by Karen Carr
Before I can apologize to Demi, Burke bursts into the cabin with a big grin plastered on his face. I tell myself my rapidly accelerating heartbeat is because of the coffee, and not Burke’s entrance.
“It’s Game Day,” Burke says. “This afternoon, we will be going to the stadium where you will watch your first game of Pelota Purepecha.” He puts down a box on the table. “To celebrate, I’ve brought you special cabin jackets.”
As Burke passes out the jackets, he fields a bunch of questions about the games. The stadium is located on the other side of the bridge, into the side of the mountain. Parents and spectators are allowed to go to the games, but they cannot come into camp. Only designated reporters are allowed on the campus.
The games consist of three separate matches. The first match is going on now and pits each of the ten senior cabins against another one.
Round one will take up the morning. With the losers eliminated, the winners get to move on to round two, which starts after lunch. We don’t get to attend round two either, because we all have to visit our psychologists and go through another round of inclination tests. Round three will pit the three remaining teams against one another.
“I’ll try to save you seats at the stadium,” Burke says. “Now, get going. You don’t want to be late for your first class.”
Burke stops me on the way out and pulls me to the side.
“I have to go somewhere this morning,” he says. “I’ll see you later, at the game. Maybe we can meet tonight about your situation.”
“Have you found out anything?” I ask.
“Not now,” Burke says. “Later.” He squeezes my arm affectionately. “I’ve got some good news, so try not to think too much about it today.”
I smile and put my game day jacket on. It’s warm and smells of Burke—campfire mixed with grass.
I exit the cabin to find Erwin sitting on the porch. I don’t know if he’s been eavesdropping, but by his expression, it seems as if he’s overheard something. I ignore him and take the path to campus with the other students running late.
My morning classes are biology and grace. I’m glad to have my new jacket to keep me warm. The temperature has dropped a few degrees from yesterday and a fresh layer of snow covers the ground. It’s supposed to be getting warmer with spring. My teeth are chattering as I cross into the warm campus.
I jog over to the Kalstein Barstow Science Building, hoping no one recognizes me from yesterday. I climb the stairs two at a time and enter the biology classroom. I say hi to the quad brothers, Jack and Matthew. Vanessa and Mateo wave me over to my seat. Erwin is not there yet. I hope he decides to cut class. Better yet, I hope he drops out. Maybe someone will kill him as he walks across campus.
“Aria?” Vanessa asks. She points with her thumb to the professor.
“Miss Nova, are you here?” Professor Hammerschmidt asks.
“Here, Sir,” I say with a little wave.
Professor Hammerschmidt scribbles something on his Flatpad.
“Next time, answer me the first time I call your name,” he says. “We don’t have time to waste here.”
Professor Hammerschmidt explains what we are going to do today. He produces a tray of scalpels and tells us how several students are going to open the cadaver. The others will watch.
“For being late, Aria will make the first cut.” Professor Hammerschmidt waves the scalpel in the air.
“I wasn’t late,” I protest. Just then, Erwin walks into class. “He’s later.” I point to Erwin, who looks at me with wide eyes.
“Nonsense,” Professor Hammerschmidt says. “He has an excuse.”
I open my mouth to say something else. Vanessa tugs on my sleeve and shakes her head. I press my lips together as Professor Hammerschmidt waves me forward with the scalpel.
“Everyone, gather around. Aria is going to show us what a small intestine looks like.”
Vanessa nudges me and helps me get out of my seat. I lean on her as we join the rest of the class around the cadaver. Professor Hammerschmidt has covered up the man’s top and bottom, so that the only thing visible is his mid-section.
Bile rises in my throat as Professor Hammerschmidt hands me some surgical gloves.
“I hope you are right handed,” Professor Hammerschmidt says, regarding my bandaged left hand.
I consider lying, but I am trying to hold back a bunch of puke so I keep my mouth shut. Vanessa helps me with the surgical gloves, which fit tightly over my bandaged hand. I wish I had chopped off a finger. It’s not too late.
Professor Hammerschmidt takes a marker and draws on the corpse’s stomach.
“You’ll slice here and then reach inside to pull out the intestine.”
I place the knife on the man’s skin. I can’t do it. I can’t press it into the man’s flesh. I wonder how my mom does it. Sure, she’s a baby doctor, but she had to go through medical school to become one.
“Try harder,” says Professor Hammerschmidt. He presses down on my hand to break the flesh.
