The closest place that offered respite from the sun came in the form of a bomb shelter only five miles from the mill. Christoph’s empathic abilities and Dominic’s power to read the minds of passersby on the road led them there without incident. They spent the entire day underground, safely hidden from the daylight. It didn’t take them long to fall into a deep and restful sleep as the exhaustion from their unplanned adventures had drained them of every ounce of energy they had. The entire pack slept for so long, in fact, that when they awoke, they discovered that the sun had already packed up for the night and that darkness had already masked the sky for several hours.
“Shit!” Dominic yelled after pushing against the heavy door that protected them. “We’ve lost time… a lot of it! Get up, let’s go!”
Renewed from sleep but starving from having gone so long without feeding, the pack quickly abandoned their shelter and piled into the hearse with Jarek at the wheel. The overriding thought in all of their minds was nourishment in any form possible.
“We have to eat, Dom,” Jarek said, stating the obvious.
“I know,” he answered, his voice filled with concern. “I know.”
“We could have at least had a nibble on the teens,” Leo complained from the back. “The rednecks already killed them; it wouldn’t have been a terrible thing to do.”
“Don’t talk like that, Leo,” Dominic warned.
“I hate to agree with the idiot, Dom, but he’s right,” Jarek said.
“That’s how it starts,” Dominic admonished. “It would have been the same and you know it. I’m hungry too. We’ll find something.”
Dominic felt a stab of shame because deep down, he agreed with them. Looking behind him at Christoph, he knew that his friend could sense his desperation.
“What now?” he asked his leader. “We can’t keep going without eating.”
“We’ll head to a place with food, real food, and we’ll try to sustain ourselves until we find the right blood.”
The pack remained silent as Jarek sped as fast as the hearse would allow and Dominic navigated from the passenger’s seat. None of them spoke because if mention of their hunger came up again, it would only strengthen the void they were all suffering. An exit sign came into view and it offered both restrooms and a Dairy Queen. Dominic turned around to address his hungry pack with forced enthusiasm.
“Look!” he said, ordering Jarek to follow the ramp that led to their salvation. “Food!”
“All right!” Leo exclaimed. “I love rest areas! They always have such a variety of selections because of the tourists. I could go for anything right now… Chinese, Spanish, American!”
“No, Leo,” Dominic answered firmly. “We’re going to Dairy Queen.”
“What?! Why?”
“Because we’re starving right now and being around humans will be too tempting.”
“It’s a rest stop, Dom,” Jarek added quietly. “There’s always evil lurking around rest stops.”
“Yeah, there are also children and families stopping for potty breaks. What if we go there and there’s nothing wicked in sight? You know what’ll happen then!”
“Fine,” Jarek answered, trying to disguise his contempt. “I want a Dilly bar anyway.”
“Are you kidding me?” screamed Leo from the back.
“What’s a Dilly bar gonna do for us right now? Besides, it’s like four a.m.! What Dairy Queen is open at this time?”
“Well, if it’s closed we can always break in,” Raina offered. “I’ll cook for us.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ!” Leo said angrily as he lit up a joint.
“That’s only gonna make you hungrier, stupid,” Raina chastised.
“Go to hell.”
Jarek tried to focus on his love of Dilly bars. It wasn’t