Atlas (The Atlas Series) Read online

  But his smile was what made the scene surreal and horrific. His thin lips were grinning as if he’d just climbed Mt. Everest.

  President Wilton stared directly at Jack as the door swung open the rest of the way. “I figured it out! I figured out how to break it! No one will ever have to do what I’ve had to do again! Do you realize what this means?”

  Kala knew then and there that the man was cracked. Figured what out? Break what? He was rambling like a mad man.

  But the more frightening moment came when Jack responded back to Wilton. “Killing yourself is impossible. People have tried that in the past.”

  Not only was President Wilton talking crazy, but apparently Jack knew his language and was responding accordingly.

  Kala noticed that Wilton’s eyes lit up when Jack spoke. “You’re the one they sent to replace me.”

  Jack nodded.

  What? Kala was seriously confused.

  Kala spoke up, “What’s going on Jack?”

  Replace him for what?

  Jack didn’t acknowledge Kala or the rest of the team, which was shifting uncomfortably behind him.

  Wilton shook his head, serious. “You can’t do it. You have to let me detonate this bomb. We have to crash the plane! It’s the only way to stop it!”

  “You can’t stop it!” Jack yelled back.

  “I can and I will!” Wilton talked into an earpiece. “NOW!”

  The plane nose-dived.

  Everyone jolted forward and stumbled from the force of it.

  Jack barked orders, “Lali get up to the Flight Deck and by any means necessary take over this plane!”

  Lali paused for a second, she looked more confused than Kala felt, but after a moment to gain her bearings as the plane was falling fast, she managed to high-tail it out of the room and up to the Flight Deck.

  Kala was sure they’d hit ground at any moment.

  Jack aimed his gun at the President’s head.

  Wilton was frantic. He ducked behind his large oak desk that was bolted to the ground.

  “You can’t kill me! You’ll ruin everything!” Wilton yelled.

  Jack turned to Kala and Derek. “No one shoots him but me!”

  Kala kind of nodded, but she was in shock at the fact that they were about to flatten a part of the capital with Air Force One. She really didn’t care what Jack was saying. She couldn’t let President Wilton set off that bomb and kill thousands.

  Jack shot at the desk, trying to hit the president, but he didn’t come close.

  Only Kala could make a shot like that and not get them all killed from shooting a hole through the plane.

  Kala and Derek made eye contact. Kala could tell Derek was thinking the same thing. He whispered so only Kala could hear, “Do it.”

  Kala’s nod was barely perceptible.

  Jack saw her and his eyes went wide. “Kala STOP!”

  Kala shrugged. “I can’t let him do this, Jack. I’m sorry.”

  Only the top of Wilton’s head was showing.

  It was enough.

  Kala took her shot.

  Chapter Four

  “My, my, this is quite a surprise. Welcome,” President Wilton said, offering Kala a seat.

  Kala was sure that she was either dreaming or dead.

  In front of her was President Wilton. He was at a small café, sitting in an intricately ornate iron-wrought chair, with an equally ornate table in front of him. A small espresso rested on the table. The café looked old, like they were in France or Italy, made of aged brick and ivy growing up the walls of the building. Cobblestone sidewalks and streets lined the whole area, making Kala feel like she’d walked into an old painting.

  There was absolutely no one in sight except for Wilton, not even inside the café. It was like there’d been some sort of evacuation and only the President and Kala had been left behind.

  An identical chair to the President’s sat empty across from him. “Trust me, you’re going to want to sit down.”

  Kala knew it had to be some sort of delusion or dream. The plane must have lost oxygen or air pressure and Kala probably passed out. The President no longer had a C-4 bomb strapped around his chest. In fact, he looked quite relaxed in his dress shirt unbuttoned a few buttons and his khakis. Being the last person Kala saw before she blacked out, it made sense that she’d see Wilton here.

  “You’re not dreaming. I assure you this is all quite real. I’m not the President though unfortunately that’s how you’ll see me. You should have seen what I looked like before Mr. Wilton took over. I was quite the Adonis,” Wilton said jovially.

  Kala reluctantly sat down because at this point what else could she do? If this were a dream she’d wake up at some point. If she were dead… Well, she might as well enjoy the illusion of being alive for a bit.

