Adam certainly did not want to be here. It was quite a few degrees over a comfortable temperature, and the hand gripping onto his shoulder was too tight. No, he'd much rather be at home, preferably in bed. Not that he'd been any kind of home for the past thousand years, and beds were nothing to him but a distant memory.

A burst of flame raced upwards toward him, and the creature carrying him swerved to avoid it. Adam clenched his teeth as nails tore into his broken shoulder. There was a piercing screech, and Adam looked up to see a demon, twisted and horrible, slice it's claws into the white mass of feathers and light above him. The angel released a thundering roar and began to spiral downwards toward the fire, Adam would've screamed if his torn throat allowed his voice to rise above a whisper. The flames raced up, licking at Adam's ankles, scorching his skin. There was a lurch and the angel launched itself forward, clearing them both of the fire. Adam felt the grip on his shoulder loosen, before vanishing entirely, he hit the ground with a thud. He blinked, fighting to stay conscious as the angel slammed into the rocks, silencing the shrieking demon

The glow surrounding the angel flared up, then condensed into the form of a man, standing shakily in the crater he had created, cuts and gashes that oozed light covering his body. A silver blade slid from the man's sleeve and he stabbed it into the still twitching body of the demon. The demon hissed once then went still.
The angel stumbled toward him and Adam made a pitiful attempt to back away, only succeeding in opening a cut in his hand on the scalding rock floor.

The angel knelt before Adam and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, far softer then when he had wrenched him from Michael and fled.

"'M sorry kiddo," the angel muttered, "Don't think I can take passengers anymore."

Adam's eyes widened and he grabbed the angels arm, bloody fingers tightening around the fabric of his sleeve.

"No," he hissed, cursing his raspy voice, "don't leave me here"

The angel stared at him, lips drawn in a taught line. Adam wanted to hit him, blame the stupid monster for all the bad that had happened to him, yell at him to hurry the hell up and get him out of here. The angel closed his golden eyes muttering something in a language Adam couldn't understand. He stood, slipping from Adam's grip.

"Someone's gonna come for you okay," he said, "I can't get you out, you won't be here for much longer. But only… only if you accept me when I come to you for help"

Adam glared, he wanted to hit the thing in front of him, tell him that he won't make deal with an angel again, won't make the same mistake that bought him hundreds of years in the pit. But if he didn't make the deal… Slowly, Adam nodded his head.

The angel looked down upon him piteously and Adam hated it.

"Just stay quiet," two cool fingers were pressed softly against Adam's forehead, and he finally fell away into a blissful nothing.

He was getting kind of sick of this waking up business. Adam glared at the ceiling as soon as he opened his eyes. Hell, he wasn't even sure it was a real ceiling. Sure, it was a pale grey, and for intents and purposes appeared like a real ceiling, but everything had seemed real when Lucifer had decided to play mind games with him, and Adam had no intent to fall for the devil's tricks again.

He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, listening to the branches being brushed against the window in the breeze. Birds were singing their morning call, preparing for the day.

Adam pulled the pillow over his ears and wished they'd just shut up and let him sleep already. The birds didn't shut up, and the breeze kept scraping the branches against the window.

With a defeated groan, Adam untangled himself from the blankets stood up. Yawning, he inspected the room around him. It was plain, filled only by the bed and a nightstand. The door near the corner was brown and made of wood, and Adam decided that he liked it. He ran a hand over the wall, taking comfort in it's solid form, no matter how briefly that comfort might last.

The door creaked open and Adam snapped his hand back to his side, yeah, Adam figured he'd jinxed himself with that last thought.

A lanky dude, who couldn't have been more than a few years older than Adam had been before hell, stepped into the room, an awkward smile on his face.

"You woke up," he sounded almost surprised, "how are you feeling."
Adam said nothing,, eyes narrowed in a glare as he assessed the guy, who didn't appear put off by his silence, and continued talking,

"See, I got you out yesterday, but I wasn't sure how long it would take you to wake up. I didn't get a chance to check for damage, but I can't see any visible woun-"
"Who are you?" Adam cut him off, glancing at the window, he wasn't sure how high up he was, but if the guy attacked...

"My name is Samandriel," the lanky guy said, "I raised you from hell."
"Oh," Adam said, "oh… You're…"
"An angel, yes" Samandriel clarified.

Adam squinted at him, for an angel he didn't appear particularly threatening. He wore a red and white striped shirt with a small black name tag that read 'Alfie', red shorts and a cap with the logo 'Wiener Hut' and a hot dog. That being said, Zachariah had been a stout man in a business suit, so Adam figured looks could be deceiving.

