Stepping forward, Minji peered over the desk and saw a man in uniform lying alongside a woman. Both were dead and the stench of decay hung in the air. On the desk under a bit of clear plastic was a layout of the facility. Minji fished it out and studied it. A lot of areas were blacked out and some rooms had no names. Alec had mentioned the name of one of the scientists and it took her only a few seconds to locate his office. Checking over her shoulder at the long, dimly lit hallway, she wondered if Arthur had seen the same layout.
“I’m going to get a weapon,” Minji said to Ava and the other. Though she had no idea how to use a gun, she supposed she could use it to scare Arthur if she had to. She ducked around the desk and squatted next to the soldier. The holster was empty.
“Shit.”
Rushing after Arthur was a bad idea if he was armed. He was already crazed with grief and highly suspicious of her and Ava. She was almost certain he would shoot her. Arthur was immune to the mother entity’s influence, but not the child’s. If only she could find out how long it would take for the child’s powers to recover.
Minji studied the diagram again. She was fairly certain the largest blacked out area was where the doorway was located. Shoving the card into her jeans, she chewed on her bottom lip, mulling over a new plan.
Arthur was most likely looking for the tablet, or the child. Minji couldn’t be sure if Alec had made up the tablet, or not. If she tried to locate Arthur, he’d probably shoot her on sight. If she made her way to the control room for the experiment, then maybe she could find a way to barricade the door to protect the child until she could figure out what to do next.
A quick look at the elevator revealed that the glass panel was muted. Did that mean it was ready and on its way up to the surface? Or was it still resetting? Either way, she didn’t have time to wait around for Alec.
“Shit,” she muttered again, then hurried along the hallway holding Ava on her hip.
Clutching the paper in one hand, she navigated through the facility’s corridors past rooms littered with dead bodies. The cold, stale air barely held a whiff of rot. Perhaps there were special air filters in the air conditioner. After the last day, Minji was glad for it.
Wary of the hallway leading to a block of offices, she scampered past it and darted down a stairwell. Worn concrete steps and yellowish lighting created a bleak, foreboding atmosphere. The closer she came to the lower floors, the more misgivings she suffered.
What if Arthur was already down here? She had passed out in the elevator for a brief period of time. Or hadn’t it been brief? She actually had no real sense of time anymore.
At the bottom of the stairs, she hesitated and timidly poked her head around the corner. A massive room spread out before her. It was far wider than it was tall, giving it a squat appearance. The walls were roughly hewn and a matrix of lights sprawled across the ceiling. A small, one story concrete structure stood a few feet away. A heavy metal door with a glowing glass panel stood open at one end.
Cautiously, Minji edged out into the massive room.
Ava let out a small whimper.
The sound echoed.
Stepping over bodies and pools of blood, Minji approached the open doorway. Death surrounded her, but she couldn’t let it affect her. All her energy had to be on saving everyone. She was almost to the door when another simpering cry echoed throughout the vast room.
It had to be the other.
Reaching the open entryway, she cautiously peered inside. Lights blinked on the vast array of consoles and panels and cast an eerie glow over the faces of the dead. A wide bank of thick windows looked out over the main room. What Minji hadn’t been able to see on her approach was that near the center of the room a section was set up with clear plastic sheeting. It reminded her of a fumigation tent with all the thick hoses snaking around the exterior and the heavy machinery humming nearby. Within the plastic tent was a baby incubator.
Ava pointed at the setup and made an odd noise in her throat.
“That’s you,” Minji whispered.
“Baaby,” Ava answered.
A scuff of a heel jerked Minji’s attention to the door. A shadow flitted over the threshold and she bolted behind a bank of large servers.
“Minji?” Alec’s voice whispered. “Minji, you here?”
“You made it,” she said with relief, coming out of hiding.
“How did you make it? You should have been knocked out.” Alec touched her cheek then Ava’s. “Both of you.”
“It’s the child entity.” Minji pointed to her head. “I felt it do something to my brain to keep me awake. I’m not sure what. I can’t feel it now though. Are Simone and Bailey okay?”
