The Atlantis Gene (The Origin Mystery 1)

Fifteen minutes later, the tube ran from Kate’s arm to David’s. She pumped her fist. The blood flowed. She was so hungry. And sleepy. But she was doing something, and that felt very good.

CHAPTER 66

CNN Breaking News Bulletin // Blasts reported in Western China; Believed to be an industrial accident at an Immari International research facility; Details are still emerging.

CHAPTER 67

Kate awoke to the chime of bells drifting in through a large picture window above the alcove that held her small twin bed. A cool, crisp, clean mountain wind pushed the white linen drapes out over her bed, almost touching her face.

She reached up to touch the cloth, but drew back in pain. Inside her elbow, her arm was badly bruised. Pools of dark purple and black extended into her forearm and crawled up her bicep.

David.

She looked out at the room, some sort of classroom maybe — it was long and wide with a rustic wooden floor, white plaster walls, and wood beams every ten feet.

She barely remembered getting off the train. It had been late in the night. The men had carried her up endless stairs, into a mountain fortress. She remembered now, a monastery, or a temple.

She started to roll off the bed, but something startled her — movement in the room, a figure rising from the floor. He had been sitting so still she hadn’t seen him. He walked closer, and Kate could see he was young, a teenager. He looked almost like a teenage Dalai Lama; he wore a thick crimson robe that was clasped at one shoulder and extended to his toes, resting just above his leather sandals. His head was shaved. He smiled at her and said eagerly, “Good morning, Dr. Warner.”

She put her feet on the ground. “I’m sorry, you scared me.” She felt lightheaded.

He bowed extravagantly, extending one arm out toward the ground as he bent. “I did not mean to alarm, Madam. I am Milo, at your service.” He spoke each word with care.

“Uh, thank you.” She rubbed her head, trying to focus. “There was a man with me.”

“Ah, yes, Mr. Reed.”

Reed?

Milo paced to a table near the bed. “I came to take you to him.” He picked up a large ceramic bowl with two hands and walked back to her, extending it into her face. “But first, breakfast!” He raised his eyebrows as he said it.

Kate reached out to brush the bowl aside, but as she stood, she felt faint. She collapsed back onto the bed, disoriented.

“Breakfast does a Doctor Warner good.” Milo smiled and extended the bowl again.

Kate leaned closer, smelled the thick porridge concoction, and reluctantly took the spoon and tried it. Delicious. Or was it that she was so famished and the ration packs had been so bad? She finished the bowl in seconds and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Milo returned the bowl to the table and handed her a thick cloth like a handkerchief. Kate smiled sheepishly and wiped her mouth.

“Now, I’d like to see—”

“Mr. Reed. Of course. Right this way.” Milo led her out of the room and down a long breezeway that connected several structures.

The view was breathtaking. A green plateau spread out before them, reaching to the horizon, interrupted only by several snow-capped mountain ranges. Smoke from several villages emerged from the plateau below. In the distance, something dotted the sides of the mountains — other monasteries, built right into the steep snow-capped slopes.

Kate had to fight the urge to stop and take it all in. Milo slowed to let her catch up.

They turned another corner. Below them, a large square wooden deck overlooked the valleys and mountains below. Twenty or thirty men, all with shaved heads and dressed in crimson robes, sat Indian style, unmoving, staring out into the distance.

Milo turned to Kate. “Morning meditation. Would you like to join?”

“Uh, not today.” Kate mumbled as she fought to look away from the scene.

Milo ushered her into another room where she saw David lying in an alcove similar to the one she’d woken up in. Kate ran to him. She knelt at his bedside and examined him quickly. He was awake, but listless. Antibiotics. He needed more to fight the infection. Unchecked, it would kill him for sure, assuming the septic shock from the bullet in his chest didn’t get him first. She would have to deal with the bullet sooner or later.

First things first. She had left the antibiotics on the train. “Left” when she was abducted. Or rescued? There were so many mysteries at this point.

“Milo, I need some medications, antibiotics—”

The young man motioned her over to a table like the one he’d served her breakfast porridge from. “We assumed as much, Dr. Warner. I have prepared a series of remedies for your use.” He waved a hand over several piles of dirt-ridden roots, a pile of orange powder, and a bundle of mushrooms. He smiled and cocked his head, as if to say pretty great, huh?

Kate put her hands on her sides. “Milo, these are, um, very helpful, thank you, but I um… I’m afraid his condition is seve—, will require some medi—”

Milo stepped back, grinned like a Cheshire cat, and pointed at her. “Ahhh, I get you good, Dr. Warner!” He threw open the doors to a floor-to-ceiling wooden cabinet, revealing a bounty of modern medical supplies.

Kate rushed to the cupboard, scanning it row by row. They had a bit of everything: antibiotics, painkillers, anti-fungals, bandages. Where to start? Kate shook her head and smiled warmly at Milo as she sorted through the antibiotics. “Yes, you got me good, Milo.” She read a few labels. Definitely made in Europe, possibly Canada. Some were out of date, but she found some she could use. “Your English is excellent. Where did you learn it?”

“Rosetta Stone.”

Kate glanced over at him skeptically.

Milo’s grin faded as he grew serious. He gazed out the window at the valley below. “They found it in a cave at the base of this mountain. For thirty days and thirty nights, a hundred monks hauled the rocks away, until all that was left was a small passageway. They sent me in — I was the only one who would fit. There, deep in the cave, a yellow light shone down on a stone table, and I found the tablet there. I carried it out that night and earned my robe.” He exhaled deeply when his story was finished.

Kate stood there, holding the antibiotics, not sure what to say.

Milo sprang around to face her, pointing. “Ahh, I get you again, Dr. Warner!” He leaned back in a full body laugh, like an American teenager who’d just pulled a prank they thought was hilarious.

Kate shook her head as she returned to David’s bedside. “Well you’re quite full of yourself, aren’t you?” She popped the top off a bottle of antibiotics.