Kill School: Slice (15 page)

“No thanks,” I say.

“You’re a tough one,” Dr. Heap says.

She opens the bag, takes out a donut, and references the
paperwork on the coffee table.

“Force and fire aren’t for you.”

She takes a bite of her donut, sending powdered sugar
everywhere.

“You’re not quite stealth. You made it up grace.”

I am stealth. I’m angry but I don’t want to interrupt her.

Dr. Heap chews while she ponders my results. I wish she
would hurry up.

“Slice is your best asset,” Dr. Heap finally says. “You
know how to use a knife.”

I don’t want to be good at slice. I don’t want to stab
anyone. I want to tell how well I did on stealth, but without talking to Burke
to find out why he fudged my results I keep my mouth shut.

“My mother is a doctor,” I blurt out. Stupid. That doesn’t
help my case against slice.

“Yes, she is.” Doctor Heap looks at me across her beverage.
“And your father is a music teacher. Both of them are good with their hands.
The violin is a precise instrument.”

I finally take the bottle of water, open it, and swallow
half of its contents. I have to get out of slice.

“I don’t want to finish this,” Dr. Heap says.

I sit back in my chair. “I don’t want to finish it either.
Can I go home?”

“Not you. This.”

Dr. Heap puts down her beverage and wipes her mouth.

“The problem is, from your Kalstein Barstow Test, you will
not be good at slice. Who wants to stab someone with a knife? I totally
understand. What would you do? Slit their throat? Go for the gut? A totally
vulgar way to kill someone.”

I breathe a sigh of relief.

“I think I would be better off with stealth,” I say.

She shakes her head immediately.

“Stealth is hard. The hardest. I’m afraid you are not good
enough for that.”

She touches her finger to her cheek and her thumb to her
chin and stares at me. I want to tell her how I snuck through the whole flock
of birds. I am the only one that has ever done that. Except for Burke.

Dr. Heap folds up her bag of donuts as if I’m not allowed
to ask for one any more.

“We’re going to have to do slice. Sorry.”

“No,” I whimper. “I can’t cut anyone.”

Dr. Heap seems to soften. I feel like a big baby. I sniff
and my lower lip quivers. I am not going to cry.

“It doesn’t have to be a big knife.” Dr. Heap takes a pen
from her pocket and puts it on the table. “Pick it up.”

I pick up the pen. It feels heavier than a normal pen. I
press the button on the back section and out of the cartridge comes a long
needle.

“Stick that in someone’s neck, right here.” Dr. Heap places
her finger in the space between her collarbones. “That’ll do the trick.”

She takes the pen and puts the blade away. “Of course
getting close enough for you to do that will be hard. We’ll give you grace,
too.”

She makes some notes on the papers and then looks at her
watch. “I’m sorry we don’t have any more time. Our session is up. The next one
will be longer. I’m sure we’ll talk much more. I really want to get to know
you.” She takes a card from her pocket. “If you need anything, here’s my
contact information.”

I take the card, knowing I will not use it. I couldn’t
contact her if I wanted to. No communication devices allowed in camp. I suspect
she knows this.

The pod drops from the ceiling again.

“Now, out,” Dr. Heap says. “My next patient has just
arrived.”

I exit the room through the door and hear Dr. Heap lock the
it behind me. I am in a long corridor with lots of doors. Other kids are
exiting their rooms and I follow them down the hall.

I am
shaken by the test, nervous and upset. The kids around me are all chattering
about it, trying to find the meaning in the questions and comparing
inclinations. My inclination was supposed to be stealth. I am now stuck with
slice. 

Burke leans against the wall at the end of the hall. He
nods to the kids and briefly speaks to them as they walk past him. I glare at
the side of his head, hoping to bore a hole through it. Being stuck in slice is
his fault. I am stealth.

When Burke sees me, my lip curls up in a snarl. I glare at
him so that he can see my fury and walk by him without saying anything. He
follows me out of the building and onto the campus. The warmth of the campus
and the bright sunlight puts me in a better mood, but only slightly.

“I was waiting for you,” Burke says.

“Why?” I ask. “You already ruined my life.” I don’t stop to
say this. I just turn my head and spit out the words.

“That’s a bit melodramatic, Aria,” Burke says. He’s jogging
by my side to keep up with me.

“Melodramatic?” I ask. His words infuriate me. The rest of
the kids run around us. I let them pass. I want to make sure Burke knows how
mad I am and I don’t want anyone else to hear.

When the last kid passes, I turn on him forcing him to stop
or run into me. He runs into me and almost loses his balance.

