The Mesmerized Read online

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?”

  “Minji...” Alec growled.

  “She’s in this, too, Alec.”

  “We haven’t discussed this, Minji!”

  “No, we haven’t,” she admitted. “But we need Simone.”

  “We’ll find a safe place for her to hole up with Jake, Jesse, and the girls.”

  “Alec, you know it’s not going to let me leave the girls behind. Why else would it knock everyone out so it could follow me earlier? It’s not going to just let me leave without Ava and Bailey. We need Simone to watch over the girls once we get there.”

  “Minji, do you actually think it’ll just let her wait outside with the girls while we go in and deal with it?”

  “Enough! No more discussion without giving me the details. I need an explanation. Right now.” Simone sh
ifted in her seat, crossing one leg over the other. Regarding Minji, she pointed at her and said, “You tell me.”

  So Minji did.

  By the time she finished, Simone hadn’t blinked for a few minutes. At last, she closed her eyes, and whispered, “Dear sweet Jesus.”

  Alec didn’t say a word, but made a grunting noise.

  “So you have the key cards to get in and the directions to close this doorway between worlds, then blow up the facility? From those rescue people at The Venetian?” Simone was obviously still processing this information. “But won’t it need, like, an eye scan or something to let you in?”

  “Per instructions given to me when I awakened, I disabled the security system inside the building from my post, but we’ll still need the cards to get us in. The system that works the door is a bit older and separate from the rest of the building. The card allows one person in at a time,” Alec answered.

  “But what about deliveries? That doesn’t seem like a good system if it only lets in one person,” Simone pointed out.

  Giving her a surprised, yet pleased look, Alec said, “Deliveries were made via an underground tunnel from one of the old test sites. The tunnel is cut off from both the outside world and the facility with bulkheads built to withstand a nuclear blast. The only way to open that entrance is from within the facility.”

  “That’s pretty paranoid,” Minji mused. “And you didn’t have a card to get in even though you worked there?”

  Alec shook his head. “I was just a guard. I watched monitors all day. Everyone with a card was inside at the time of the event. That was one of the first things I looked for when I woke up. If one of the people with clearance had been outside the building, this would already be over. But, alas, that’s not the case. I was told to find the group from the second facility to get their access cards.”

  “So the government couldn’t remotely shut the door to the other world, or blow up the facility?” Simone arched an eyebrow, reminding Minji of Spock.

  “No. To prevent enemies from hacking into the system and committing an act of terrorism, the systems controlling the bomb and the doorway are self-contained inside the facility. There’s no way to hack in because they’re not connected to the outside world.”

  “So the thing the scientists brought into our world is what’s...in...” Simone faltered, staring at Ava.

  “It’s in all of them. All the mesmerized.” Minji glanced over her shoulder at Jake and Jesse. “It can see us through their eyes.”

  “Watching you more than us, right?”

  Minji ran her fingers through Ava’s dirty hair. The other within her daughter watched her in silence. “Yes.”

  “But why you?”

  Minji chewed on her bottom lip, then realized it was time to share her thoughts with the others. “It’s because I’m a mother. And it’s a baby.”

  Simone gave her an incredulous look. “What?”

  “It’s a baby. Or a small child. Remember when all the mesmerized were making those odd noises and moving their mouths in odd shapes?”

  “Yeah...” Simone scooted around in her chair to peer at the two mesmerized men. “They’re not doing it now.”

  “Because I finally understood what it was trying to tell me. When Arthur was bitching earlier about Bailey baby talking and you explained that she was vocalizing to learn to talk, it hit me. When the mesmerized made those noises it always seemed strangely familiar, then I realized it’s because I’ve seen it with both my girls. The entity was learning to talk.”

  “Minji, are you sure about this?” Alec asked.

  “Yes, Alec. I’m sure. The three mesmerized at The Venetian this morning called me ‘Mommy.’ Then the entity using Ava brought me Bailey and said ‘baby’ and ‘Mommy.’ At first I thought it was describing Bailey and me, but now I’m certain that the entity is actually a child itself. I think in a limited way it was trying to tell me it’s a baby like Bailey.”

  Simone nodded. “Which might be why it brought you Bailey.”

  “I don’t get it,” Alec said.

  “If it’s a child, Alec, and it has identified the mother/child bond between Minji and her daughters, it may have felt compelled to reunite the girls with Minji the same way it wants to be reunited with its mother. You’re just lucky it didn’t decide you were the bad guy who lured the mother away.” Simone gave Ava a speculative look. “Because we all know what that baby is capable of.”

  “But a baby is an innocent. Why would it do all of this?” Alec pointed toward the gruesome remains of a jetliner strewn across a field.

