The Mesmerized Read online

  “Do you think it’s safe to go out there? The windows are cracked,” Simone called after him.

  “That’s safety glass. I believe it should be okay,” Jesse assured her. “But if another building comes down, who knows?”

  The sound of the television flaring to life echoed through the large room and reached Minji’s ears. Clasping Ava’s hand, she cautiously stepped out of the safety of the hallway. Arthur came into view, punching at the phone screen. With a frustrated grunt, he stalked back to the others.

  “No bars out there! Only in the hallway. What the hell kind of reception is that?” Still fuming, he dialed again.

  “Who are you calling?” Simone started to follow Minji, then hesitated to watch Arthur.

  “People who will listen to me. Yes, hello? My name is Arthur Freestone and I am in Las Vegas. I only have a few bars, so my reception is a bit shoddy, but I’m ready to go on the air.”

  “He’s calling the news,” Simone said. “Not someone who can actually help...”

  Minji returned to the couch, collapsed onto it, and pulled her girls onto her lap. Bailey sniffled loudly. Ava just mimicked a gasping fish and stared at her mother. Simone took a seat near them, crossed her legs, and fastened her gaze to the television. Jesse didn’t rejoin them and Minji suspected he was checking on his few patients.

  A minute later the doors to the hallway slammed shut.

  It only took a few minutes before Arthur’s name was scrolling along the bottom of the newscast and he appeared in a small box in the corner, his visage shuddering as he streamed live from his phone. Other images of the chaos inside The Palazzo Shoppes began to appear in the opposite corner. Minji hadn’t realized Arthur had snapped photos of the event. Simone folded her arms over her chest and gave the television an incredulous look.

  “...yes, I’m here. I’m in Las Vegas with three other people who are not affected. We need immediate help. Also, I need someone to go and get my wife and kids in Atlanta,” Arthur said when the interview started.

  “Arthur, can you tell us what you’ve seen and how you’ve avoided being infected?” the anchorman asked.

  “I don’t know why I’m immune, and what I’ve seen is awful. Now, if someone could go get my ex-wife and kids. They’re at the...” Arthur prattled off an exact location and ignored the attempts of the neatly coiffed anchorwoman to interrupt him with a question.

  “He’s something else, isn’t he?” Simone said with the shake of her head.

  Minji shrugged a shoulder. “He’s trying to save his family.”

  “True. My husband has it taken care of. Kids and dogs are all in the house. He took all the furniture out of the dining room and has them all in there on mattresses. If the event spreads, they’re not going anywhere.” Long lashes shielding her eyes, she continued, “So...they’ll be safe until help comes.”

  If help comes...

  The unsaid words hung menacingly in the air.

  “Maybe they’ll be immune like Bailey. That’s two people in my family that aren’t being affected. You’re immune, Simone, so maybe the kids will be, too.”

  A wry smile pressed onto Simone’s lips. “From your lips to God’s ears. If He’s listening...and I’m not sure He is. But if the kids aren’t affected, they’ll take care of their dad, the dogs, and themselves. They’re smart kids. We’ve raised them well.”

  Arthur’s irate voice pulled Minji’s attention back to the screen.

  “...somewhere on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s near the Stratosphere. And yes, the city is on fire. I’m pretty sure the Luxor is the building that collapsed earlier. I’m not sure what came down a few minutes ago. And there are dead people everywhere. Once this thing hits, people just die left and right...”

  “Well, that won’t cause a panic.” Simone raised her eyes heavenward.

  Minji thought of all the children walking silently into the lake on live television. She doubted that anything Arthur said would have any significant impact on the public after all they were witnessing on the news. “He can't make it worse than it already is.”

  The doors opened and Arthur’s voice reverberated through the television speakers for a brief second before Jesse hastily closed them to cancel the feedback. Walking over, he perched on the end of the coffee table and focused on Minji.

