The Mesmerized Read online

  Smooching Bailey’s chubby knee, Minji eyed her husband. After seven years of marriage, they were still madly in love. She’d never believed in forever until Jake, and sometimes she worried that they would somehow drift apart. Throughout their vacation, Minji found herself contemplating other couples. Were they happy? Still madly in love? Did they still appreciate each other? Minji knew a lot of her fears were born out of her parents’ marriage. They’d divorced when she was young and reunited years later after both had married and divorced other partners. Though they now seemed happy, Minji wondered if the second time around would last. Jake’s parents were closing in on forty years of marriage and Minji wanted that for her and her husband.

  “No frowning,” Jake said, playfully trying to wipe way the lines forming between her eyebrows.

  Lightly slapping his hand away, she said, “Not frowning!”

  “You’re forming the Grand Canyon right there,” he joked.

  “That’s what Botox is for,” Minji retorted.

  “What’s Botox?” Ava asked.

  “Something that mommies who frown a lot end up getting,” Jake answered.

  Minji rolled her eyes.

  A diverse assortment of people strolled through the area. From every corner of the world, people had come to enjoy the artificial beauty and play in the dazzling lights. The energy was dynamic and energizing. Since arriving a few days before, Minji had been inspired to draw several new tattoo designs on her tablet.

  A woman in a hijab and sporting a massive Coach purse walked past with a slew of kids in tow eating gelato from the downstairs café. Her weary-looking husband trudged in their wake, gripping huge bouquets of colorful shopping bags. Meanwhile, an elderly gay couple strode hand in hand admiring the scenery and talking in hushed voices. A cluster of pretty black girls surrounded a young woman wearing a wedding veil adorned with colorful condom packets and a pink plastic crown that read ‘Bachelorette.’ Minji hoped Ava didn’t notice the twinkling pink penis necklace around the bride-to-be’s throat.

  The massive passage linking the two resorts snaked alongside the fake Grand Canal before splitting around the atrium that sported the beautiful waterfall tumbling off the second floor into the garden area below. The corridor then continued on to even more shops and restaurants. After days wandering around with their family, Minji was certain she had the layout memorized.

  “Okay, the tigers are at The Mirage. So that’s our first stop,” Jake decided. “Then we can head to the Hard Rock. I want a t-shirt from there.”

  Minji looped the end of the leash a few times around her wrist before taking Ava’s hand. “Perfect. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  “It’s really crowded right now, so everyone stay close. I’m looking at you, Ava.”

  Ava gave her father a plaintive look while tugging on her leash. “I can’t run away!”

  “Good! I’d like my little girl to not go splat in the road.”

  Minji winced at the memory of her daughter dodging into the road to greet Jake when he’d returned from an evening run. Luckily their neighbor had seen her in time and jerked her car onto someone else’s lawn, avoiding Ava completely. The mere idea of losing any of her family was enough to make Minji sick to her stomach.

  Shoving negative thoughts away, Minji kept in her husband’s wake as he threaded through the crowd toward the escalators that descended from either side of the waterfall. The atrium loomed ahead filled with bright sunlight that reflected off the creamy walls and pillars.

  The first sign that something was wrong came when her brain was assailed with what felt like millions of cold needles burrowing into the gray matter. With a whimper, Minji pressed her fingertips to her temples in a futile attempt to stave off the pain. Then the sensation intensified.

  Screams echoed through the vast resort in a horrifying chorus. All around her, people flailed about, or gripped their heads in their hands. Jake grunted and stumbled as Bailey let out a shrill cry. Woozy, Minji reached for her screaming baby just as another stab of unbearable agony tore through her brain, blinding her. Rapidly blinking her eyes, she desperately attempted to restore her sight.

  “Mommy! Mommy!” Ava wailed. “Mommy, my head hurts! I can’t see!”

  Howls of agony reverberated through the mall corridors. Minji tugged on the leash, dragging Ava into her arms. Unable to see, she clutched her daughter close. Paralyzing fear churned in her gut. The pain diminished, but the blindness remained.

  “Jake!”