“Stealth. Hah,” I say as I watch him trip over his feet.
Remarkably, he stays standing.

 “That’s not fair,” Burke says. “I didn’t expect you to
stop.”

“I have to cut someone up because of you. I don’t want to
be in slice. I want to be in stealth.”

“Relax, Aria,” Burke says. He stiffens as if he is mad at
me and then takes a deep breath.

I wait for him to say something.

“Why did you change my scores on stealth?” I ask.

Burke doesn’t answer for a long time. I notice a new
fishhook shaped gash on his jaw.

“You don’t want to be me,” he finally says. His eyes lock
on mine. “If they find out you are good at stealth, they’ll make you do things
you don’t want to do.” His voice is soft. His lips are close to my ear.

“What have you done?” I ask. I raise my shoulders and purse
my lips as if I’ve just tasted something sour.

His fingers press into my shoulder. “Not now,” he says.
“Maybe not ever. You don’t need to know.”

His eyes are so light blue and his tone so serious, that I
forget I am mad at him.

We leave the warmth of the campus in silence. My feet
crunch into the snow as we cross the grounds to our cabin. Our cabin. Not my
home. I share my life with twenty other people all planning our turquoise
colored kills. Except my kill isn’t turquoise. It’s amethyst. I am stealth.
Burke is protecting me. He helped the girl that terminated her infant sister.
Maybe he can help me.

“Burke,” I say when we are away from the others.

“What?” he asks. He’s watching a bird in the sky. He
doesn’t stop his pace or turn in my direction. He just continues to watch the
bird.

“I have something to tell you.” I am going to tell him
about my amethyst token. I have to. Before I could go to Sebastian or my
parents. Now, I have nobody. I can’t get through this alone.

Burke’s bird has flown out of view. He looks sad as he
stops and steps closer to me.

“I know,” he says. He sticks his hands in his jacket
pockets. “I didn’t know how to bring it up before. When you said, I ruined your
life. I don’t want you to think…”

I cut him off with the palm of my hand.

“Wait. You know. How?” I ask.

He can’t have access to the algorithm. He should have no
idea what color my token is. He’s not a mind reader.

He pulls my turquoise nail polish from his pocket.

“It must have rolled out of your drawer. You’re not wearing
any nail polish. You don’t look like the type that does.”

“I am,” I say as I snatch it from his hand. “I have a
thousand different colors at home.”

I lower my eyes. What was he doing up in my bunk? I have to
tell him, but I can’t tell him. Now, I don’t trust him. My mind is doing Yoyos.
I may be good at stealth, but I’m not good at covering my feelings. Burke knows
something is wrong.

“I painted my token,” I say without looking up. “I didn’t
want anyone to know its true color.”

“It’s red, isn’t it?” Burke asks. “You truly do belong in
my cabin.”

Tears well up in my eyes. It’s not the truth but it will
do. I don’t have the strength to tell him the truth, especially when I look in
his eyes. My sorrow, my dread, and my loss reflect in Burke’s eyes. I don’t
know how long he has been a camp counselor. I don’t know how many child killers
he’s had to train. I can’t imagine it was easy.

“I can’t imagine killing a baby.” Just saying the words
makes me think of Baby. It’s true. I
can’t
imagine killing a baby.

Burke hugs me as if it is more for him than me. I can hear
his heart beat and smell campfire. It feels so good to be in his arms.

“I’m scared,” I say. “I don’t know what will happen to me
if others find out.” I am not lying.

“They won’t,” Burke says. He drops his arms. “Only the
algorithm knows who is chosen. You will have to learn, Aria. There are special
techniques you can use to make it painless. I can show you.”

Just then, Demi trounces by holding hands with Lily and
Jack.

Burke touches my cheek. “You take care of yourself,” he
says. “I’ll keep your secret.”

As we
approach our cabin, Demi comes out of Lily’s cabin and runs over to us. The
three of us enter the common room where Shah, Vanessa, and Mateo are in deep
conversation. Burke goes to the equipment side, Demi joins Shah on the couch,
and I flop into one of the leather chairs.

Mateo’s top skill was fire, which I already guessed, and
Demi’s was force.

“Force?” I ask Demi. “Seriously?”

“Shah and I both,” Demi says, affectionately bumping Shah
with her shoulder.

“She has some serious karate chops,” Shah says, mimicking
Demi in a very funny way.

“Where’d you learn that?” Shah asks after the laughter dies
down.

“Daddy,” Demi says. “He made all of the quads take
self-defense classes. We can all kick some serious butt.”

