My Mates Kingdom

Baby Formula

Audrey POV

I am still under the blanket Danny put on me. I have Frankie with me. He is my white teddy bear my mom gave me for my birthday. He has a positive energy around him and he is protecting me from the bad wolves. It has been so quiet for a long time now but I am afraid to get out.

I hear a noise and sit up. It’s a baby crying. Lulu! My baby sister. I need to get her. I slowly open the closet door and peek my head out. Lulu is screaming so loud. I stumble to the bedroom door that is already wide open. I peek out and look down the hallway. 

There is no one here. I ran down the hall to my parents bedroom. The door is slightly ajar. I push the door open and look inside. I tighten my grip on Frankie. I walk into the room and go around the bed. Lulu is in a bassinet.

When I got around the bed I noticed my mom laying on the floor next to the bassinet. She isn’t moving. There is a pool of blood around her and her skin looks really white. Her face is down and her hair is covering her face. I tighten my grip on Frankie even more. I take a shaky deep breath and step over my mom. I reach the bassinet and see Lulu. There is a red handprint on the side of the bassinet. There is also a handprint on Lulu’s onesie. 

She’s hungry. I picked up Lulu. She is kicking so much and it takes a lot of  work not to drop her. I hold her as tightly as I can and walk out of the room. I walk slowly down the hall. I get to the stairs and get a little scared. Lulu is still moving a lot. I take one step at a time. 

Once I reach the bottom of the stairs I can see a lot more people laying on the floor. Daddy is laying in the front room. He is covered in red. His eyes are still open and they scare me. I walk away quickly and don’t look again.

I make it to the kitchen and put Lulu in her swing. I go to the cupboards and  look up. It's too high for me. I run to the dining table and drag a chair over. I stand on the chair and grab a few bottles from the cupboard.

I then move the chair to another cupboard and get back onto the chair. I reach for a can of formula. It slips out of my fingers and falls to the ground. It opened and spilled all over the floor. I get down and pick up the can. There are still some in here. I can use this.

I walk over to the bottle and scoop some formula into it. I have watched my mom do this a lot. 

I get powder all over the place. I furrow my eyebrows trying to concentrate. I stumble to the sink. I had to pull the chair again. I turned on the water and filled the bottle up. 

I screw the top onto the bottle and shake it. It is not as white as mom makes it. I walk to the swing and put the bottle in her mouth. I have to hold it up for her while she drinks. 

She takes forever. 

Once she was finally finished I run upstairs and get the bassinet. It takes a little effort to push the bassinet down the stairs. I put her inside it and started to push her. I need to go outside. I push her past the front door and onto the front lawn. A lot of people are laying out here too. The ground is covered with people.

I leave Lulu to run inside. I run to my room and grab two pillows off my bed. I bring it back to the bassinet. There is a shelf that holds the diapers right under Lulu. I toss the diapers out and shove the pillows in. I ran back inside to get some blankets from my closet. I cannot fit it on the shelf so I put them on top of Lulu. I run back inside and grab Frankie. I can never leave Frankie behind. 

I push the bassinet along the grass. “Dom?” I yell but there is no reply. “Dom?” I keep moving forward. I have to scan all the people on the floor. I need to find Dom. 

It takes forever but I finally see him. He is also covered in blood like everyone else. He is on his back with his head facing me. I grab a pillow. His head is super heavy. I lift with all my strength and shove the pillow under. I cover him with a blanket. I use another one to cover Lulu. She fell asleep already. 

I sat down next to the bassinet. I pull my knees to my chest and hug Frankie. I tried to stay awake but I couldn’t help it. I feel so sleepy. I lay down on the ground and fall asleep. When I wake up Dom is gone. I jump up and look around. Where is he? 

His blanket and pillow are still here. The sun is finally up. It is so bright. I push Lulu back to the house. She’s awake and she’s eating her hands. I get closer to the pack house and see Dom kneeling down next to the Alpha. His back is to me. I don’t say anything. I don’t want to upset him. 

Lulu let out a loud wail and Dom snapped his head toward us. I hug Frankie closer to my chest. “Audrey” he whispers and grabs me into a super tight embrace. “It is ok. I got you now.” 

He lets me go and goes to Lulu. He grabs her out of the bassinet and walks into the house. I ran after him. He goes straight to the kitchen and stops. He stares at the formula all over the floor. He turned back to me “did you try to make a bottle?”

I nodded my head and looked at the floor “I know I should have cleaned up. I am sorry I forgot.” I was about to cry.

“Audrey, you're not in trouble. I am proud that you are taking care of your sister.” He smiles at me and I smile back.

Dom got a new can of formula and made a bottle for Lulu. After she finished the bottle he laid her in the swing. He starts to make a peanut butter sandwich. He hands it to me and gets me a cup of milk. He starts to walk away. “You need to eat too.” I said.

“I will later. I need to do some stuff. Wait here until I get back.” 

“NO! You need to eat now.” He stops and stares at me with a raised eyebrow. “You need the strength for when you go get Danny.” 

“Danny" He looks at the stairs and takes a step towards them. 

“He took her" I said

“Travis?” He asked and I nod my head

Dom said a lot of words that I am not allowed to say. He looks so angry. “You have to eat.” I said again. He nods his head and makes another sandwich. 

“Do you know where she is?” I nod my head “Can you draw me a map?” I nod again. 

“Most of the pack is going somewhere tomorrow night. Travis will be gone until the next morning. It will be the only chance you get.” 

He starts to eat the sandwich and runs upstairs. When he returns the sandwich is gone. He places a box of crayons and paper next to my plate. 

I draw him a picture the best I can. He takes me to my room and grabs my pink suitcase out of the closet. He grabs random clothes and pushes them into the suitcase. It looks more like an unorganized laundry hamper when he shuts the suitcase. 

We go into Danny's room and do the same thing. Lulu only has a diaper bag. So he stuffed as much as he could inside. He puts everything into my mom's minivan. 

He goes back and forth getting more stuff. He got all the bottles and formula out of the kitchen. When we finished getting the car packed it was late in the evening. We slept in Dom's small house. It was really far from the pack house and there were no people laying around it. I snuggled next to him and he kept his arms tightly around me. When I wake up I am alone.

I get up and walk to the pack house. The bodies that once lay on the grass are all gone. It just looks like red dried grass now. I go inside and Dom is feeding Lulu. He sees me and hands me another sandwich. I sit down and eat. All he ever makes are peanut butter sandwiches. I really miss my mom. 

Dom left me alone most of the day. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going and he refused to let me come with. He comes back as the sun is setting. “Is it almost time for me to go?” He asked and I nodded my head. I grabbed the bottle of perfume out of my pocket. Danny left this in the closet. “This hides your smell. Make sure to spray Danny and the man too.” 

“What man?” 

“The man in the cell next to Danny.” 

“Audrey, we cannot take extra people.” 

“We have to. We will need him later.” 

Dom stares at me for a moment. He exhaled loudly “okay….get into the van. I put six premade bottles on the seat next to the carseat. I have sandwiches in this bag here. Do not leave the van for anything.”

“I know Dom. I will be good.” He hands me a cell phone and shows me a name in the contact list. 

“If I don’t come back, call this number. Tell him Black Hawk asked for his favor. Tell him to come get you and take you somewhere safe.” 

“Ok….please be careful.” I said as he helped me into the van. He locked Lulu into her car seat. I got a pacifier and put it into Lulu’s mouth. I watched him disappear.