Fossil Hills

Chapter 1.The Hills.

You will not find Fossil Hills on any normal map. The only maps that have it marked are those belonging to a few palaeontologists who have noted it on their maps with pencil or ball point.

In most other places Fossil Hills would hardly be rated as hills at all, but on the vast flat and arid plain that stretches from horizon to horizon they stand out and can be seen from many kilometres away. The nearest habitation, a pastoral cattle station, is sixty kilometres away. The nearest place that could be described as a “town” is over two hundred kilometres away.

The plain itself is of red earth and on it grows only blue and salt bush with the occasional stunted tree struggling to survive. One exception is the line of old gum trees seeming to march across the plain like weary soldiers on the march as they followed the edge of an old creek that once every few years, when torrential rain falls, is filled with water.

Another exception is a narrow strip of green that runs out from the base of the hills. Here a trickle of water runs out of the hills to form a small pool at their base. The pool overflows, its water oozing out onto the plain for about a hundred metres where the thirsty soil sucks up the last dribbles.

Beside this little runnel of water grows some vegetation. Also near the pool there once stood Karina’s camp. This camp consisted of her four wheel drive vehicle and a tent. She was there because of something that had happened many years before.

A pastoralist at mustering time was in search of cattle that wandered over the plain. He had camped for the night beside the pool and looking around idly he had seen a curious looking rock that bore the imprint of what he thought looked like an over sized Slater with its many legs.

Amused by this curiosity he had taken it back to the homestead with him and propped it up near the front door. There it remained for many years unrecognised for what it was until, during university vacation, a young student had come to work on the station to earn a bit of money. He saw immediately that it was the fossil of a trilobite and he contacted a palaeontologist to inform him of the find and the place where it had been found.

There was a brief flurry of activity round the hills. There was little money to spare for an extensive search for more fossils since there were a number of other and seemingly more exciting sites that were engaging the attention of palaeontologists. The cursory survey came up with nothing and what came to be called “Fossil Hills”, if not forgotten, was at least ignored, that was, until Karina had taken and interest.

Karina was a palaeontologist and in the fortunate position of having independent financial means. At the time of her birth her grandparents had invested a substantial sum of money for her, to be made available either when she was eighteen or if and when she entered university. With interest on the original capital when the time came for her to take control of the money, Karina found herself, not exactly rich, but with sufficient financial independence to enable her to choose a university course without having to be concerned with how much she would earn when she finished it. That course was palaeontology.

She began university when she was seventeen and six months of age and at twenty nine she had gained a doctorate in her subject.

She had noticed on a palaeontologist’s map the spot marked “Fossil Hills.” On enquiring about the place she was told of the original find and on asking what work had been done there the answer was a shrug and the statement, “Very little; it didn’t look too promising and there’s plenty of other work to be done.”

Karina’s interest was captured. A place where little had been done might give her the chance of doing some original work. When she expressed the wish to go to Fossil Hills to continue the search she was told there was no funding for such a venture. That was where her independent financial situation served her well. She would finance herself. So now she was hunting hopefully over the hills.

She had worked all morning, and after lunch had returned to the task. Now she paused and taking off her hat wiped the sweat from her brow and shaded her eyes. She had heard a distant sound.

At first she thought it was a pastoralist’s aircraft flying to or from the town, but she could see no aircraft. Then she spotted a trail of dust along the track that led to Fossil Hills. The track itself was little more than tyre marks branching off from a road some forty kilometres away. The dust trail seemed to be about three kilometres away.

“Blast,” she thought, “the last thing I want is company. What the hell do they want right out here?”

The only thing she could think was that they were coming for the same purpose she was there for; fossils. There are people who, uncaring about the importance of fossils in

Palaeontologic research, on hearing a rumour about fossil locations come and helped them selves. They then sell the fossils on an underground market for huge sums of money to those who like to have them to show off and serve as conversation pieces.

“Damn it,” she muttered, “I’d better get down there and find out what they want.”

Chapter 2.Karina has Visitors.

Karina made her way down the face of the rocks to the camp. The vehicle had not arrived so she sat on a camp stool waiting. She could hear it coming long before she could see it, its motor making hurrum, hurrum noises as it negotiated the rough track.