“I can vouch for that,” Burke says. He takes off his jacket
and sits in the leather chair nearest to me. “Vanessa, here, is in stealth.”
Burke smiles at Vanessa. “She’s going to be one of my top students.”

Vanessa blushes. “Actually, I ended up being average on all
of the physical inclinations. My results for the mental tests led me to
stealth.” She taps her head.

“I thought you had to be quiet,” I say without looking at
Burke. Vanessa is not quiet. I can’t be jealous of Vanessa.

 “There are other ways to join stealth,” Burke says.
“Vanessa has a natural inclination toward trickery. Trickery is stealth.”

“I’m going to learn how to poison people,” Vanessa says.

“Better watch what you eat,” Mateo teases. He grabs his
throat to pretend he is choking.

“Quit it,” Vanessa says unconvincingly.

We talk more about our skills and the classes. Everyone’s
favorite teacher is Vladimir and we agree our least favorite is the Hunter.
Burke sticks up for the Hunter and warns us about the biology teacher. Demi
gives us a demonstration of her moves using Shah as a victim. We all laugh when
she trips him and he falls to the ground. 

The conversation turns to the pods and we quiz Burke about
them moving through the ceiling. He tells us there are all sorts of secret
passageways through campus. Vanessa brings up Kalstein Barstow and the awful
algorithm he created. Everyone’s mood turns from joyous and friendly to sulky
and silent as we remember why we are all here.

“Cheer up,” Burke says. “You have two years to use your
token.”

“I want to use mine right away,” Vanessa says, scrunching
her nose.

Burke shifts forward and rests his elbows on his knees.

“You are turquoise,” Burke says in a low tone. “You should
wait until the end.”

“Why?” Demi asks.

Burke glances at us, one by one; to make sure we are paying
attention.

“No one wants to kill more than once.” He pulls out his
token. “If they kill me when I still have my token, they’ll have to take it and
kill someone else.” He puts his token away. “No token can go unused.”

I cross my legs, thinking about Burke’s words. Sixty kids
here have turquoise tokens, more than ever before. Turquoise. Sixteen to
eighteen. Each person with a turquoise will have to wait until one of their peers
uses their token on another color. Turquoise kills pearl. Turquoise kills
emerald. Turquoise kills ruby. That is how they can avoid the perpetual
turquoise killing machine.

Something awful hits me.

“What’s wrong, Aria?” Burke asks. I must have gone green.

“All of the kids here at camp, the ones who have
turquoise.” I pause while I gather my thoughts.

“Go on,” Burke says.

Demi and Shaw, Vanessa and Mateo watch me. I have to think
clearly.

 “What if everyone gets turquoise tokens next time?” I ask.
Burke ponders the question, but I already have the answer. “We’ll have to kill one
another. All of us, until only one person is left.”

“How do you figure?” Demi asks.

I glance at Burke. His face tells me that he understands
what I am about to say.

‘There are sixty kids with turquoise tokens this session,
right?”

Burke nods.

I clear my throat. “Let’s say half of the kids kill the
other half using their tokens. We are left with thirty. Those thirty receive
the tokens of the kids they just killed.”

“And fifteen will kill fifteen,” Burke continues. “Then
eight will kill seven, four will kill four, until no one is left. Aria is
right.”

“We are heading for a teenage extinction,” I say.

“This is a disaster,” Vanessa says.

“A Kalstein Barstow designed disaster,” Mateo says.

“It may not have been Barstow,” Shah says. “I think the
algorithm learns. I found a book in the garbage near my home. It was burned and
had missing pages. The book said the algorithm analyses the data and forms new
paths on its own.”

“What if someone feeds it the wrong data?” I ask.

“I’m telling my father.” Demi bounces to her feet. “I’m
going to call him right now. He’ll know if it’s true.”

“You can’t,” Burke says. He doesn’t move from his chair. He
just looks at her coolly. She sits back down.

“Why not?” Shah asks.

“What you are saying is treason,” Burke says, looking
directly at me. “You are going to go up there and accuse one of the Regulators
of messing with the data? Who? Pick carefully, because if you are wrong you
will be dead. And you have no proof.”

Burke says this with such anger, that I am stunned into
silence.

“Burke’s right,” Demi says. “It’s a stupid idea anyway.”

Erwin, Tane, and Mal enter the common room from the
sleeping quarters. By their mischievous grins, they have heard everything. They
walk directly through the common room and out the door without a glance in our
direction. Burke curses, gets up from his seat, and follows them out the door.