  “I’m right here.” A familiar, warm hand floundered against her back then found her shoulder. “I’m right here, hon. I got you.”

  Again there was a flash of icy discomfort, then the world returned to sharp focus. To Minji’s horror, blood streamed down the faces of some of the shoppers close to her. Bubbles of the rich liquid formed in their eyes, noses, and ran from their lips. Swaying slightly, the bleeders stared blankly past the faces of their frightened companions. Minji swiftly checked Ava, Bailey and Jake. None of them were bleeding. Lifting Ava onto her hip, Minji pressed against Jake’s side.

  “Jake, are you okay?”

  “My head is killing me,” he answered. “Check the baby.”

  “She’s not bleeding, just crying. What the hell is happening?”

  “I don’t know. Keep Ava close!” Jake wrapped his arms around his wife, pulling her toward the far wall.

  Panicked friends and family members attempted to rouse the blood-covered people from their stupor to no avail. Minji hugged her sobbing daughter even tighter when she saw the woman wearing the hijab shaking one of her small sons and screaming while her husband attempted to check his pulse. The girls from the bachelorette party clustered around the woman in her bridal veil. Blood stained her face and the white t-shirt she wore with the word “Bride” written in glittery gold lettering. One of the bridesmaids was violently slapping the woman, but the bride-to-be remained unmoving.

  “Why are they just standing there, Jake? Why are they bleeding?”

  “Maybe its shock.” Jake guided her past the bridesmaids. “I don’t know. Whatever hit us must have had a more adverse effect on them.”

  “I want to go home!” Ava announced. “Now! I want to go to Austin!”

  “Ava, we’re going home. You just need to give Mommy and Daddy a second to figure out where to go next,” Jake said in a calming tone. “Okay?”

  Ava nodded.

  Another wave of pain and blindness hit Minji, sending her reeling. Pressing her palms against her forehead, she sobbed in despair and fear. The rapid fire assault of the icy needles threading through her brain ceased abruptly. Ava violently threw up her breakfast onto the floor at their feet and Minji fought the urge to follow suit. The reek of vomit filled the air as others lost their meals. The acrid smell made Minji’s eyes water. She fished some tissues out of her messenger bag to wipe Ava’s lips and make sure her mouth was empty so she wouldn’t choke.

  “What is this?” Jake whispered. The horror in his eyes matched her own feelings. She could see and sense his desperation. They had to get their girls away from whatever was attacking the people in the mall.

  In chilling unison, the bleeding men, women, and children crumpled to the red-stained floor.

  Chapter 2

  The fleshy thud of the bleeders striking the floor echoed throughout the shopping area. Instantly, hysteria cleaved the crowd in half. Some ran for the exits while others scrambled to help the wounded.

  “Min, we need to keep the girls away from the infected!” Jake pointed toward a store and started weaving through the frantic throng.

  Minji glanced fearfully at one of blood-soaked victims near her feet. “Infected?”

  “Or whatever the fuck this is.” Jake used his size to plow through the human obstacles.

  Minji stumbled after her husband, pressing Ava into her side. She was buffeted on all sides by the flesh of the fleeing. The blood seeping from the wounded created slick puddles that sent some people sprawling across th
e floor leaving florid red designs in their wake. Fear was a tangible force, growing, pulsating, filling the air already scented with blood, vomit, and sweat.

  “Don’t look, baby. Don’t look,” Minji pleaded.

  Ava’s small fingers dug into Minji’s waist, her whimpers nearly lost in the increasing clamor. The faces of the people orbiting the family were a blur of alarmed eyes and screaming mouths. Minji maintained a firm grip on her daughter, fighting to keep close to Jake as he pushed his way through the tumult while avoiding the fallen people.

  Near a store entrance, the female tourist who had spoken to them earlier was sprawled in an ever-widening pool of blood. At her side was the man with the slicked back hair and tennis whites. Their slack faces, glazed eyes, and still chests heightened Minji’s terror.

  “Jake, are they...?”

  “I think so.”