“They’re outside waiting. The mesmerized calmed down after you entered the elevator.”
“Deputy Hatcher?”
“Dead.” Alec sighed.
“So tired of people dying,” Minji grumbled.
“At least you’re okay. Have you seen Arthur?”
Minji shook her head. “And he has a gun now.”
“Shit.” Alec pushed on the door, and it swung shut with a hiss. “Okay, we need to get this done. Now.”
“Is there really a tablet in that doctor’s office?”
“No. I lied.” Alec shrugged. “I was trying to buy us time.” Withdrawing the tablet, Alec typed in a password. “It wouldn’t have done Arthur any good anyway. He doesn’t know how to access it.” The screen opened to the application Dr. McCoy had been working on when she died and Alec exited out. “Okay, the file has downloaded, so I just have to follow the steps.”
When the manual popped onto the screen, Minji leaned forward to study it. “Complete with pictures, huh?”
“Step by step instructions,” Alec gave her a small grin. “We can do this. Now to find out how to open the doorway.” Swiping through the directions, Alec’s brow furrowed with concentration. “Okay, found it.”
“Good, good.”
Lifting his eyes, Alec said, “Are you sure, Minji? Absolutely sure that the mother is on the other side and only wants her baby?”
Doubt pricked at her mind.
“Minji?”
“Why are you asking me now?”
“It brought all those people here. Why did it do that?”
The words almost choked her as Minji placed the final piece into the puzzle. “So we wouldn’t kill the baby. Like Deputy Hatcher taking me hostage, she did the same. But she couldn’t communicate with us.”
Alec hesitated, then said, “Okay. But one or both of them also killed millions, Minji.”
“They were torn apart. Separated. Afraid. They’ve both been reaching out to me, Alec.” Though parted by choice, Minji longed to hold Bailey in her arms again. She could only imagine the pain of having a child torn away.
“They’re not human, Minji. We are. Our world needs to come first. If I open that portal, the mother will be waiting. And that scares me shitless.”
Minji covered her face with both hands. She’d been so determined to save her family, the world, and the baby entity, she hadn’t really considered if the mother would take vengeance on them. What would she do in the mother’s place?
“Is she going to come through and finish what she’s started, Minji? We have to ask ourselves that.”
“No, no. She won’t. She just wants her child.” A tiny sliver of doubt still pricked at her. The mother entity had gone to great lengths to appeal for help. That had to be important.
“You sound unsure, Minji.”
“No. No. I’m sure,” she responded, lifting her chin. “I’m sure.”
“Okay then.” Alec exhaled, placing both hands on the console. “After careful evaluation of the situation, I have made the decision to open the doorway to return the child. That’s our story. Understand? I made the choice. Not you. Me. That’s our official story.”
“Alec...” He sounded like he was taking the fall for her.
“Minji, I don’t want to set off a nuclear bomb and kill all those peo
ple out there. I don’t want to kill you, the girls, Simone, Jesse, or your husband. I have sworn a sacred oath to protect all of you. I am more than willing to give my life to save the world, but they have no choice.” Alec scrubbed his knuckles beneath his cheekbones. “I’m so fucking scared, I’m numb. But I’m also making the choice that if she comes through looking for vengeance, I will activate that bomb.” Pointing between two consoles, he said, “One opens the portal. The other sets the bomb. I’m going to set up for both. Okay?”
Wordlessly, Minji nodded.
“Watch the door. If Arthur tries to come in, the panel will dull. Tell me immediately. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Maybe it was the gas from earlier, or the rush of adrenaline leaving her system, but exhaustion settled onto her body like a warm, soggy blanket. Leaning against the wall, she snuggled Ava against her chest.
“The baby is sad, Mommy. They hurt her when they made her come here. She wants to go home,” Ava whispered.
“Ava?” Minji gasped.
“She keeps crying for her mommy, but her mommy can’t come get her. Are you going to help the baby go home?” Ava tucked her arms around Minji’s neck and snuggled into her.
