Kill School: Slice (22 page)

“I’m going to kill him,” he chants. “I’m going to kill him.
I’m going to kill him.”

I feel a sharp pain in my chest with every step and squeeze
my eyes shut to make it go away.

I open my eyes to soft music and a bright light. I am no
longer being carried. White sheets, curtains separating me from the other beds,
and a comfortable mattress indicate that I am back in the infirmary. I must
have passed out again.

“You’re awake,” Burke says.

He takes my hand, squeezes it, and then rests it gently on
my chest. His hands are wrapped like a boxers, hiding the scrapes on his
knuckles. I try to focus on Burke’s face, but every feature is blurry. His eyes
resemble glass under water and his brows windswept sand. The light stings my
eyes and tears roll down my cheek.

“I’m sorry,” Burke says. He thinks I’m crying.

I shade my eyes to block the light.

“You shouldn’t be,” I say.

“You are my responsibility,” Burke says. “If anything
happens to you, I’m going to…”

I cut Burke off with my hand. “I know. You’re going to kill
him.” I try to laugh, but wince in pain instead.

Another figure appears next to Burke. My vision is blurry.
It doesn’t matter. By the colors the man is wearing, I know it is Mr.
Wassillie. He’s the last person I want to see right now.

“Well, good evening Aria,” Mr. Wassillie says.

I roll to my side and grimace as I try to prop myself up
with my elbows.

“Evening?” I ask.

“You’ve been sleeping on and off all day,” Burke says.

“Burke has been by your side for the majority of it,” Mr.
Wassillie says. He sits at the edge of my bed with a Flatpad. “Unfortunately
learning to kill makes people very aggressive. We’ve sequestered Erwin and Mal
for a few days. With some counselling, they should be able to join you in your
cabin again.”

Burke stiffens and straightens his shoulders.

“I’m not taking them back,” Burke says.

“You have no choice,” Mr. Wassillie says.

Burke steps closer to Mr. Wassillie, towering over him on
my bed.

“I’m not doing it. Send him to someone else’s cabin or his
blood will be on your hands.”

Mr. Wassillie arches his back away from Burke, putting him
uncomfortably close to my legs.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Mr. Wassillie says. He turns to
me and taps my knee. “In the meantime, rest up Aria. We’ll have you back in
your cabin tomorrow if you are feeling better.”

Mr. Wassillie jumps from my bed and disappears behind the
curtain before Burke can say anything else. Just then, Mateo walks by and
smiles when he sees me awake. Following him, is a nurse with a cart of food
trays.

Mateo
stands in front of my bed with his hands in his pockets as the nurse brings
over a food tray. She is a large woman, perhaps almost as tall as Burke is. And
she’s friendly. I can tell by her smile.

“I am Nurse Smith,” the woman says as she places the tray
on a table next to Burke. “I’ll be taking care of you for your
short
stay.”

She touches Burke’s shoulder in a familiar way.

“Sweetheart, Can you make sure she eats this?” she asks.

“Sure thing, Smith,” Burke says. He tips his fingers to his
brow in a mini-salute.

Nurse Smith points to a jam cake on the edge of my tray.

“Chef made some Randalin for you, Burke,” she says. “It was
meant for your snack in the morning but I snuck a piece for you now.”

Burke looks both embarrassed and excited when the nurse
points out the Randalin. His grin is so cute that it makes me scrunch up my own
nose.

Nurse Smith picks up another tray.

“Is your friend awake yet?” she asks Mateo.

Mateo shrugs and steps behind the curtain on the far side.
Shortly after, he pulls the curtain open.

“Now she is,” Mateo says.

Vanessa lies in the bed next to me. Her arm is in a sling,
her forehead is bruised, and her left eye is swollen.

Nurse Smith hands Mateo another tray and leaves us to eat
our dinner.

Vanessa and I sum up our injuries, making sure the other
one isn’t hurt too badly. When we are finished with our roster of injuries,
including Burke’s hands, Mateo and Burke press us to eat.

“Chicken soup.” Burke says, as he pushes my tray forward.
“Needs to be eaten hot.”

A hot bowl of chicken soup sits on the tray. Chicken seems
to be the food of choice in camp. The smell makes my mouth water.

“Yummy,” I say. I try to smile, but it makes my ribs hurt. Instead,
I say, “Ow.”

Burke touches the sheets above my ribs.

