We Are Still Here

by Jimmy Bird

  So, the questions remained. Do we wait here for the guy to return or do we leave? If we left, where were we going to go? Oh man, what do we do? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that we couldn’t stay here. The crazies would eventually find us.

  Another scream came from inside the building, this time it sounded kind of mannish. My thoughts went to the guy, I hoped that he was okay. I.... I didn’t even know his name. He.... He helped us when he didn’t have to.

  Something banged against the door, followed by moaning. I heard another scream that was cut short. Something didn’t feel right. Something told me that the three employees died at the hands of the crazies.

  I turned to Beth, “We need to get out of here. You got any ideas?”

  Beth’s eyes were half closed. She tried to talk but her words were kind of slurred. It was as if, she was struggling to talk. I didn’t realize how bad she had gotten in such a short amout of time.

  We began walking away from the back of the store, through something that resembled an alley. We got about twenty yards away when a loud banging sound came from the back door that we had just left. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but it didn’t sound like the door was going to hold.

  My mind raced on what to do. I mean, where could we go that was safe? How would we get back home? What about our families? What was wrong with Beth? I had no answers.

  Wait. Yes, I did. I knew where we could go or at least, who we could go to for help.

  My older brother had always told me that an old Commanding Officer of his, from his military days, was living here in El Reno. Her name was Serina Steph and she had retired shortly after he was medically discharged from the military. I wasn’t sure of all the details, but I know that there was a major accident while they were out on some training exercise. The accident ended up affecting my brother’s health and caused the military to medically discharge him. Serina, on the other hand, had to have surgery. It also gave her PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). As part of her rehabilitation, she moved back home to El Reno and went to work at a Wolf Reserve. My brother had been close with Serina. I’m not sure how close, but they were close enough that he had told me that if I was ever in El Reno and in trouble then I could go to her for help. He made me save her information in my phone. Apparently, she was living at the Wolf Reserve. Good, because that’s where we were headed.

  I looked over at Beth. It looked like she was fading in and out of consciousness, “Hold on Beth. I know where we can go to get help.”

  Yeah, I knew where to go get help alright. I just didn’t know exactly where the Reserve was. I pulled out my phone and was about to try calling my family again when I realized that I had no service. No bars, no nothing. It was strange. I had never been someplace where I didn’t have service. I silently prayed that it was just my phone acting up. At that moment, I realized something. Without service, I had no way of looking up on how to get to the Reserve.

  I knew that it was somewhere on the edge of town, but which direction was anyone’s guess. I looked around, hoping for a sign or something. I didn’t find a sign, at least not in the normal sense of the word, but what I did find thought, was a welcome sight.

  I saw an older style brown two door truck with dark tinted windows. It appeared to still be running, with its front bumper was up against an above ground old style type of telephone poll. It was hard to tell, but it looked like the driver’s door, on the opposite side of the truck, was open. I couldn’t tell exactly what happened, but it looked like something made it crash into the poll. From where I was, it was difficult to tell if anyone was still in it or not.

  We slowly walked up to the truck. Well, I half walked, and half dragged Beth to the truck. Beth was barely able to stand on her feet. She was exhausted from our ordeal and to be honest, so was I.

  I wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, but it didn’t look good. I feared that if I didn’t get her some help soon, she was going to die.

  We came up to the passenger side and I looked through the window. I could see that the driver’s side door was indeed open. However, the driver was nowhere in sight and that the passenger door was unlocked.

  I reached out and carefully grabbed the door handle. I looked around one more time. I wanted to make sure that the driver wasn’t around. I knew that what I was attempting to do was wrong. Stealing was wrong. Period. But if I wanted to save Beth, I really had no other choice. She needed help; we both did.

  I slowly pulled on the handle, trying to be as quietly as possible. I’m not sure why but being quiet felt like it was the right thing to do. Fear began to creep over me. It was the kind of feeling you get after watching a scary movie and for some unknown reason, you’re afraid to make noise.

  With a soft clicking sound, the door pulled open. I stepped backwards to allow the door to swing all the way open. I turned towards Beth. It looked like all the blood was gone from her face. Her eyes were barely open. I noticed that she had begun wheezing.

  I’m not sure if she heard me, but I told her, “Beth. Hold on. We’re really close to getting you help.”

  I led her into the truck, on the passenger side. I helped her sit down and put her feet on the floorboard. I grabbed the seatbelt and reached across her to buckle her into the seat.

  I stepped back and began to shut the door when I noticed a reflection in the truck door window. I turned my head to look at what it could be and saw dozens of crazies making their way towards us. Leading the pack was the guy from the store, only he looked different. His clothes were torn, and he no longer had the gentle look in his face. His face had a grimacing look to it which kind of exposed his teeth. They were stained red. You could see damaged skin under his torn clothes.

  I freaked out and slammed the door. I immediately began to run around the back of the truck to get to the driver’s side. I went around the bed and stopped in my tracks. I gasped as I watched a couple of crazies eating the back of some guy. One was chewing on the back of the guy’s neck while the other was chewing on the guy’s lower back. I briefly wondered if the guy had been the driver.

