Chapter 3

Honey

I was sitting in the back of the car gazing out the window, trying to process what I had learned earlier in the hotel room. My parents were dead. My entire pack was dead. Everyone I knew was gone aside from the three people sitting in this car with me. I knew I was going into shock, I could feel my body shaking. The grief was screaming inside my head to be let out. I kept gazing out the window and the tears I had been fighting so hard to hold back finally broke free. I let the tears fall, blurring my vision as I focused on the trees rushing by my window. I turned to look over to where Zac was sitting and saw that he was already watching me, but what concerned me the most was the look on his face as he gazed at me. There was so much hatred there. I had never seen that look on his face before, and the fact that it was directed at me was frightening.

For the first time in my life, I was scared of Zac. I went back to looking out the window, trying to forget about Zac, but it wasn't easy.

I don't know how long we had been driving for, but Tony decided to stop for food. We pulled into the drive-thru of a McDonald's and Tony pulled up to order our food. He ordered four large Big Mac meals with coke and two boxes of twenty-four chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce. We went around to the next window and picked up our order. Once we had the food, we drove until we found a park where we could sit at a table and eat our food.

As soon as we were seated at the table, Cristi began sorting the food out. The nuggets were divided up among us and we each of us had a tub of dipping sauce along with our burgers and fries and a drink. I was picking at my food when Tony looked over at me and said, "Honey, you need to eat all of that. Your grief is going to take a lot out of you, and you need to keep your strength up."

I knew he was right, so I forced myself to eat everything that had been placed in front of me. Once I had finished eating, I drank the last of the coke in my cup. I hated to admit it, but I felt better for having eaten.

I looked around and took in the scenery within the park. It was a beautiful day, and it was hard to believe that the day was so beautiful, but only hours ago such atrocities had been committed.

"So, what's the plan? Do you guys even have a plan? I mean, in case it has totally escaped your attention, the Midnight Sun pack has been wiped out. You are planning on doing something, right? Or are we just going to drive around from town to town like Gypsies now?" Zac asked, sounding like a sulking toddler instead of like the fifteen-year-old boy that he was.

"Yes, we have a plan," Cristi replied calmly.

"Well? Are you going to tell us what it is? We do have a right to know. Our lives have been impacted by these events too, you know?" he demanded, looking at his mother.

"Watch yourself boy. You show your mother some respect!" Tony snapped, glaring at Zac from his seat across the table.

"We are going to my family's pack," Cristi said, looking at Zac. "My family will be able to help us."

"Your family? The Blue Lightning pack?" Zac asked, looking at his mother in clear disbelief, "Now that's more like it," he muttered, nodding his head in approval.

"Yes, the Blue Lightning pack," Cristi replied, watching her son closely.

"Who are the Blue Lightning pack?" I asked, feeling a little unsure about this plan that Cristi and Tony had come up with.

"Only the most bad ass pack on the planet," Zac stated, his eyes still on his mother.

"They are my family Honey, and so are you. Everything is going to be okay, I promise," Cristi told me as she gave me what I was sure was supposed to be a reassuring smile.

"With all due respect Cristi, you gave me assurances once before, and it didn't work out. So, I ask could you please refrain from making promises to me when you are unable to control the outcome?" I whispered.

"Of course Honey, my apologies," Cristi said as she lowered her head in acknowledgment.

"You stuck up little bitch! After everything my family has done for you!" Zac snapped, glaring at me.

"Zac..." Tony growled in warning.

Zac refrained from continuing on with his outburst, but he continued to glare at me from his seat across the table. As I looked into his eyes, I saw that he wasn't even trying to hide his feelings. He hated me. I lowered my gaze and stared at the flaking green paint of the picnic table, waiting until everyone was finished with lunch, and it was time for us to leave. I didn't know how far away the Blue Lightning pack lived, but I knew from the way that Zac had been looking at me a moment ago, it was going to be a nerve-wracking trip for me to reach them.