“Bruised ribs will hurt for a while,” he says. “Believe me.
I’ve had a few. You are lucky they weren’t broken. Erwin was not so lucky.”

I raise my eyebrows.

“You broke his ribs?” I ask.

Burke grins. “Just a couple. On each side. He’ll be easy to
take down if he tries something else. Left and right side. Just a touch should
send him keeling over. Remember that.”

Burke and Mateo continue the conversation, sharing memories
from their childhood while Vanessa and I eat our chicken soup.

Mateo begins, telling us about his three brothers and two
sisters. They live in a big home on the other side of town. He starts laughing
when he tells us about the amount of forms his parents had to fill out when his
mom was pregnant with his youngest sister. We are only supposed to replace, two
kids for each family.

“They were at the post office every day for a month after
she was born,” Mateo says. “Those old ladies were furious with us. A life for
five lives doesn’t make them happy.”

Burke tells us about his two sisters, one younger, and one
older. I had no idea he had any relatives, let alone relations so close. I
watch his silky blond hair drop in his eyes as he talks and wonder if they look
like him. A girl version of Burke would be beautiful.

Burke tells us that he hasn’t seen his sisters in a very
long time and has no idea where they are. He remembers the oldest one teaching
them to skate on the most beautiful lake by their house. Burke picked skating
up right away, but his sister took longer. His family used to fish on the lake
in winter and swim in summer.

“The water was freezing,” Burke says with a laugh. “Even in
summer the lake was only partially melted. That lake is one of the reasons I
took this job. I’ve been trying to find it again.”

Burke finishes the last of his Randalin and sits on the
edge of my bed.

“Vladimir and I are thinking of taking off in the summer to
see if we can find the lake,” he says. “I can’t go far enough north during my
short camp breaks.”

“Take me with you,” I say dreamily.

Our eyes lock and Burke’s lips curl, making me blush all
over my body. Was I seriously inviting myself along on Burke’s adventure?

“You’d be awfully cold,” Burke says. He’s grinning at me as
if he’s imaging me shivering. “Hiking around the mountains looking for a lake
isn’t for a city kid.”

“A city kid?” I frown. “I’d do fine. I like the cold.”

“City kid,” Burke says again. His smile is genuinely
affectionate.

“You can’t go, Aria,” Vanessa says. “You have to finish
high school with me. We still have two more years.”

Burke rests his hand on my ankle.

“I wouldn’t take her away forever.” Burke’s talking to
Vanessa, but he’s looking at me. “She’d be back by fall.”

He’s seriously thinking of taking me with him. The thought
of being in the middle of nowhere with Burke makes me feel warm and tingly,
even though we would be hunting for a frozen lake. He would keep me warm. I’d
cuddle in his arms and make him hold me all night.

“We could take my mom’s PRT,” I blurt out.

“City kid,” Mateo says. “PRT’s don’t operate that far out.
Where would they get the circuit?”

Everyone laughs at me. PRTs only work inside the magnetic
circuit. I bet they can’t even work in Kill School. I laugh at myself. Vanessa
and I cry out in pain causing us to laugh more. Someone from two beds over
yells at us to shut up. We’re not supposed to be having fun.

Nurse Smith walks over to us with a stern look on her face
and a Flatpad in her hand.

“Others are trying to sleep.” She taps her Flatpad.
“Anyway. Visiting hours are over, kids. Aria and Vanessa need to sleep.”

Burke removes his hand from my ankle and shakes the cake
crumbs off his shirt.

“Promise to take care of them?” Burke asks as he stands.

“Of course, Burke,” says Nurse Smith. “For the tenth time.
I will take care of them all night long.”

“See you in the morning,” Mateo says. He kisses Vanessa on
the forehead.

“Can you scoot our beds closer together before you go?”
Vanessa asks. “That way, Aria and I can talk easier.”

“You shouldn’t be talking,” Nurse Smith says. “You should
be sleeping.”

Vanessa pouts. She looks so cute and sad that Nurse Smith
agrees. She helps Burke and Mateo move Vanessa’s bed closer to mine. The metal
bars on each side of our beds are now touching.

Nurse Smith points to Burke and Mateo.

“Now you two have to go,” she says.

By the look in Burke’s eyes, I have a feeling he’s probably
going to sleep outside the infirmary. Nurse Smith pushes both of them toward
the door.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Burke,” Nurse Smith says.
“I’ll have more Randalin for you. You can visit the girls after our
appointment.”

