Neal’s half-conscious melodrama aside—-being stabbed, it turns out, hurts. He stirs a little when he feels himself being moved, making a pained noise of protest before fading back into blessed unconsciousness.

The unconsciousness doesn’t stay blessed. Fire flickers into his dreams, dreams of a Mathias that could almost be a version of normal, with its familiar faces and small town drama. Fire, chewing through buildings, bringing down prey like an animal on the hunt. He can feel it on his skin, feel it closing in around him, and he can hear Raylan screaming and smell the char of human barbecue and he’s burning, he’s burning up, he’s going to burn—

Neal gasps awake, delirious and thrashing in a panic, pain only slightly numbed as he fights the blankets that suddenly feel like they’re smothering him.