The Mesmerized (6 page)

Minji was almost to where Jake was splayed
beneath a pyramid of humans when out of the corner of her eye she
spotted someone scampering around the remains of those who had been
trampled or fallen. Whipping about, she spotted a short, slight man
with a receding hairline dressed in jeans and a wine-colored shirt
rushing away from the direction of The Palazzo Casino.

“Wait! Wait!” she cried out, waving her
hands.

The man stuttered to a stop and stared at
her in shock.

“Please, help me,” Minji continued, her
voice cracking slightly. Now that help was in sight, she was
trembling from the rush of adrenaline. “I need help with my husband
and children.”

“I...I...you’re not one of them,” the
stranger said, pointing toward the casino. “I thought I was the
only one inside that wasn’t affected.”

“I’m okay, too. It’s not taking control of
me. But my husband fell. He’s under...” she gestured toward the
bodies, her voice fading. “Can you please help me?”

Bailey let out another high pitched wail of
distress.

Jumping in fright, the man backed away a few
steps.

“Those are my daughters. The baby isn’t
affected, but my older daughter is. Please, I need to help my
husband.”

Jerking about as he surveyed the area, the
man’s expression grew increasingly horrified. “It’s worse here than
in the casino.”

“People fell...my husband fell.”

Gesturing, yet not really looking at her,
the man said, “We have to get outside. It’s not over the entire
city. I saw the news report on the television back in the casino.
We need to exit through The Venetian and head south. That’s where
they said to go on the news.” The man spoke in a rush of breathless
words. He looked directly at her then. “Why isn’t it affecting
us?”

“What is it? Did the news say?”

“No, no!” He shook his head, and then his
eyes trailed over her form. Minji instantly felt his judgment as he
took in her black and purple dreads and alternative clothing.
Shifting his gaze to her daughters, he took several tentative steps
away from her. “I need to go!”

“Please, help me! My husband is hurt!”

“I’m not a nurse, lady! I need to get out of
here!”

He bolted down the hallway toward the Grand
Canal Shoppes in The Venetian side of the resort.

“Asshole!” Minji screamed after him.

Her words echoed after his fading
footsteps.

Glancing toward her daughters, she was
relieved that both girls were still secure. Bailey’s face was beet
red from her temper tantrum. Ava continued to face the direction of
the casino, but didn’t appear to be straining on the leash.

It was gut wrenchingly awful to step over
the dead and wounded, and even worse to shove them out of her way
with the toes of her boots. Nearing the waterfall, she gulped in
the cold, moist air and clenched her hands into fists. Jake’s
blood-splattered shoes were visible under the sprawled form of an
elderly man. Fear strangled her and froze her in place. If Jake was
dead, how would she endure it? How could she live, knowing he was
gone?

With a hiccupping sob, she leaned over and
pushed the old man aside. A young black woman and a red-headed
white teenage boy also covered Jake. The boy’s head was bashed in
on one side, and he was clearly dead. Minji averted her eyes as she
rolled him off Jake. When she thrust the female to one side, the
woman groaned. Lethargically, her eyelids fluttered open and she
stared past Minji with big dark eyes. Very slowly, she rotated onto
her stomach and started to crawl across the bodies of the
others.

“Let me help you,” Minji called after her
before realizing the woman was mesmerized. “Oh, fuck.” It would be
just her luck that the only other person not affected had been a
jerk and had left her to deal with the situation alone.

Kneeling next to Jake, Minji rested her hand
against his neck praying she’d feel a pulse. Her husband rested on
his stomach, his arm twisted and obviously broken. Head turned
toward the basin, his face was pale and his elegant nose was bloody
and a bit battered. Closing her eyes, she frantically searched for
the sign of his heart beating. Despite his proximity to the pool of
water, he still felt warm.

“Please, Jake, please...”

She was rewarded with the faint pulse of his
blood pumping through an artery.

“Oh, thank God!”

With an exhalation of relief, she ran her
fingers over his body seeking out injuries. One leg appeared to be
broken and the foot on the opposite one was twisted. There was no
way to tell if he had internal injuries, but he didn’t appear to
have any wounds to his head other than his bashed nose. Blood
bubbled in the nostrils as he breathed, so she hoped that was a
good sign.