  I must have gasped out loud because the crazy closest to the truck lifted his head up from the guy’s back to look at me. He didn’t stop chewing as the guy’s flesh ripped upwards. Blood spurted outwards.

  I gasped again and ran towards the open door. The crazy began to rise to his feet. The other crazy must have noticed the first crazy’s movement because he also lifted his head up. Just like the first crazy, the second one ripped the flesh from the guy’s neck.

  I made it to the truck in three quick steps. I leapt into the driver’s seat and quickly pulled the door shut behind me. I reached over and pulled the seatbelt over my left shoulder. I clicked the buckle into the clip. I reached out for the steering wheel shifter and froze.

  I had only been driving for a year or so, maybe not even a year. Driving was never a priority to me. I grew up in a household that our focus was softball. Sure, we did other things, but my older sisters played softball and with my dad being the coach, I ended up playing softball. Hell, my younger sister would most likely end up playing softball.

  I……I froze. My mind went blank on what to do next. I tried to think of the steps, but they eluded me. I just wasn’t sure what to do next.

  I looked over at Beth. Anytime we went anywhere, she would always drive. Besides, she had a car. I wish she was feeling better, so I could ask her what to do.

  I noticed movement through the window, just past her head. The crowd of crazies were getting closer. Crazies? Who am I kidding? They ate flesh and killed. Those that were killed came back and were no longer themselves. They must be zombies.

  I sat there petrified and wasn’t entirely sure what to do. Zombies! They were real. To make matters worse, I was stuck almost a hundred miles from home, with a sick friend. I couldn’t reach my mom or dad or any of my family for that matter. I might as well have been on the other side of the country. What was I going to do?

  I was brought
out of my fearful thoughts when a load bump on the window next to my head caused me to jump and scream outloud. Wide eyed, I quickly turned back towards the window and saw the zombie who had been chewing on the guy’s back standing there hitting the window. His mouth kept opening and shutting, allowing blood to drip out of his blood-stained mouth, displaying his blood-stained teeth.

  He hit the window again, this time with a louder thump. I screamed even louder. I noticed movement behind him and turned my head just enough to see what it was. It wasn’t good. The other zombie was coming up behind him.

  I heard a thump behind me, causing me to jump again. I turned around and saw the employee from the store, hitting the passenger window. More zombies were behind him and almost to the truck. I just knew that if they made it to us then we would be surrounded and trapped.

  I don’t know what happened, but a light came on in my head. I remembered the steps needed to drive. I can’t explain it, but it was as if the weight of the world had suddenly been lifted from my shoulders. It was like seeing the sun for the first time. Well, you get the point. I knew exactly what I needed to do to drive.

  I put my right foot down on the break and used my right arm to grab the column shifter. I eased it over one to reverse. I lifted my foot from the brake and slid it over to the gas. Another bump caused me to jerk my foot and when I did, I slammed it down to the floorboard. The truck lurched backwards.

  Relief washed over me as I watched the zombie crowd gather in front of the truck. I forgot to look where we were going and kind of hit something. With a metallic crunching sound, we came to a stop.

  I looked of my shoulder towards the rear of the truck and saw that we had backed up into a turned over SUV. I was about to get out to see if anyone was okay when the truck stalled out. I looked up and noticed the horde of zombies were making their way towards us. They were about a quarter of a block away.

  I looked over at Beth, blood covered the passenger window. I couldn’t tell if it was on the inside or outside of the truck.

  “Beth, hold on.”

  I reached out for the key. I grabbed the key and turned it, but nothing happened. What?

  I looked over at my friend with worry in my eyes. She didn’t look at me. Instead, her head was leaning on the bloody window next to her. Maybe, the blood was hers after all.

  I began to shake. My hands trembled as I tried to turn the key again. I guess I was shaking so bad that I couldn’t turn the key. I needed to calm down.

  I looked up and noticed that the zombies had gotten a lot closer. Fear gripped me like a vice. I needed to calm down.

  Out of nowhere my dad’s voice ran through my head. He told me to do an old trick that he taught me when I was younger and began playing softball. I was so intimidated as a young girl when I began playing that I started to hyperventilate. My parents thought that I had a bad case of undiscovered asthma. But when the test results came back negative, they knew that something else was wrong. To make a long story short, it was all in my mind. My dad then taught me a trick to calm down and control my emotions. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  My dad’s words washed over me, “Makalyn? Makalyn? Listen to me. Focus on my voice. Take a deep breath and focus on the task at hand. You’re not alone up there. Your teammates have got your back. You can do this sweetheart. I know you can do this. Keep your eye on your goal. No matter if it’s batting, catching, or pitching. You’ve got this. We’re behind you one hundred percent.”

  I opened my eyes and turned the key. The truck fired right up. It was just in time. The first zombie reached the hood.

  I put my foot down on the brake and shifted it into drive. I turned the wheel to the right and lifted my foot from the brake to the gas. We lurched forward and hit the first few zombies. I could have sworn I heard a couple of them scream for help.

  I straightened the wheel as soon as we were clear. My curiosity got the better of me and investigated the rearview mirror. To my surprise, none of them were following us. They began to surround the SUV. Before they had surrounded the vehicle, I could have sworn I saw two people through the windshield. It looked like they were pinned upside down, trying to get free of their restraints. Did I go back to see if anyone needed my help?

