While Ethan dragged Iris over to the car, Cas took a moment to lick his wounds. In retrospect, he knew he could have come off much worse, but his body had already begun to ache now that the initial surge of adrenaline was beginning to wear off. His jaw hurt where Thomas had punched him, and the open cut inside his mouth throbbed where it seeped blood. The rest of him was sore wherever the rebel had managed to land blows on his arms, legs and torso. Worst of all was the deep pain in his chest though. He’d landed awkwardly when he’d fallen, and two spots under his skin hurt quite a bit when he inhaled. It was hard to tell if he’d broken his ribs or just bruised them badly. Either way, he couldn’t help but press a hand down over the area, trying to will away the sharp, stabbing pain that had started to plague him as he breathed.

As Iris was thrown into the back of the car beside him, he looked her over silently to make sure she was okay. Aside from the end of the fight, he hadn’t seen much of her skirmish with Ethan, so he didn’t know if the rebel had hit her or done anything else to injure her while they’d scuffled. To his relief, she seemed to be okay. He would have liked to take a closer look at her neck to see how badly she was bruised, but her long hair concealed the spot from his vantage point, and he didn’t want to provoke their captors by moving around too much and drawing attention to them. There would be time to inspect her wounds later, so for now, he kept to himself, so Ethan and Thomas wouldn’t have another reason to beat them any more than they already had.

Sliding down in his seat, he subtly reached across the middle to find Iris’s hand while the car bumped down the road. With his other hand, he tested the handle of the door he was sitting beside in a halfhearted check to see if it would open. Of course, it didn’t budge, and the lock wouldn’t open while the vehicle was set in drive. They were stuck there until the rebels took them to wherever it was that they were going. [color=#b97703][i]Back to Regis’s house?[/i][/color] He wondered, letting his gaze roam the surroundings beyond the window. The theory was quickly squashed as he calculated that they were heading closer to the capital rather than away from it. If they were going back to Iris’s father, they would have needed to head in the opposite direction.

[color=#b97703][i]They must have another hideout further west,[/i][/color] he decided privately as he intertwined his fingers with Iris’s. Thinking about her father, a cold shiver trickled down his spine. Regis had already tried to murder him once. He had to think that the only reason Ethan hadn’t shot him on the road was because the rebel leader wanted to kill him personally. Now, they were heading straight to him. The further they drove down the street, the more convinced he felt that he probably wouldn’t live long after they got there. He closed his eyes, hearing the roar of his hammering heartbeat in his ears. He wasn’t ready to die, but how were they supposed to get away from the psychotic man this time? If Regis shot him upon arrival, he wouldn’t even have time to think about escaping. It felt like he was marching to his death.

Quietly drowning in his panic, he almost didn’t hear Iris when she apologized to him. His eyes fluttered open, and he glanced her way. [color=#b97703]“For what?”[/color] he whispered back to her, shifting his weight on his seat as he leaned into the side door. [color=#b97703]“It isn’t your fault… I was the one who said I didn’t want to go back to the capital right away.”[/color]

“Shut up back there,” Thomas snapped, peering over his shoulder to shoot him a warning glare.

Cas rolled his eyes in response. Compared to Regis, Thomas didn’t scare him nearly as much. The most the rebel could do was rough him some more. Their leader was the one who was going to pull the trigger. He was tempted to make a scathing comment about the other man’s broken nose but held his tongue for Iris’s sake. If her ex-boyfriend was willing to choke her almost to death, he wasn’t sure what the other guy was capable of doing to her. So, he squeezed her hand silently, trying to assure her without words that everything would be alright.