“I love you,” she whispered in his ear,
kissed his cheek, and then started to remove the baby backpack from
his still form. It was difficult to work it loose, but she
eventually managed to pry it off. It appeared to possibly be in
working order, but she set it aside. She couldn’t get Bailey into
it alone.

Carefully rotating Jake onto his back, she
tenderly stroked his face. She had no idea how she’d get him out of
the area, but at least he was alive and didn’t appear to be in
mortal danger. Of course, she had zero medical knowledge, but she
thought his color looked okay considering his injuries.

“I’m going for help,” Minji said, though she
knew Jake probably couldn’t hear her. “I have the girls with me and
they’re fine.” Glancing toward the injured young woman scooting her
body along the floor after the other mesmerized, Minji rubbed the
tears from her eyes. “Don’t wake up, Jake. Not yet. I don’t want to
have to find you like that.”

Bailey’s tantrum was reduced to hiccupping
sobs of despair. It was time to get back to the baby and Ava.
Reluctant to leave Jake, but knowing she had to in order to get
assistance, Minji kissed his lips tenderly before rising. If it was
true that the event hadn’t affected all of Las Vegas, maybe help
was on the way.

Gritting her teeth to keep from screaming or
crying, Minji returned to her daughters. Once Bailey was safely in
her arms and Ava staggered at the end of the leash, Minji started
in the direction of the main entrance of The Venetian that lay
beyond the Grand Canal.

It took all her willpower not to look back
at the still shape of her husband resting at the base of the
waterfall.

The journey through The Venetian Casino was
more harrowing psychologically than physically. Most of the
mesmerized had departed the area, leaving corpses behind to mar the
opulence of the casino. The chairs around the tables were toppled
and strewn about like trees discarded after a tornado and dark
stains of blood covered the lush carpeting. The gilded glory of the
frescos and chandeliers seemed more appropriate for a cathedral now
that the grand room had been transformed into a place of the
dead.

Minji rushed her daughters through the
disarray and toward the lobby of The Venetian. Kicking away chairs
that blocked her path, she guided Ava around the carnage while
whispering soothing words to Bailey. The baby’s face was firmly
planted against her mother’s neck as she chewed on the tips of
Minji’s dreads. Though the slot machines boisterously announced
their presence, the absence of humanity was incredibly
disconcerting. This was Las Vegas, a place that never slept, but it
now appeared empty and abandoned by the living.

Reaching the lobby, Minji half-jogged,
half-walked along the palatial hallway toward the exit. The
gleaming marble floor with its diamond design reflected the
luminous brightness of the recessed lighting giving the elegant
beauty a celestial appearance. Corinthian marble pillars gilded
with gold ascended toward the high arched ceiling festooned with
frescos and murals reminiscent of the artwork of the great Italian
artists. The only detractor of such awe-inspiring craftsmanship was
the bodies of those stricken in the first few attacks.

Near the entrance, the golden globe fountain
consisting of interlocked rings held up by armless mermaids loomed
before her. The rush of the water sent a shiver through her limbs
at the memory of the earlier chaos at the waterfall. She had to
find help for Jake and all the other wounded, and hopefully find
out exactly what was happening within the walls of the majestic
resort.

She shoved open the doors to the outside,
and a blast of hot summer air chased the chill from her limbs.
Minji blinked rapidly until her eyes adjusted to the natural
brightness of the day lurking just beyond the massive arcade that
offered shade to the arriving vehicles. Above her head were the
paintings that had so enthralled Ava upon their arrival days
earlier. Spherical gilded frames housing the artwork looped across
the ceiling as a precursor to the grandeur within the building. The
engines of taxi cabs, shuttle buses, rental cars, and family
vehicles rumbled despite being abandoned. Luggage, purses, toys and
other personal possessions were scattered across the ground.

“Ma’am, I need you to come this way,” a male
voice boomed.