When the knife goes through the flesh, I hear popping and gurgling sounds. The slice, a couple of inches long, reveals red squishy stuff inside the corpse. The whole room starts spinning. My knees go weak. Everything in the room turns black.
“I thought you were in slice,” Professor Hammerschmidt says. I am on the ground and he is kneeling beside me.
Professor Hammerschmidt has me sit in my seat for the rest of the class. He makes comments to the other students about me, making fun of the way I fainted. Erwin laughs the loudest and glares at me. I am glad when the bell rings and we get to go to our next class.
Grace meets in a different location today, because some of the graduates are practicing on the lake for their morning games. Vladimir Korchev meets us in the middle of campus to take us to the new location. Next to him rests a large bag filled with ropes, and hooks. I hope he’s not going to have us climb a mountain.
Shah and Demi greet me. Erwin and Tane stand on the other side of Vladimir. I don’t see Priyanka anywhere.
“We go to the bridge today,” Vladimir says. “Practice your dangling technique. Don’t worry. It’s easy. Good practice for the woods. Come, follow.”
Once we reach the middle of the bridge, Vladimir unlocks and pulls down a lever. A metal platform rises from underneath the bridge. Vladimir pulls out a harness and explains to us what we are going to do.
“Bungee jumping?” Demi asks.
“More scary than dangerous,” Vladimir says. “You go first.” He holds the harness out for Demi. “I’ll strap you in.”
“No thanks,” she says.
“Alright,” Vladimir says. “We don’t force people here. Volunteers?”
“I’ll go first,” Shah and I say at the same time.
I am terrified of heights. I want to get this over with as soon as possible. However, I step back to let Shah go first.
“No kidding,” Vladimir says. “Two of you? The tall Shah. You got a tie for your hair?” Vladimir reaches in his pocket. “Never mind. Use this.”
Shah takes the tie and makes a ponytail out of his hair. I’m nervous just watching him, but he doesn’t look scared at all.
Demi helps Shah put on the harness, with instructions from Vladimir.
“Not too tight, a little looser there. You have it about right. Let’s hope he doesn’t fall out. I’m kidding. No?”
Vladimir finishes by putting padding around Shah’s ankles and then he attaches big elastic bands around them.
Demi looks pale, so I go to her side and put my hand on her shoulder.
“You look more nervous than he does,” I say.
“He’s, uh.” Demi doesn’t finish her sentence because Shah has just jumped off the platform. We can hear him all the way down, shouting out with joy.
“Now we have to get him back up,” Vladimir says.
Once Shah is back on the platform, Vladimir ushers me forward. He notices my bandaged hand and looks it over a couple of times.
“You
good with your hand. You won’t need it for this.” He drops my hand to the side and begins to strap on the harness. “Don’t think about it too much.”
I glance at Shah who is busy telling Demi what a great time he had.
Vladimir pads my ankles and straps the big rubber bands to them.
“You ready Aria, my friend?” he asks.
“Nope,” I say. “But I’m going anyway.”
“Remember, fly like a bird. Wings out.” Vladimir adjusts my arms. “Go.”
I rise up on my toes at the end of the platform. The warm steam from the river below rises up all around me. I can see nothing but steam. I feel like I am standing in a cloud. I take a deep breath and push myself off the platform as if I am diving into a pool with outstretched arms.
I scream until the wind whips my breath away. I see nothing and everything at once. The rocky side of the gorge. The steaming river. Something red. My descent slows and then I go up again. I go up and down several times before I feel Vladimir hoisting my rope to the top again.
“You like?” Vladimir asks.
That was the most amazing and spectacularly terrifying thing that I have ever done.
“I want to do it again,” I say.
“Good for you,” Vladimir says. “But we got more to do. One jump today.”
I watch the rest of the class as they fly off the bridge. Demi does a good job, but she doesn’t want to do it again. The wind is cold. The mist keeps us warm.
I get nervous when I see a group of scientists walk toward the bridge. They must have arrived on the Vactrain. As they get closer, I recognize the woman scientist who spoke to me in front of the restroom. She makes eye contact with me and squints, shading her eyes from the sun. Before she can figure out who I am, I hang my head low and turn my back toward her. This must have worked because by the time class is over, all of the scientists are gone.
