Kill School: Slice

by Karen Carr

  “It was an accident,” Mal protests. “I was blindfolded. How did I know where she was?”

  Vladimir smacks Mal on the back of the head.

  “You knocked her first, you kicked her second. Don’t be obvious. Next time you don’t get away with it.”

  “But,” Mal says.

  “No more whining. You sound like a dog.” Vladimir turns his back on Mal. “Now you all have to go back down again.” Vladimir dangles the blindfolds. He grins when he sees our face. “Just kidding. We go down the slide in the back. Come.”

  Vladimir waves to Mateo.

  “You down there. Walk around. Perhaps you do better with stealth, but I think not.”

  Vladimir crosses the platform, sits at the edge of the far side, raises his hands, and disappears.

  My knees are stiff from slamming into the side of the pyramid. The left one crackles when I walk. My rear doesn’t feel much better. Aisha slides my arm over her shoulder and helps me hobble over to the other side of the platform. The entire backside is one giant and very steep slide.

  Aisha sits at the edge and turns toward me.

  “Race you,” she says and then she lets out a high-pitched squeal as gravity takes her down.

  I am left standing next to Mal wondering how I am going to bend down to sit, not wanting to put any more weight on my rear. Mal approaches me with clenched fists as if he is ready to throw me over the edge. I need no more motivation. I swing my legs over the edge and go down the slide on my stomach. Mal dives down, head first, right after me.

  “Stealth and grace go hand in hand,” Vladimir is saying to Mateo and Aisha. He stops in mid-sentence and turns to us. “Aria and Mal thanks for joining us.” He goes over to Mal and helps him out of a pile of leaves. “Not too smart going down head first.”

  Mateo helps me up as Vladimir instructs us to walk along a path into the woods. At the end, we are supposed to find stealth. Mal darts onto the path without listening to the rest of Vladimir’s instructions.

  Aisha, Mateo, and I walk into the woods, comparing our failures. My joints, my knees, and my rear feel better with movement.

  The trees are so thick that there is barely any snow on the ground. Birds chirp. Squirrels and unseen animals rustle around us. When I hear a roar, I freeze. They can’t have lions here. They are extinct. I am one of the last lucky few to have seen one in the circus. I smile as I think of Burke’s golden mane. He reminds me of a lion. His blond hair is so rare that it, too, will be gone one day.

  The forest opens up to a small clearing at the end of the path. Burke sits on a tree stump holding a long feather. Seeing Burke makes my pulse jump to my throat. I swallow hard to bring my heart back to my chest, telling myself I was just surprised to see him. When Burke sees me, he cocks his head as if he’s distracted, too.

  Burke walks over to us, twirling the feather in his fingers.

  “Good morning scouts,” Burke says. “I am here to test your desire for stealth.”

  “Where’s the real stealth teacher?” Mal asks.

  “I am the real stealth,” Burke says. “Don’t ever forget.”

  Burke points out four different paths.

  “There are four paths here. One for each of you. Along the path, many creatures will be listening for you, watching for you, waiting to spot you. Your job is to remain invisible. We have sensors throughout the woods to detect any movements, down to the butterfly flapping its wings.”

  “What kind of creatures?” I ask, thinking of the roar I heard.

  “Nothing too dangerous,” Burke says. His lips curl up in an adorable way. “This area has abundant wildlife. You will enjoy yourself here.” By the look in Burke’s eyes, he feels at home in this place.

  Burke takes four wristbands from his pocket and hands one to each of us.

  “You’ll each wear one of these so that we can track your movements. Each path is a loop. You’ll come out the same way you came in. Good luck.” He saunters back to his tree trunk and sits down.

  I pick the diamond symbol and enter the woods slowly. I am stealth. I have been waiting for this task. I have practiced sneaking up on my family, my classmates, and my neighbors for years. The most important thing about stealth is to take every step as if you were walking barefoot on shards of glass. A fast movement or a heavy step will send a piece of glass right through your foot.

