The Mesmerized by Rhiannon Frater

out on our cell
phones. They’re keeping it all hush-hush.”
    “Or a cell tower went down, which is more
likely,” Simone said with a shake of her head.
    Arthur gave her a disdainful look. “There is
a whole lot more going on than you know.”
    “Uh huh.” Simone chuckled and kept
walking.
    A few more footsteps brought them closer to
the vehicle. Hard thumps resounded from within.
    “They’re trying to get out,” Simone
observed. “They don’t know how to get out. That’s how my driver
was, too. He kept battering himself against the steering wheel. He
wanted to join the others, but didn’t know how.”
    Somewhere up the boulevard came a series of
sharp popping noises followed by loud whooshes. The situation was
growing direr by the minute.
    “We should get them out,” Minji said,
feeling the weary burden of responsibility settle on her psyche.
How could she keep walking and not help? There were so many in need
it was impossible to assist everyone. If she could rescue a few,
however, she would try to do so. It was the right thing to do.
    “No way! We keep moving! You did just hear
those explosions, right?” Arthur rammed the stretcher into her hip
to keep her moving.
    “Hey!”
    “They might be safer in there then out
here,” Simone said significantly, her dark eyes resting on a spot
beyond them.
    Directing her attention to the boulevard,
Minji wondered if Simone was right, and for a split second,
considered returning to The Venetian. The mesmerized continued to
march to the north. The endless stream wove through the wreckage in
a mass of stumbling flesh. Most were injured, some grievously.
Despite the wounds inflicted on their bodies by the car collisions,
helicopter wreckage, fire, and debris cloud, they continued
walking. Some were so severely burned Minji couldn’t tell if they
were male or female. Most likely the only reason they were able to
even move was because they were mesmerized. The reek of burned
flesh sifted through the face mask and Minji found it difficult not
to retch.
    “Leave them inside the van,” Simone decided.
“It’s more humane.”
    With a mute nod, Minji agreed and they
continued down the drive. When they reached the wide footway, they
found it littered with bodies, crashed vehicles, chunks of
helicopters, and rubble. The mesmerized filled the road and spilled
onto the sidewalk. It would be challenging to find a path for the
stretcher.
    “We should get off the boulevard,” Arthur
suggested. “There are so many people...”
    “I have a feeling every road will be like
this,” Simone answered. “And with the way things are deteriorating,
we shouldn’t take detours.”
    “I say we try the straight shot unless it
becomes impassable. I hate to say it but,” Minji gestured toward
the devastation in the direction of the airport and the Luxor, “all
that destruction is thinning the herd.”
    With a weary, defeated sigh, Arthur dipped
his head. “Fine.”
    With Bailey snoozing on her back, Minji
threaded her way through the tangle of bodies and wreckage. She
attempted to keep a little distance between their small group and
the crowd of mesmerized, but it became increasingly impossible to
maneuver through the maze of crashed cars. Eventually, they ended
up as part of the silent parade.
    The journey was agonizingly slow at times.
Arthur made it more difficult by jumping whenever one of the
mesmerized brushed against him. Once he nearly toppled the
stretcher.
    “They’re not zombies,” Minji hissed.
    Arthur shot her a doubting look, but helped
with the stretcher again.
    Simone remained silent, watching the
surroundings intently. Like Arthur, she appeared wary of the
mesmerized, but wasn’t as high-strung. Minji understood their
discomfort. Being engulfed in the crowd of mesmerized was eerie.
The vacant expressions, the terrible wounds, and slow pace were
unnervingly reminiscent of the zombies in horror movies. Minji
understood, though, that the transfixed people were victims