“Oh, Ava! It let you go!” Minji showered her daughter with kisses, joy burning in her chest.
“She’s just scared, Mommy. The bad people took her away from her mommy. And when her mommy came to get her, they tried to hurt her mommy. The baby was so scared, she thought a bad thing and it happened.” Ava’s bottom lip trembled. “She didn’t mean to do the bad thing. She really didn’t.”
“I know, sweetie. I know.” Minji swept Ava’s thick curls back from her face. It was a relief to see her daughter’s personality filling her sweet features.
“I want to see the baby, Mommy. Can I see the baby before she goes home?”
“You need to stay in here,” Alec said in a firm voice. “There’s a bad man outside.”
“But the baby feels sick. I want to give her a toy to make her feel better,” Ava protested.
“It’s probably hungry and needs to go home,” Minji said while hoisting Ava onto her hip. She never wanted to let her daughter out of her arms again until maybe college.
Alec worked feverishly at the array of instruments, checking screens, reading the tablet, darting back and forth while flipping switches and hitting buttons.
“How soon?”
“A few more minutes,” Alec answered.
Minji slanted her upper body to look out the thick glass windows at the clear plastic tent. She could barely make out something moving about in the incubator. A part of her wanted to see the child, but she was also a little afraid. A long shadow flowed along the floor outside. It took Minji a second to realize it was cast by someone walking along the side of the building so their body was illuminated by some of the stronger lights.
“He’s out there,” Minji gasped.
Arthur stepped into view, the weapon he stole from the dead soldier clasped in one hand. Bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet, he didn’t appear to see Alec and Minji inside the control booth. Arthur’s head swiveled back and forth as he studied the vast room, then started toward the tent.
“Mommy, what’s he going to do?” Ava whimpered.
“Stay here, Ava,” Minji ordered, setting her daughter down.
“You can’t go out there!” Alec whipped about. “He’ll shoot you.”
“Finish what you’re doing,” Minji replied, jerking the key card out of her pocket.
“Minji—”
“If he kills the baby, I won’t be able to live with myself. And we’re not even sure if we can close the door all the way if the mother is partially wedged in it, right? Which means we’ll still have to open the door and she’ll find the baby dead!” Minji swiped the card over the glass and the door hissed open.
“Take my gun.” Alec held out his weapon.
“It won’t do me any good. I have no idea how to shoot it.”
Minji slipped through the doorway and ran quietly to the corner. Peeking around it, she saw Arthur walking cautiously toward the tent. Unzipping her boots, she slid her feet out then tugged off her socks. The floor was cold, but she was able to move quietly on her bare toes.
Arthur was so intent on the baby he appeared oblivious to his surroundings. Body visibly shaking, his footfalls thumped heavily against the concrete floor and echoed through the room, obliterating even the slightest sound of Minji creeping along behind him. When he reached the tent, he stepped over the numerous bodies surrounding it, shoved back the flap, and stepped into the plastic tunnel that led to the interior.
Crouching, Minji glanced at the control room. The windows reflected the overhead light, obscuring Alec. On her toes, Minji edged toward the entrance to the tent, ignoring the tacky feel of the drying blood against her skin. Arthur’s sobs of despair were muffled by the plastic. The obviously distraught man wiped at his face with his hands when he reached the antechamber inside. Unable to push open the doorway flaps, he tucked his weapon into his belt and fumbled with the zipper that bisected the door.
Seeing an opportunity, Minji hurtled through the long tube and tackled Arthur just as he finished. Together they tumbled into the inner room, crashing against the incubator. It wobbled but stayed erect. The plastic floor was slippery and Minji fought to find traction as Arthur scrabbled at her body, trying to grapple her.
“Stupid bitch!” he roared.
