The Mesmerized

Minji spotted a syringe lying among the chairs. It was most likely the one Arthur had tried to sedate Ava with. Snatching it up, she charged Arthur, knocking Alec to one side. Arthur wailed when he saw what she was about to do and lifted his arm in defense. Minji plunged the needle into his forearm and shoved the plunger downward.

“No one hurts my kids,” she hissed as Arthur gaped up at her. “No one!”

Swiveling about, she saw Simone’s startled expression, Alec’s awe, and Bailey’s tear-stained face. But the most disconcerting, but rewarding of all, she saw Ava smiling.

“Moommy,” she said.

Chapter 28

The handicap lift for the shuttle bus hummed and creaked as the wheelchair ferrying Jake raised steadily upward while Minji anxiously observed from a few feet away. With Jesse now being mesmerized, she didn’t know how they’d take care of her husband. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too long until Jake and the other mesmerized awakened. Though the plan to close the door between worlds appeared easy, she was still apprehensive even though she trusted that Alec knew what he was doing. It was Alec who’d disconnected the I.V. from Jake’s arm and secured him to the wheelchair. Despite being disabled, Alec was adept at getting around, though slower than he would have been before his war injury.

Jesse was already strapped to a seat inside the shuttle bus. Though he struggled to break free from the restraints, his head craned north, he was silent. Even when Minji was near him, he didn’t shake out of his state to attempt to talk, or gaze at her. Though Jake’s attention remained squarely on Minji, the entity was no longer struggling to speak through him. Minji wasn’t sure why the two men were acting differently, but she was beginning to formulate a theory.

Simone brushed past Minji, her arms full with a box of supplies. “This is the last one,” she said, her dark eyes unreadable above her facemask.

Since Minji had beaten Arthur to a pulp and forcibly sedated him, no one had even mentioned bringing him along. There had been a short discussion about taking the other sedated mesmerized with them, but without Jesse being aware, it seemed futile. Minji placated her guilt with the thought that maybe they’d accomplish their mission soon so all the mesmerized would awaken.

No one protested bringing Jake along, but Minji knew Alec had agreed to keep her on their mission. She wasn’t sure why Simone hadn’t protested. Maybe it was because Simone had put her foot down about Jesse coming with them amid expressing hopes he’d awaken. Simone hadn’t even asked where they were going, but had thrown herself in the preparations to leave.

The whine of the lift finished. Alec dragged Jake through the handicap entrance into the shuttle and started to secure the wheelchair to the floor. Minji lifted her own burden, a bundle of blankets and pillows, and followed Simone. Bailey was in a child’s seat Simone had found in a nearby car and Ava was tied with the child leash to the interior of the shuttle.

Minji helped Simone arrange their supplies in the rear of the bus then returned to the seat where Bailey was dozing. They’d had to be creative in fastening the child seat to the bench, but Minji was confident that it was secure. Ava stood in the aisle and watched with wide, glassy eyes, not speaking.

After some discussion it was decided that Alec would drive out of Las Vegas before Minji would take over since she wasn’t accustomed to driving a vehicle as large as the shuttle bus. As a precaution, she sat in the seat directly behind Alec so she could quickly intercede if another attack were to happen. Sitting next to Bailey, Minji tugged Ava onto her lap. Ava’s head swiveled about in order to keep her gaze on Minji.

Simone collapsed into the chair across the aisle, closed her eyes, and rested her head against the back of the seat. Everything about Simone screamed sophistication, even when she was grungy and exhausted. She’d changed into her clothes from the day before, though her feet now sported sneakers she’d scrounged out of a lost and found box.

The lift retracted into the shuttle and the handicap door thumped shut. Using the backs of the chairs for support, Alec returned to the driver’s seat. His cane lay on the floor next to it in easy reach. Without a word, he started the engine and drove away from the medical center.

Minji brushed her lips against Ava’s hair, feeling grit coating the curls. She wiped off her mouth, resenting that such a small pleasure was robbed by circumstances. One hand resting against the swell of Ava’s tummy, she concentrated on the gentle movement of her child’s breathing. Soon the more babyish aspects of her daughter, like the rounded stomach and chubby cheeks would give away to a taller, leaner adolescent. Minji made a point of enjoying every little moment with her girls. The love she had for them always helped chase away all the negativity in her life. But now, holding Ava and the other within her, she fretted at the thought of losing her daughters.

The journey away from the boulevard was harrowing. The roads were an obstacle course of crashed vehicles. Alec avoided the wrecks, rubble, and other debris, but sometimes he was forced to drive over the dead to escape the downtown area. Each time the shuttle bounced over corpses, Minji fought the urge to chide him for not respecting the dead. From the expression on Simone’s face, she appeared to be thinking the same thing.

Knuckles white from the pressure he was exerting on the steering wheel, Alec drove the shuttle bus through the apocalyptic landscape with gritty determination. At one point he eased the shuttle bus through a space so narrow, when Minji glanced out the window there was barely an inch between the side of the bus and the crashed fire truck.

“You do not want to know how much room is between the bus and the building on this side,” Simone said, while looking out her window.

The shuttle bus slipped through without a scratch.

The true scope of the disaster was staggering. The city’s infrastructure had taken a hard hit. Utility poles were knocked over in many areas, sparks raining on the cars that had toppled them. Electrical cables sparked in the streets, adding yet another impediment to their journey out of the city. It was now clear to Minji why the cable, phones, internet and electricity had stopped working.

Alec drove past many burning apartment complexes and homes. The downed power lines were obviously the source of so many fires. Again, Minji felt a twinge of guilt about leaving Jesse’s patients and Arthur behind, but it was too late to turn back now. It was best to stop the event and save everyone.

The worst aspect of their journey through Las Vegas was the bodies. The corpses of the victims littered the landscape. Some appeared badly burned though they were far from the areas on fire, and Minji wondered if they were the same scorched victims she’d seen on the boulevard. It was daunting to accept the death toll.

As the shuttle bus wove its way through the ruined city, there wasn’t a sign of the mass migration of the mesmerized. It was possible the last of their number had left the city limits the night before. How long it would take for the little group to catch up with the horde was unknown.

It wasn’t until the shuttle bus reached the suburbs and Alec found a path onto the highway that Minji was able to relax her stiff muscles. A few times she’d been worried that they’d have to abandon the bus and walk out of the city carrying the children, Jake, and Jesse. The shuttle bus slowed to a stop and Alec shifted into PARK.

“Finally,” she murmured.

Simone straightened in her seat. “So, is anyone going to tell me where we are going?”

“We can’t—” Alec started.

“A top secret facility where they opened a doorway to another world and let something in,” Minji answered swiftly.

Simone’s eyebrows shot upward. “Say what?”