  “I checked on your husband and all the other patients. They’re all doing fine right now. None of them had life threatening ailments or injuries, which is a good thing because we’re not a long term care facility. Most of the center’s patients are people who fall ill while on vacation, such as a sprained or broken a bone, they caught a bug. Sometimes it’s something more serious and we arrange transportation to another facility. All in all, we’re in good shape.”

  “Especially because you’re the only one here to take care of everyone,” Simone said.

  “Well, my job is a little easier since I’ve sedated them to keep them from...” Jesse jerked his chin toward the windows. “I’m going to move Jake into a room and you can relocate there, Minji. It’ll probably be a little calmer.”

  “Are we safe here?” Minji was seriously having doubts. “I know the fires aren’t that close and the construction sites near us will act as a firebreak, but what if more buildings come down?”

  “But how do we leave? The roads are packed,” Jesse answered with a grim look.

  “We wait until the city is empty.” Simone tapped her long nails against the black leather armrest. “It might take the rest of the day, but it’ll happen. The mesmerized are walking into the desert, so we wait until they’re all gone. Then we leave. We’ll have far fewer obstacles to worry about.”

  “Okay. But where do we go? I don’t have any ideas. Do you?” Jesse shifted his gaze back and forth between the two women.

  “Out of the desert before the power completely fails and we’re left without water and electricity. Maybe the coast,” Simone suggested.

  “West, south, or east?” Jesse clasped his hands together and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Because I have no idea where to go.”

  “Texas,” Minji decided. “We go to East Texas. There’s freshwater lakes and plenty of resources there.”

  Simone closed her eyes, then sighed. “Once we find somewhere safe, I plan to go get my family. If I have to tie them together and herd them like cattle, I will.”

  “We could all do that,” Minji suggested. “See if our families are trapped in their houses.”

  “I wouldn’t suggest an extended road trip,” Jesse interjected. “At some point, everyone that’s mesmerized is going to die. The dead will be everywhere.”

  “Don’t say that,” Arthur said sharply. He’d finished his call and now stood in front of the open doors to the hallway. “You can’t say that! Someone will figure it out. Someone will save us!”

  Minji breathed in the sweet scent of Bailey’s hair that mingled with the acrid smell seeping into the room from outside. What they were discussing was too impossibly horrible to even consider as reality, but Minji recognized that they needed to be honest about their situation.

  “This is probably it, Arthur,” Simone said after a long pause. “The end of the world.”

  “No! You can’t say that! You can’t!” Arthur lunged forward to glower into Simone’s eyes, but she stood her ground. “Scientists are working on it! The president said so! People are going to find a way to stop it!”

  Minji stroked Ava’s cheek lovingly. Would her little girl ever wake up? And did Minji want her to? The days ahead were no longer hopeful, but terrifying. Minji wondered if she had the fortitude to endure the end of the world.

  “Someone will figure it out! Someone has to!” Arthur clutched his head with shaking hands. “Someone has to save us...someone has to help us!

  “Heeeeeeeeeelp...”

  It took Minji a second to realize the hoarse, rattling voice was emanating from Ava. The eerie blank stare remained firmly on her face as her lips parted and her tongue flexed in her mouth. Then, onc
e again, Ava uttered a single word.

  “Help...”

  Chapter 18

  Virginia

  6:45 PM

  Rachel finished tying her youngest son to his bed, relieved that the Benadryl had taken effect and that he was placidly asleep. Tears streaming along the curve of her round cheeks, she tested the knots to make sure the ties were close-fitting enough.

  “Mom?”

  On the bed on the opposite side of the room, her teenage son stared at her through his thick eyelashes, drowsy and muddled. The sleeping pill she had laced his soda with was taking effect.

  “It’s okay, Junior. Go to sleep.”

  Juan Carlos appeared in the doorway to the bedroom, hands thrust into his trouser pockets. His thick, curly hair was unusually messy and his beard had tufts sticking out where he kept nervously tugging on it. “Angela is asleep and I made the knots as tight as I could.” His Puerto Rican accent was thicker than normal and his dark eyes clearly projected his dismay. “Are you sure we should do this?”

