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“But this isn’t a movie,” Jesse replied. “And he needs to accept that we’re all lost. None of us have any idea what’s going on.” He cocked his head to look at the window, his long braid falling over one of his shoulders. Jesse solemnly regarded the panorama of the smoke-filled sky and distant fires. “This morning, the world was normal, and now it’s dying. But the end of the world is no reason to be an asshole.”
“Amen.” Simone crossed her legs and cuddled Bailey in her arms. “Besides, for the first time in his life, he’s the minority. It probably has him at a disadvantage.”
Remembering Arthur’s earlier phone call, Minji had to disagree with that assessment. In all the years of tattooing, she had learned a lot from listening to her customers. Sometimes people were inked just for fun, but others came in with designs that reflected their life struggles and victories. All those stories had given her insight into the human spirit and helped her understand Arthur.
“No,” she said. “It’s not that. He’s just tired of feeling helpless. Loss of job, home, marriage and his ability to take care of his family...and now this.” The rage that had surged through her veins with his racist accusations dissipated, leaving her feeling even more tired than before.
“You’re giving him too much credit.” Jesse leaned against the window and watched Arthur’s chin slowly bobbing toward his chest.
Minji lifted Ava onto her hip. Staring into her daughter’s eyes, she said, “Well, he’s wrong anyway. This isn’t being done by a country like North Korea or China. This is something more, something...”
“Supernatural?” Simone raised one eyebrow.
Meeting Ava’s empty-eyed stare, Minji nodded. She wasn’t too sure how much she should say out of fear of frightening the others.
“Why do you say that?” Jesse directed his a
ttention toward her instead of the devastating view.
“The visions we all had. That sound. Those colors. That wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen or heard. Have you?”
Immediately, Jesse and Simone averted their eyes. Their discomfort was clear. Minji was now certain she shouldn’t share what she’d heard earlier during the attack.
“It was probably some sort of hallucination,” Jesse remarked.
“Or a vision of the next world,” Simone suggested. “Heaven.”
“It seemed more like hell to me,” Jesse said, his dark eyes wary. “Not that we’re seeing the same thing. It’s probably just a hallucination, like I said.”
Minji knew differently. Not only were they all seeing the same thing, they had spoken the same word.
As Ava continued to stare at her mother, Minji was convinced that she was correct in her suspicion. Something was speaking through the mesmerized. Even now, gazing into Ava’s eyes, she suspected something was watching her. Something was calling out for help.
But what was it?
Chapter 20
Dinner was a quiet affair. Even Bailey was silent on her mother’s lap, surveying her surroundings with a pensive expression stamped on her delicate face. Simone had been kind enough to prepare dinner from the items stocked in the medical center’s kitchen, and though the food smelled wonderful, Minji barely tasted it. Her dark eyes downcast and her expression pensive, Simone picked at her meal. The efforts at small talk between the two women faded as they receded into their own gloomy contemplations.
Simone had attempted multiple times to call her family, but Arthur’s phone no longer had service. The computers were offline and the television was filled with static. Though no one spoke the words aloud, Minji knew they were all fairly certain that both Simone and Arthur’s families had been swallowed by the event after the last attack.
Jesse was busy moving bodies, cleaning the blood off the floor and walls, tending to the patients, and attempting to get reception on Arthur’s phone by walking through the building looking for a hot spot. He had also scrounged up two sets of clean scrubs for Simone and Minji and a nightgown for Ava to wear so they could wash their dirty, soot-covered clothing. Minji’s feet were tucked into soft socks, allowing her boots to dry out, and her toes were finally warm.
Jesse’s determination to keep busy reminded Minji of her husband. If Jake hadn’t fallen victim to the event, he would’ve been trying to find a way to reach the outside world to find help. While her husband’s physical body was safely in a patient room, she missed his voice, his touch, and his essence. She wasn’t alone in her predicament, but without Jake she still felt lonely. Since they decided to create a life together, Jake and Minji had faced everything as a team, and though both were strong-willed and successful in their own right, Minji now realized how much they’d come to depend on one another. There were a millions things she wanted to discuss with her husband so they could plan the next step together. Instead, she was amongst strangers.
When the women finished eating, Simone cleared the dishes and left Minji alone with her daughters. Bailey played on a blanket spread on the floor while Minji struggled to coax Ava into drinking a protein shake. It took many attempts and a lot of mishaps before Minji managed to get Ava to consume a fourth of the bottle. The entire time, Ava’s eyes never wavered from her mother’s face.
“I just finished sedating the mesmerized patients,” Jesse said, joining her in the small employee break room.
Minji finished wiping the dribbles off of Ava’s chin and went to work on the little girl’s neck. “How’s Arthur?”
“Still sleeping.”
“Are you going to sedate him again?”
“Hopefully, he’ll have figured out not to be a jerk.”
“He’s just stressed,” Minji said, sighing.
