The Mesmerized

by Rhiannon Frater

  “This isn’t real! It can’t be real!” Arthur wagged his head. “No, no, no...”

  Minji attempted to soothe Bailey while Ava remained a statue at her side. Her fingers trembled against her baby’s delicate skin. How could she keep her family safe amidst all the destruction?

  Another blast shook the ground and pelted the area with shards of metal. A large chunk of a helicopter’s engine smashed into an ambulance then spiraled through the air to land in the placid blue waters of the nearby lagoon. Steam rose from the wreckage.

  In the doorway of the tent, the police officer in his black garb and face mask didn’t even flinch.

  The reek of burning metal, rubber, and other foul smells choked Minji and sent her into a fit of coughing. Across from her, Arthur scuttled out from under his shelter and rushed the policeman.

  Shoving the man, Arthur shouted, “Wake up! Wake up!”

  “That won’t work!” Minji snapped. “Leave him alone!”

  “He has to save us!”

  Somewhere along the strip there was another explosion. The sound of glass shattering rang through the air. Car alarms screeched, but the mass congregation remained unmoving and seemingly unaware.

  “He’s not going to wake up! Look around! They’re not waking up even with helicopters crashing down on their heads!” Pointing at the fallen doctor, Minji continued, “They’re dying and they don’t even know it.”

  Arthur stared at the doctor’s bloodied face. “How can this be? She’s in a suit! How can she be dead?” Again he turned his anger on the impassive police officer, attempting to shake him out of his state. “You have to wake up and save us!”

  “He’s not going to, Arthur! Leave him the fuck alone!” Minji blinked back tears of frustration.

  “Even the people in gas masks are...are...are...” Arthur floundered, searching for the correct words.

  “Mesmerized,” Minji finished.

  Arthur released the police officer, nodding. “Yes. Mesmerized.”

  As one, the transfixed people rotated to face north.

  With a sinking heart, Minji knew what would happen next. “They’re going to start walking now.” A disconcerting numbness settled like a mantle over her mind and body. Now that it was evident they were not going to be rescued, or even hauled off to be tested, Minji recognized that she was on her own. The rescuers were now victims of the event. She’d have to find a way to save her husband on her own and doubted Arthur would be any help.

  “But where are they going?”

  The sound of the first synchronized footstep sounded like a thunderclap. Both Minji and Arthur jumped. Unlike the first attacks, once the mesmerized began to walk, they did not stop. The rumble of footsteps vibrated in the air. Gripping Ava’s hand, Minji watched the people who had occupied the makeshift rescue center start their trek northward. It gradually dawned on her that many of the survivors still wore their hazmat suits and gas masks. A quick study of the area revealed only a few people had died instantly at the beginning of the attack. Why did some die, but not others?

  “I need to get out of here to the airport and onto a flight home,” Arthur mumbled, fishing his phone out of his pocket.

  “Do you really think the planes are flying? Helicopters just fell out of the sky!” Minji winced at the thought of Jake’s parents flying home. How far did the event reach?

  The violent quake of his fingers made it difficult for Arthur to work his phone and frustration turned his face a fiery red. “I can’t be here anymore!”

  “Where are you going to go?” Minji averted her eyes from the mesmerized mass. She didn’t want to watch anymore people die, but death would occur as the horde funneled through the burning wreckage of the helicopters and cars.

  Arthur flailed his hands, then let out a short bark of frustration.

  The acrid reek of smoke was intensifying. Minji finally dared to venture from beneath the table to peer out of the tent. Dragging Ava with her, she laid gentle kisses on Bailey’s sweaty forehead and surveyed her surroundings. She ignored the people that she couldn’t save, and focused on the abandoned ambulances nearby. The paramedics were gone, but their equipment remained. Dragging her eldest daughter with her, Minji rushed to the nearest one. The back doors were open and a speedy examination revealed that the stretcher was still tucked inside.

  Sweat trickling between her shoulder blades and the sun burning against her skin, Minji studied how the stretcher was attached to the floor of the ambulance.