“Sounds like they’re in a hurry,” thought Karina.

Then the vehicle arrived, or rather, burst upon the scene in a cloud of dust and the groaning of old suspension. Long ago the car had been metallic blue, but now it was a mixture of faded blue and rust. There were dents where it had been in collisions and one of the doors was obviously not an original.

It pulled up with a shriek of brakes and almost spun round in the direction it had just come from. For a few moments, with the dust settling, nothing happened, then the doors seems to fly open and the car disgorged four men.

They looked around in that slightly stunned manner people seem to experience when they have just ended a long drive over rough country.

Karina weighed them up. Clothing wise they seemed to be like peas out of the same pod. Black T-shirts with black jeans. She could see the patches of sweat under their armpits and their naked arms festooned with tattoos.

They all sported shaven heads and straggly, greasy looking beards. Earrings, nose rings and one of them, no doubt the individualist of the group, had several rings through his lips. All of them had bulging biceps and two had ungainly bellies. They all looked to be in their early twenties but their beards and somehow ravaged faces made it hard to tell.

Karina had risen and said “Hello.” They stared at her for a moment, and then one of them said as if Karina was not there, “What the fuck is a woman doin’ ‘ere?”

“Fucked if I know,” said another. “Probably ‘avin’ a seaside ‘olliday.” They all seemed to think this was hilarious.

Karina tried to ignore these remarks and asked, “Can I help you?”

“Christ, she talks posh.”

“Must be a lady,” sneered one of them. “Want ter ‘elp us do yer, lady?”

“If you need help.”

“What the fuck is this place?”

“It’s called ‘Fossil Hills’. Is there something you want?”

“Nothing in particular, lady; we just saw the track and thought we’d take a look. It was further than we thought; got any petrol?”

“I can spare you some if you’re running short.”

“Now ain’t that nice of ‘er; she can spare us some. Got any grub?”

“I can probably give you meal if you need it, but I haven’t got much to spare.”

“Yeh, it’s gettin’ too late ter fuck off back ter town ternight, so let’s crash ‘ere.”

“Got room in yer tent for us,” one of them asked suggestively.

“No I’m afraid I haven’t.”

“Fuck it. What about that grub?”

By this time Karina was thoroughly apprehensive. There was an aura of aggression, of savagery about these men. They looked as if at any moment and with the slightest provocation they could explode into violence. Anything offered to them would be taken as of right not as a favour. She tried to keep calm and not show her growing fear.

“I’ll get you some food,” she said, turning back to her tent.

“Right, we’ll just ‘ang around then. Got any grog?”

“No, I’m afraid I haven’t.”

“Fuck it; we’ll ‘ave ter drink our own.”

One of them opened the boot of the car and heaved out a portable ice box. He opened it and exclaimed,”Fuck it, it’ll be fuckin’ warm by now.” This however did not deter them, and they sat down on the ground and commenced ripping the tops off bottles of beer and drinking.

As Karina put together a meal there was much laughter and hilarity coming from the group which she tried to ignore. One of them came over to her and stood for a moment watching her. She smelt the odour of an unwashed body and sweat and when he came close to her and said, “You got a great arse lady,” she smelt his foul breath.

“I’m trying to get a meal ready for you,” she said, deciding not to react to his comment, “would you please let me get on with it?”

“Righto, lady, righto,” he said with a salacious leer as he tried to look down the top of her shirt.

He swaggered back to the group laughing. He said something and they looked across at her and then went into a whispering huddle.

Karina was now thoroughly frightened. She thought of the two-way radio in her vehicle, but if she tried to use it they must spot her. Even if she could call for help that help would take hours to arrive, and God knows what they might do before it got there. In any case, what could she tell a would-be helper? That she was camping at Fossil Hills and that four men had arrived? It might sound like the overreaction of a neurotic woman.

She decided she would have to ride out the situation and hope she didn’t give them any provocation.

The meal ready she called them to come and get it. They ambled over and instead of taking the food and going back to where they had been sitting they sat in front of the tent.

“Whatcher doin’ ‘ere lady?” one of them inquired.