Startled, Minji took a hesitant step
forward. She saw several men in black armor and gasmasks motioning
from up the drive. Beyond them were ambulances, police vehicles,
and several black vans with no identifying emblems. People in full
hazmat gear were rushing about erecting tents. Help had arrived and
her body sagged with relief and exhaustion as the adrenaline rush
finally dissipated in her system.

“Ma’am, come here,” the voice called
out.

Lifting Ava onto her hip, Minji scampered
forward. “My husband is inside. He’s hurt. So are a lot of other
people! You need to help them!”

Feet sloshing in her wet boots, Minji felt
the weight of all that she’d just experienced bearing down on her
as she neared the heavily armored police officers. A little past
them, she saw the man that had refused to help her speaking with
several officials in hazmat suits.

The officer who had called her over took her
arm in his gloved hand and guided her toward the waiting
ambulances. “You’re going to be okay, ma’am.”

The tears she’d been suppressing flowed
unhindered now that she and the children were safe. Through her
blurry sight, she saw Las Vegas Boulevard crammed with people and
vehicles. Sirens, booming voices over p.a. systems, and the cries
of the scared masses being shepherded southward filled the air. It
was sweet music to Minji’s ears after the disconcerting silence
within the resort.

“My husband is hurt. Can you please send
someone inside to get him?”

“We’ll do what we can, ma’am.”

The dark eyes beyond the face mask were
somber and the tone was strangely non-committal. The bitter taste
of fear crawled up from her gullet to stain her tongue.

“There are a lot of people hurt in there,”
she persisted. “You need to send in the paramedics.”

A woman clad in a white hazmat suit with a
badge indicating she was from the CDC motioned for the police
officer to bring Minji over to a small tent where various types of
equipment was set up on sturdy looking portable tables. The guy in
the wine-colored shirt gave Minji a dismissive look before offering
his arm to another CDC official armed with a syringe.

“These people will help you,” the police
officer said, releasing his hold on her.

“You need to go in there,” Minji insisted.
“Please, my husband needs help.”

With a sigh, the officer said, “Ma’am, we’re
doing the best we can to help everyone.” He gestured toward the Las
Vegas Strip. “We’re trying to save everyone.”

“What’s happening?” Minji demanded.

The female doctor stretched out a hand to
guide her into the tent, but Minji stepped out of reach.

“Tell me what it is!”

“We don’t know,” the woman answered, her
breath misting the clear mask. “That’s why I need to ask you some
questions.”

“How can you not know?” Minji stared at the
woman incredulously. “Shouldn’t the authorities have a better idea
about this sort of attack than regular folks? What can I know?”

The police officer, intimidating in his
black garb, again took her arm and ushered Minji into the tent.
“Ma’am, please understand we’re trying to help.”

Minji shrugged off his hand, and tightened
her hold on her daughters.

The police officer retreated a few steps,
but didn’t depart.

“I have to ask you some questions,” the
woman said, picking up a tablet.

Staring beyond the doctor, it dawned on
Minji that there were two distinctive groups of people on the
strip. To the north, a crowd was slowly walking past the other
casinos, their bobbing heads in perfect sync. With a sinking heart,
Minji realized it was the mesmerized. Thick black trails of smoke
snaked into the clear blue sky. How far had the attack
extended?

The south was chaos. Cars clogged the street
while police officers attempted to direct traffic. People ran on
foot, clutching the hands of loved ones and their luggage.
Helicopters swarmed overhead. Some appeared to be from the news
outlets, but others had the markings of the police or Life Flight.
Two black helicopters with no markings hovered over the boulevard.
Minji noted none were flying in the area north of The Venetian.

She found it difficult to take a breath.
“It’s just not inside the casino.”

“No, it’s not.”

“But not all of Las Vegas?”

“No. It’s not affecting all of Las Vegas. In
fact, we’re near the dividing line that separates the event from
the rest of the world. Most of Nevada is being affected though,
which is why I need you to answer my questions. I need to know
everything you experienced and witnessed.” The face behind the mask
was free of makeup, and freckles stood out starkly against the
ivory skin. The doctor lifted her hand as if to sweep a lock of the
red hair that was barely visible beneath the mask from her face.
She caught herself in mid-motion and lowered her hand.