  “What are you doing?” Arthur yelled after her.

  “I’m going to save my husband,” Minji answered. The muscles in her arm were screaming for her to put down the baby, but she didn’t dare. Ava was at her side, but still staring after the mesmerized.

  “How?” Arthur asked, flinging out his arms. “Don’t you see what’s happening? Vegas is on fire! People are zombies! How are you going to save him?”

  “I don’t know,” Minji snapped. “But I’m going to.”

  Arthur came around the door and stared at the stretcher. Tugging on the end, he gave her a contemptuous smile when it didn’t budge. “You don’t even know how to get this out of the ambulance.”

  Spotting directions on a sticker attached to a long metal bar holding the stretcher in place, the tension in Minji’s chest relented just a bit. Giving Arthur a triumphant look, she pushed on the silver bar and the claw holding the stretcher released.

  “Okay, so you did that, but now what? How are you going to get him out of there?”

  “You’re going to help me,” Minji answered simply.

  “Look, lady—”

  “Minji,” she corrected.

  “Mindy—”

  “Minji. It’s Korean.” Though Lily had changed the spelling, she’d made certain to name her only daughter a popular name in her family’s homeland.

  “Whatever.” Arthur exhaled explosively, shaking his head. “I’ve got my own family to worry about. You go deal with yours. I have to find a way home.”

  “Where’s home?”

  “Atlanta.”

  “How are you going to get there?” Minji looked meaningfully toward the burning visage of Treasure Island. “As you pointed out, Vegas is on fire.”

  “I’ll get a car and drive back...” Arthur started toward the congested road.

  “Please, help me. If we work together we have a better shot of getting out of here and finding help.”

  Arthur set his hands on his narrow hips and stared at the stretcher. “How? Are we just going to wheel him down the road?”

  “Yes. Whatever it takes.”

  Clearly distraught, Arthur took out his cellphone and stared at the screen. “I need to get home. I’ve got my own family to take care of...”

  Minji speared him with a sharp look. “I’ve got two little girls and a wounded husband right here, right now. Your family is far away from all this, and hopefully, they’re safe. How is not helping me going to make things right with your family?”

  “Fine,” Arthur said, his shoulders slumping in surrender. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Help me pull this out, okay?”

  It took several tries to get the stretcher out of the ambulance. There was a trick to releasing the wheels that mystified them until Arthur realized they had to let go of a red bar that extended the wheels to make them snap into position. When they finally rolled it onto the asphalt, Minji exhaled with relief.

  “Now what?”

  “We go get my husband.” Holding out the colorful child leash to Arthur, she continued, “Please hold onto this so my daughter doesn’t follow the others.”

  “What if she starts to try to eat me?”

  “Really?” Minji widened her eyes in disbelief. “Really?”

  “They look like zombies,” Arthur said defensively, but took the end of the leash.

  Ava remained unmoving.

  Giving Arthur a disapproving look, Minji wondered if she’d be able to put up with the man, but she needed help with Jake.
Bailey was dozing on her shoulder, so Minji shifted the baby so her other arm could take the brunt of the weight. It was sweet relief to her exhausted muscles. “Okay. I’ll pull the stretcher and you push it. Don’t let go of the leash, okay?”

  “I’ve got it,” Arthur snapped. “But if she tries to bite me...”

  Minji rolled her eyes.

  Chapter 10

  Taking hold of the handle at the end of the stretcher, Minji started the trek back to The Venetian, the diaper bag beating a steady staccato against her hip. There were a few dead bodies sprawled on the driveway, but they were easy to scoot around. Behind them, Treasure Island burned and the loud booms of explosions rent the air. Plumes of black smoke marred the skyline and the bitter reek made Minji’s eyes smart. Rushing through the front doors into the casino, the smell changed from metallic to organic.

  “It smells worse,” Arthur complained.

  “It’s all the dead.”

  “Are you sure your husband is alive?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” Minji said, finding it increasingly difficult not to scream at the man.

