The Mesmerized (19 page)

After clothing Ava in her newly washed
outfit and putting Bailey in a fresh one from the diaper bag, Minji
slipped on her shorts and tank top. Ava stared while Bailey slumped
against her father’s side on the bed looking pouty and groggy.
Minji tossed the scrubs onto a nearby chair, glad to be in her own
clothes again. Her boots were still a little damp, but two layers
of socks made them comfortable. Rubbing her arms, she tried to warm
herself. There was a chill in the air that she was certain was not
from the air conditioner. Plus, a cold shower was not the most
satisfying early morning experience, but after washing the girls in
warm water the flow had refused to heat again. At least Jake
appeared to be sleeping peacefully, but she wondered if his placid
exterior was a lie. The nightmares that had ravaged her mind
throughout the night had left her feeling unsteady upon
awakening.

After kissing Jake, she ushered the girls
down the hallway to the break room. She was almost to the open
doors when she heard voices coming from within, one particularly
strident.

“So where is he now?” Arthur demanded.

“Asleep,” Jesse answered. “He took the last
shift. He’ll be up in an hour or so.”

“But he needs to tell us what’s going
on!”

“He doesn’t know either,” Jesse
responded.

“But you said he’s in the military,” Arthur
protested.

Minji took a deep breath to steel her nerves
against Arthur’s most recent tirade and entered the room. Simone
glanced up from her breakfast of scrambled eggs and gestured toward
Arthur with her eyes before rolling them upward. Jesse was at one
end of the table while Arthur sat across from him at the other.
Minji deliberated if they were both vying to be the head of the
table. Dressed in clean scrubs, Arthur provided her a dour
look.

“Still immune?”

“Still an asshole?”

Stabbing at his eggs, Arthur glowered in her
direction.

“Arthur, you agreed—” Simone started.

“What are you going to do?” Arthur cut in.
“Knock me out again?”

Minji could feel Arthur’s eyes on her as she
scooted out a chair and sat Ava in it before taking one
herself.

“It was a lot more peaceful, that’s for damn
sure,” Jesse muttered. There were dark circles under his eyes and
his braid was a little ragged.

“Why am I the only one asking the important
questions?” Arthur sat back in his chair and regarded his
companions with disbelief. “Why is she immune? Completely
immune?”

Bailey bestowed Arthur with a non-too-subtle
stink-eye as Minji handed her the fresh bottle Jesse had prepared.
The baby popped the nipple into her mouth, but kept her dark look
squarely on Arthur.

“How do you know she is?”

The people at the table started and glanced
toward the doorway. Alec entered the room, yawning loudly and
rubbing his neck with one hand. Leaning heavily on a black cane, he
limped to the table and settled into the chair between Minji and
Jesse.

“Well, she moved away from us while we were
affected, so she appeared to vanish from our point of view when we
came to.” Simone sipped her coffee, scrutinizing Alec over the rim.
“I’m Simone Avery. And you are?”

“Alec Markham. You can call me Alec. As for
your observation, perhaps she just came out of it faster.” Alec
served himself a large heap of eggs. “Did you think of that?”

“No, I did not.” Simone primly set her cup
aside, the thunk of it settling on the table a little too loud.

Annoyed by the tension in the room, Minji
helped herself to some toast and eggs and resolved to keep quiet
for the time being. If she ascertained exactly everyone’s viewpoint
on their circumstances, she could formulate a response. The group
could bicker all they wanted, but in the end it was Minji who had
the most weight of responsibility on her shoulders. Should another
attack happen during their evacuation, she was the only one who
could make sure the group remained safe. In spite of what Alec
said, she had no doubts she was fully immune. Beyond that truth,
she was certain that something was watching her through Ava’s eyes.
How she was going to actually communicate with that entity and
convince it to let go of Ava and the others wasn’t clear, but Minji
was determined to find a solution.

“I’m Arthur Freestone, by the way. I’m glad
someone responded to my call for help.”

Alec started to eat and didn’t answer.

“You did come here to help us, right?”
Simone’s words were hesitant, almost as if she was afraid to hear
the answer.

