Kill School: Slice (8 page)

“Are you feeling sick?” Demi asks. “You look a little
green.”

Being Regulator’s children, I expect them to be snobs, but
they seem to be genuine. I make a mental note not to kill Demi’s father. I like
her and she would never forgive me.

 “These help.” I drop the last grape in my mouth. “Why do
you have to go to training camp? I thought all of the Regulator kids hired stunts.”

“Stunts.” Lilly curls her lip in a frown. I notice a small
tattoo of a crescent moon and a star above her eyebrow. “You know they are
illegal.” She glares at me. I get the feeling that I have to be very careful
about what I say around her or else I’ll end up with a black eye.

I nod. Stunts are illegal, but Regulators can do what they
want.

Demi gives her sister a sweet glance, which breaks Lily’s
tough stare.

“Dad was going to hire stunts for us,” Demi says.

“It doesn’t seem right. You know?” Lily says. “Having
someone kill for you. I prefer to do it myself.” The glint in Lily’s eyes gives
me the chills.

Rich people hired stunts to kill for their children. Most stunts
don’t last more than two or three kills before the police catch them and send
them to control for their crimes. If I had a choice, if my family could afford
one, I would hire one. Blood on someone else’s hands, not mine.

 “We still can hire one,” Demi says. “We’ll go to school
and try it out. If it’s too much for us, we’ll quit. Quads stick together.” Demi
taps Lily’s knee and looks on to her brothers, Matthew and Jack.

“Aren’t you afraid someone will terminate you?” I ask.

Demi and Lily both nod, but I don’t think they really
understand what it all means. I’ve seen people killed. I’ve felt my brother’s
pain after he comes back from an overnight raid.

“That makes it more exciting,” Lily says.

“No one would really chose us,” Demi says. “With my dad in
charge. Imagine what he would do to the family.”

She is right. No one would want to kill a Regulator’s kid.

While we are talking, the Vactrain carries us through
mountains and forests. We shoot through a grassy field speckled with cows and
sheep, all of us looking out the large window, before the conversation picks up
again. We talk about our families, comparing mothers and fathers. The
conversation turns back to Kill School.

“Your dad let you go?” I ask. I can’t imagine any parent
wanting their kids to go to Kill School if they had a choice.

Demi shrugs her shoulders.

“He sorta doesn’t know we’re here,” Demi says. “We snuck
out after he left for morning debriefings. Those things take up so much time. I
wish he’d delegate more to the other Regulators.”

“He sure will be surprised when he sees us,” Lily says.

“Who was that woman with you?” I ask. “I thought she was
your mother.”

“Our nanny,” Demi says with a sly smile. “She’ll do
anything for more credits in her account. What do your parents do?”

“My mom is an obstetrician and my dad is a music teacher.”
Mentioning their names makes their loss fresh in my mind. Sure, I’ll see them
in a few weeks, but I miss them dearly already.

“Wow,” Demi says.

We are back in the woods. The trees are taller here than
any other place I’ve ever been. We pass over and then under a wide and deep
river. I get chills thinking of how wild the land is way up here.

“My mom told me we were all in the same hospital together,”
I say.

Demi and Lily look at me, puzzled.

“How can that be?” Demi asks. “We were born in Clarkhaven
House.”

The train slows as we approach a tunnel. I catch my breath as
the dark surrounds us again. My answer is lost in the sound of the train. By
the time we reach the other side, we are all agape at the building before us.
We have arrived in training camp. All other thoughts leave my mind.

We pull
into a small station with a long, narrow platform. In the distance, I can see a
building both more ancient and more modern than I have ever seen. Most
structures in the city and surrounding area are slick, and practical—utilizing
every square inch of space. This building takes up space like a sprawling lazy
dog. It stretches outward and upward with turrets made of stone if it wants to
fill up all the air and keep going to the heavens.  

The strangest thing about the place is the snow on the
ground. Snow. White stuff. At least that’s what I think it is. Since I have
never seen it before, except on the highest mountain ranges, I am in shock. The
rest of the kids in the compartment all leave their seats and crowd around the
front of the compartment.

“What is it?” someone asks.

“It is snow, you idiot,” someone else answers.

I don’t have to turn around to know it’s the mean boy
sitting behind me. I suppose it’s a good thing that I recognize his voice. He
pounds on the back of my seat with his feet.

Lily stands up and leans over the seat toward the mean boy.

“Shove it, Erwin,” she says. “Or Demi will take you out.”
She tries to swat him but he moves away.

Demi gives her sister a dirty look.

“I will not. I’m not going to waste my token on a silly
little boy. Jack and Matthew will just have to beat him up if he gives us any
more trouble.” She turns to her brothers. “Right, boys?”

Jack and Mathew both nod eagerly.

“Sure thing, sis,” Jack says. “My fists are yours.” He
makes two fists and shows them to the mean boy, Erwin.

The way the quads operate reminds me of the gears of an
ancient clock. Someone winds up the clock with the butterfly wings attached to
the back, putting the gears in motion. Lily is the winder. She seems to be the
one that sets off the rest. I wouldn’t want to be on her bad side.

