The Mesmerized

“So the North Koreans are doing this? What are you? A sleeper agent?” Arthur killed the call he’d been trying to make, shot to his feet and took a sharp step toward her. “Answer me!”

“I’m a tattoo artist from Austin, Texas. I was born and raised in Texas, dipshit. I’m just as American as you!” Minji handed Bailey to Simone and matched Arthur’s intimidating pose. She was shorter than he was, but she wasn’t about to back down. “I have no fuckin’ idea why I’m immune, so back off! You’ve been at total asshole since this started and I’m sick of it! You need me, because if you go under again, I’m the one who can take care of you. You don’t want to end up outside with the others, do you?”

“Is that a threat?” Shooting a look at Jesse, Arthur said, “Is she threatening me?”

“No,” the younger man said, “but I am. Sit your ass down, or I will sedate you.” He pointed at the chair Arthur had abandoned. “Take a seat, Arthur.”

“Why are you getting after me? She’s the one who’s suspicious! She’s immune! How do we know she’s really from Texas?”

“Sit down, Arthur!” Jesse ordered in a sharp voice. “I mean it.”

Grudgingly, Arthur obeyed, but folded his arms defiantly. “It’s just really suspicious that she’s immune.”

“Why?” Simone asked. “Because she’s not white?”

“Or because she has a tilt to her eyes?” Jesse pointed to his own face. “Do I look suspicious? I got a bit of a slant to my eyes, too.”

“Of course, you don’t look suspicious, Jesse. You’re a true native of America. But with all the trouble that’s been brewing in Korea and China, don’t you think it’s just a little suspicious that the Asian is the only one not affected?” Waving a hand toward Minji, he continued, “That’s the only thing that sets her apart from us, you know. Her race! So that has to be why she’s immune!”

“I saw a lot of Asians out in that crowd.” Simone stepped next to Minji while gently bouncing Bailey on her hip. “Why would China or Korea send a young, tattooed mother with her children and husband to Las Vegas to start the end of the world? How does that even make sense? Look at her babies, Arthur. You’re a father. You have children. Take a look at her girls. They’re both suffering through this, too. What kind of spy would bring her children to something like this? Or her husband? Her white husband?”

“So she wouldn’t come across as suspicious?” Arthur sounded less sure of himself, his anger deflating like hot air out of a leaking balloon. Brushing away tears with his fingertips, he sniffled loudly. “What if she has the antidote? What if...”

Minji kicked Arthur’s shin, but not as hard as she wanted to. “Fuck you! If I had an antidote, I would give it to my daughter!”

“Hey!”

“Stop being an asshole, Arthur!”

“You’re the one being violent!”

“Arthur, you’re being a dick.” Jesse rubbed his hands over his thighs a few times, vigorously rubbing his muscles, then attempted to stand. When he remained balanced, he moved to Jake’s side.

Simone settled into the chair Jesse had abandoned and cooed at Bailey, attempting to distract the concerned-looking baby.

Grabbing Arthur’s hand, Minji forced it into her hair. “Pull on my dreads. They’re real. Touch my tattoos. They’re real. Hold my daughters. Look at my husband. Pull off his wedding ring and see the indentation in his skin caused by never taking it off. Look at me in my so-called slanted eyes and tell me I’m not a victim of this horrible event! Tell me how I’m somehow inhumane because I’m immune. Tell me!”

Arthur jerked his hand back, lowered his face, and mumbled.

“What?”

Lifting his head, he screamed, “I’m sorry! Okay? I’m sorry! I’m scared out of my mind! God, I wish you were a spy so you could give us the antidote and make this stop. I just want this to be over! I don’t want this to be the end of everything.”

The needle was in Arthur’s arm before his words faded from the air. Jesse rested a hand heavily on the other man’s chest to hold him steady. “I told you, Arthur, you need to calm down.”

“You had no right,” Arthur protested, shock planted firmly on his face. “You had no right!”

“It’s the end of the world, Arthur. I have to do what’s right. And what’s right is you calming down and resting.” Jesse withdrew the needle and discarded it in the bin marked BIOHAZARD. Setting his hands on his narrow waist, he observed Arthur as the drug began to take effect.

“It’sh schnot fair,” Arthur slurred. “Not fair that she’s immune.”

“But she is, so deal with it,” Jesse replied.

Arthur’s eyes fluttered, then closed.

“I can’t say I’m not grateful,” Simone said. “He was getting on my last nerve, too.”

“He’s just scared,” Minji said, regaining her composure. “He wants this to be easy. Like a movie. Find the big bad, stop it, save the world.”