“I came for medical attention,” Alec
responded. “I had an accident. I knew about this place because of
Arthur’s call to the news, so I walked here after I extracted
myself from the car. Once I got to The Strip, I looked for a
medical building with the lights still on.”

“But you know where to take us, right? Where
we’ll be safe? Where they are working on a cure?” Arthur’s words
rushed out, rising in pitch.

Alec shook his head.

“How can you not know? You’re in the
military!” Arthur incredulously stared at Alec.

“I’m a retired staff sergeant. My leg was
shattered in Iraq and I spent the rest of my service as a recruiter
for the Army. Why do you think I’d have the lowdown on what’s going
on?” Alec wore an amused smile upon his lips.

“Because you’d call in as soon as you
realized you were immune,” Minji answered. “And they would have
reactivated you and given you orders.”

Setting an elbow on the table, Alec swiveled
toward Minji to gaze at her with surprise. “Why’d you think
that?”

“My brother was in the Air Force.”

“In North Korea?” Arthur gave her a pointed
glare.

“In the United States Air Force,
asshole.”

“Americans do come in every color, Arthur,”
Simone snapped. “I’m getting tired of your racist bullshit.”

“I have great sympathy for your people
having been slaves and all,” Arthur protested. “I’m not
racist!”

“My family emigrated from Somalia in the
sixties,” Simone replied.

“Oh, well, I meant—”

“My husband’s family was brought as slaves
to this country, but my point is that we’re all Americans. Minji
told you already that her family has been here several generations,
so what the hell is your problem?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Minji saw a
subtle smile on Alec’s lips.

“Why is she the only one who’s immune?”
Arthur’s voice was almost a screech.

“Maybe it’s all the tattoos. Wait, no. I got
some of those, too,” Alec answered, pretending to look befuddled.
“Oh! Maybe all the piercings. Wait, no. Simone and Jesse have a few
piercings, too. Could be the dreads? Or the purple dye? Or maybe
it’s the black clothing? Or maybe it’s because she has two precious
little girls with her? Why assume it’s her race?”

Something in Alec’s response sparked a fresh
thought in Minji’s mind. Glancing at Ava and Bailey, she wondered
if maybe her immunity and the being’s interest in Minji herself was
truly that simple. Bailey gurgled and slapped her bottle against
the top of the table. Cooing the nonsense language of babies, she
gave Minji a sweet look.

“Could you shut her up? We’re trying to have
a discussion here!” Arthur said, having the audacity to glower at
Bailey.

Simone crossed her arms over her breasts and
regarded Arthur with contempt. “She’s just expressing herself,
Arthur. It’s how babies learn to talk. Calm down.”

“Everyone is ignoring the big picture here,
Simone! She’s fully immune and we’re not!
Why
?”

“We don’t know if she’s fully immune. Maybe
she’s just waking up faster than the rest of us.” Alec nibbled some
wheat toast, his blue eyes hard as stone as he regarded Arthur.

“Then maybe we should film her or
something.” Arthur shoved his plate away, folded his arms, and
scowled at each person at the table in turn.

“It’s already been recorded. On the security
cameras.” Jesse pointed at one in the corner of the room with his
fork.

All eyes turned to the small white
camera.

“I’d like to check that out,” Alec said
after a beat. “We should actually confirm if she’s immune or
not.”

“I’ll show you the security room. It’s on
the second floor. But we do need to move soon. The wind is still
blowing away from us, but there are more buildings on fire this
morning.” Jesse rubbed his bleary eyes and sighed. “We should start
making plans to evacuate.”

“There’s a shuttle bus a block from here
that’s parked on the side of the road. The keys are in the ignition
and it’s empty. The driver may have made a run for it,” Alec said.
“I suggest packing food and water. Also, find containers you can
fill with gasoline. You’ll have to drive through the desert so the
first operational gas station you find, you need to top off the
tank and get reserves.”

“You sound like you’re not coming with us,”
Simone said pensively.

“I’m not.” Alec finished eating, picked up
his plate, and turned his attention to Jesse. “Can you show me that
security room now?”

“If you’re not coming with us, where are you
going?” Arthur demanded, his suspicion clear.

“I’m going to follow the...mesmerized. I
want to see where they are going. Maybe the answer to all of this
is at their destination.” Alec hobbled to the sink and rinsed off
his plate.

