and twisted it until she heard a sick crack. The scavenger opened its beak as it died, its neck broken.

It was a small triumph for the agonizing girl, as it caused the rest of the vultures to be a little more cautious. They began to approach her from behind her back, grabbing a piece of flesh before flying away from harm to swallow it. Aurélie kept rolling from side to side but she always did it too late. There was always some bird behind her that managed to pull some flesh from her back. In her desperate moves to escape the scavengers, she got the chains linking her feet to the rail entangled, twisted together. She could not even see or guess in which direction to roll to disentangle them. She tried to stretch her body only to notice with a  painful tug that the ball hanging from her breasts was also held in the mess of chains. This was probably the spiked ball that had started the tangle and now there was no way to tell how to undo it. She had basically spoiled her last possibilities to defend herself. The more she struggled, the more she entangled herself, and her breasts were painfully stretched down.

It was now actually the birds who helped her get free of the tangled mess, little by little pieces of her breasts started to disappear until the chain was no longer restraining her chest as the last part of her mammaries lied on the ground separated from her body

Unknown to the girl fighting for her life, a silent figure was enjoying the show from the distance with a  pair of binoculars.

Aurélie had lost of lot of blood, which added to her dehydration was making her very weak and unable to move much. The vultures had lost all defiance now. They were surrounding her body, pecking at it, tearing bits of flesh from her. She had been unable to protect her face and now her eyes were gone. Blinded, her skull seeming on the verge of exploding because of all the tortures she was suffering, she was totally helpless now. She fell something rummaging between her thighs. She tried to clench them tighter but she had no strength anymore. The vulture pressed its beak further, pushing its head between her buttocks and then right into her stretched anus.

Aurélie let out a last croak of agony as the bird pierced her bowels, and then she died.