Miriam was grateful. False priest or not, having food and water to consume was a boon. She gingerly unwrapped it before nibbling on the sweet. 

[i]Mmm, chocolate,[/i] she thought. Lord Almighty, when was the last time she had sweets? Oh, right, five years ago. That was a sobering thought.

The False Priest waited until she was done eating, before asking, "Why are you out here on the streets at this hour, child? Why not seek an aid station so you can get food and drink from one of the charities, and a bed for the night?"

Miriam cleared her throat. It would take awhile before she got used to eating chocolate again. She was about to answer when a sudden thought popped in her head. That question contained a trap in it. Depending on her answer, she could end up back in a facility. So far it simply looked like she was a homeless teenager, which wasn't anything new after the Civil War, but also something people were wary of, considering most homeless kids happened to be Unnatural's on the run - like her. For all she knew, and despite all his kindness, the man could easily be an agent for the government (those guns strapped to him made a [i]very[/i] convincing argument for it) and he could be trying to trick her into saying something incriminating. On the other hand, if the man suspected her of being an Unnatural, he could probably just frogmarch her at gunpoint to the nearest Police Station and have her identity verified, so again, either way she was in trouble.

But there was also perhaps the smallest chance that . . .

"I'm . . . an Unnatural you see," said Miriam, deciding the the truth would be a 50/50 chance at freedom or confinement, "and a registered one as well. Going to any government facilities with access to birth certificates and blood samples would be bad for me." 

Just as she finished talking, the bird from earlier landed on her shoulder. She would've jumped, but she'd seen it coming. She was starting to get suspicious of this bird. It kept returning, and it's head was trained straight towards the False Priest. That wasn't birdlike at all; birds (asides from owls, but they're weird) move constantly, in jittery fashion but this one wasn't not moving, at all, as if it was observing the False Priest.