The Mesmerized by Rhiannon Frater Page B

saw awareness in their
depths, but she had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t Jake
watching her. She shivered inwardly.
    “What is it?” Arthur demanded.
    “Nothing,” Minji lied. “Just a chill.”
    “It’s really cold in here,” Arthur
agreed.
    Simone swung open the front doors. “And out
here...this day just keeps getting stranger and stranger.”
    As she neared the open doorway and the cool
air from outside swirled around Minji’s tattooed flesh, she
couldn’t agree more with Simone’s sentiment.

Chapter 12
     
    The air was breathable, but thick and
cloying. The dark ash drifted on the wind, obscuring the sunlight
enough to mimic twilight. The fake lagoon was no longer a
tantalizing blue, but dark with bits of helicopter chunks poking
out of the depths. Toward the south, smoke churned into the air
like the breath of countless dragons. Treasure Island’s face was
blackened by the thick plumes rising from the fires burning in the
lower floors. It resembled a scene out of a disaster movie.
    Yet everything that was happening was
Minji’s new reality. The only hope she had of escaping from it was
to find help somehow.
    Simone kindly helped cover Bailey’s mouth
with the neckline of the baby’s t-shirt, while Minji shielded Ava’s
by doing the same thing. Her daughter’s dark eyes stared up at her,
devoid of emotion or any sign of comprehension. On the stretcher
Jake strained to keep his gaze pinned on Minji, but his eyes, too,
were devoid of his personality. The longer the phenomena continued,
the more unsettling it became. Minji was starting to wonder if
their persistent stares were really a sign of them gradually
awakening. She tried to cling to hope, but it was already sifting
through her fingers like vapor.
    Arthur dashed around inside the tents
searching for face masks and managed to produce enough for
everyone. His jubilant expression rendered his dour face rather
pleasant and Minji pondered if the current circumstances had
brought out the worst in his personality. Though there had already
been many times when she’d wanted to sit and sob at the sheer
awfulness of what she was suffering, she’d shoved all those
emotions to the back of her mind in order to concentrate on the
undertaking of rescuing her family. She was not her usual vibrant
self, but a darker variation.
    “See! I know what I’m talking about,” he
said with a cocky tilt of his chin.
    Simone took a mask grudgingly. “So you
did...in this case.”
    Minji claimed masks for her and the
children. To her surprise, Arthur set about putting one on Jake.
“Thank you, Arthur.”
    It took a little work to get Bailey to wear
the mask and not tear it off, but Simone maintained an eye on the
baby for Minji. The face mask wasn’t particularly comfortable, but
it made it easier to breathe.
    Once the small group was ready, Simone
carried the diaper bag and held Ava’s hand while Arthur pushed the
stretcher as Minji guided it. In silence, they trudged down the
long drive toward the boulevard, winding around the emergency
vehicles and black vans. What were these strange vehicles with no
markings? Minji was mystified by their appearance. Stepping toward
the nearest one, Minji craned her head, attempting to peer inside,
but the windows were tinted so dark it was impossible.
    “I wonder where these are from,” Minji
speculated aloud.
    “Black ops,” Arthur suggested.
    “What’s that?” Minji cast a curious look his
way.
    “Uh, those secret government agencies. We
are in Nevada. They have all sorts of secret bases out here,
remember?”
    Simone bestowed the man with skeptical glare
while Minji mulled this over.
    “They were here really quickly, weren’t
they?” Arthur waved a hand at all the rescue vehicles. “The CDC was
here immediately. I think they knew this was going to go down.”
    “How?” Simone asked. “How would they
know?”
    “A terrorist threat probably. Something the
NSA picked up. That’s probably why we can’t call