"Thanks," he managed. He wished it were a comfort but he was pretty sure that it hardly mattered. The way Zero slumped when she denied seeing the little girl told all. There was a rage in his chest about her being taken and there were threads of despair winding around his heart at the realization that she likely was lost to him for good.

Having this conversation, though, was helping to keep him grounded. The buzzing of mosquitos in his ears had lessened, the glints of orange from a fire just around the ruin and out of sight were fading. It would be back with a force, he knew, and eventually, he would just stop existing to everyone around him while he languished in his own mind but he may as well live what little time he had left.

"Did they tie your hands up too? Or is that reserved only for people they don't like?"