After Burke and Mateo leave, Nurse Smith makes sure that
Vanessa and I are comfortable by covering us with warm blankets and giving us
extra pillows. She brings us apple juice on Vanessa’s request and a cup with
ice on mine.

Vanessa sticks her hand between the metal bars of the bed
and grasps my fingers. We stay that way, looking at the ceiling, for several
minutes.

“We have matching bruises,” Vanessa says.

I turn toward her. She smiles with her eyes. Her injuries
make me furious with Erwin and Mal all over again.

“Maybe they’ll let us in force now,” I say. “We can tell
Yip we were practicing on each other.”

“I wish Mal had killed me,” Vanessa says.

“What?” I ask. I don’t think I’ve heard her right.

“I wish Mal had killed me,” Vanessa repeats.

“How can you say that?” I ask.

Wishing someone dead was one thing. Wishing yourself to be killed
is something else entirely.

Vanessa furrows her brow.

“I don’t want to die,” she says.

She takes a deep breath and props herself up on an elbow.

“That’s why I have to die. You know what I mean?”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t. I want to fight. I’m not
going to let anyone kill me. What do you mean?”

Vanessa gives me a disappointed look, lays on her back
again, and continues.

“It’s like when you have to take a test or go to the
doctor. You just want to get it over with as fast as possible. I know someone
is going to kill me. Let’s face it. I’m an easy target. I don’t want to die. I’m
scared to death of dying. That’s why I wish I was already dead.”

I don’t respond to her right away. I don’t know what to
say. I don’t want to be dead, but I am not scared of dying. The thought of
dying doesn’t make me want to give up. It makes me want to live. It makes me
want to learn how to defend myself and how to slice.

“You are stealth,” I finally say. “You are sneakier and
trickier than any of them. You will get them with your poison darts before they
even know you are there.”

“But I can only kill one person,” Vanessa says, and then
quickly adds, “I don’t want to kill more than one. One’s enough. Believe me.
Maybe I can make the rest sick.”

“That’s a great idea,” I say. “Put some frog blood into
their soup. Poison their muffins.”

Vanessa rests her leg on the metal bar between us. Her
toenails are painted turquoise. I wonder if her mother painted them for her, to
match her dress. She’s watching the ceiling fan dreamily. She turns to me again
with a mischievous grin.

“Aria, once we kill our tokens we can go into hiding,” she
says. “Maybe we should go with Burke. You and me, Mateo, Shah, and Demi. If everyone
gets turquoise tokens, we only have to hide until we are eighteen. Until we are
out of their kill zone.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I say. Except, in my case I would
have to kill a Regulator. I would have to disappear forever.

Vanessa and I fantasize more about running away with Burke.
She’s excited about being on her own, without any parent to control her. I get
that her mom must be very strict. That’s why I’ve never seen her outside of
school.

“Do your parents ever let you out?” I ask.

She twists her hair around her finger and sticks it in her
mouth.

“You know Burke talks a lot about you,” she says, changing
the subject to one I don’t want to talk about either. “I think he has a crush
on you.”

“No way,” I say. My cheeks get hot. I turn away from
Vanessa so that she can’t see me blush.

I’ve seen how Burke cared for the girl in the mountains,
the one that had to kill her sister. I’ve seen the way he cares for the other
campers. It’s his job. Part of me knows we have something special, but it’s not
rooted in attraction.

“I think you have a crush on him too,” Vanessa says.

“Are you kidding?” I say. I cover my face with my hands and
shake my head. I’m not good at talking about boys. It’s too embarrassing.
Especially Burke.

“What’s it like?” she asks.

“What’s what like?” I ask.

“Having a boy as handsome as Burke attracted to you,”
Vanessa says. There is no envy in her voice, just genuine curiosity. I glance
at her. Her eyes are heavy, as if she is having trouble keeping them open.
Maybe she won’t remember our conversation.

“You think he’s attractive?” I ask.

“Are you kidding?” she repeats my words from earlier.
“Everyone thinks he’s attractive. Well, except Mateo.”

Vanessa and I keep talking about Burke. During our
conversation, Vanessa’s voice gets softer and softer. Finally, when she doesn’t
answer a question, I know she is asleep. I watch the ceiling for a long time
before I drift off on my own.