It takes Howard about a minute to catch his breath enough to respond. He feels sick with fear, sick with it in a different way than he usually is. This isn't the paranoia of some unseen fear that plagues his days, or the fear of some danger he can outsmart and outrun. This is pain approaching slowly but inevitably, coming for them and there isn't a single thing he can do about it.

Like starving in fast motion.

"They're going to torture us. They're going to torture us until we break. Like Brittney." Because honestly, wasn't that what they as a community did to the poor girl fused to a sociopath? They just had the decency to do it in private.

And he got Orc into this. That weight hangs heavier than he does on the line. He looks over to Orc and tries to steady his breathing again, then back to the Daligig.

"Please don't hurt him. Please."