Caine frowned. “How long have I been like this?”

“Like what?” Diana mocked him. “Like a mental patient who can’t tell if he’s in reality or in a dream?”

He nodded. The smell of the beans was sickening. But he was suddenly hungry. And he remembered now: food was in short supply. Memory was coming back. The mad delusion was fading. He couldn’t quite reach normal, but he could see it.

“Three months, give or take a week,” Diana said. “We had the big shoot-out in Perdido Beach. You wandered off into the desert with Pack Leader and were gone for three days. When you came back you were pale, dehydrated, and . . . well, like you are.”

Hunger, Chapter 2