The Mesmerized (10 page)

“Is it important to know where they’re going
as long as we know our destination?” Minji asked.

“Who knows?” Simone said. “I guess maybe
we’ll find that out.” Taking Ava’s hand, she walked toward the
front doors. “Let’s start walking before anything worse
happens.”

Ava twisted her torso so she could keep an
eye on her mother. Minji hoped it was a good sign.

Taking hold of the hand grip at the head of
the stretcher, she looked into her husband’s eerily empty blue
eyes. For a brief second, she thought she saw awareness in their
depths, but she had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t Jake
watching her. She shivered inwardly.

“What is it?” Arthur demanded.

“Nothing,” Minji lied. “Just a chill.”

“It’s really cold in here,” Arthur
agreed.

Simone swung open the front doors. “And out
here...this day just keeps getting stranger and stranger.”

As she neared the open doorway and the cool
air from outside swirled around Minji’s tattooed flesh, she
couldn’t agree more with Simone’s sentiment.

The air was breathable, but thick and
cloying. The dark ash drifted on the wind, obscuring the sunlight
enough to mimic twilight. The fake lagoon was no longer a
tantalizing blue, but dark with bits of helicopter chunks poking
out of the depths. Toward the south, smoke churned into the air
like the breath of countless dragons. Treasure Island’s face was
blackened by the thick plumes rising from the fires burning in the
lower floors. It resembled a scene out of a disaster movie.

Yet everything that was happening was
Minji’s new reality. The only hope she had of escaping from it was
to find help somehow.

Simone kindly helped cover Bailey’s mouth
with the neckline of the baby’s t-shirt, while Minji shielded Ava’s
by doing the same thing. Her daughter’s dark eyes stared up at her,
devoid of emotion or any sign of comprehension. On the stretcher
Jake strained to keep his gaze pinned on Minji, but his eyes, too,
were devoid of his personality. The longer the phenomena continued,
the more unsettling it became. Minji was starting to wonder if
their persistent stares were really a sign of them gradually
awakening. She tried to cling to hope, but it was already sifting
through her fingers like vapor.

Arthur dashed around inside the tents
searching for face masks and managed to produce enough for
everyone. His jubilant expression rendered his dour face rather
pleasant and Minji pondered if the current circumstances had
brought out the worst in his personality. Though there had already
been many times when she’d wanted to sit and sob at the sheer
awfulness of what she was suffering, she’d shoved all those
emotions to the back of her mind in order to concentrate on the
undertaking of rescuing her family. She was not her usual vibrant
self, but a darker variation.

“See! I know what I’m talking about,” he
said with a cocky tilt of his chin.

Simone took a mask grudgingly. “So you
did...in this case.”

Minji claimed masks for her and the
children. To her surprise, Arthur set about putting one on Jake.
“Thank you, Arthur.”

It took a little work to get Bailey to wear
the mask and not tear it off, but Simone maintained an eye on the
baby for Minji. The face mask wasn’t particularly comfortable, but
it made it easier to breathe.

Once the small group was ready, Simone
carried the diaper bag and held Ava’s hand while Arthur pushed the
stretcher as Minji guided it. In silence, they trudged down the
long drive toward the boulevard, winding around the emergency
vehicles and black vans. What were these strange vehicles with no
markings? Minji was mystified by their appearance. Stepping toward
the nearest one, Minji craned her head, attempting to peer inside,
but the windows were tinted so dark it was impossible.

“I wonder where these are from,” Minji
speculated aloud.

“Black ops,” Arthur suggested.

“What’s that?” Minji cast a curious look his
way.

“Uh, those secret government agencies. We
are in Nevada. They have all sorts of secret bases out here,
remember?”

Simone bestowed the man with skeptical glare
while Minji mulled this over.

“They were here really quickly, weren’t
they?” Arthur waved a hand at all the rescue vehicles. “The CDC was
here immediately. I think they knew this was going to go down.”

“How?” Simone asked. “How would they
know?”

“A terrorist threat probably. Something the
NSA picked up. That’s probably why we can’t call out on our cell
phones. They’re keeping it all hush-hush.”