“How do you know they’re all going in the
same direction?” Jesse asked.

“The news. People on the West Coast started
walking east. The people on the East Coast started walking west.
People in the south, started walking north. Before all the networks
went off the air last night, speculation was that everyone is
heading to the same spot.” Alec leaned back against the sink and
rubbed his hands together. “So I plan to find a way to join the
horde and find out where they’re going.”

Silence followed this proclamation and
worried looks were exchanged among the four people remaining at the
table, but no one said anything. Minji popped the lid off the
bottle of the protein shake Jesse had set on the table for Ava. She
wasn’t about to speak up until she had time to formulate what
course of action she was going to follow. Simone, Jesse, and Arthur
fully expected for her to drive them out of the city and seek out
their family members, but Minji was starting to have serious second
thoughts.

Ava’s eyes shifted toward Alec for an
instant then back to Minji. The other was watching the former
military man. Did that mean Alec was right? Was the answer to all
that was occurring at the destination of the mesmerized?

“I’ll have to prepare all my patients for
transport,” Jesse said.

“Why are we taking them?” Arthur snorted.
“What’s the point?”

Jesse narrowed his eyes on the man across
the table from him. “What if they were your family?” “But they’re
not.” Arthur shrugged.

“How long can you keep them alive?” Alec
asked. “How long will you let them be a burden?”

Unlike Arthur’s comment, Alec sounded
genuinely curious and not condemning.

“Until I can’t anymore,” Jesse answered
wearily.

“Thank you,” Minji said, resting her hand on
Jesse’s arm. “I appreciate what you’re doing for Jake.”

With a slight smile, Jesse pressed her
fingers with his own before pushing back his chair and reaching for
the white doctor’s coat looped on the back of his chair.

“Don’t,” Alec said sharply, hesitating near
the door.

“It’s cold in here.” Giving the other man a
quizzical look, he started to lift the thin coat.

Ava’s eyes tracked Jesse’s movement, but no
one seemed to notice but Minji.

“Yes, it’s cold in here, but did you notice
the one thing common with all the people who died right away in the
attack?” Alec waited for an answer, and when one didn’t come, he
continued, “They were all wearing white.”

Jesse straightaway dropped the coat on the
floor and stepped away from it. “Shit. You’re right.”

Immediately Minji thought of the female
tourist in her white t-shirt and her male partner dressed in tennis
clothing. Rummaging through her memories, she cursed herself for
not noticing earlier. All those who had bled to death in the first
attack had all been wearing white clothing.

“Wha-what does that mean?” Arthur regarded
the doctor’s coat with fear.

“It means that you shouldn’t wear white,”
Alec answered simply.

Then he left the room.

“All the dead in the hallway yesterday,”
Simone whispered to Minji, “were the doctors in their white
coats.”

The woman’s voice, though lowered, broke
through the stunned silence that remained after Alec made his
observation and departed. Jesse tore his gaze away from the
discarded doctor’s coat and hurried after the military man. Arthur
slid his chair back, the feet making a terrible screech against the
tiles, and scrambled after the others.

“I have to see this,” he mumbled before
darting out the doorway.

Ava refused to acknowledge the protein drink
Minji held to her lips and swiveled her head to look toward the
exit.

Simone instantly sat forward in her chair,
her eyes flaring with shock. “She’s not looking at you!”

“No, she’s not,” Minji answered in a neutral
tone. It felt important that Simone not become aware of the
other.

Ava’s gaze remained pinned on the doorway.
At some point, she had stopped making the strange noises, and Minji
hadn’t even noticed. Flicking her focus to Minji then back to the
door, Ava slid off the chair and started after the others.

“Is she waking up?” Simone gasped. “Is that
what’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Minji lied, hoisted Bailey
onto her hip and went after Ava.

For a second, Minji feared Ava would attempt
to join the other mesmerized on their terrible trek, but the child
turned and scurried purposefully down the hallway after the
receding footsteps of the others. The noise of the men ascending
the stairs reverberated through the corridor and Ava picked up her
pace, making it very apparent that whatever was within Ava wanted
to stay close to Alec. Reaching the stairwell, Ava started
upward.