Kill School: Slice (10 page)

“He wouldn’t do that,” Demi says. “But I may.” She
mischievously holds up her token.

The way they flirt makes me uncomfortable. I wanted to
share my secret with Burke. The way he helped the girl with the baby, I thought
he would be able to help me. If he’s friends with Demi, and if he knows her Regulator
father, I will not be able to trust him.

Burke asks us to gather around and quiet down. There are
twenty of us in our unit, evenly divided by boys and girls. I stand between Demi
and Vanessa. Erwin glares at us. He stands with two other boys. I can tell by
their postures that they are the same as him. Bother. I am stuck with the
bullies thanks to Demi and Burke.

Burke hands us little turquoise pins. “You are to wear
these at all times.” He places his hand on his left chest. “Right here, by the
heart.”

I take the pin from him. Our fingers touch and he pulls
away quickly, as if I’ve burned him. Demi notices and raises her eyebrows. I
fumble with the pin, trying to get it in my shirt.

“Here, let me do that,” Demi says. She takes the pin in her
hand and pins it into my shirt. “You think Burke’s cute?” Demi asks.

I blush. I wouldn’t admit that to her.

“He’s creepy,” Mateo says.

We both look at him as if he’s nuts.

“I’m entitled to my opinion,” Mateo says.

Burke clears his throat. “We’re going to the dorms first so
that you can pick a bunk and refresh. Then, we’ll head to the dining hall. I’ll
need all of your tickets for your cases and bags. We’ll get your stuff to the
dorms later.”

We all hand in our tickets. Burke puts them in a bag and
hands them to the boy I saw earlier who was running around the crowd. Joaquim.
His small frame makes him look so young, but he is older than I am.

“Follow me,” Burke says.

We follow Burke behind the stage, through a door, and out
of the glass-encased auditorium. On this side of the building, I can see my
breath and snow covers the ground.  

We tramp on beaten down snow toward several small cabins by
a lake. Some have emerald roofs, some sapphire, and some turquoise. In fact,
the colors represent the colors of our tokens. Burke leads us to the ruby red
roofed cabin. His home. Our new home.

While we walk, Burke tells us about camp. We’ll be
clustered with the first week campers where we will remain for all four weeks.
The other groups, second through fourth week, have their own cluster of cabins.

My eyes drift to the frozen lake. Groups of kids are
ice-skating on it. The whole scene looks tranquil and relaxes me. Spending time
here may not be so bad.

A team of three boys and two girls jog past us in perfect
sync. They all wear one-piece uniforms of sapphire. I scan the campus and see
all the different colors. The red uniforms stick out the most in the white
snow. There is not a sign of a purple anywhere.

“Who are all these kids?” A boy asks.

“You thought you’d be the only ones here?” Burke asks.
“Four weeks of training. We rotate new kids in every week. You’ll be able to
tell the seniors by their cocky attitudes. I’d advise you to stay away from
them. They like to practice their techniques on the new ones.”

The cabins are made of logs and are more rustic than the
buildings on the campus. Long and narrow windows ring the top of the walls, and
the roofs are made of metal. In our case, red metal.

“Enter your new home,” Burke says as we reach the cabin’s
wide porch. “Shoes off before you find your bunks. Girls on the left, boys on
the right.” He climbs the steps, opens the door, and ushers us inside.

The first thing I notice as I walk through the door is that
it is warm to the bone. The front of the cabin is separated from the sleeping
area by a wide archway. On one side of the front is a place for shoes and equipment
and the other side houses, a large common area complete with roaring fireplace,
comfortable looking leather chairs and couches, and a large shaggy rug.

I find my totecase in the pile of bags on the equipment
side and drag it with me into the sleeping area.

I can feel the warmth seep up through the wooden floor of
the sleeping area. A soft white light highlights rows of wooden bunk beds that line
each wall. A long and narrow table separates the two sides.

On the table are stacks of papers and steaming mugs of what
smells like hot chocolate. A red velvet curtain shields a large bed built into
the wall at the far end of the cabin. Several books are scattered on the bed.