Managing to roll onto her side, she kicked him using the inside of her ankle, knocking him aside. Arthur recovered then lunged for her. He’d obviously never been in a real fight. Instead of hitting her to keep her down, he attempted to pin her with both hands. Spittle flew from his reddened lips as he screamed obscenities. Minji hit him with a firm uppercut and bucked her hips to throw him off balance. Enraged, Arthur unleashed furious blows at her face, but Minji got her arms up, blocking him. One hard shove with her feet lifted her thighs off the ground and sent him toppling over onto the floor.
Minji bounced up and slipped into her boxing position. Arthur crawled to his knees and dragged the weapon out of his waistband. She’d been waiting for this move and before he could even lift it all the way to aim, she kicked his wrist, landing a solid blow. The firearm sailed across the tent and smashed into the plastic wall, then slid to the floor.
“We need to kill it!” Arthur screeched. “We need to kill it like it killed our families!”
“Stay back, Arthur. I will hurt you.”
“Do you want us all to die?” Arthur howled in despair. “Do you?”
“I want us to live, Arthur. I want all of us to live.”
Face red with fury, Arthur started to stand, but Minji lashed out with a well-placed kick, flattening him again. Instead of attempting to rise, Arthur scrambled across the floor to the fallen firearm. Minji darted around the incubator hoping to beat him to it, but his hand closed over the pistol and lifted it just as she reached him. Aiming the gun at her, Arthur’s eyes dangerously glinted as he got to his feet.
“You’re a traitor, Minji. I always knew it,” Arthur hissed. Taking a sharp step to one side, he put the incubator squarely between them.
It was the first time Minji was able to clearly see a creature twisting about with countless limbs, eyes, and tentacles. It was not one color, but many. Its form was so chaotic her mind had difficulty comprehending what she was seeing. Frozen at the sight of the child, Minji forgot Arthur even existed as one long, delicate tendril lifted to touch her hand. It shimmered like light caught in a dewdrop and tears formed in her eyes. It was beautiful, terrible, majestic, and horrible.
With a strangled cry, Arthur aimed the weapon at the child.
“Don’t!” Minji ordered, flinging out one hand.
The invisible tendrils of icy power rushed out of the tiny being and slashed through the air. Minji sensed them reaching for Arthur and a second later, the gun fell from his grip as his face slackened. Enough time had passed that the child could once m
ore attack those who threatened it.
The exquisite appendage wrapped around Minji’s wrist. It was almost painfully cold, but she endured it. Writhing pearlescent tendrils, reflecting every color, or maybe were every color, looped around her arm. With graceful gentleness, the baby tugged itself into Minji’s embrace. Stunned, Minji allowed it to do as it willed, uncertain she could have tossed it way if she wanted. The multitude of limbs encompassed her torso and something that could have been a head brushed under her chin. The sensation was akin to running cold silk over her flesh. The sounds issuing forth from the being made her want to weep with joy and scream in fear. It was both comforting and overwhelming. The child nestled against her and gradually her senses acclimated to the point where she could draw a breath.
The air was so icy.
In awe, Minji carried the infant out of the tent, through the tube, and out into the massive room. Facing the control room, she trembled.
“Alec! Alec!” Minji cried out.
There was a short hiss, then Alec’s voice over the intercom said, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. We’re both fine. It – she –managed to stop Arthur.”
“I’m about to open the doorway. You need to get out of there.”
“I have to give her baby back, Alec.”
“Minji, for Christ’s sake... there are safety protocols and...” Alec’s face was slightly distorted by the thick glass and she saw him shake his head.
“It came to me. Crawled into my arms,” Minji replied. “I can’t turn it away.”
The tiny patter of little feet drew Minji’s attention to Ava as she crossed the concrete floor with purpose. In one hand she held her Merida doll. Minji started to chastise her, then realized there was no point. Ava and the other had shared a body and mind. There was a bond between them.
“It’s sick, Mommy. Will it get better back home?” Ava asked.
“I hope so,” Minji answered.
The child cooed in her arms, a sound that set her teeth on edge, made her skin crawl, and caused her hair stand on end.
Ava lifted the doll to the creature in her mother’s arms. “You can take it. I can get another one.”
The Mesmerized Page 23