  “It’s not about innocence, Alec.” Minji glanced at her sleeping baby at her side, her heart aching. “Imagine a very frightened, powerful child that was taken from its home and trapped in terrifying surroundings. Children have such a limited understanding as it is, but imagine taking Bailey and putting her into a world where she’s the ultimate power. All she wants to do is get home, but these weaker things are preventing it or even hurting her. What do you think Bailey would do?”

  “Lash out.” Simone crossed her arms over her breasts, nodding. “Children do have temper tantrums.”

  “All this is caused by a baby?” Twisting about in his chair, Alec rested his arm on the back and studied Ava. “You honestly think it’s a baby staring out of her eyes?”

  Minji nodded. “A small child of its species, yes.”

  “It can hear us right now, you realize.” Alec nervously rubbed his bottom lip. He was obviously trying to wrap his mind around this new premise.

  “Yes, it can. But I don’t know if it actually understands us.”

  “So why did it imprint on you?” Alec’s blue eyes studied Minji thoughtfully, his gaze sweeping from her dreads pulled into a bun on top of her head to the colorful tattoos visible beneath her collarbone. “What makes you unique?”

  Tenderly, Minji stroked Ava’s hair with her fingers. “First off, I was immune. I was able to resist it. Maybe that’s why it initially noticed me. Then I believe it started to view me through the eyes of the mesmerized. It saw me trying to save my girls. Most likely that’s when it identified me as a ‘mother’ or at least as a parental figure. So it watched me, then tried to communicate.”

  “All that mouth stuff, the noise.” Simone lifted her fingers to her mouth, flexing them in imitation. “It was learning to talk so it could communicate with you.”

  “I do believe so.”

  “Which would explain why the mesmerized only acted like that when they got close to you. It makes sense,” Simone decided, visibly impressed with this conclusion.

  “So you just won huge brownie points when you beat the hell out of Arthur, didn’t you?”

  “Not on purpose, but yes. Now it sees me as a protector. It wants to go home, Alec.”

  “Those visions we’ve seen when we’re under the attacks, is that its home?” Simone shivered at the memory. “Because that place was terrifying.”

  “Yeah, I think so. And if its world appears that bizarre to us, then what does our world look like to it?”

  “Hell,” Simone sighed. “Sheer hell.”

  “So you think the attacks are defensive?” Alec rubbed at the scowl on his face with his fingertips, obviously attempting to come to terms with what she was saying.

  “No, I don’t think they’re attacks at all. I think it’s just crying out. It’s like Bailey having a tantrum. I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t think it’s trying to hurt us.”

  “But it has, Minji. It has killed so many already,” Alec pointed out.

  “Not on purpose.”

  “Maybe not, but my orders are clear.”

  Simone gave Alec a sharp look. “Orders?”

  “Yes. To close the door to its world and to...eliminate the problem.”

  “Kill it is what you mean.” Simone regarded him with utter disgust.

  “We don’t have a choice.”

  “Yes, we do, Alec,” Minji objected. “We totally do.”

  “An
d what’s our other choice?” Alec asked, his blue eyes meeting her gaze steadily.

  Minji predicted neither one of them would actually like her response, but said anyway. “Open the door and let it go home.”

  Chapter 29

  “No,” Alec said curtly. “Absolutely not.”

  “Why not?” Minji maintained an even tone in an effort to not upset the other inside of Ava, but projected the full weight of her anger in her gaze.

  “My orders are to...do what I was told,” Alec responded, visibly leery of speaking in front of Ava.

  “If it wants to go home, let it go home. Then it will leave us alone!” Simone slanted her upper body toward Alec. “Isn’t that what we all want? If it goes home, we’re free. We get our families back!”

  “What if we open the door and something else comes in? What if we make it worse?” It was understandable that the man was bewildered and frustrated by their argument. “Can’t you see how that’s a real possibility?”

  “What does it matter, Alec?” Simone swung one hand toward the smoke rising from the city skyline in the distance. “How many of us are left? How many have died? If we open the door and something comes through that finishes us off...” Simone’s voice caught and she took a second to steady her emotions. When she did speak again, her voice was thick and rough. “...maybe it will be a mercy.”

  Minji understood Simone’s sentiment, but didn’t agree with it. “The entity accidentally entered our world through an open doorway. I don’t know exactly how it works, but if it’s partially open, what’s stopping something else from coming through?”

  Alec lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “Who knows? Maybe something else has. How can we even tell? All those involved in the project are dead.”

  “What about all the mesmerized?” Simone asked. “The ones walking toward the facility? If you...eliminate the problem, won’t you be eliminating them, too?”

  Alec averted his eyes, his posture slumping. “I don’t want to do that.”

  “Then we don’t,” Simone said vehemently. “We open the door and let the child go home. Then we shut it and hope to God in Heaven everyone wakes up.”