The cabin is more luxurious than our townhome.

We all
stand, the girls across from the boys, nervously glancing at one another and
around our new home. I want to curl my hands around a cup of hot chocolate, but
dare not touch anything until someone else does. The smell of it is enough to
make me feel warm all over.

Burke enters the cabin, shuts, and locks the door and
stands before us at the head of the table. He looks regal, rugged, and worn
out.

Before Burke can speak, a girl raises her hand. “The boys
are going to sleep with us?” she asks.

Burke places his hands on the table and leans in her
direction. “What do you think?” he asks.

“It’s just that.” The girl pauses and looks around the
table. “My mother would never approve.” Some of the boys snicker.

“Well, your mother is not here,” Burke says. “Nor will she
be until visiting day. By then, you won’t care what she thinks.”

The girl blushes and looks down at the table. I’m
uncomfortable sleeping with the boys, too. Mostly because I don’t trust them,
especially Erwin and his cronies.

“What if we have to pee?” a boy asks.

Burke rolls his eyes. “Bathrooms are outside, behind the
cabin. Showers are next to the bathroom. Outdoors, yes, but hot water. The
dining hall is down by the lake.” Burke points to the papers on the table.
“It’s all in your handbook.”

“But what about.”

Burke cuts another girl off with his hand.

“Read your handbook. The first rule is not to ask too many
questions.” He taps the forms closest to him. “Get settled and then pick up
your packet. You have twenty minutes to review and sign the documentation. If
you need me, I’ll be in the rear.”

Burke walks to his bunk and draws the curtains shut.

“Oh, I wanted that one,” Demi says in regards to Burke’s bunk.
She frowns and examines the bunks on our side of the table.
“This will do.” She climbs to a top bunk in the middle of
the row. “Take the bottom.” She points to the lower bunk.

“No thanks,” I say as I glance over to the boys side. “I’ll
take the top next to you.”

“I’ll take the bottom,” Vanessa says. “I don’t like
heights.”

Vanessa takes the bunk under Demi. I place my totecase on
the top bunk and then climb up the ladder. My body sinks into the soft
mattress; the blanket feels heavy and warm. There is a shelf and a drawer built
into the wall. The drawer has a lock where I can safely store my things. There
is also a curtain in front of the bunk, which I can close for privacy. Above
the shelf, the long window lets me see out. I like it.

I immediately take my token bracelet off, store it in the
drawer with my pocketknife, and flute for safety. I also pull out the turquoise
nail polish that I made sure to bring for touchups and place it in the drawer.

Erwin
and another boy, a tall
darker skinned boy with straight black hair and a tattoo of a snake around his forearm,
squabble over the last lower bunk. The boy twists the mean boy’s arm behind his
back and then trips him, winning the bottom bunk.

I laugh aloud, which causes Erwin to glare at me. I look
around and shrug my shoulders as if I don’t know who laughed. He picks up a pen
and acts as if he’s going to hurl it across the table at me.

Demi scoots over to my bunk and dangles her legs over the
edge with me. “What a scraggly bunch of boys,” she says. “Are they all like
this?”

I don’t know whether to be offended by her comment or feel
sorry for her—locked up in Clarkhaven House for all of her life. Part of me
agrees with her. All of the boys are unfamiliar to me and it makes me feel
nervous to have to sleep next to them. Some wear worn clothes with holes and
stains, others are dirty as if they just walked in from the fields. However, as
I watch their faces, how they furrow their brows nervously, or twist their
hair, or try to rub off the dirt, I see they are just like us.

“What do you suppose we look like to them?” I ask Demi.

Demi regards her red dress with its rich material and
hand-sewn embroidery. Fabric like that is only available for residents of
Clarkhaven House. My own clothes are elegant and tasteful—bought new for the
occasion.

“I suppose I look like a target,” Demi says. Her face
flashes anxiety before masking over in coolness again.