“Or a cell tower went down, which is more
likely,” Simone said with a shake of her head.

Arthur gave her a disdainful look. “There is
a whole lot more going on than you know.”

“Uh huh.” Simone chuckled and kept
walking.

A few more footsteps brought them closer to
the vehicle. Hard thumps resounded from within.

“They’re trying to get out,” Simone
observed. “They don’t know how to get out. That’s how my driver
was, too. He kept battering himself against the steering wheel. He
wanted to join the others, but didn’t know how.”

Somewhere up the boulevard came a series of
sharp popping noises followed by loud whooshes. The situation was
growing direr by the minute.

“We should get them out,” Minji said,
feeling the weary burden of responsibility settle on her psyche.
How could she keep walking and not help? There were so many in need
it was impossible to assist everyone. If she could rescue a few,
however, she would try to do so. It was the right thing to do.

“No way! We keep moving! You did just hear
those explosions, right?” Arthur rammed the stretcher into her hip
to keep her moving.

“Hey!”

“They might be safer in there then out
here,” Simone said significantly, her dark eyes resting on a spot
beyond them.

Directing her attention to the boulevard,
Minji wondered if Simone was right, and for a split second,
considered returning to The Venetian. The mesmerized continued to
march to the north. The endless stream wove through the wreckage in
a mass of stumbling flesh. Most were injured, some grievously.
Despite the wounds inflicted on their bodies by the car collisions,
helicopter wreckage, fire, and debris cloud, they continued
walking. Some were so severely burned Minji couldn’t tell if they
were male or female. Most likely the only reason they were able to
even move was because they were mesmerized. The reek of burned
flesh sifted through the face mask and Minji found it difficult not
to retch.

“Leave them inside the van,” Simone decided.
“It’s more humane.”

With a mute nod, Minji agreed and they
continued down the drive. When they reached the wide footway, they
found it littered with bodies, crashed vehicles, chunks of
helicopters, and rubble. The mesmerized filled the road and spilled
onto the sidewalk. It would be challenging to find a path for the
stretcher.

“We should get off the boulevard,” Arthur
suggested. “There are so many people...”

“I have a feeling every road will be like
this,” Simone answered. “And with the way things are deteriorating,
we shouldn’t take detours.”

“I say we try the straight shot unless it
becomes impassable. I hate to say it but,” Minji gestured toward
the devastation in the direction of the airport and the Luxor, “all
that destruction is thinning the herd.”

With a weary, defeated sigh, Arthur dipped
his head. “Fine.”

With Bailey snoozing on her back, Minji
threaded her way through the tangle of bodies and wreckage. She
attempted to keep a little distance between their small group and
the crowd of mesmerized, but it became increasingly impossible to
maneuver through the maze of crashed cars. Eventually, they ended
up as part of the silent parade.

The journey was agonizingly slow at times.
Arthur made it more difficult by jumping whenever one of the
mesmerized brushed against him. Once he nearly toppled the
stretcher.

“They’re not zombies,” Minji hissed.

Arthur shot her a doubting look, but helped
with the stretcher again.

Simone remained silent, watching the
surroundings intently. Like Arthur, she appeared wary of the
mesmerized, but wasn’t as high-strung. Minji understood their
discomfort. Being engulfed in the crowd of mesmerized was eerie.
The vacant expressions, the terrible wounds, and slow pace were
unnervingly reminiscent of the zombies in horror movies. Minji
understood, though, that the transfixed people were victims just
like her husband and daughter.

It was difficult to contain her mounting
dread and revulsion. There was so much carnage and the smell of
death, roasting flesh, ash, and fire made it difficult to keep
calm.

Death was all around them.

A woman bleeding profusely from deep wounds
staggered alongside Minji’s small group until she crumpled to the
ground. The bluish tinge to her skin and the rattle of her last
breath told the sad end to her life story. She’d bled to death and
not even known it.

“I really, really don’t like this,” Arthur
said in hushed tones.

The steady stamp of feet almost drowned out
his voice.