  “You saw what’s happening on the news.” Tugging on the knot one more time, she looked at the pile of Juan Carlos’s ties that were puddled on the bedspread. There were just enough for her and her husband.

  It was late afternoon and the light filtering through the curtains was gray and morose. A storm was moving along the East Coast and would reach landfall by evening. They’d moved to Virginia from New York City for her job. It had been a difficult decision to uproot their family from their neighborhood and extended families. Juan Carlos had deep ties to the Puerto Rican community and she’d been very active in the Jewish faith. Now they were alone in a new town and far away from the bustle of the big city. For once, she had no regrets about their move. Rachel couldn’t even imagine the tumult encompassing the city right now. Juan Carlos had been faithfully watching the news, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. It was already stressful enough dealing with making sure her children were safe. She didn’t need the additional worry about friends, old neighbors, and her relatives.

  “What if it doesn’t pass?” Juan Carlos asked, sitting on the edge of his eldest son’s bed. His namesake was now snoring lightly.

  “We won’t know it,” she answered. She’d caught glimpse of the transfixed people on the television screen walking off overpasses, into bodies of water, stumbling about with grievous wounds. All the videos were taken from afar, giving them a surrealistic quality, but they had all told the exact same story.

  “Think it’s the government? Mind control?”

  Rachel shrugged as she gathered her husband’s business ties off the bed and pressed one last kiss to her youngest child’s forehead. “Have good dreams, Miguel.”

  Juan Carlos hugged and kissed his oldest son, whispering to him in Spanish. The parents then swapped places, spending a last few precious moments with their children. In silence they walked across the hall to their daughter’s room and repeated the ritual. They didn’t speak again until they reached their bedroom.

  “If this is it, Rachel, I want you to know that I have no regrets in my life. None. Things have not always been easy, but it’s all been worth it.”

  With a sob, Rachel slid into her husband’s arms. “I have no regrets either. It’s been a beauti—”

  The void opened and consumed her mind, stealing away her final words and moments.

  Pivoting about, Rachel faced west, then started to walk.

  Chapter 19

  Las Vegas

  6:46 PM

  “Did you hear that?” Minji gasped. Squatting before her daughter, she brushed her fingers along Ava’s cheek. The little girl’s eyes were still empty, but Minji was convinced the little girl had said one word: help. “She’s waking up! Maybe whatever is affecting them wears off!”

  When there wasn’t a response, Minji shot a worried look over her shoulder. Dread seized her in a vice-grip. Another attack had rendered her companions mute and blind. Eyes rolled upward, a low hiss wheezed out of their mouths. If another attack was occurring, why wasn’t she affected? Now that she was aware, she registered the drop in the temperature and the very faint sensation of spider web silk lightly touching her skin, but her mind and senses remained acute and unaffected.

  “Heeeeeeeeee...”

  The dismay burdening her heart and mind grew heavier when the same terrible sound issued from Ava’s delicate pink lips again.

  Clutching Bailey against her chest with one arm, Minji studied her companions with dread that this time the three people wouldn’t emerge from their mesmerized state. If they didn’t, she would be alone.

  “Heeeeeeeeee...”

  Tears pricked at Minji’s eyes, but she refused to shed them. She had foolishly believed arriving at the medical center would improve her family’s situation, but it was increasingly apparent that the event was inescapable. How far was it extending its reach in this latest attack? Minji didn’t even want to speculate.

  “Heeeeeeeeeeelp.”

  Awash in goose bumps, her heart accelerating, and her breath coming in ragged little breaths, Minji noted a difference in the eerie plea. The word hadn’t just come from her daughter, but also the three people standing before her in the throes of the attack.

  “Heeeeeeeeeeelp.”

  This time, she heard another voice.

  One she recognized.