  Each time I move, I examine the place where my foot will be next. Twigs and leaves cover the ground, making my task harder but not impossible. I am thankful for the tight fitting uniform, which will prevent the fabric from snagging.

  I notice more with every step. The trees are taller than at home. Some of the trunks are as wide as the Vactrain tunnel. The birds are beautiful, flocking and squawking everywhere. On occasion, I see a rabbit or a squirrel. When I reach a small stream, I pause to watch a flat-tailed creature drag a branch into the water. How curious these creatures are. I could stay here forever and watch them.

  Across the stream, the path on the ground disappears. I have to follow the red diamonds etched into the trees, or on wooden sticks hammered into the ground. Gently, I walk. I take small steps, never increasing my stride. Long strides cover too much distance. It takes me forever, but I know speed is the enemy of this game.

  Patience, Aria.

  The path exits the woods. I enter a big field covered with black birds. All three of my teammates are already in the field. I freeze as several dozen birds startled by Aisha fly in my direction. The birds move away from Mateo like as if he is a lumbering monster. Mal has given up and storms through the birds without care.

  I am winning.

  I enter the field of birds, which have all settled down in front of me, with caution. Each step I take could ruffle their feathers. There are so many of them, that I have trouble deciding where to place my feet. To my delight, they don’t seem to mind me walking in their midst. I watch my three other teammates finish the task on the other side.

  They might be faster, but I am stealth.

  I make it across the field with barely a squawk, and back into the woods. After a short walk, I arrive back at the beginning of the path and emerge from the woods. Burke and the others are waiting for me. Mal looks like he is taking a nap.

  “What took you so long?” Mateo asks.

  “Stealth,” I say with a smile.

  “Alright guys,” Burke says. He’s giving me a peculiar look. “It’s lunchtime. Meet you in the dining hall.”

  The others go on ahead, but I want to find out how I did.

  “Did I pass?” I ask Burke.

  Burke beams at me.

  “You were perfect,” he says. “One hundred percent. Only one other person has received a perfect score. Skills like yours are going to come in handy for turquoise.”

  I hope that they will come in handy for amethyst too.

  “Who was the other person?” I ask.

  Burke smiles in a way that makes me think it was he.

  “Come on, you don’t want to be late for lunch.” he says.

  He puts the feather behind his ear and walks after the others.

  Chapter Fourteen

  By the time we break for lunch, I am starving. Demi, Shah, and I stop by our cabin to shower and change. I grab my cloak as we walk out the door. We enter the dining hall and make it halfway to our table before the boos and cheers begin. Heckling seniors taunt us and others shout at the hecklers. One of the seniors throws a chicken sandwich at us and it bounces off our legs to the floor.

  I recognize the girl from our initiation, the one they called Snatch. Our eyes lock. She glares at me as if she’s trying to kill me with laser vision. I glance at her table and assume the big guy with crazy hair sticking up all over the place next to her is Chopstix. Dwindle, and Micro must be the two other boys glaring at me.

  We meet up with the rest of our group with Demi complaining about the horrible behavior of the seniors while we take our seats.

  “I’m going to tell my father about them,” she sa
ys as she plunks down next to Burke.

  Burke furrows his brow.

  “Demi. You are a first week. Remember what it was like being a freshman?”

  Demi puts her hand on the table and turns to Burke as if he’s said the most ridiculous thing.

  “Really, Burke? You have to ask me that? I don’t go to regular school. Remember? Neither did you, if I recall.”

  “That’s none of anyone’s business,” Burke says.

  “So there,” Demi says.

  “I remember freshmen year,” Vanessa says. “It was ugly.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” I say.

  Vanessa and I shared some classes in freshmen year. We always sat together. Most of the time we scribbled notes to each other on our Flatpads, drew cartoon pictures of the teacher, and became annoyed at the microdrones when they showed the teachers what we were doing.

  “You weren’t with me when they locked me in the broom closet or poured tapioca in my hair.” She turns to Mateo. “Your boyfriend was the worst.”

