We Are Still Here

by Jimmy Bird

By the time we made it to the little tourist town of Medicine Park, I was done walking, much less traveling. I mean, we had been traveling for over a year or close to it. We had covered over 200 miles without any mode of transportation.

  We decided to rest in Medicine Park, located just outside of the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, before we continued our journey into the National Park itself. Like most of the towns we had come across on our journey, this one was empty. It looked ransacked, like the residents had left in a hurry. Caution and danger signs littered the streets. Maybe, the military base south of the town had issued a mandatory evacuation when the Zombie Apocalypse started. If they did, there was a good chance that the town had supplies stored somewhere. Before we began our search however, I wanted to rest.

  We walked into the small and surprisingly spread out town of Medicine Park. We slowly made out way into the heart of the town, looking for a place to hold up and rest. I needed it because it seemed that ever since we left Chickasha, I began to have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t explain it, but it seemed the closer we got to Mount Scott, the more I became worried about Serina and Billy catching up to us. Silly, right? I mean, they couldn’t find us. We didn’t leave a way for them to follow us. None the less, the feeling continued to bother me.

  We followed an old winding road next to a small, mostly dried up creek bed called Medicine Creek. I briefly wondered if the town was named after the creek or if the creek was named after the town. After thinking about it, it really didn’t matter. Nothing like that mattered anymore, only surviving mattered.

  As we continued to walk into town, the sight of this simple little tourist town brought back loads of memories. The houses, the shops, the bridges, the buildings, and the thought of people. Oh, how times had changed.

  We walked up the single lane road to the overhead pebble sign that read ‘Medicine Park’. The first small house we came to on the right looked like it was from the mid to early nineteen hundred. It was a plain house with rock façade on the exterior walls, like one of those old clay houses that you would see at the turn of the century. Don’t get me wrong, not all the houses had that old-style look, but a lot of them in the town did.

  We continued walking around, looking at the old garage less houses and tourist buildings until we got to an old looking hotel called Plantation Inn. It looked more like an apartment building than a hotel, but I didn’t care. If it had a bed I could sleep on, then that was all I needed.

  The girls were excited to explore the area. JoJo had been a little girl the last time she had been there and I’m not even sure about Makalyn.

  I could see the excitement on their restrained faces, “Help me find a room for us to stay in and then y’all can go explore. Just, be careful and watch out for each other.”

  We decided to get the last room on the first floor, that way it would be easy to defend if needed or can escape safely if necessary. We just needed the key.

  We carefully walked up to the front office. The door was cracked open. It appeared to have been forcibly opened, causing an alarm to start going off in my head. A rank and musty smell associated with a decomposing body came from inside.

  I whispered, “JoJo get your spear ready. Makalyn get your knife out. Be ready for anything”

  JoJo and Makalyn’s once happy faces turned serious as they pulled out their weapons. I placed myself in front of the side with the door handle. I motioned for Makalyn to setup on the opposite side of the door and with JoJo having the only long weapon, I had her stand back just in case we needed to back up quickly.

  I looked at Makalyn and motioned with my left hand to let her know to get ready because I was about to push open the door. I nodded towards JoJo and pushed the door open.

  Inside, we found a dead female zombie behind the counter. A bullet hole was in the center of her forehead. It looked like a precision shot. Next to her left hand was the keys to the room number we had just decided to get. I briefly wondered if someone already had a similar idea to ours, but something stopped them. Wait, that wouldn’t make sense. They had already killed the zombie, why leave the room key?

  The bad feeling returned. What if it was a trap? What if someone left the key on purpose? What if Serina and Billy got here before us and set this trap? Oh God, what if they were out there watching us right now, just waiting for us to do something stupid?

  My head began to spin. What do we do? I quickly moved to the office window and glanced around outside, searching for signs of a trap?

  JoJo must have noticed my odd behavior, “Dad? What’s wrong?”

  I looked back at her. My eyes turned towards the dead zombie on the floor and then to Makalyn, “I think this is a trap.”

  Makalyn asked, “What? Are you serious?”

  I turned back to the window, “Yeah. Look at the hole in the exact center of the zombie’s head. Only someone who was trained as a marksman could be that accurate. Now, look at how the keys are located next to the zombie’s left hand. The same keys that just so happens to be to the same room number we came in here looking for.”

  “It could be just a coincidence.”

  I glanced at her and then back out the window, “A coincidence? Look around, do you see any other room keys?”

  “No, but that doesn’t mean anything. The other keys could be locked away or lost.”

  Before I could respond, JoJo asked, “Who do you think did is?”

  I shrugged, “I’m not entirely sure, but it feels like we’re being watched.”

  I looked back at JoJo and then to Makalyn before looking back out the window, “Sorry girls. No exploring this town today. We need to get to Mount Scott, where we can hide.”

  Makalyn asked, “Think it’ll be safe there?”

  I turned my head to glance back at her, “I’m not sure. There’s a Visitor Center a few miles inside the Refuge. We can stay there until we decide what to do. Maybe, in a few weeks, we can come back here and look around.”

  JoJo looked frustrated and upset, “JoJo? You okay?”