  Outside the casino, loud booms shook the building. Screams of terror echoed throughout the corridor, drowning out the whimpers and sobs of the stricken. Bloodied victims littered the floor, encircled by those attempting to revive them. Jake found a spot tucked behind a fake potted plant and gathered his family against the wall. Minji flattened her back against the cold surface, attempting to stay out of the way of those hurrying toward the escalators. Ava clung to Minji, but reached out to grip the rough fabric of her father’s shorts for reassurance. Jake lightly brushed his fingers over his daughter’s cheek before he fished his cellphone out of his pocket and tapped on the screen.

  “I’ll call for help.”

  Knowing her husband well, Minji understood he was striving to take control of the situation. Jake was always proactive. If there was a problem, he tried to resolve it. If a mistake was made, he tried to fix it. Surveying the surreal and tumultuous scene, Minji knew that it would take more than one stubborn Swede to set things right. Yet Jake would try because that was his nature and one of the things she dearly loved about him.

  Stroking Ava’s hair with one hand and wiping away Bailey’s tears with the other, Minji struggled against the growing dread filling her. She couldn’t comprehend what was transpiring. It was difficult to even accept the current happening as reality. It was like being trapped inside a nightmare and unable to awaken.

  “All circuits are busy. I can’t get through to 911.” Jake glared at the phone, and then pocketed it with a grunt.

  “Everyone's calling.” Minji gestured toward several young men nearby that were on their cellphones.

  “Then help is on the way,” Jake said, but his tone sounded doubtful.

  “Mommy, I’m scared!” Ava whimpered.

  “It’ll be okay, Ava,” Minji promised, though she wasn’t too sure if her words were true.

  A cluster of dazed shoppers bustled past, ushering their families toward the escalators. Some were tripping in their haste, and there was an increasing chance of people being trampled. Huddling together, Jake and Minji endeavored to avoid the wild flow of the crowd.

  “What do we do, Jake?”

  Both daughters were sobbing loudly and Minji felt close to joining them. Ava’s face was pressed firmly into her mother’s side and since Minji’s t-shirt was hitched upward, her hip was smeared with the snot and tears of her daughter.

  “We need to get away from here. We should hold up in the hotel room and wait until the authorities let us know what to do next.” Jake’s blue eyes worriedly scanned the pandemonium before them. “It’s just going to be tricky getting to the elevators.”

  Bailey’s snuffles tugged at Minji’s heart and she reached up to console the baby.

  “Leave her in the backpack, Min. She’s safer in there for now. Carry Ava and keep close, okay?”

  Lifting her whimpering eldest daughter onto her hip, Minji nodded. Jake was always level-headed, but fear for his children’s safety eroded his usual calm demeanor. His heightened color and the obvious worry in his eyes were unsettling. As though sensing her disquiet at his ruffled exterior, he slung an arm around Minji and kissed her lips before leaning down to press one to Ava’s cheek.

  “We’re going to be okay,” he said to his daughter, and if the confidence filling his voice was fake, Minji didn’t care. Rising, he said to his wife, “We’ll deal with this together.”

  Minji nodded. “I know.”

  “Ready?”

  “Yeah,” she lied.

  Gripping her hand, Jake started to push through the human stampede.

  The next wave of disorientation seized not only Minji’s brain, but her body. Stuttering to a halt, she was immobilized by the sensation of icy water rushing over her flesh and freezing her limbs. Ava slipped from her grasp and hit the floor with a resounding thump. Unable to move or cry out, Minji fought against the overwhelming power attempting to subsume her. A black void swallowed her eyesight, rendering her blind once again. This incident felt different from the preceding ones. This time, the power that seized her mind and body felt absolute, terrible, and eternal.

  No,no,no,no...

  For the single beat of her heart, her eyesight returned, but the world was transformed into a miasma of brilliant colors. Eerie voices rose in an off-key chorus of unimaginable beauty. The shocking, abysmal magnificence of what she was witnessing left her on the verge of madness.

  Was she seeing heaven or hell?

  As abruptly as it had come, the glorious, incomprehensible vision vanished, leaving Minji trembling in the wake of what she’d experienced. Darkness returned, but the blindness was welcomed after the terrible hallucination she had suffered.

