Survival- L.S.

Chapter 2

Lottie and I made it to the forest at the edge of town without being running into any trouble thankfully. However, even if we were away from Mark and the immediate danger, I was still on high alert. I could tell that Lottie was still on shocked and scared by what he did to her as well as confused as to why we had to leave. 

"Lou, are you sure we have to leave? I'm sure he didn't mean it.  He was just having a bad night and was probably tired. We are his children, he loves us. He wouldn't hurt up on purpose right?" Lottie asked. I hesitate, do I tell her the truth or is she too young to really understand the situation? Am I ready to tell her the what happened to me when I don't even want to admit it to myself? 

"Lots he hurt you and was going to do worse. It does not matter if he was in a bad mood, his actions were not ok. It is clear that he does not see us as his children but rather a burden to him. I am not going to allow you to be subjected to that kind of behavior, that is not safe. I know you don't understand it all now, but please just trust me, this is the best decision. I know that you are going to miss home, but remember, home is wherever the other is. You are my family and I am yours. We do not need anyone else. Together, we can conquer the world!" I say looking her in her eyes, trying to get her to understand where I am coming from without putting up too much of a fight. 

I could see that she was not completely onboard with this, but she was not going to argue further at this point. 

"Now, come on, we need to get going. I know that you are tired, so I am going to change and you can ride on my back how does that sound?" I asked. 

"Yeah, that sounds good. But where are we going?" she wondered. 

"Somewhere safe." In all honesty, I had no idea where we were going to go, I just know that anywhere far away from him is safe. "I'm going to go behind this tree and change. I need you to get my clothes and pack them away. Then you are going to have to put the duffle bag over me so I can carry that. You will have to carry your bag as well as my backpack. Make sure everything is secure, that includes you, because we will be running through the forest." 

She nods and I head over to the tree. I quickly undress and fold my clothes up neatly so that I could give them to her to put away.

It had been a while since I have let my omega out to run so I prepare myself for it to be more painful than usual. After a few painful moments, my omega was released, he was a snow white wolf that was smaller than the alphas or betas, but still stood a couple feet off of the ground.He was grateful to finally be set free after so long of not being able to run free. It used to be a regular thing that I would go for a run and let him out. However, ever since the abuse started, I did not want to leave Lottie home alone incase he came back before me and took his anger out on her. My omega knew this but it didn't mean that there were not negative effects from it. 

I grabbed the clothes in my mouth and walked out from behind the tree towards Lottie. She grabbed them out of my mouth and quickly put them in my bag and them put the bag over my head and shoulders. Then she took both of our backpacks and put them on her, one on her back and the other on her front. I laid down so she could get onto my back easier. When she was on, she gripped by fur to stable herself and make sure she did not fall off. When she was secure, I stood up and started running away from the only place we have called home. Running away from everything that was familiar and what I once thought was safe.

(Time Skip) - 1 year

Lottie and I have been running for a year now. It has been a long year but I try to make it better for her. About a month after running and sleeping in the forest, buying food with the little money that we had taken with us, we were taken in by a family from a pack far enough away from our old pack. They seemed nice enough, they had a little girl, beta, around Lottie's age and a toddler. It was nice for her to be able to play with someone her own age and have some since of normalcy, however, after a couple of weeks there, the parents wanted Lottie and I to act as their maids and wait on them hand and foot. At first I did not mind because I wanted repay them for their generosity, however, it quickly took a turn and Lottie and I would have to share meal portions. Then if we didn't get the chores done in the time that they wanted them, we may not get food at all. I could survive with missing meals every once and a while but I did not want Lottie to have to go through that. 

What caused me to take her and leave was when I had went out to the store to do the grocery shopping for the family, I left Lottie at the house to continue with the chores. When I got back, I heard yelling from inside the house. The mum was yelling at Lottie because the daughter was playing with her ball inside and knocked the picture off the wall causing it to break. The daughter blamed Lottie for it and the mum believed her. When I got inside she had a firm grip on Lottie and had her hand drawn back ready to hit her. Lottie was mortified and crying hysterically. 

"Hey what do you think you're doing?" I yelled, dropping the groceries and running to get in between the two, shielding Lottie from any harm. "You will never lay a hand on her!" I growled, anger seeping out of me! I turned to Lottie right then, "Lottie, go pack your things, we are leaving!" 

Lottie ran upstairs and immediately started packing our stuff up. We left a few minutes later, back at where we started. From then on, I did not trust anyone else. We continued running further away. This led us to where we are now.

There is a thunderstorm happening. I am terrified of them, when mum was alive, I would always go to her and cuddle up with her and she would make me feel safe. Now, I am stuck dealing with it alone. Lottie is currently cuddled up in my lap sleeping, clearly she did not have the same fear of storms as I did. The tree we were under provided some shelter from the brutal storm, but we were still getting wet. 

I tried to take my mind off of the storm and focus my mind on other things. Unfortunately, that did not help me much. Instead it made me sad. In a year, my life has been turned completely upside down. I lost my mum, then the only dad I ever knew, then the abuse, taking care of my sister alone and doing an absolute shit job at it. This is not the life I wanted for her. I ran away so she could be safe and happy, free from anything bad. But it seems like at every turn there is something else that comes up. I try really hard to be brave and keep up a good attitude to make sure that she can at least not be burdened with worrying about me as well. 

But here we are, living on the run, sleeping under trees in the middle of a thunderstorm, not knowing when we will be able to eat again. Not to mention that we have to worry about hostile packs and rogues. So far, we have been okay, but I am worried about the day that we run into a situation that we can't get out of. I know I will fight until the death to protect her but I also know that I am only an omega and I don't stand a chance against an alpha. 

At some point in the night I dozed off. However, I was being violently shaken awake. "Louis, wake up! I think I heard something!" 

It took me a moment to register what she had said, but once I did I shot up, on high alert, waiting for any sign of danger. It didn't take long for the rustling from the trees to the east came followed by a growl. Fortunately, the growl was from a beta and not an alpha because then we would really be in trouble. Soon it came out of the trees and into view. Its teeth were out and the growling intensified. I placed myself in between Lottie and the beta. "We don't want any trouble, we were just passing through. We will be on out way now." I stuttered out trying to maintain calm and nonthreatening composure. 

It didn't seem to work though because soon the wolf starting charging at us. I immediately went into fight mode and shifted. The only thing on my mind was that I must protect Lottie at all cost. I ran towards the beta trying to keep it as far away from her as possible. 

Soon our wolves collided and we were clawing and biting at each other. I was able to land a few scratches to its side, however, the beta was also able to get me as well. Eventually, I was able to somehow bite the betas neck causing it to howl out in pain. I took this chance to claw and scratch at and part of it that I could. I did not kill the beta, but it was severely wounded. It got up and growled before limping away. 

Once it was out of sight, I quickly ran back to Lottie grabbed the bag with my mouth as she climbed on, and ran in the opposite direction to get us as far away from there as possible. 

We ran for about 15 minutes before I could not go any further, my side and abdomen were on fire. I came to a stop and Lottie got off of me and I changed back to my human form. I heard her gasp and I looked down. The last thing I saw before I collapsed and everything went black was four large gashes from my abdomen to my side.