Minty by M. Garnet

out. Then they were in the bedroom with her kicking, scratching and screaming.
    Furniture and lamps were flying but she didn’t stop until someone slugged her. She felt grey and unconsciousness settle over her.
    The next time she opened her eyes she was in the back seat of a moving car. She was between two large men with two men in the front seat.
    She knew she had been kidnapped. It looked like she had been taken by a group of advertisers for Gold’s Gym. There was no talk and her jaw hurt, but it did not match the confusion she felt. She had no money, she had no relatives, she didn’t work at an important job. Why on earth would they want her?
    They drove for several hours until they pulled in for gas. They took her over to the men’s bathroom and two went in with her. “If you need to use this, we stay, so make do.” One of the big men leaned back against the door.
    She looked around and saw a urinal and a stall without a door. She needed to pee so she had no choice. She backup up, unzipped her jeans, lowered them as fast as possible, finished and covered herself. The entire process was handled as she glared at the men. The men didn’t take their eyes off of her, so evidently they had been warned to watch her very carefully.
    They got back in the car and as it headed back onto the road, the passenger in front turned around and handed her a bottle of water along with a wrapped sandwich that he must have bought inside the station. She took the items, squeezed herself back between the two large men and just looked at them.
    She held the items in her lap for about an hour. Finally, she realized she might need her strength. She opened the sandwich and ate half, not knowing what it was. She opened the water, drank part of it and carefully put the cap back on. It was getting dark outside, but the vehicles passing them threw a regular flash of light across the faces of the men in the car. She did not feel her panic of dark, because there was enough ambient light. There was even light from the front dashboard.
    Her dark panic was nowhere, but her anger was on top and she was sitting quietly waiting for a chance to escape, waiting to find out what was going on.
    She was tired and didn’t know when she fell asleep, but she was wedged in between the large men and continued to sit up as she dozed. She woke with a jolt as the car stopped to fill up again. She was pulled roughly from the car.
    “Wait, I don’t need the restroom, I just need to stretch.” The man that held her stopped, looked over at the others and stood still. He didn’t make the mistake of letting go of her arm, but he didn’t move forward.
    She had no options, so she bent and raised her legs, took in deep breaths to expand her ribs, then raised her other arm over her head. She tilted her head around. Finally he jerked her — she guessed their rest stop was over as she was pushed back into the car. The half sandwich and water was pushed into her hands as the car was moving. Dawn was near as the sky was getting lighter. They had driven all night, but she had no idea where they were going. Thinking her stomach didn’t want anything, but she still needed strength, she forced herself to eat the rest of the food, drank more water then sat back to wait.
    By midmorning they were on the outskirts of a large city. They drove with the traffic into a warehouse district, stopping at a fairly well maintained storage warehouse that had large overhead doors, one of which was opened so that they could drive right inside. There were offices along one side on the second floor. They hustled her up the stairs, without concern, shoving her into one. The room had a desk, several chairs and nothing else. The front had waist high windows. She could see two men standing guard, looking in at her on a regular basis, but mostly they ignored her.
    There was a small lavatory in the corner. The door had been removed. She could use it as need required, but she would have no privacy. She