  In increments, mobility returned to her body. Warm liquid trickled from her nose and a coppery taste seeped between her lips. With quivering fingers, she wiped blood from her face.

  The mall was eerily quiet. At first Minji thought she’d been deafened by the latest attack, but then her ears detected the rumble of the waterfall. Minji sucked in a harsh breath through her chattering teeth as her sight returned.

  Every person in the area was unmoving, unblinking, and silent. Those who had been helping the bleeders now stood next to the dead in perfect mockery of stone sentinels over quiet graves. No one moved or gave any indication of awareness. It was as if the scene had been caught and suspended in a single moment of time.

  “Jake!” Minji gasped. “Jake! What’s happening?” She pivoted toward her husband.

  The tall Swede was completely still, blue eyes staring straight ahead. Jake didn’t flinch when she grabbed his arm and shook him.

  “Jake! Wake up! Please, babe, wake up! We need you!”

  Her husband remained impassive. Though his chest moved with breath and his eyes blinked every few seconds, he didn’t respond to her increasingly desperate cries. Slapping her hands against his chest, Minji attempted to awaken him.

  Whirling about, she mewled in despair when she saw Ava among the human statues. Dark eyes unfocused, Ava didn’t react when Minji clutched her arms and gave her a frantic shake.

  “Ava, Ava, please, look at mommy. Look at me!”

  The five year old remained stock-still and silent.

  With a sob, Minji pressed her palms against the rounded cheeks of the little girl. “Please, Ava, if you can hear me, look at me.”

  Minji’s heart sank when Ava’s gaze remained blank.

  Fighting against the heavy weight of fear and despair, Minji straightened and took several deep shuddering breaths of the much colder air. The phantom touch of a thousand strands of spider silk drifted over her flesh. She shivered.

  Hugging herself, Minji warily scrutinized the still forms around her. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe this wasn’t terrorism. What if this event was the manifestation of something not human? Pushing that irrational speculation out of her mind, she wrestled her fear under control and focused her thoughts. If she could move, then someone else may be immune as well.

  “Hello! Is anyone else able to move? Or speak?” Minji shouted, her voice reverberating through the long corridors and courtyard.

  There was no answer except for th
e noise of the waterfall.

  How could she be surrounded by people, yet feel so alone?

  Grabbing Jake’s arm again, Minji gave him a violent tug. “Jake, wake up! Wake up!”

  A stuttering cry burst out from the baby.

  “Bailey! Bailey!” Minji anxiously stretched out her hand to soothe her youngest.

  Over Jake’s broad shoulder, Bailey’s small mouth twisted into an ugly shape as she let out a bloodcurdling shriek. Fists clenched, the baby girl unleashed wails that made the already horrifying situation even more fraught with emotion.

  “Please don’t cry, Bailey! It’s okay! I’m here!”

  Even though Jake hadn’t wanted to remove Bailey from the backpack earlier, Minji couldn’t stand for her baby to be in distress. She raised her unsteady fingers to free her daughter from the contraption.

  Jake moved sharply to one side.

  From the depths of her soul came a rush of hope that chased away the dour thoughts laying siege to her mind. Once Jake shook of the full effects of the attack, they’d escape this insanity and find help. “Jake! Oh, thank God, you’re waking up!”

  Then as quickly as her spirits had risen, they were dashed when Minji realized that everyone else had moved in sync with Jake. All were now facing toward the atrium. Swaying slightly on their feet, the transfixed people reminded Minji of marionettes hanging from the strings of a puppeteer.

  Chapter 3

  Bailey let out another sharp cry. Again, Minji lifted her hands to free her child from the backpack. One chubby hand gripped Minji’s fingers as Bailey screeched. The unsettling sensation of cold mist slinking over her flesh sent quivers of fear through Minji’s limbs. The icy pinpricks once again assailed her brain, but this time did not pierce as deeply as before. To her relief, she remained in control of her body and didn’t endure another bout of blindness.

  In unison, the mesmerized people moved forward, the slap of their feet against the floor echoing throughout the vast building.