  Wilton looked happy that Kala complied and sat down. “You still think you’re dreaming, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

  Kala didn’t answer. She didn’t feel the need to respond to a figment of her imagination.

  Wilton sighed in amused frustration. “No one has come here by accident before. Every replacement is vetted from birth and trained their whole lives to do this job. By the time they get to me, I simply give them the explanation on how everything works and send them on their way. But you…” He left the thought hanging.

  Wilton’s face went from amused to angry in about a millisecond. “SPEAK!” he screamed.

  It was so real, Kala jumped back in her seat. “Why? You seem to be pretty comfortable doing all the talking.” Kala’s sarcasm never failed her.

  Wilton laughed. “You’re going to be interesting, I can tell.”

  Kala wished she’d wake up. This dream was getting weird.

  Wilton was serious once more. “How many times do I have to tell you: you’re not dreaming!” His voice was insistent.

  “You can scream ‘til the cows come home, but there’s no way this is real,” Kala said, hoping this would jolt her awake.

  She felt her throat close, like invisible hands were strangling her. Kala clasped onto her neck, trying to pry off the force, but no air was coming through her passageways.

  She knew then.

  Wherever this was: it was real.

  Kala nodded to Wilton, showing him that she believed him.

  Her airways opened up, letting a flood of oxygen into her lungs.

  Definitely real.

  All sorts of scenarios ran through Kala’s head. Had she passed out and been dumped here? Where was the rest of her team? Why was the President of the United States talking to her at a café in the middle of nowhere? It just couldn’t be real. This had to be some sort of psychotic break from reality. But everything: from the feel of the metal chair beneath her, to the warm breeze on her face, to the…

  …Ouch. She pinched herself.

  Kala thought that maybe she was in some kind of “experiment” from the Compound. She had heard about all the different kinds of “research” being done by Generals Clifton and Turner in what was only known as the Black Wing. It was the only reasonable explanation for what Kala was experiencing. How could everything be so real, if it was perfectly obvious that none of it actually was?

  “Have you just about finished that little debate in your head?” Wilton asked with a sly grin.

  Kala wasn’t sure how she should respond to that. After all, if this were real, how would President Wilton know what she was thinking? This was insane!

  But she responded, “Yes.”

  Wilton didn’t look convinced, but he smiled regardless. “How much do you know about Greek mythology?”

  Okay. Not at all what Kala expected to hear from the guy, but she answered him anyway.

  “Just what I learned in high school,” she confessed. Kala was never much for history class. Aside from the battles, Greek mythology was too wordy and poetic for her taste. It was like watching a Shakespeare movie. By the end of it, Kala knew what was happening, but the language confused her. It almost felt
foreign at times.

  “Know anything about Atlas?” Wilton raised an eyebrow, obvious to Kala that he hoped she’d say yes.

  “Wasn’t he the guy that had to hold up some pillars or something?” Kala was pretty impressed with herself that she remembered that much. Of course, there was a more than fifty/fifty chance that she was confusing Atlas with someone else, but still, at least she had an answer.

  Wilton sat back in his chair and took a sip of his cappuccino. He kind of laughed at the word pillars. “I suppose that’s one of the legends, yes, but there’s always a kernel of truth in fiction. The story had to come from somewhere, right?”

  “Usually, I go on the assumption it came from someone’s imagination.” She wasn’t sure where Wilton was going with this line of thought, but when Kala thought of the word Atlas, her mind pictured maps and globes, not a Greek god or whatever.

  “Well, Atlas was real. I’m him. Hello,” Wilton waved like he was a little kid greeting Kala.

  Then he continued, “And I didn’t hold up pillars or the world as some histories profess. Like every piece of history, the stories are taken too literally.” Wilton explained this as if he were discussing a topic Kala would actually be interested in.

  “Is there a point here?” Kala asked, her impatience getting the best of her.

  Kala really wished she hadn’t said that.

  If smoke could have come out of Wilton’s nose and ears it would have.

  Kala placed her hands up in supplication. “Calm down. Don’t choke me or torture me, I’m just asking what the hell the President of the United States has to do with some old myth? I’m very confused.” Kala threw that last bit out to try and calm Wilton down. This whole situation was weird to say the least and to have to deal with Wilton’s temper tantrums every five minutes wasn’t something Kala wanted to do.

  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.