Heron Lake Plateau its easy to get hungry when you ain't got shit to lose.

There was so much pain here; he could hear it in her voice when she returned. He could feel it in every inch of his body. She touched him and he would've winced if he had the energy. At the very least, Screech quieted - he sought the comfort she afforded him but did not do much else. He no longer fussed, but he also did not reach for the water that she offered.

I thought you were going to die, said the golden thing with Niamh's face, before pressing against his jawline as if to slyly reach for his throat — the boy was focused on the strange foreboding sensation of her teeth being so close — then she was gone, and he felt the absence in the form of a growing chill.

Nothing really went through his mind, then. He was alone. There was the faint sound of conversation but he couldn't hone-in on it, regardless of how close they were. Niamh's body blocked the entrance for a few moments, but she moved aside for Raven. Screech rested, because he couldn't do much else, and yearned for sleep to take him again — to propell him somewhere else, like before.

This wasn't right — this wasn't him, this wasn't life, this wasn't real.