“You couldn’t have anyway. You need one of these.” Alec pressed on the door near the handle and a small panel popped open. He slipped Dr. McCoy’s card into the slot, then slid open the side door.
Two men stumbled out, faces covered in dried blood. Their noses, lips and chins were a mess from the battering they had endured when trying to escape. They were dressed in hazmat suits, too, but their hoods were flipped back and the clear facemasks glinted in the dim sunlight. Immediately, they surged toward Minji, mouths twisting in that scarily familiar way. The older black man with white hair cocked his head to stare at Minji while the shorter white man struggled to see her through his blood soaked bangs.
Feeling dizzy and a little sick, Minji stepped away from the men, putting a space between them. “Alec, you need to hurry.”
“I just need a second card to get you in, too. The doors only open for one person at a time.”
“Yeah, I remember.” The men stumbled after Minji, their mouths twisting and flexing in strange ways. “Alec, seriously, we need to wrap this up.”
“Moooooo...” the men chorused.
The vacant eyes tracked her every movement. With every step she took, they followed in her wake. Minji found herself uneasily circling the vehicles, trying to keep distance between her and the two men.
“I’m still looking,” Alec replied, hurrying to the next black van.
One of the mesmerized men, the taller one, reached for Minji. “Mooooo...”
“Alec, find one now!”
Minji tripped over a body and fell against an ambulance door. It banged shut and sent her careening off balance. She landed on her hip with a thud and rolled onto her backside. The two battered men bent over her, hands seeking to grip her body. She was afraid of the mesmerized not because of their terrible countenance, but the thing staring out from their eyes. She knew it was watching her. She knew it wanted her.
“Alec!”
Crab-walking backwards on her hands and feet, Minji eluded the grasping hands of the mesmerized men. She thumped into something hard, yet fleshy, and cried out in fright. A mesmerized woman, dressed just like the men, seized her shoulders. Alec must have freed her from the other vehicle.
“Moooooo...”
Going limp, Minji slumped to the ground, the woman’s clutching digits losing traction on the leather jacket. Minji scooted away from the three transfixed people before clambering to her feet.
“Alec!”
Stepping out from the shadow of the van, Alec raised another card. “I got it.”
“We need to go,” Minji said stalking toward him.
“They’re harmless,” he said, giving her a bewildered look.
“Are they?” Minji speedily climbed onto the bike and started it up.
Giving the mesmerized trio staggering after Minji a thoughtful look, Alec joined her on the bike. “I’ve never seen them so agitated.”
“You’ve never seen it this agitated,” Minji corrected.
He leaned into her back, his arm tensed around her waist, and the bike lurched forward with a loud roar, leaving a streak of rubber on the asphalt.
“Mooooooooooommmmmmmmyyyyyyyy!” the three mesmerized cried out.
“Did they just say—?” Alec exclaimed.
“Yes! And now it knows where we are and what we were doing!” Minji shouted into the wind.
“Shit!”
“We need to get back right away!”
Minji gunned the bike into a higher gear and tore down the boulevard toward the medical center. The creature within Ava now knew what she was doing and Minji was terrified about what it might do to her children and the others.
Chapter 27