  JoJo took a deep breath, “Yeah! I’m just a little disappointed that we can’t look around. I remember this place from when I was younger. We didn’t get to look around then either.”

  I smiled sadly at my daughter, “I know. You and your brothers were too young the last time we came here. It was very loud here because they were having a music concert and there were way too many people around. But I promise. We’ll come back in a few weeks if it’s safe. I just don’t feel that it’s safe enough right now.”

  JoJo seemed down, “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  JoJo’s tone was a little sharp, “Yeah, okay. I can understand why we can’t look around right now, but that doesn’t mean that I have to be happy about it.”

  I nodded, “True.”

  Makalyn asked, “Do you see anything?”

  I looked back out the window, “No.”

  “Does that mean that you made a mistake?”

  I frowned at her, “I would rather be over cautious then make a costly mistake that could end our lives.”

  Makalyn agreed, “Good point, I guess. Well, what are we going to do now?”

  I glanced at my daughter, “JoJo check to see if there is a backdoor out of this place but be careful.”

  “Okay, dad.”

  JoJo turned around and went towards the back of the building.

  Makalyn asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  I looked at her, “I need you to come over to the window and keep an eye out while I look around in here.”

  “Okay.”

  She reluctantly walked over to the window. I turned and made my way to the zombie. I needed to find any evidence that it was a trap. The air seemed to have gotten worse inside the office area. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the heat or if it was my mind playing tricks on me.

  I knelt next to the body, looking for something that would prove that I wasn’t paranoid. I glanced from one corner of the floor to the othe
r. It was hard, considering the only light we had was from the window Makalyn was at.

  JoJo re-entered the room, “Sorry, dad. The only exit door is locked or something. I couldn’t get it to open.”

  I began to look up at her when something dark from underneath the countertop caught my attention. It looked like a cellphone.

  I turned my head towards the object, “What’s that?”

  Makalyn glanced backwards, but it was JoJo who spoke, “What’s what?”

  I slowly rose to my feet and stepped towards the object. It looked strangely familiar. I knelt and reached out to grab it with my right hand.

  Shocked, Makalyn stated, “That’s my phone! What’s it doing there?”

  Wide-eyed, I looked at her, “Your phone? Are you sure it’s your phone?”

  She walked over and took it from me. She held it up and examined it, “Yep. You see the sticker on the back of the case? It’s a picture of our last championship ring. All the team got one with our rings. I put mine on the back of my phone case. Well, a few of us did, I guess. But I don’t remember anyone else surviving.”

  I stood up, “That’s not good at all! If this is your phone, oh God, that means......”

  “Means what?”

  “It means that Serina and Billy are here.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. I know that Serina had the phone in her hand when we escaped from Okemah.”

  JoJo asked, “Dad. Are you sure?”

  I looked at her, “Yes! I watched her pick it up when I was still in the store. I don’t remember her putting it down.”

  Makalyn turned it over, “If it still had power, I could check, but it doesn’t. What should I do with it?”

  I pointed towards the counter, “Put it back. If it’s yours then they can still track it. Maybe, whoever left it here was hoping that someone would find it.”

  Makalyn looked down at the phone and took a deep breath. If it was hers, she would have to once again give up her connection to her past and family. She reluctantly tossed the phone next to the zombie’s head.

  I looked at her, “No. We need to make sure to put it back where we found it.”

  Makalyn frowned, “Why?”

  “Because if it’s a trap, we need to make it seem like we were never here.”

  I reached down and picked up the phone. I walked over to the counter and slid it under, hoping that I left it in the exact same way that I found it.

  I looked up at the girls, “Okay, we need to leave.”

  JoJo asked, “How?”

  I glanced out the window, “Carefully.”

  JoJo wanted details, “But how?”

  I looked at her and then at Makalyn, “We’re going to go out the front door and continue to make our way to the Refuge.”

  “But won’t whoever left it, follow us.”

  I tried to sound positive, “We’re not going to take the road. We’re going to walk the long way around to the Visitor’s Center. We should be able to lose them in the mountains.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. It’s a wide-open area. You could spend all day walking in a direction and still get lost. Besides, we can always climb the mountains and keep an eye out for people.”

  JoJo asked, “What happens if someone already claimed the Visitor’s Center?”

  I shrugged, “Then, we find someplace else.”

  I looked at me daughter, “I don’t want to do like Keven or Bruce did. I refuse to take a place by force. If it’s abandoned that’s one thing, but if it’s occupied, that’s something else.”

  I walked over to the window and looked out again. I still didn’t see anyone, but that didn’t really mean anything. They could be out there somewhere watching us, waiting for us to do something stupid.

  I looked back at the girls, “Let’s go.”

  We followed the main road to a bridge that crossed the dried-up creek. The bridge had concrete barriers to keep people from driving across it. Its purpose was for people to walk across it. Perfect. It would be difficult for a car to follow us. We crossed the bridge back to the main road.

  “Now what?”

  I glanced back at her, “What do you mean?”

  “I thought we decided not to take the road to the Refuge.”