“They’re not zombies,” Minji repeated
crossly.

“Then what are they?” Arthur demanded.

“The mesmerized,” Simone replied with a wry
smile.

“But what does that mean?” Jerking sharply
to one side, Arthur avoided a cluster of men pushing past him.
“Where are they even going?”

No one answered, since no one knew.

The Stratosphere Tower loomed ahead, a
shining white marker to indicate the end of their expedition.
Clouds of black smoke drifted overhead.

Staring upward at the thick haze, Minji
said, “Vegas is burning and nothing will stop it.”

“We need to get out of the city,” Arthur
declared.

“With the streets like this?” Simone glanced
about at the smashed vehicles.

“It has to be better further out,” Arthur
defiantly answered.

“Why?” Simone lifted her eyebrows. “Because
you say so? How far do you think this phenomenon extends?”

“Las Vegas,” Arthur stammered. “The
terrorists struck here like they did in New York on 9-11.”

Simone gave him a doubtful look.

Minji dragged the stretcher around a cluster
of crumpled taxis. Within the cabs the passengers and drivers
flailed about, attempting to join the other mesmerized.

“It’s not just Las Vegas. It extended
further than just here,” Minji said. “We all know it. Didn’t you
feel it? The attacks? The disorientation?”

“I went blind. More than once,” Simone
admitted. “I even froze at one point before breaking free.”

Shuffling his feet as they skirted alongside
a bus rammed into a storefront, Arthur grumbled under his
breath.

“What was that?” Simone lifted Ava onto her
hip and squeezed between a police car and a shuttle bus ignoring
the mesmerized clamoring to get out.

“It happened to me, too! Okay? It happened
to me, too!”

Minji strung her thoughts into one coherent
string and said, “I think the attack came in waves. Extending
outward, getting stronger. Like waves of a tsunami. Building.”

“I was almost to The Venetian when I saw the
helicopters going down.” Simone tilted her head, gazing back to
where they had come from. The smoke was so thick it was difficult
to make out the shapes of the distinctive resorts like The
Venetian. “That was the next really big attack after the initial
one.”

“So how far did that one spread?” Minji
hesitated, trying to discern how to get through the next tangle of
bodies, vehicles and rubble.

Arthur let out a loud, startling sob. “There
was a line between the event and the unaffected area. That’s what
those people said at the rescue center. On the news they said to
get out of the event if we were able. I did that! I should’ve been
rescued. I should be on my way home to my family!”

Simone dropped back a few paces and gently
patted his shoulder. “But the big second attack came and it pushed
the event outward.” The man’s torment appeared to soften Simone’s
view of him.

“But how far?” Arthur asked, his voice
cracking. “How far did it spread?”

Minji dreaded to know the answer.

Arthur blinked his eyes rapidly, fighting
tears. “This damn smoke...burning my eyes…”

The two women shared a significant look, but
said nothing. They were all close to an emotional breaking point.
Their physical condition wasn’t doing much better. Minji struggled
to keep walking despite the stitch in her side. Bailey was still
asleep, but she needed to be fed and changed soon. It was difficult
to look at Ava and Jake and see their mouths oddly flexing beneath
empty eyes.

It was a surreal journey past pirate ships,
crashed flying saucers, castles, and towering hotels glittering in
the shards of sunlight slicing through the thick, dark haze looming
overhead. Automatic doorways continued to unleash more mesmerized
onto the strip as they found their way to the front entrances of
stores, casinos, and restaurants.

“Are we really the only people not
affected?” Minji wondered aloud.

Just as the words left her mouth, the
sensation of thousands of ice cold snakes writhing over her skin
sent her stumbling into the rear of a van. Bailey woke up with a
start and let out a cry of dismay. The sharp needle pricks assailed
her brain and stole her breath away. For a single beat of her
heart, her vision was stolen and replaced by the terrifying vision
she had witnessed before. The colors, the sounds, the beauty, the
terror…

“It’s happening again,” she gasped as her
eyesight returned.

Looking toward Simone and Arthur, she saw
that they were frozen in place, their eyes rolled upward.