Essek listens, though his brow pinches as he tries to make sense of everything he's hearing. The words are distant and hard to grasp, hard to make sense of, his mind too muddled with everything to think clearly, to fully comprehend what he's told, but he keeps trying until it does, until something gets through. Eventually, when it does, he nods, the heels of his palms against his forehead while he keeps his hands in his thoroughly disheveled hair.

Of course they would be branded terrorists, something he knows he would have deeper thoughts on if his mind was capable currently. It feels strange to hear they have been missing only days when it feels like so much longer, all sense of time was lost to him.

But more importantly... "Are--...you think they could be? Alive?" Could Caleb be alive? He feels so sure he lost him, positive they were all dead, that he was alone. He can feel how he starts to shake more, wanting so badly for that hope but so sure it's false.