“I’m a palaeontologist and I’m looking for…”

“Yer a palaeo fuckin’ what?”

“I’m doing research on fossils.”

“Doin’ research! We got a professor ‘ere,” he jeered. “Wouldn’t mind doin’ a bit of research meself, but not on fossils.”

His remark seemed to strike the others as screamingly funny and they rolled about laughing.

When they had finished they made no effort to help clear up. Karina hoped that having eaten they would leave her alone, but they hung around touching and inspecting her possessions.

“Nice set-up yer got ‘ere lady,” one of them commented. “And yer all on yer own, eh?”

Avoiding the question Karina said, “There are people who know where I am.”

This didn’t seem to impress her questioner who gave a nasty smile and said, “But all a long way off, eh?”

Again avoiding the question Karina said, “If you don’t mind, I have some notes to write up.”

“Ah, okay lady, see yer later then.”

They wandered off, but at no great distance. She tried to calm down. “After all,” she thought, “They haven’t actually done anything to me. They’re just wild young men who don’t know about the finer points of human relations.” She wasn’t entirely convinced about that.

She got on with writing her notes. The men wandered about and climbed the rocks. By the time Karina had finished bringing her notes up to date the last of the sun was still shining on the tops of the hills, but down where she was on the plain darkness seemed to have taken over already. She would normally boil some water, strip off and have a wash, but that night she contented herself with washing her face and hands.

She saw the men pull out some blow up mattresses from the boot of the car together with some blankets. They seemed to be about to settle down for the night.

Ready for bed herself she pulled down the canvas flap of the tent. Again, having stripped off to wash she would normally go naked to bed, but now she decided to stay in her shorts and shirt.

She lay down on the bunk, but for a long time couldn’t go to sleep. She was alert for every sound. When she did finally doze off, it was to be awakened by the slightest noise.

Chapter 3.Violence Erupts.

Coming out of her final doze at dawn Karina told herself she’d been a fool. She’d distressed her self over nothing.

She could hear laughter and splashing coming from coming from the pool. Angry she opened the flap of the tent and stepped outside.

The pool being the only source of water, it was precious. Any disturbance of its bottom would stir up mud that would take hours to settle again. “The careless fools,” she thought, and made for the pool.

There as she had thought the four of them, fully dressed, were rioting about in the now muddy water.

“Look what you’ve done you stupid louts,” Karina yelled, “It’s the only source of clean water and it’ll take ages to clear again.”

“Oh, she’s got a temper boys,” one of them jeered. He waded out of the water and strode up to Karina. “Well, lady, you might be glad we’ve ‘ad a wash. P’raps you’d like ter take a dip yerself.” With that he picked her up bodily and dropped her in the water.

“Give ‘er good wash boys. Get ‘er gear off.”

The three in the pool began to tug at Karina’s shirt and shorts.

“Leave me alone you thugs,” she screamed, “let go of me.”

“We’ll let go of yer, yer fuckin’ snooty bitch, when we’ve done with yer. Let’s have a look at ‘er tits.”

Her shirt was ripped off followed by her shorts and panties. Karina fought and screamed but they were too strong for her.

“Get ‘er up ‘ere then," said the one on the edge of the pool.

She was dragged out of the water still kicking a screaming. One of them seized hold of her face and squeezing it said, “It’d be better if yer shut up and stopped strugglin’; yer might not get ‘urt that way.”

She was born down to the ground and her arms were pinioned and legs dragged apart.

“We’re goin’ ter do yer a favour lady,” one sneered, “Yer going ter find out what it’s like ter be fucked by real men, not bloody pansy fuckin’ professors.”

Three of them were holding her down. She saw one of them unzip his wet jeans and pull out his penis. He came over her and began biting her breasts and nipples. His teeth dug into her and she screamed again. She knew it was hopeless to struggle and scream because no one would hear apart from these men, but the searing pain of the bites wrung cries of agony from her.

The biting stopped and revolted as she was by them, she tried to relax, knowing that her vagina was dry and penetration was going to be painful enough; she was thankful that she wasn’t a virgin. One of them came down between her legs and struggled to find the entrance to her vagina. After probing around he finally found it and pushed in. It felt like a rod with sandpaper wrapped round it; “You’re hurting me badly,” she wept.