  The march to where Jake lay beside the waterfall was generally silent. Arthur grumbled whenever they had to maneuver around bodies, but mostly he was mute. Minji tried to muster sympathy for the man in spite of his surliness. It had to be difficult for him to be so far away from loved ones. She was worried sick for Jake’s parents and her own, but she had to concentrate on the task at hand. If they could work together, maybe they could find a way out of this disaster and find help.

  Jake was where she’d left him. Still unconscious, her husband had not stirred, much to her relief. Several of the severely wounded mesmerized crawled along the floor in an attempt to join the others on their silent trek. A few blocked the way to the base of the fountain. Minji was very unnerved by the crawlers and waited warily for them to drag themselves out of her path. She hated to admit it, but she could now see the zombie-like aspect to them that unnerved Arthur. Glancing at Ava, she realized her love for her daughter colored her vision. Ava’s unexpressive appearance was very perturbing, but Minji couldn’t allow doubts to enter her mind. She would save her family.

  “Now what?” Arthur queried irritably.

  Minji picked up the baby backpack she’d discarded earlier and handed it to Arthur. “Help me get into this.”

  It took a few minutes to fasten the backpack securely to Minji’s back. Bailey was so exhausted she didn’t even stir when Arthur strapped her into the apparatus while Minji rubbed the cramped muscles in her arms. Having Bailey secure on her back made it easier for her to weave through the bodies to Jake’s side. His long blond hair and clothing were soaked through, and he appeared disturbingly pale in the light pouring through the skylight. Resting her hand against his neck, Minji anxiously searched for his pulse and was relieved when her fingertips found the familiar, steady beat.

  “I knew you were too tough to die.”

  “So how do we get him on the stretcher? There’s like a dozen...bodies.” Arthur stared at the corpses with a combination of fear and disgust.

  “We move them aside.”

  “What if they’re contaminated?”

  “Then we’re already contaminated, huh?” Minji set her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look.

  Arthur folded his arms over his chest, the end of the child leash still clutched in one hand. “That’s not very comforting.”

  “Whatever’s happening, we’re obviously immune to it. Take comfort in that, okay?” Minji twisted her dreads into a tight rope, then coiled it into a bun on top of her head, tucking the ends under to hold it in place.

  “I’m not touching them,” Arthur retorted. “I can’t risk it.”

  Minji was not in the mood to argue with him. “Fine.”

  Mindful of Bailey in the backpack, she set about dragging the bodies to make a passage for the stretcher. She didn’t have to move them too far to clear the way, but it wasn’t an easy task. She was fit from her kickboxing classes, but she was also small in stature. Arthur obstinately didn’t help her move the first bodies, but eventually trudged to her side and helped with the last few.

  “Thanks for helping,” Minji said reluctantly, peeved at his overall behavior.

  “We can get out of here faster this way,” he answered tersely. “Besides, maybe we are immune, like you say. Now, how do we get your giant husband onto the stretcher?”

  “Can you get his shoulders? I’ll lift at his knees.”

  “What if we hurt him more?”

  Arthur tied the child leash to the wheel frame. Ava just stared.

  The thought had occurred to Minji, but there wasn’t really any other choice. She couldn’t wait for someone to come and rescue them. How far had the event spread? How long would it take to get help into the area? And the more dreaded question, how many were affected?

  “We have to take the risk,” she decided.

  Arthur positioned himself at Jake’s head and squatted to tuck his hands under the other man’s broad shoulders. Minji crouched, mindful of Bailey, and prepared to lift her husband’s long legs.

  “You couldn’t marry a short Asian, huh?”

  “Fuck you,” Minji retorted. “Lift.”

  The muscles in her arms, legs, and torso screamed in pain they hoisted Jake’s long frame upward. Arthur grunted and swore under his breath, but managed to get Jake off the ground and halfway onto the stretcher. It took both of them to get him all the way onto the mattress and positioned correctly. Arthur began strapping Jake down and Minji started to protest, then thought better of it when she regarded the mesmerized crawlers. She helped fasten her husband, tied the child leash to her belt, then clasped the handhold near Jake’s head.

