Atlas (The Atlas Series) (6 page)

Wilton visibly calmed down. “I’m not the President, I told you: this is just the current incarnation of who I am. I’m Atlas. I’m a Titan. An Elder god, the first gods, not like the puny Olympic gods, though, to be fair, they defeated us, but I digress...” He paused and eyed Kala carefully. “And I’m sorry if I’m boring you, but we’re talking about the rest of
your
life here and I thought you should know your back story.”

Huh
? Kala thought to herself.

“The rest of
my
life? What does some forgotten god have to do with my life?” Upon seeing Wilton breathing fire at the mention of the word
forgotten
Kala quickly said, “
Misunderstood
god, I mean.”

This brought an amused chuckle out of Wilton. “Because
you
are going to do my job for me.”

Kala stared at Wilton for a few moments, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn’t she said, “Excuse me?”

Wilton threw up his hands, way more amused than Kala felt he had the right to be. “Yep, congratulations, you’re the new Chosen One.”

Kala felt like her brain was a skipped record that couldn’t find the next groove. “Chosen One?”

Wilton nodded, “Yup.”

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Kala sighed heavily. “Explain, please.” If this
was
an experiment being conducted by Clifton or Turner, then whatever Wilton or Atlas or whoever said might be related to a mission she’d have to take on. Kala figured she might as well play along and hear out her orders so that she could get back to the real world.

“When I betrayed the Olympian gods and sided with my brothers the Titans, my punishment was to bear the weight of the world on my shoulders. Do you understand what that means?” Wilton asked Kala.

Kala felt like she was in high school when a teacher would call on her to answer a question that she had no clue what the answer was. She didn’t like being perceived as uneducated or what she translated to as
stupid
. It was her biggest insecurity. That’s why she made sure she was an expert in everything pertaining to her job, from guns to fighting techniques to thrill-seeking-bravery. Kala was the best at what she did. But if Wilton was trying to elusively tell her about a new mission, Kala wasn’t getting it.

She answered tentatively, “I don’t understand what that means in regards to me.” Kala figured if she worded it in a way that personalized the message, then she wouldn’t sound as dumb as she felt.

“It means, dear one, that carrying the weight of the world means something very different than actually
carrying
the world. It means that unless you do exactly what you’re told to do, there will be a domino effect, and the world will end.”

Kala sat there not sure how to respond to that.

If this was a test from Turner and Clifton she wasn’t going to fail now.

“What do I have to do?” Kala thought she’d ask for details.

“Nothing you want to. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to do some pretty horrific things in order to keep the world safe. Every four days. One act of atrocity. For the greater good.” Wilton took another sip from his espresso cup.

Kala felt this was all a little too dramatic. “An act of
atrocity
? That sounds ominous. What? I have to assassinate some terrorist who plans on blowing the world to smithereens? I think I can handle that.” She had done it before and if taking out bad people was her only job description from now on, Kala was just fine with that.

Wilton laughed. “It wouldn’t be an act of atrocity if you were killing bad guys, now would it?”

Kala’s defenses immediately went up. “I’m not killing innocents. You can find someone else for that.”

“You’ll do what you’re told, or the world will burn. That’s a fact. There has to be a balance between good and bad. And that was my punishment. I’m the balancer. Without me there is only chaos,” Wilton said each word like he was driving in a nail.

“If it’s your job, then you do it.” Kala shrugged defensively.

Wilton smiled a Cheshire-cat grin. “I don’t have to. That’s what you humans are for. I tricked one of you thousands of years ago into taking my place and not one of you has figured out how to break it ever since.” Wilton took a sip of his espresso with extreme pleasure. “Now I can sit back and let you guys do my job. I like to think of it as retirement.”

Kala sat back in her chair and ran her hands through her hair.
Atlas
? Really? It sounded so preposterous, she didn’t know whether to laugh or admit herself into the nearest mental ward. Assuming of course she could find a mental ward outside of the abandoned town she was in.

Kala tried to steady her pounding heart. She had to think of this as a mission from General Turner or General Clifton or an extremely vivid dream. There simply was no other explanation for it. Kala didn’t think she could go through with whatever the two Generals had in mind, but she knew it would do no good to argue with… the President.

Kala forced a smile. “I’ll do what you want. Can I go now?”

Wilton stared at Kala with eyes that said he completely saw through her, but he slowly nodded his head. “You’ll have to see for yourself, I guess.”

He took a deep breath, “You’re going to be hunted by things you don’t even know exist. Our time is short, so here are the rules. First, you are technically what I would call my surrogate, which means you’ll have all of my responsibilities, but none of my powers.” He annoyingly flexed a muscle. “I’m pretty strong in the outside world.”

“Awesome.” Kala tried very hard to hide the snark from her tone, but failed miserably. One thing she knew for sure, if he really was a god, then gods were irritating.

Of course Atlas/Wilton ignored her completely. “Second, you should see your mission right away in a vision. It may come to you in a dream, it may come to you in a fish bowl; it all depends on how your brain wants to see it.”

This was already way over Kala’s head, but she just wanted it to be over at this point so she muttered, “Okay.”

“Third, you can’t get out of this deal. So don’t try. The only way out is to have someone kill you so that they become the next Atlas. And trust me, there are a lot of people and non-people out there that want to be the next Atlas.”

Non-people
? Kala really didn’t want to know.

“I’ve already taken too long explaining. You’ll have to learn on your own. I hate to say it, but I don’t think you’ll survive your first mission. I’ll be meeting with the new Chosen One tomorrow, or a couple of days from now if you’re lucky.”