While we wait for further instructions, the conversation
turns back to our parents. I tell the quads about my mom, how she delivered a baby,
and how the baby’s sister terminated her. The quads shocked faces makes me
think I shouldn’t have told them that story. 

 “I never want to have kids,” Demi says. She leans into my
shoulder.

“I do,” Lily says. “I’m going to run away and have a whole
boatload of them.”

“That’s impossible,” Demi snaps. “There is nowhere else to
go.”

“You’ll need the boat before you can load it.” Jack grins
and taps his sister on the head.

The fourth quad, Matthew, leans across his brother and
sister to yank on Demi’s hair. She swats his hand away in a better mood.

“What about you, Aria?” Demi asks.

I can’t imagine having kids, or not having kids. I can’t
imagine having anyone in my life to change my mind either way. However, I can
imagine running away.

“I wonder who tagged the Vactube,” is all I say. I want to
be one of those kids, free enough and daring enough to venture down the
airtight tube.

“Whomever went in there is stupid,” Demi says. “There’s no
exit except the one here and the one back at home. What’s the point?”

I grimace. She’s right. Stupid.

“Maybe there’s a secret tunnel.” Lily rubs her hands
together in mock enthusiasm. “That leads straight through the earth’s core to
the other side of the world.”

Suddenly, the lights turn off and a red strobe flashes.
Along with the strobe, a penetrating buzzing noise starts. This quiets everyone
down long enough for me to hear an announcement. We are supposed to disembark
and go to the auditorium for a welcome ceremony and assignments.

I grab my totecase from above my seat and follow the crowd.
In all the confusion, I lose the quads and end up surrounded by a bunch of
rough looking kids. They all seem to know one another and glare at me as if I
am not supposed to be with them. I shrug my shoulders and follow them out of
the Vactrain.

We trail past the rows of empty seats littered with
garbage, down the spiral stairs, and into a burst of freezing cold air. The air
catches in my throat and burns my eyes so much that I want to run. Instead, I
keep my pace steady with the rest of the kids and look for someone familiar.

We trudge toward the main building, an imposing structure
with a glass and steel bridge leading out of it like a frost bitten tongue. We
are the last group to make it across the campus, having been in the first
compartment. Our feet crunch in the soggy snow. The dampness sinks into my
shoes, making my socks wet. I wonder why my mom didn’t tell me to bring a warm
coat and galoshes.

I catch Demi’s red dress and see her walking arm in arm
with her siblings. The Quad Squad makes their way across campus just like the
rest of us. No golden chariot awaits them.

My teeth chatter as I examine the imposing stone and glass structure
ahead of us. Round drum towers anchor an arched entryway. Vertical lines of
glass windows cut through each one as if made by a knife. Taller towers stand
at the east and west corner. Behind the main building, jostling towers of gray
stone and glass fight for their position in the sky. 

A wall of mist rises in front of the building in a line
trailing far off to either side of the horizon. My mysterious new home
mesmerizes me. I decide to call it a castle. I’ve seen pictures of castles
before, ancient ruins from thousands of years ago no longer accessible. This mix
of modern and gothic will be my home for four more weeks.

“Come on.” A small boy hails me with his hand. His voice
calls me out of my trance and I realize everyone has started to jog.

I catch up to the boy and jog next to him. He must be
sixteen but looks much younger. His skin is almost as white as the snow, his
hair dark brown like bark. Before I can ask him his name, he dashes away. He
travels with a quickness and darts in amongst us like a gazelle. Always
ushering us forward. Always ushering us faster.

As we near the building, I notice a bridge of glass and
steel crosses over the wall of mist. I watch the kids pause on the bridge and
look over its rail and down to its floor. Their shrill tone reaches my ears
through the thin air. I trudge along, carrying my totecase in my arms, in
anticipation of what lies beneath. Trolls? Dragons?

I soon reach the entrance to the bridge and understand the shrieks.
The bridge spans a huge gorge filled with the rising mist. I step onto the
bridge, which feels sturdy under my feet, and move forward. The bridge’s floor
is clear glass, enabling me to see all the way down to the bottom of the gorge.
Far below me, at the bottom of the gorge, a frozen river lets out the steamy
mist. The gorge travels in a straight line across the land to the horizon in
each direction. There is no end or beginning to the gorge. We are entering a
fortress with only one way out.

I quicken my pace and step on a patch of ice. My feet fly
out from under me. Before I fall to the ground, a large and soft man catches me.
He smells of smoke, the kind you would find around a campfire.

“You’re not very light on your feet,” the man says. He is
shorter than I am, and older than my father.

“Thanks,” I say. The man waits around as if I am supposed
to do or say something else, so I extend my hand. “I’m Aria Nova.”

“Vladimir Korchev.” The man shakes my hand. “Grace. I’ll be
teaching you poise and grace.”

I laugh and then feel stupid for laughing. He is serious. He
looks more like a giant snowball than a man that can teach me grace.

“You laugh now, but you will find my class most useful.
Perhaps we will teach you some manners as well. Now, on with you and the
others. Get.” He slaps my backside.