"Listen, Alfie," Samandriel's eyebrows drew together in confusion at the use of the name, "I'm grateful and all, but I'm not really interested in doing Heaven's dirty work, so if you could just move, I'll be on my way."
Adam moved to push past Samandriel, but the angel stood firm.

"I am not here on Heaven's orders," he said, "I believe that your escape was God's will."

Adam pulled a face, "How is that any different?"

Samandriel didn't answer and Adam rolled his eyes.

"You're doing a pretty piss poor job of getting me to trust you," Adam said, "So, if you would move, I've got place to be."

Samandriel winced, "If you're thinking of going back to your old life-"

"Who says I am?" Adam said, "I've literally been through hell, I've got a bit more on my mind then college."

"Adam be reasonable, you're mostly hidden from angels if you leave I will not be able to find you," Samandriel said, "and if I cannot find you, I will not be able to protect you from the demons hunting you down. Please, you'll be much safer here."

"And where's 'here'? Heaven?" Adam threw his hands up, "I'm sorry, but last time I was here, some dickbag tricked me into becoming Michael's vessel, and that didn't exactly work out in my favour."

"We're not in heaven," Samandriel paused, "Adam, I'm sorry, I didn't choose your fate. But you've been given another chance, just let me help you."

"Yeah, well I'm sorry too," Adam said, "Because if I've really got another chance, I'm sure as hell not going to waste it by trusting an angel."
"Adam, the second you leave that door alone, the demons are going to know where you are and I will not," Samandriel warned, "This house is warded, but I can only hide you from them out there if you accept my help."

Adam looked out the window. The sleepy town lying beneath cerulean skies hardly screamed 'danger'. A man walking his dog by the house glanced up at the window, eyes flashing back.

Adam paled and stepped away, "I thought you said they didn't know where we were."

"They shouldn't…" Samandriel frowned, "come with me"

Before Adam could argue, the angel had grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out the door. They jogged down a creaky set of stairs. Samandriel deposited him in what Adam guessed was some kind of living room, except there were boards covering the windows and sigils painted on to every flat surface.

"Take this and stay in this room, I'm going to lead them away," a silver blade was pressed into Adam's hand.

"Wait, don't you need this to get rid of the demons?" Adam asked.

Samandriel shook his head, "I have other ways of smiting them. Besides we can't kill them here or it will raise Crowley's suspicion. I am simply leading them elsewhere"
"Who's Cr-"

"I'll tell you later. Just stay put," Samandriel attempted a reassuring smile, before running out of the room.

Adam was left standing on his own, angel sword held loosely in his hand. He remained silent, listening to Samandriel's footsteps and what he assumed was the front door being opened. He frowned, since when did angels use doors anyway.

Adam waited for another minute, before rushing over to the window. He peered through a crack between the boards, there was no sign of the demon or Samandriel. He hesitated, now was his chance to escape, but even if he did, he had no idea where he was, or if there were any demons still out there waiting for him.

He thought about going through another few hundred years of hell.

Yeah, he could probably take the risk.

He tucked Samandriel's sword into his jacket and cautiously left the safe room. He made his way down a short hallway and caught sight of himself in a mirror. He winced, Samandriel hadn't lied about the lack of injuries, but he still looked like shit. Dark circles framed his wide blue eyes. His sandy blond hair had turned grey with dust and mud and his clothes were in tatters.

Right, escape, he could clean himself up later. Adam ran to the door and opened it. He was in a suburban area, but there were no signs to tell him which one. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his ruined jacket and walked out onto the footpath. A man checking his mail looked up at him, eyes widening at Adam's ragged appearance.
"Mornin'," Adam smiled weakly and kept walking, leaving the man gaping at his back.

He couldn't help but grin as he breathed in the fresh air, sure there was still pollution, but it was better than the cage that had smelt like…

Adam frowned, he wasn't sure what the cage had smelt like. In fact he wasn't sure he could remember much about the cage at all. He knew he'd been there, he knew what'd happened to him, but no matter how hard he tried, he didn't know what it had felt like.

"Adam Milligan," Adam froze.

A woman stood in front of him, brown hair tied into a neat bun. She blinked, and her eyes were black.

"We've been looking for you," she purred, stepping towards him, "we don't take kindly to angels breaking in and stealing our property."

Adam smiled nervously, "would you believe me if I told you had the wrong guy?"

