The girls had decided to go hiking that day. They were all quite fit, experienced hikers and enjoyed getting out together sometimes, just the three of them. They were all the same age, twenty, give or take a few months and had been in the same hiking club since they were fourteen. The forecast was for a hot, sunny day, with a change due late in day with heavy rain forecast for the next day.
The girls had been up one of the lesser known trails, enjoying the day and the exercise. They found, however, that as the day progressed and the temperature rose, the wind dropped, and the air seemed to thicken around them, heavy with moisture. Heading back down the trail, the girls came to one of their favourite spots, where a waterfall spilt into a deep pool. The girls occasionally took the time for a swim there, but not having actually planned to do so today they hadn't bought bathers with them.
Jennifer was the first to broach the idea. "It's hot and mucky and I'm sweating like a pig," she said, "And that pool is nice and deep and cool."
"Ladies don't sweat. They glow," Sandy murmured.
"OK, so I'm glowing like a pig. What do we do about the pool?"
"We're a bit old to skinny dip," said Andrea, "But if we keep our panties on...?"
"That's fair enough. We haven't seen anyone else on this trail all day, and it's not like someone is going to be hiking up it now. Let's go."
Leaving their things by the side of the pool the girls quickly stripped down and slipped into the water. After swimming for a while, Andrea ducked under the waterfall, and sat on the ledge that had been carved out behind it by years of water erosion. The others soon joined her and they say back, looking at the world through the falling water.
Looking back on the incident, the girls decided that it must have been the sound of the waterfall splashing around them that prevented them hearing the bikes. The first they knew of them was when half a dozen bikes came bucking up the trail and pulled up next to the pool.
"These trails are for hiking," said Sandy indignantly. "They're not allowed to bring those bikes up here."
"I'll let you tell them that," murmured Andrea. "I'm staying well hidden until that lot go. If you fancy talking to them wearing a pair of wet clinging panties, be my guest."
"Pass," smiled Sandy. "We'll wait."
A couple of the bikies had hopped down and were looking around. One of them spotted the girls things piled neatly under a tree and wandered over to see what the little pile was. The girls could see him pawing through their things, and then he suddenly bent down, picked up their bras and waved them for everyone to see. At this point the other bikies dismounted, checked the find and started looking. The girls could hear them calling, telling them to come out.
"Come out, come out, where-ever you are," one carolled. "If we have to come and find you, we'll be getting pissed off, and you won't like us when we're pissed off."
"They won't like us anyway," another called to general laughter.
"If we stay here, they're going to find us," said Jennifer, "and I don't think we'd like what would follow."
"But where can we go," asked Andrea. "If we just run into the woods they'll hear us and chase us."
"We can follow that animal trail that leads up the side of the waterfall," said Jennifer. "They won't see us because we'll be behind the falls at first and then around the hump in the hill higher up."
"We don't know where it goes," warned Sandi.
"Yes we do. Away from here and away from them," retorted Jennifer. "That makes it a good place to go in my books."
The three girls headed up along the narrow trail. As the last of them passed the hump higher up she looked back, to see the bikies beating the bushes, making a determined search. A couple seemed to be setting up camp. The girls continued on, hoping that the trail would swing around and join one of the recognised hiking trails so that they could get assistance.
They quickly found that the trail was steep, dirty and overgrown, being little more than an animal trail. The girls very quickly became grimy, scratched and upset, as well as probably picking up a few splinters along the way. To make matters worse, it looked like the forecast change was coming in ahead of schedule, with the sky darkening rapidly, the wind increasing and a light rain beginning to fall. Knowing that to try to return the way they'd come was now too steep and dangerous with a wet path, the girls struggled on, hoping for the best.
The best didn't come. Very soon the weather had closed in, with rain now pelting down, covering the trail in mud and leaving them unable to see very far. The girls stumbled along, lost, cold, scared and close to exhaustion.
Donald had a nice property, set back from the main road and backing well into the mountain. He liked to keep a record of the larger animals in the area, and had some cameras and movement sensors located around the property, a couple of them covering an old animal trail that ran behind his property.
The sensor covering the trail picked up the movement as the three girls trudged wearily past, sounding a discrete signal in the house. Don glanced at the camera, hoping to spot a bear or moose and was shocked to see what appeared to be three naked women stumbling past. Even as he watched one stumbled and fell.
Swearing at idiots in general and these three in particular, Don grabbed a coat and ran out to head them off. He found them still at the place where the girl had tripped, huddled under a tree examining her ankle. They were soaked, sore, tired, scratched, bruised and cold. Very cold he noted. They seemed to have some tattered rags around their waists that might once have been panties, but certainly were no longer serving that purpose.
"Unless you idiots have other activity in mind, might I suggest that you follow me to where I can provide some shelter," he suggested.
He laughed when the girls frantically tried to cover themselves. "Don't bother," he said sardonically. "I've already seen it all, and it's muddy. Now may I suggest you get to your feet and follow me?"
Jennifer and Andrea struggled to their feet. "Sandi can't get up," Andrea said, "I think she's broken her ankle."
Don bent down and gently checked the ankle. Not broken, he decided. Slight twist, but exacerbated by general tiredness and cold.
"Just twisted," he told the girls, "but we'll probably all drown out here waiting for her to hobble along. I'll carry her."