  “Same as before, okay? I pull, you push.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Minji hadn’t really thought that far. She just wanted Jake safe with her.

  “I thought so...women. Never thinking ahead.”

  Minji frowned at his words. “Oh? This from the guy running off to the airport without considering all the helicopters falling out of the sky? Some of those explosions we heard could have been planes.” As the words left her mouth, again she felt a stab of stark fear for the fate of her in-laws.

  “Let’s just get out of here. Once we get outside, we head in the direction that doesn’t have all the smoke and fire...” Arthur gestured toward Ava, “...or those.”

  “Her name is Ava.” Feeling protective and defensive, she took Ava’s hand tenderly.

  “She’s one of them.”

  “If we weren’t immune, we would be, too,” Minji reminded him before pulling on the stretcher and putting her back to him.

  Arthur was silent as they wheeled Jake through the resort, which was fine with Minji. Stragglers of the mesmerized wandered through the empty hall, most tottering on injured legs. Some were bleeding profusely and guilt ate at Minji as she ignored their condition. Being unable to help was a substantial weight on her shoulders, but what could she do?

  They were almost through the casino when Minji noticed a tall, slim black woman with short, sleek hair staring at them from around a colorful slot machine. Prickles flowed down Minji’s spine when she remembered the man from the bar earlier. She was definitely being scrutinized this time around.

  “Hello?” Minji said cautiously.

  “You’re okay,” the woman answered, relief flooding her face. “Oh, my God, you’re not one of them.” The stranger stepped out from behind a bank of slot machines. She carried a tire iron in one hand and her royal blue blouse was covered in dirt, blood, and black grime. Her charcoal trousers and matching blazer were also in bad condition and sporting scorch marks. “I saw all the emergency vehicles outside. I was hoping that there was help in here...but you’re not paramedics.”

  “Nope. They’re all walking off in that direction,” Arthur said, pointing over his shoulder.

  The woman’s face reminded Minji vividly of the statues of Queen Nefertiti. Sh
e was a striking beauty and there was an aura about her that demanded notice.

  With a sigh, the woman pressed one manicured hand to her forehead. “Great, just great.” Lifting her other hand to look at her phone clenched in it, she said, “I suppose neither one of you has a working phone?”

  “I don’t have any bars,” Minji said.

  “Me neither,” Arthur admitted.

  “A tower must be down,” the newcomer decided.

  Arthur rolled his eyes. “Can we please get out of here?”

  The other female regarded Arthur thoughtfully, raising an eyebrow. Without another word, she walked over, laid the tire iron on a table, and placed her hand on the other handhold at the head of the stretcher. Minji gave her a grateful smile before they started walking out of the casino area.

  Even though the jubilant sounds of the machines in the casino drifted through the cool air, the aura within the resort was somber and eerie.

  “I’m Simone. Simone Avery,” the stranger said in a lowered voice.

  “Minji Nordim.”

  “And who’s this little angel?” Simone asked, lightly touching Ava’s red curls.

  Unexpected tears flooded her vision and Minji choked out her daughters’ names.

  “And him?” Simone asked, her golden-brown eyes flicking toward Arthur.

  “My name is Arthur Freestone,” came the snappish response.

  Simone didn’t rise to the challenge in his voice. “And I assume this is your husband on the stretcher?”

  Minji nodded. “His name is Jake.”

  Resting one hand on Jake’s forehead, Simone said, “You’re going to be okay, Jake. We’ll get you somewhere safe.”

  Seconds later the floor beneath their feet shook and a low grumble echoed down the expanse of the lobby. Then a roar unlike any sound Minji had ever heard before burst in the air.

  It sounded like the end of the world.

  Chapter 11

  The rumbling growl swelled in volume while the walls and ground trembled.

  Minji shot a quick, worried look over her shoulder. “Is that sound inside or outside?” Had the skylight collapsed?