I run the rest of the way across the bridge, hoping I don’t
trip again. I pass under an arch between the two imposing drum towers and enter
an expansive rectangular courtyard surrounded by buildings. Dozens of walkways
lead from the buildings to a grassy expanse the middle.

The air feels warmer here, the season more like spring than
winter. Instead of snow covering the ground as it was across the gorge, flowers
bloom and insects buzz in the air. For the first time since leaving the
Vactrain, I notice the microdrones in the air. They are recording us even as we
train to kill.

Although I expected camp to be empty except for us, the campus
is teaming with kids and adults alike. Groups of two or three campers walk
across the grounds in their colors, carrying various things like long sticks,
athletic bags, or encased weapons. Several kids practice some form of boxing or
martial arts on a section of the quad padded with thick rubber. A boy and a
girl wrestle. He trips her and she falls to the tarp with a grunt. Instead of
helping her up, he pounces on her and puts his arm across her throat. By the
sounds she makes, I can tell he’s choking her.

“Hi Newbie.” A girl in a blue jumpsuit stands next to me
while we watch the girl and boy wrestle. “She’s not using her legs. Don’t
forget to use every part of your body in a fight. Especially your legs, your
most powerful weapon.” She stretches and runs off in the other direction,
shouting out, “Good luck,” before she gets too far away.

I follow everyone else across the grounds to a large
structure shaped like an hourglass supported by multiple silver columns.
Inside the bottom-half of the hourglass is a mirrored dome.
Two steel spiraling ramps traverse the inside of the hourglass, ending at the
flat top. A garden in a caged structure grows on top of the roof.

Upon entering the building, I end up in a line that has
formed in front of a counter. A woman behind it takes our bags and gives us a
ticket in return. I follow the line of kids to the entrance of the auditorium,
our path lined with exhibits showing the history of camp.

The ceiling arches in smaller crescents of light toward the
stage, framing it much like a window. A mass of gold, red velvet and rich wood
combine with a façade of pipes to the rear of the stage. Semi-circle shelves of
tan seating divided by belts of red slant toward the stage. The material has an
intimacy about it as if we are meant to feel safe here. Cautious but adrenaline
fueled voices echo back and forth, as kids fill in to find their friends.
Figures lurk in curtained balconies high above us.

I look through the crowd of faces, hoping to see someone I
know. Finally, I see Vanessa, the girl from my school who shares my birthday. Vanessa
waves and points to a seat right next to her. Her usual outfit of jeans and a
tee shirt has been replaced by an expensive turquoise dress. I make my way over
to her, wading through elbows and feet of the kids already seated. We always seem
to end up next to each other at assemblies, collaborating in science class, and
taking the MagLev home together. I consider her a friend, even though we rarely
do things outside of school.

I take the spot next to her. Sitting next to Vanessa is a
boy from school who was born a few days before us. I’ve never spoken to him, but
I greet him like a friend anyway. We are all in this together.

“Can you believe my parents splurged on this dress?”
Vanessa smooths out the velvety fabric. “It seems so silly since we have to
wear uniforms for the whole four weeks.”

“Let me guess, turquoise token?” Vanessa nods. I show her
my bracelet. “Me too.”

She squeals and hugs me. “I can’t tell you how relieved I
am. We’ll be in the same group. Can you believe Mateo’s a turquoise, too?”

Mateo holds up a leather satchel attached to his pants with
a chain. “We’re thinking about going out together. Maybe a duel. You know, so
we don’t have to kill anyone else.”

“He’s kidding,” Vanessa says when she sees the look on my
face.

“It’s not a bad idea,” I say. “I don’t want to kill anyone
who isn’t fully committed to dying.”

Vanessa and Mateo exchange glances. “Oh grief, Aria. We are
not committed. Don’t get any ideas.”

For a moment, I don’t understand.
Ideas about what?
Then it hits me. That’s how life goes here. We are all trying to find the
perfect victim, the one who doesn’t mind if we kill them. An impossible task.
Sometimes, for brief seconds, I think I wouldn’t mind dying. Kill me so that I
don’t have to kill you. I can’t give up. I can’t let go of my life, not with
all it has to offer.

“Did you know that we’re related?” Mateo asks, bringing me
out of my trance. By the way he looks at me, he’s probably repeated himself
several times already.

“How are we related?” I ask.

“Somewhere down the line on your dad’s side,” Mateo says. “He
told us in music class. He’s cool. Everyone likes him.”

“I like him, too,” I say. I miss him. I reach into my
pocket to feel the flute.

Vanessa and Mateo continue to talk about all sorts of
stuff. Guys they both like, tests they failed, the snow. Vanessa and Mateo’s
chatter is reassuring. It makes me feel like we are sitting at an ordinary
assembly, and not one to begin our training to kill. I ease into my seat and
survey the large auditorium.

A platform has been setup in the middle of the stage and
rings of color matching the tokens surround it in an arc. It reminds me of a
circus and I half-expect the Regulators to come out in a clown car or on top of
elephants and prancing horses. The last elephant died several years ago, so my
vision is impossible. I’ll have to settle for a clown car.