  “I know,” Mateo says. “Sorry. I dumped him after I found out.”

  We talk more about high school and freshmen year. Vanessa cheers up after I tell the table some stories about us. How she tricked Mateo’s ex-boyfriend into eating earthworms. How we won the sophomore science fair miniature PRT submersible. Vanessa adds a story about how I snuck into the boys’ locker room and stole all of their shorts.

  The conversation turns back to the inclination tests. We quiz Burke about being stealth and he tells us nothing. We laugh at how Mateo walked through the field of birds and how I was the last one to finish.

  “You should have seen her,” Shah says, referring to Demi. “She freaked out over the whole bird thing. They went flying everywhere.”

  “It was beautiful,” Demi says. “I always wanted to run through a flock of birds.” She smiles conspiratorially at Shah.

  “You did it on purpose?” I ask.

  Demi nods. “Childhood dream of mine. Couldn’t resist.”

  “Worst score ever.” Burke chuckles and glances at me. His eyes hang on mine, as if he wants to mention my score, but then he changes his mind and looks back at his food.

  After lunch, Burke leads us back to the campus. We haven’t been here since we climbed out of the boiling cauldron in the middle of the night. It feels like weeks ago, but was less than a day. Burke leads us into one of the larger buildings on campus with words Kalstein Barstow Science Building etched into the stone. Kalstein Barstow, the man who created the killer algorithm.

  “I hate science,” one of the boys says.

  “We’re not here for class yet,” Burke says. “Trust me. You’ll have fun today.”

  We enter the building and step into the foreboding hall. A giant painting of Kalstein Barstow hangs above a roaring fireplace. He is a distinguished man with full lips and bushy eyebrows. Burke leads us up the stairs. All twenty of us are chattering, but the building still seems eerily quiet. It’s as if the walls absorb our words.

  We walk down a hall that could have been any normal university, except displays on the wall show different methods of killing people. Thankfully, with limited graphics. Other pictures show kids knocking around a flaming ball with long hockey sticks. A brass label reads Pelota Purepecha.

  “What’s Purepecha,” a girl asks.

  “It’s an ancient game to remedy the cosmos,” Burke says. “We fight natural disasters unleashed against the earth.” He laughs. “At least that’s what the rulebook says. You’ll learn how to play soon. We have a competition at the end of the four weeks. The arena is on the other side of the bridge. You’ll see it on Friday. We’re going to the senior’s game. You’ll be happy. It’s a rough game. Most of them will be injured.”

  Burke stops in front of a door that reads Assessment Center. Underneath is another taped sign that reads Quiet Please. Testing in progress.

  The sunlit room is empty. A large white board runs along the entire front wall. Burke goes to the front of the class and flips on some switches. The white board turns into a screen. I’m surprised that our names appear in a ranked order.

  “Don’t worry about the numbers,” Burke says. “That’s our job.”

  “Are you going to teach this class too?” a girl asks.

  Burke grins. “No, I’m just getting it ready.”

  I am embarrassed that my name appears so low on the list. I received a hundred percent on stealth, but my grade registers a seventy-five. I raise my hand to protest.

  “Not now, Aria,” Burke says. He sounds annoyed. “We’ll get to your questions later.”

  I’m the one who should be annoyed. I’ve always been a good student. The top of my class in several subjects. My mom always pushed me. She’d never accept someone changing my grade for the worse.

  “I am stealth,” I say, pointing to the board.

  “Not stealthy enough,” Burke says. “You need an eighty five for my class.”

  “But that’s not…”

  “Not, now, Aria.”

  Burke cuts me off before I can remind him that I got a perfect score. He glares at me again, this time with clenched teeth. I glare back at him. It’s not fair. I have to be good at something. I’m not used to this feeling of failure.

  “You better be quiet,” Vanessa whispers at my side.

  “Mateo, you were there,” I whisper. “You saw how well I did in stealth.”

  “Well, I,” Mateo says.

  Burke is right behind me, which makes me jump. Erwin and his friends whisper and snicker at me.