  I looked over at Beth. I could hear her shallow breathing. I needed to get her some help. I tried to convince myself that helping her came before helping strangers. Besides, I wasn’t even sure what I had seen.

  With a guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach, I looked towards the front of the vehicle. Whoever you are, I’m sorry, but helping Beth was my number one priority.

  Where was this Wolf Reserve anyway? I realized at that moment that I should have paid more attention to my brother. Don’t people usually keep maps in their glove boxes or something? I know from our softball tournament trips that is where my dad kept his maps. That way, he always knew where they were.

  Without thinking, I reached over towards they glove box. I tried to keep my attention on the road while I reached over to the glove box. I was hoping that I could get the lid down and grab everything out. I knew that I could easily pull its contents to me so that I wouldn’t have to overextend myself. That way, I could keep my concentration on the road.

  I touched the glove box and was trying to blindly feel for the plastic latch when I felt something touch my hand. Caught completely by surprise, I immediately screamed and pulled my hand back.

  I glanced over and saw Beth moving, only it was kind of unnatural. She began twitching and jerking around like she was on drugs or something. Her body kept jerking forward and I believe that if it wasn’t for her seatbelt, she would have slammed into the dash. Her head bobbed from left to right and back again as it turned. Her mouth opened and closed, exposing her teeth. Her eyes kept dancing around, it looked as if she was frantically searching for something. I noticed that both of her eyes were a dark red color. The areas around her eyes were also red. After a few seconds, it even looked like she was beginning to cry blood. To say that I was freaked out, would be an understatement.

  Trying to remain calm, “Beth! Are you alright?”

  She didn’t respond. Heck, she didn’t even look over at me.

  Worried that she was having a seizure or something, I called out her name again., “Beth? Beth! Are you alright?”

  I still got no response.

  I decided to try again, only this time I yelled out her name, “BETH! BETH! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

  I finally got a response. Only, it wasn’t the kind of response I was hoping for. She stopped moving and turned her head toward me. Her red eyes were wide open as she looked at me. Her pupils looked black against the redness of her eyes.

  I reached my right arm towards her and with lightning speed, she grabbed my hand with her left hand. Her quickness surprised me, but not as much as what happened next. With a death grip, she began to squeeze my hand and pull it towards her upper body. She began to turn my arm into an awkward and unnatural position. Before I knew it, my arm began to hurt.

  “Beth! Stop, you’re hurting me!”

  She ignored me. The pain in my arm began to spread towards my shoulder. I tried to pull my arm back, but she had one hell of a grip on my hand.

  Without warning, she managed to grab my hand with her other hand. Now, she had both of her hands on my hand. It felt like my hand was stuck in a vice. I pulled my arm back with even more force then before. I managed to pull it back a few inches from her, but that was it.

  I glance from Beth to the road and back again. I wanted to make sure we weren’t getting into an accident or anything. By the time I glanced back, Beth had opened her mouth, exposing her blood-stained teeth. I watched in horror as she lowered her head towards my hand. Something inside me told me to quickly pull my hand back.

  I pulled back as hard as I could, but it was no use. She had a good grip on my hand. I felt helpless.

  Just then a miracle happened. Well, a miracle of sorts. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but we hit and ran
over something. It was enough to force Beth to hit her head on the window next to her. The window sounded like it cracked or something.

  When she hit her head, it was enough of a distraction that she let go of my hand. With my hand free, I quickly pulled it back. I felt a sharp pain from my elbow down. It hurt like hell.

  I opened and closed my fist. I felt nothing but pain. I glanced down at my hand to inspect it. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but the pain I felt, I just knew that she must have broken a few bones in my hand or something.

  I open my fist and closed it again. Even though it hurt to open and close my hand, I knew that it was a good sign. It meant that my hand wasn’t broken.

  I looked over at Beth and noticed that she was just staring at me. Just like before, she wasn’t moving. Her eyes were once again wide. The redness in her eyes circled her dark colored pupils. This time however, there was an added surprise. The right side of her face was covered in blood. She must have damaged it when she slammed into the window.

  I wanted to reach out to her, to check on her, but I was afraid. After what she had just done, I didn’t want to end up in the same situation. My hand was still killing me.

  I cuddled my arm up to my stomach and looked forward. My eyes didn’t entirely stay on the road in front of us however. I noticed that Beth moved out of the corner of my eyes.

  I glance over and noticed that she had reached her left hand towards me. Her hand opened and closed as it got closer. Her hand stopped a few inches from my shoulder. Her head began bobbing around again as she struggled to reach me. I made a mental note that her other arm wasn’t moving at all.

  I moved over to my left and got as close to the door as I could. Beth was freaking me out. After hurting me, I wanted to stay as far away from her as I could.

  When I snuggled up against the door, I noticed a sign that got my attention. It was on the right side of the road. It read ‘Oklahoma Natural Wolf Reserve, Oklahoma’s only Federally Recognized Wolf Reserve, 5 miles north on mile marker 187.’ I.....I found it!