  Sliding along the wall, she made her way to the closest open doorway. Peering inside, she saw her husband strapped to the stretcher in the examination room. Throat straining, lips contorting, he wailed, “Heeeeeeeeeeelp” in unison with Ava and the others.

  “Oh, God, what’s happening?” she murmured, resting heavily against the open door.

  “Heeeeeeeeeeelp.”

  A new voice joined the others. High-pitched, fragile, and sweet.

  Tilting her head to see her baby’s face, Minji flinched at the sight of Bailey’s empty eyes. The baby’s lips moved in unison with Ava’s and Jake’s. “No, Bailey, no!”

  The tears broke free and she sobbed in anguish. Hope dissipated into the ether as she accepted that Ava and Jake weren’t on the verge of waking up or calling out for help, and that Bailey was like her companions and not fully immune. Her entire family was in the grip of something incomprehensible.

  Stumbling against a chair set to one side of the door, Minji dropped onto it and let go of Ava’s hand. The little girl remained at her side. Bailey didn’t move in her arms. Both girls stared up at her, their mouths struggling to form the word again.

  “Heeeeeeeeeeelp.”

  For the first time since the initial attack, Minji was afraid of the mesmerized, not just the event. The cry for help was not coming from the mesmerized themselves, but from whatever was controlling them. Though she’d been interpreting their eyes as empty and devoid of life, maybe what she was truly seeing was some other form of life that was observing her. The mental attempts to believe that the event was possibly caused by humans were futile. In truth, she had never truly accepted the idea of the event being manmade. The vision she’d experienced during the first attacks hadn’t allowed her to fully fool herself. Whatever was enrapturing humanity was something other. But what was it?

  “Who are you?” Minji asked aloud, her gaze flicking between her husband and daughters. “What are you?”

  “Heeeeeeeeeeelp,” the three chorused.

  “Please stop!” Her shouted words rang out in the increasingly icy air. “Please stop!”

  Bailey let out a hiccupping cry and pushed her face into Minji’s neck. She was free of the attack and needed her mother. That fact instantly grounded Minji and helped her regain her focus.

  “It’s okay, Bailey, I’m here.” Wiping away tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand, Minji composed herself. Her relief that the baby had awakened was diluted with the panic that burned in her gut. Concentrating solely on Bailey, she rocked her child while murmuring reassurances to her.

  “Minji?” Simone’s voice cried out. A second later, the woman stepped into t
he room, caught sight of Minji, and staggered backward while pressing a hand to her chest. “How?”

  Ava and Jake were silent, having returned to simply staring.

  “How?” Minji repeated.

  “You disappeared before my eyes,” Simone gasped. “Vanished.”

  With the sad shake of her head, Minji said, “No. You were caught in it again. Like before. Even Bailey was affected this time.”

  Dark eyes sliding toward the hall, Simone said, “Shit.”

  “It happened before, but you didn’t believe me.”

  “I do now.” Simone swallowed hard. “Jesse is still in it.”

  A second later, Arthur stepped into the doorway dabbing at a bloody nose. He didn’t say a word as he walked across the room and sat heavily in a chair. Eyes fastened to the tips of his shoes, he visibly shuddered.

  “I don’t think Jesse’s going to wake up,” Simone continued.

  Cradling Bailey, Minji glanced into the hallway. Jesse was transfixed, blood oozing from his left nostril.

  “Jesse?” she called out, but knew he wouldn’t answer.

  A couple of seconds ticked by, then he gradually turned his face toward her. Blinking, he staggered forward and grunted, “Oh, shit.”

  “Jesse, you're awake!” Minji cried out in surprise and relief.

  Shocked, Simone scooted around Minji and Bailey and hurried to help Jesse as he slumped against the wall. “Jesse, we thought you were gone!”

  “I think I was...” A hard shake of his head seemed to help him focus. “I...was one of them, wasn’t I?”

  “We all were,” Simone answered, but her eyes shifted toward Minji.

  “Did you see it?” Jesse rubbed his eyes. “All those colors...that sound...”