The road went ever on and on, it seemed to me. I dozed off. Realistically, the trip probably didn’t last more than three hours or so, but after all that had happened I was exhausted. Fatigue distorts time, and so does fear.

Being yanked against the car door brought me back to here, now, and the stench of reality. “Ouch” I grumbled for the sake of it. 

“Oh poor little bitch, did it hurt?” The Morons sneered. Their sense of humour was as shitty as their taste in music. “Sorry princess, we weren’t told to mind your sensibilities. Now be a nice little girl and maybe you won’t get any more bruises.” They opened the door my head had landed against, and dragged me out of the car.

As much as I hated the contact of their hands on me, I couldn’t stand up on my own. The thought made me sick. Their stupid grins made me sicker.

My entire body was in pain, my muscles complaining about the mistreatment and the lack of stretching. Stiff as a stick, I managed to walk without tripping as the minions escorted me into town. Thankfully the street was as flat as you can imagine, as if it’d been remade just before the Apocalypse.

At some point the other minions joined, led by Hans who was unsurprisingly abusing his position by having his hand on Percy’s ass. She looked as sick as I felt, but held herself upright. Her hands were still tied in front of her, forming two fists as if she was ready to punch the world. Upon closer inspection it was probably to hide the shaking. Her lip was bleeding, her left eye swollen. She hadn’t made it easy on them. I managed to hide a smile.

We all stopped at the intersection where we met. The minions reported on the situation, that is they sneered and made crude jokes about us, while Hans tried to get a hand inside Percy’s jeans. She stepped on his foot.

I couldn’t hide the smirk this time. Hans glared at me, but stopped his pathetic attempts at sexual assault and got us moving. “Let’s put the bitches in a cage and be done with it. We got work to do.”

We were pushed past ugly gray buildings that had probably been housing units in a different time. Percy was looking straight ahead. I stole glances every now and then, but mostly looked at my feet. I was pretty sure by now that me tripping or falling would just give them an excuse to hit me again, and I wasn’t fond of the idea. 

I couldn’t see much of the street as a result, but at least I managed to not lose my footing. We arrived soon at what had been the police station, now used as quarters for Hans and his gang. Ugly place.

The lights were dim inside, almost blinding us after the bright sun outside. I had wondered if the whole electricity thing was still going on. I had my answer: nope. Candles and the likes. It gave the room an eerie feeling that made me even more uncomfortable. And it stank. Not only of unwashed people, but also it seemed that the morons here assembled hadn’t found unscented candles. The fragrances didn’t mix well.

I didn’t have much time to dwell on the lack of olfactory sensitivities of world class assholes, as we were led to the back of the building without pause. There were cells there. Most of them occupied, it seemed. We passed them by, like a travelling freak show to ease the tedium of prison life. Neither of us looked inside the cells. We stared ahead and walked slowly. Percy looked proud as a Queen. I was limping.

Moron n°1, Cole I think, opened the door of the last cell in the corridor. We were pushed in without regards, still tied. The door closed. I vaguely heard Hans warning his minions to leave us alone. “No touching guys. They’re mine. Both of them. Clear?” They grumbled but agreed, and their footsteps receded. Only then did I look around.