“Don’t worry.” I pat her knee. “No one can kill us here.
Those are the rules, right?”

Demi jumps down from her bunk. “Only one way to find out.
Time to read the handbook.”

I follow Demi down from my bunk and join Vanessa, who is
busy filling out the paperwork. Demi sits next to her and I sit next to Demi
and a tall girl with straight black hair.

“Hi, I’m Aria,” I say as I sit down.

She looks up at me under long dark eyelashes. “Aisha.” She
smiles and leans back so I can see the girl next to her. “And this is
Priyanka.”

Priyanka’s hair is bright pink.

Soon, all of the girls sway back and forth to make
introductions. Demi quizzes the boys one-by-one to find out their names. She is
like a queen in her court with her subjects. Some of the boys seem smitten with
her already, although others seem more revolted. A few have their heads down to
their forms and ignore her altogether.

Once we finish the paperwork and our deliciously warm hot
chocolate, Burke emerges from his cupboard and collects the sealed envelopes
from us. He then puts all of our envelopes in a cylinder, which he inserts into
a tube in the wall. He presses a button and the tube is gone in a vacuum filled
whoosh.

“Anyone hungry for dinner?” Burke asks. He rubs his hands
together. “I’m starved.”

Everyone agrees. We are starving. The lunch on the Vactrain
wasn’t enough. Burke pushes past us, brushing up against my body, and leads us
out of the cabin.

“Dining hall.” Burke points to a building by the lake. The
architecture is similar to the auditorium, all glass, and steel climbing out
over the lake.

The boy who wrestled Erwin over the bunks comes over to
Demi. “Walk with you?” he asks.

“This is Shah,” Demi says. “Shah, this is Aria, Vanessa,
and Mateo. We’re a crew.”

“A crew?” I laugh. Demi has already replaced her Quad Squad
with a crew.

“Ready your highness?” Burke asks Demi.

She frowns. “Don’t call me that, here. Please. Burke.”

Burke shrugs his shoulders and walks toward the dining
hall. We all follow.

“You’re not a real highness, are you?” Vanessa asks Demi.

“I don’t think so,” Demi says, pondering the question. “Although
my parents say they can trace our roots back to Prince of Portugal, Brazil, and
the Algarves.”

“Who?” Vanessa asks.

“Oh, never mind.” Demi waves her thoughts away. “Just a
tribe of ancients. Ancient history.” She gnashes her teeth together and grins.
“Shah, where are you from?”

“Does it matter?” Shah asks. He obviously doesn’t want to
answer the question.

Demi thinks for a moment. “No. I guess it doesn’t.” She
then grabs his elbow and takes him away ahead of us. “We’ll save you a seat,”
she says over her shoulder.

“She works quickly,” Vanessa says.

“She picks quickly,” Mateo says.

“She has good taste,” I say. Shah is definitely one of the
more attractive boys in camp, muscular and rugged.

As I am watching Demi and Shah, Vanessa runs smack into
Burke, unaware that he has stopped. She stumbles over her feet as her body
heads toward the ground. Erwin and some of the other boys laugh when her knees
crack on the ground. Her palms hit the pavement just as Burke catches her under
the shoulder.

Burke heaves Vanessa to her feet.

“You find it funny when people get hurt?” he asks Erwin.

Erwin snickers and puffs out his chest. “She ran right into
you, man.”

“I am not your man,” Burke says. He waits for Erwin to
respond. When he doesn’t, Burke turns around and starts walking again, leaving Vanessa
to dust herself off.

Erwin sticks out his tongue at him behind his back.

“That’s mature,” Vanessa says loud enough for Erwin to hear
her.

Erwin turns to her and takes his finger across his throat.
“Fat chick,” he says. “Easier to kill.” Erwin’s cronies laugh with him.

“Better fat than ugly,” Vanessa spits out. She looks self-conscious
and sad.

“Don’t let him bother you,” Mateo says when Erwin is out of
earshot.

“He doesn’t,” Vanessa says. She holds on to her token. “He’s
pretty stupid if you ask me, making enemies left and right.”