  “You’re not being very stealthy right now,” Burke says. “Trust me, please.”

  Something in his tone makes me feel like he is protecting me. I give up and decide to accept the grade. For now.

  Burke walks back over to the terminal.

  “Watch your heads,” he says.

  He presses another button, and twenty white pods descend from the ceiling with a whirr and a churning of gears. Several kids have to move fast to get out of the way of the pods and the dust that follows.

  “What are those?” a boy asks.

  “Inclination pods,” Burke says. One of the pods is stuck halfway out of the ceiling. Burke curses, goes over to it, and yanks it down by hand.

  “You will enter the pods to take the Kalstein Barstow Test. Don’t worry. It is painless.”

  “Are you sure?” someone asks.

  The pod that Burke pulled down is shaking. Burke kicks it and goes back to the terminal. He presses another button and each of our names appears on one of the pods. The boy whose name appears on the dysfunctional pod looks horrified.

  Burke walks over to the pod closest to him. He shows us the interior.

  “The tests are designed specifically for each one of you based on your previous scores, other things you filled out on your forms and the recordings of the microdrones.”

  He sits in the pod.

  “You’ll enter the pod like this, and then put on the goggles.”

  After his demonstration, he asks us to enter our pods. I walk to the pod with my name on it. It reminds me of a PRT, except smaller with no windows. I take the small seat and the door closes, leaving me trapped inside the brightly lit capsule.

  Goggles drop from the roof of the pod.

  “Please put the detection glasses on,” a computerized voice says.

  I put the glasses on and fit them snuggly to my face. I feel air on my pupils, which makes me blink rapidly. Soon, I get used to the air and the pod goes dark.

  Music starts and 3D images appear all around me. I am flying high above the land, just like in the movie we watched yesterday only this time I am above the images, not below. I feel a flying sensation even though I know the pod is stationary. The images focus on my town, and then my street, and then my house.

  “Your mother is home,” a computerized voice says. “You catch her reading your diary. What do you do?”

  The camera enters my house, only it is not my house, just a recreation
of a similar house. A woman sits on a bed reading a journal. My mother and my journal, presumably.

  Three responses appear on the screen in front of me:

  I scream.

  What diary?

  She wouldn’t find it.

  I don’t have a diary, so this response is easy.

  The camera takes me out of my house, to the park across the street. A remarkable simulation of the playground appears before my eyes. The trees, the broken slide, the sandbox, are all there.

  “A child has fallen from the swing,” the voice says. I see the girl on the ground in front of the swing. She is crying and blood pours from her knee. “Her mother scolds her for bleeding on her dress. How do you react?”

  My choices are:

  Bring the child the closet thing near me. (I am standing by an empty jar and a rope on a chain.)

  That’s awful, I never want a child.

  Blood!

  I can’t imagine having a child, but not for reasons implied here. I choose it anyway.

  Out of the park we go. Over Clarkhaven House. Into a window. Through a banquet hall. Down a small corridor, and then another. Finally, down some stairs and through closed door. I hold my breath. It all feels so real and so elegant. If this is what Clarkhaven House is really like, I’m going to have to ask Demi to take me there.

  I see a woman by the window. She looks remarkably like my mother and she is pregnant.

  “Your mother gives birth to a cockroach.”

  My choices are:

  I kill it.

  The end is near.

  You are crazy.

  The woman in the image turns to look at me. Even though she is only an image on the screen, I feel her stare. A giant cockroach crawls out from under her hair. This is crazy. I slam my thumb on the answer. You are crazy.

  I spend the next few moment answering more questions. I’m taken to the library, under water, inside the mountain, and on a space ship. The questions are at best weird and other times inappropriate. Like the woman swimming naked under the water and the couple making love in the snow. Snow. They would freeze their rears off in real life.

  When the exam is over, the pod goes dark and the door opens again. To my surprise, I exit the pod in a different room. This room is small and has two chairs with a coffee table between them. On the table is a glass of water and a banana.