  I turned to face forward, “We did, I mean we’re not. The Refuge is fenced in to keep the wildlife from escaping, but once we’re inside the fence, we can walk around Mount Scott. It’s going to take us longer, but I think that in the end, it’ll be worth it.”

  I hoped I sounded more confident then I felt. If it was Serina out there and with her military background, she would easily be able to track us.

  We made it to the entrance of the Wildlife Refuge with no incident. We didn’t even see anyone around and that bothered me. What if Serina and Billy got here before us and this was all part of some elaborate trap?

  It took us longer to walk around the mountain then I originally thought. In fact, a few days longer, but it was better to be safe then sorry. On a positive note, we saw lots of longhorn bulls and buffalo roaming around. It meant that we could have meat and not just eat canned food. I was really getting tired of eating canned food, but first things first. We needed to find a place to stay and settle into.

  After days of walking around the mountain ranges and climbing over treacherous terrain, we finally came up to the Visitor’s Center. It looked nothing like I had remembered. The once low-cut grass was now over three feet tall. The neatly trimmed trees looked like something out of the Amazon Rain Forest. There were no cars around, which was a positive thing for us. It meant that the possibility of people being here were down.

  We cautiously walked up to the faded green over head awning that led to the front glass doors. We tried to be as careful as we could, but it was hard. After being out in the Refuge Wilderness for a few days, we needed to be safely inside. It felt like we were being hunted and I wasn’t exactly sure by what. We could hear animal noises all around us and I couldn’t identify them.

  I’m not sure why, but my thoughts were on Serina and Billy. What if it was them surrounding us, making all those noises? What if it was part of the trap? Was I just being paranoid? I can’t tell anymore. To top it all off, I don’t think I slept at all since we arrived at Medicine Park.

  We walked up to the front doors. They seemed to be locked and intact. The glass doors were filthy from the time exposed to the elements. Though, you could see tiny claw marks from whatever critters tried to break in.

  I reached out and grabbed the right-side door. I pulled, but nothing happened. It was locked.

  Makalyn asked, “Now what?”

  I pulled out my knife, “Time to break in.”

  “What? You going to pick the lock?”

  I shook my head, “Not exactly. JoJo, keep watch.”

  She walked over to one of the rock columns that was holding up the awning. She leaned on it, just outside of sight from the road.

  I pointed towards the door, “Makalyn. Grab the door and pull when I tell you to.”

  Makalyn grabbed the door handle, “Like this?”

  “Yes. I’m going to try to slide the lock up, sort of like someone using a credit card on a door.”

  “Does that actually work?”

  “I’m not sure, but it’s worth a try.”

  After ten minutes of sliding my knife blade up and down, I manage to get under the lock. I carefully tilted the knife backwards, causing the blade to push the lock up. With a click, Makalyn was able to pull the door open.

  I looked back at my daughter, “JoJo, let’s go.”

  “Dad! I think, I see something.”

  Wide-eyed, I stood straight up, “What?”

  JoJo began backing towards me, “I’m not sure, but it’s heading this way.”

  JoJo turned and rushed to the door. She was right, something began sprinting towards us. It looked like a mountain lion.

  Adrenaline rushed through me, “Hurry! Help me close the
door.”

  Together, we pulled the door towards us. Unfortunately, it was still unlocked.

  I looked at the girls, “Hold the door close while I look for a key to lock it.”

  JoJo screamed, “Dad, hurry! Looks like a few more showed up!”

  What? I thought mountain lions were solidarity creatures by nature. If they were hunting in packs, God help us. I rushed around the small Visitor Center museum, searching for a key. Where would they keep a spare key? In the Security Office?

  I ran up to random doors, trying to open them. Most were unlocked, but a few were still locked. I opened the fourth door I got to. Eureka, the Security Room. There on the wall, next to the door was a key rack with a set of keys on it. Hopefully, one of these would lock the doors.

  I heard a scream and grabbed the set of keys. I towards the front door. A mountain lion roared and jumped into the door, causing the girls to jump backwards and allowing the door to slid inwards a few inches. I didn’t think that the door was supposed to swing inwards, but I guess I was wrong. The mountain lion pawed at the open part of the door. I ran and grabbed the edge of the door to keep it from sliding inwards even further open. I kicked at its paw. It immediately pulled its paw back, allowing me to close the door once again.

  I grunted as I strained, “Help me hold the door! I found some keys and need to try them.”

  The girls recomposed themselves and pushed on the door. I let go and started flipping through keys. I jumped when I heard a loud thump next to my head, it seemed that a second mountain lion decided to jump into the glass. I needed to hurry.

  I made it to the fourth key. It looked like it would fit into the keyhole. I grabbed the key and slid it in. I easily turned the key, causing it to lock. A sense of relief rushed through me. It was the first positive thing to happen to us in a long time.

  I breathed out at the girls, “Y’all can let go of the door now. It’s locked.”

  With an unsure look in their eyes, they reluctantly released the door. It was indeed locked. A third mountain lion jumped into the glass, causing a loud thump. I wasn’t expecting it and ended up jumping backwards. They began clawing at the glass.

  I motioned to the girls, “Come on. If they can’t see us, maybe they’ll leave.”