One of those holding her down laughed and said; “Careful mate, yer ‘urtin ‘er,” and then he smashed her in the ribs with his fist. “Yer’ll get a lot more ‘urt if yer don’t shut up.”

Karina winced with the pain of the blow, and about the only good thing that could be said about it was that it took her mind off the pain in her vagina.

The first one finished to the cheers of the others, and he was replaced by the next one. The sperm now lying in her vaginal tunnel eased the penetration, as it did with the third and fourth.

The first one who had penetrated her asked, “Shall we ‘ang around ter fuck her again later?”

“Na,” said another, “let’s see what we can get and clear out.”

“Yeh,” said a third, “it ain’t likely, but someone could turn up.”

Karina, weeping and in pain whimpered, “You animals, you rotten animals.”

“Oh dear,” said one of them, “She thinks we’re fuckin’ animals, and after all we’ve done fer ‘er. I think she’s an ungrateful bitch and needs punishing.”

He kicked her in the ribs. She felt an excruciating pain in her vagina as if someone was squeezing her clitoris. She shrieked with agony but the pain did not stop until a boot was aimed at her head and the world went black.

Chapter 4.Dark Time.

How long she was unconscious for she did not know, but when she began to come to the sun was high and blazing down. At first she could not focus through the blinding ache in her head. Her body felt as if it had been run over by a train and there was a racking pain in her vagina. In the heat of the sun her naked body was covered with sweat, and as her vision gradually cleared a little she tried to move to the pool.

The very first attempt sent tearing pains through her that made her cry out. She was now sufficiently aware and knew that if she laid out in the sun she might well get sunstroke, or even die.

Despite the pain she forced herself to crawl to the edge of the pool, and then dropped in. The cool water brought relief for a moment, but she knew she couldn’t stop there. She had to get to the vehicle and call for help on the two-way.

With the pain increasing she dragged and crawled her way the short distance to the camp. She might just as well not have bothered. The place was in ruins; the two-way had gone; her equipment had either been stolen or wrecked. Her bag with some money in it and the keys to the vehicle had gone. Even if she did have the keys she could hardly have driven, and anyway, all the tyres had been slashed. She was naked and they had taken her clothes as well.

The tent was lying askew but Karina tried to crawl under it to get out of the sun. Given her injuries, the effort to get to the camp and her helpless situation she was in, it was too much for her. She dropped into unconsciousness again.

She came round at intervals, only to pass out again as she tried to move to find some water. Even her can of water and the jerry cans of petrol had been taken, and there was no hope that she could crawl back to the pool, for by now the true agony of her injuries was beginning to make itself felt with even greater intensity.

At some time, it may have been hours or days, she did not know, she felt something soft and wet pressed against her head. A voice that seemed to come from a long way off came to her in snatches.

“Fossil Downs…badly hurt…beaten up…no the flying doctor can’t get in here…ambulance…Okay…do what I can.”

The voice seemed to fade away. Her head was swimming. Someone was crying like a child that had fallen over and hurt itself. Who was it crying?

“Try and drink this.” The voice came from right beside her and something was being put to her lips. A searing pain seemed to scorch her as her head was raised. Something was in her mouth and trickling down her throat, something cool.

“Try to relax; help is on its way.”

There was physical pain. “Don’t hurt me anymore,” she said in a barely audible voice.

“You’ll be okay now, no one’s going to hurt you,” said the voice.

Her vision cleared a little. There was a face that seemed to swim over her…eyes…eyes that were…what? What was the word? Eyes that were…brown…that was it.

The soft moist thing was pressed to her head again. Vision faded and the blackness came again.

There was a noise. People were talking and she was being lifted. The agony again.

“Sorry love, but we’ve got to get you onto the stretcher.”

Oblivion once more.

Why was the world bumping and swaying? Where was she? Two people sat beside her in the rocking world.

Something was put over her face and a woman’s voice said, “Breath deeply, love, it’ll help. We’ll soon be on the bitumen and it won’t be so bad.”

It was agony to speak but she managed to ask, “Where am I?”

“In the ambulance dear on your way to hospital.”