The demon smirked and Adam shrugged, "worth a shot.."

She lunged forward, but before she could reach him, Adam had rammed Samandriel's blade between her ribs.

She growled at him, "'s too late, they know where you are now. You should've stayed with the angel."
Adam twisted the blade and she gasped, a light flickered within her body, then she went still. Adam ran an arm over his forehead and stepped back, allowing the demon's corpse to fall to the ground.

He heard a frightened yell and turned to see the man who had been checking his mail pulling out his phone and frantically dialling.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath.

He picked a direction, and ran.

Panting, Adam collapsed onto the ground. He was pretty sure he'd lost the cops, running blindly through suburbia until he'd reached a small town, he'd hidden himself behind a convenience store dumpster. A homeless man glanced at him warily, but said nothing as Adam brought his knees to his chest and slowed his breathing.

He heaved himself into a sitting position, he wouldn't be able to stay here long, no doubt his description would've been given to the police, he was wanted for murder and-

He paled.

For murder, the demon had been possessing an innocent woman and he'd killed her. He felt sick.

"You okay there son?" the homeless man asked him.

"No," Adam replied shakily, before emptying the few contents of his stomach onto the ground.

The homeless man winced and threw him a dirty rag. Adam smiled briefly in thanks and wiped his mouth.

"What were you running from?" the man asked.

Adam looked up at him, frowning, "Who says I was running from anything?"

The man smiled pitifully and shook his head, "We're all running from something here."

Adam raised a doubtfully eyebrow at the man who raised his hands in defence and chuckled.

"Okay, I'll admit that sounded less cheesy in my head," he said, grinning apologetically.

Adam just rolled his eyes and leaned his head back against the cool brick wall. His whole body was sore from the run, and the crisp night air burned his throat. Damn, he didn't realise how weak his body had become.

"You look like you need a drink," the man commented, rummaging through his bag before pulling out a half empty bottle of water and offering it to Adam, "Take it."

In any other situation, Adam probably would've refused to take the man's water, but his vision was beginning to swim so he reached out a bony hand and accepted the bottle. He downed it in three huge gulps, gasping when he was done.

"Are you Jesus?" he mumbled, relaxing as he felt the water revitalising his body.

The homeless man laughed, "Only sometimes."

Despite himself, Adam smiled, wide and genuine. The action made his lips crack but he didn't care. He was out of the cage, he was certain of that now. He was hungry and weak, but he was out. Homeless Jesus watched him, a fond grin on his face.

"Adam!" Adam looked up to see a slight figure standing at the end of the alleyway, familiar red cap resting at an awkward angle on his head.

"You wanted to know what I was running from?" Adam said to Homeless Jesus, inclining his head toward the figure.

Samandriel made his way toward them, the frown on his face so out of place that Adam nearly laughed. That was until he saw the bleeding gash across the angel's leg.

"You didn't stay put," Samandriel said.

"Obviously," Adam replied.

"Adam, we haven't got off to the best start, but we really have to go," Samandriel said, grabbing Adam's arm and hauling him to his feet, "as you've no doubt discovered, our location was not as secure as I originally thought."

"Obviously," Adam said again, glaring at Samandriel, who hissed in frustration.

"Don't be difficult we don't have time for this," Samandriel pleaded.

"I'm sorry Alfie, but I'm going to be staying here with Ho-," he paused and looked down at Homeless Jesus who had been silently watching them.

"My name's Chuck," he supplied, Adam nodded and turned back to Samandriel.

"I'm going to be staying here with Chuck," he finished.

Samandriel let go of Adam and approached Chuck, scrutinising him.

"Chuck, I apologise but I will be taking Adam with me now" he said.

Chuck shrugged, "It's not really up to me."
"C'mon man you're supposed to be on my side," Adam complained.

"Sorry, I try not to take sides anymore," Chuck said sheepishly.

Samandriel stared at Chuck for a while before returning his gaze to Adam.

"I believe it is appropriate that I allow you time to say goodbye,' he said before walking away.

Adam frowned, but did not question the angel's motives. Instead he knelt beside Chuck.

"Wish there was some way to repay you man," he said, "but uh, thanks for the drink."
Chuck smiled, "It's not an issue, but if there was anyone who needed to apologise it would be me."
Adam tilted his head, "Why?"

"For not taking sides Adam Milligan."

It was only after he had rejoined Samandriel and walked with the angel to a dusty motel that Adam wondered how Chuck had known his last name.

edit; fixed the layout and added a sentence.