I have to agree with her. Erwin is pretty stupid. We all
have turquoise tokens. We can all kill him. All of us, except for me. I almost
forgot my token is special. I’m not like anyone here. I will never reveal my
secret, not even to my friends, especially not to Burke.

On approaching the dining hall, all my thoughts change to
the magnificent structure. The front of the building looks like a giant glass
and steel anvil resting on the bank of the lake. The heel of the anvil
stretches out far over the lake. Through the glass, I can see dozens of kids
dining there. I get goosebumps as we cross into the anvil through the base.

We enter the dining hall to the sounds of clattering
silverware and noisy chatter. I spot a few of the other new groups. It’s
obvious to tell who we are because we’re the only ones not in uniform. As we
walk to a free table in the rear, the noisy chatter turns to soft whispers and
pointing.

Burke sits down at the table and I find myself sitting next
to him and Demi. Shah sits on Demi’s other side. Vanessa ends up on the far end
of the table near Erwin and his snickering friends. Luckily, Mateo is on her
other side.

“Your mom’s a great doctor,” Burke says. “I am sorry she
had to take you along for that last delivery.”

“Yea, that was something,” I say. “Why were you there?”

“Slia asked me to be there,” Burke says. “I trained her and
got to know her pretty well. Her father’s brutal. He beats all of his kids. She
couldn’t have another life brought into this world with him. She had to make a
choice and she couldn’t take the life of someone else’s child.”

 “Why do they even issue reds?” I ask.

“I don’t know, Aria. The algorithm is weighted against red,
but on occasion, the color still appears. Usually I get one or two recruits.”

“That’s why you know them so well,” I say.

“Sure,” Burke says. “I spend a lot of time with them.” He
then gives me a curious glance. “Just like I’ll know you in a few weeks.”

“I doubt it,” I say. Just then, Erwin starts a fight with
someone and Vanessa wipes something from her face.

“You may be right,” Burke says. “My time may be spent
splitting up fights.” He throws down his napkin and walks to the other side of
the table to address Erwin.

“This food is great,” Demi says from my other side. “You
guys eat this stuff all the time?”

I regard my plate, molded chicken and mashed potatoes. This
food doesn’t look real. “We eat similar substances in school, but not at home.”

“We don’t eat meat at home,” Shah says, pushing the chicken
to the corner of his plate.

“Yum, can I have yours?” Demi asks.

Shah forks his chicken onto Demi’s plate with a grin. “Carnivore,”
he says with an affectionate nudge.

“I’m not a chicken,” Demi says. She pops the chicken in her
mouth and nudges him affectionately with her shoulder.

Mr. Wassillie
walks into
the dining hall wearing a multi colored suit jacket and tie. Several other
adults follow him to where Burke is discussing manners with Erwin. Mr.
Wassillie pulls Burke aside. By their tone, their conversation is intense and
confrontational. Soon, a couple of other adults join them, including the
teacher I met on the bridge.

“I don’t want that job,” Burke says loud enough for all of
us to hear. “I’ve got other things to do right now.”

“It’s not a request.” Mr. Wassillie thumbs Burke in his chest.
Burke’s eyes light on fire.

“You can’t push me around,” Burke says. He steps back from Mr.
Wassillie as if he’s readying for a fistfight. I can’t imagine Mr. Wassillie
taking on Burke.

“I can’t push, Burke.” Mr. Wassillie buttons his suit
jacket. “But I people who can push very hard.” The camp leader storms off,
leaving Burke with the rest of the teachers.

“He’s scared of losing his power,” Demi says.

“Who, Burke?” I ask.

She laughs. “Burke isn’t interested in power. Mr. Wassillie.
You can see it in the way he walks, talks. Everything about him says
I am
scared
.”

I watch Mr. Wassillie walk away. Demi is right. His saunter
is too purposeful, like it’s all an act. Burke, on the other hand, doesn’t seem
to care about anything except getting us through this.