“Thanks for the confidence,” Kala mumbled sarcastically. Whether or not this was all happening in her brain, her competitive nature actually took offense at Wilton’s lack of faith in her.

Kala stood up and made forced eye contact with Wilton. “I’ll complete my mission and there isn’t a thing on earth that I can’t shoot. Believe me, I’ve shot plenty.”

Wilton grinned. “Me being no exception,” he said and the bullet hole that Kala gave him materialized on his forehead, gushing blood. “Clock starts now.”

A giant round clock, well over ten feet in diameter, suddenly appeared in the air above them. Instead of twelve numbers there were four, each with twenty-four hour segments in-between counting down. A second hand moved almost too slow to notice, starting on day 3, hour 23, minute 59, second 59...58...57...

Wilton shrugged as if to say he was sorry, but his eyes showed that he wasn’t sorry at all. He was amused. “I hope you last. I find you quite amusing.”

“Thanks?” Kala wasn’t sure how to respond.

Wilton’s face turned serious. “Time to go.”

A flash of white light engulfed Kala completely, and she felt like she was dying.

DAY ONE

Chapter Five

Everything came into quick focus as the white light dimmed enough for Kala to see she was lying on a bed in the infirmary. She sat up with a jolt and took in deep breaths as if she had just woken up from a bad dream and needed to calm herself. Then Kala realized that she probably
had
woken up from a bad dream and began to relax.

“You’re awake,” Derek’s voice sounded from behind her.

Kala turned her head to see Derek’s smiling face looking down at her.

“How long have I been out?” Kala asked.

“An hour, maybe two,” Derek said gently.

Kala rolled the dream over and over in her head. The insanity of it all was actually quite funny if she thought hard enough about it. She couldn’t figure out how her brain managed to think up a mash-up of Greek mythology and elite mission assignments, but it wasn’t that much of a stretch considering…

“The President?” she asked tentatively.

Derek shook his head. “Dead. Jack and Lali are in with General Turner and General Clifton now explaining what happened. I wanted to make sure someone was here when you woke up.”

Kala leaned back into her pillows. “Am I going to be executed or something?” She really hoped the answer wasn’t going to be yes.

“Not if Jack has anything to say about it. I was there too, you know. Wilton made his intentions clear: he was going to kill a lot of innocents if you hadn’t taken him out.” Derek’s loyalty knew no bounds and apparently that included her shooting the President.

Kala rubbed her hand over her face trying to wake herself up. “I had the craziest dream when I was out.”

Derek plopped down on a chair next to Kala and smiled. “After what we just went through? I’ll bet.”

Kala looked around the infirmary and remembered why she hated this place so much. It felt like a sterile bandage made into a room. White and chrome. All the sheets and blankets reeked of bleach and felt scratchy against Kala’s skin. There were a hundred beds filling up the room in three even rows — all empty except for Kala’s. Her bed was in the back row near the side exit, which was a small comfort that at least Kala could make a run for it if Turner and Clifton decided she needed to be axed. She hated to be paranoid, but she
did
shoot the President. No matter how crazy the circumstances, Kala didn’t think she’d get off that easy.

There was a digital clock on the wall behind her and she craned her neck around to see exactly what time it was.

Her heart stopped.

Kala blinked her eyes several times, hoping to see something different than what she was seeing.

Derek looked at her with worry. “What is it?”

“What does that clock say to you?” Kala’s voice was breathless.

“5:07 A.M.,” Derek said, studying Kala carefully. “Why?”

Kala blinked over and over, trying to see what Derek saw.

But it wasn’t going away.

The clock was counting down.

3d 23h 53m 42s.

41…40…39…38…

Kala turned her head around and grabbed her chest.

Derek stood up and held her shoulder with concern, “Kala, you’re freaking me out right now.”

Kala turned away from the clock, then looked back at it, praying it would just show her the time like it was supposed to.

But the countdown continued.

“Let me see your cell?” Kala demanded impatiently.

Derek eyed her worriedly. Kala could tell he was trying to figure out why his friend was acting bonkers. Little did he know just how bonkers she was, but Kala didn’t want to fall into a full-blown panic attack without checking a few things first.

“You know we’re in a dead zone, right?” Derek prodded cautiously.

“Would you just please let me see your phone?” Kala tried to sound as calm and casual as possible.

But she could tell she wasn’t fooling Derek for a second. He knew her too well.

He handed over his cell phone.

Kala closed her eyes taking the phone from his hand blindly, terrified at what she would see.

“You ask to see my phone and yet you have your eyes closed,” Derek’s voice sounded incredulous.

Kala opened her eyes fast, like tearing off a bandage. She swiped the phone open and she felt like she wanted to cry.

Just like the clock behind her, Derek’s cell phone displayed the same countdown instead of the time.

It hadn’t been a dream at all.

Or…

Kala felt a shred of hope race through her.

“Have there been any reported side effects to phase-suits? Besides losing body parts?” Kala’s eyes were wide as she asked Derek.

Derek just stared at her, obviously trying to figure out where Kala’s brain was. “Not that I know of, but we could ask one of the technicians. What is all this about? You’ve been acting funny all night. First, you think the tequila is making you hallucinate and now you’re obsessed with clocks.”

Kala tried to hide her emotions.

She
had
been hallucinating all night. The woman with the glowing eyes, the café in the middle of nowhere with the President, and now all clocks seemed to be counting down. It couldn’t be the phase-suits.