Chapter Nineteen
Demi, Shah, and I enter the dining hall to the aroma of lunch; meatloaf and mashed potatoes, mixed in with the smell sweat, and burned hair. Seniors from the morning games fill the dining hall. Gloves, shin guards, and helmets are strewn here and there.
Some of the kids sit with their heads on the table, or their legs outstretched on the bench. Those that don’t have major injuries have eye patches, arms in slings, or hands wrapped in gauze. Some kids have burnt cheeks or round holes in uniforms outlined in crispy brown burn marks. Rips and scorch marks cover their uniforms.
The chatter in the packed dining hall is much louder than usual. I can tell which teams won and which were less successful by the level of noise. The winning players take swings with invisible sticks, or duck unseen balls, obviously reenacting their glorious moments. Their gestures bring laughter and cheers from their seated cabin mates. The losers sulk or sit with elbows on the table and hands covering faces. Their chatter is filled with angry words and cursing. Some of them are even crying.
After we get our lunch trays, Demi guides us to a table with her siblings, Jack, Mathew, and Lily. Everyone ignores us as we walk to the table. We are freshmen. We are invisible on game day. Two girls help another one take the tie out of her hair. Half of her hair falls out into her hand. She sobs loudly.
I sit with my tray in between Demi and Jack. It’s the first time I’ve talked to her siblings since the Vactrain ride. Jack’s skinny arms have developed more muscles since I last saw him.
Jack catches me looking and flexes them for me.
“Feel them,” he says. “Rock hard.”
He’s right. His forearm is as hard as a rock.
Jack fills us in on all the games. Eight kids are in the infirmary with more severe broken bones, or lacerations. One kid took a flaming ball to his face. It exploded and covered his body in flames. The doctors don’t know if he is going to make it.
“I didn’t know the games were so brutal,” I say.
“You don’t play if you’re not in grace,” Jack says.
“We’re in grace,” Demi says. She hits her brother on the shoulder. “I told you that before. Where’s Burke? I’m going to clobber him when I find him. He should have let us know.” She stands up and looks around for Burke.
“You two are good friends?” Shah asks when Demi sits back down. I tilt my head toward Demi, as anxious for her response as Shah is.
Demi frowns. “He works for my father on occasion.”
“He’s a good friend of the family,” Jack says. “When his parents were killed, my dad took him in for a while.”
“Jack, cut it,” Demi says. “He doesn’t like us talking about him.”
“Oh come on,” Jack says. “He wouldn’t mind. His family’s from somewhere up north. That’s why he likes it here so much. The cold. The ice. The lack of people, except for inside camp. He’s kind of a loner.”
“Where does he go all the time?” I ask.
Demi glares at her brother. “I think Burke should tell you that himself. You guys have a special relationship. I am sure he will.”
“You and Burke?” Shah asks. His grin tells me he likes that news.
“No, not me and Burke.” I stuff a big piece of meatloaf in my mouth so that I won’t have to answer any more questions. Burke? Hah.
The conversation turns back to the games. I can’t believe we are going to have to compete against the other cabins in three short weeks. Demi plots ways to avoid injury with her siblings. Lily is pearl. Mathew is opal. Jack is emerald. We’ll have to play against all of them since they are all in separate cabins.
“Who is your best player?” Demi asks.
Lily puts down her fork. “We’re not telling you, that, Demi. Where’s the fun in it all?”
Demi pats Shah on the shoulder. “Shah is our best player.”
“That’s not fair,” Shah says through a mouthful of food. He looks both proud and angry.
“Do you want to win or do you want to stay safe?” Demi asks.
“I want to win,” Shah says after he swallows.
“Well, there you go.” Demi slumps down in her chair. “My hair is going to burn off my head.”
“What’s the matter with you, Demi?” Lily asks. “We didn’t come here to stay safe. Your hair will grow back.”
“Lily’s right,” Mathew says. “Dad will be proud of us if we win.”
“We’re not all going to win,” Demi says. “It’s possible that none of us will.”
“Let us try.” Shah lowers his eyes. “You really think I’m the best player?”
Demi touches his jaw. “No, but with my help, you will be. I’ll be a team player. For you.”
I cover my eyes as she kisses him on the cheek. They’ve known each other less than a week. Public displays of affection should be limited to people like my parents, people who have been together longer than a week. We finish lunch with no sign of Burke. We have no choice but to go to our inclination test without him.
Burke dressed in a suit makes my mouth fall open. He is the last person I expect to see wearing a suit. He greets us from the front of a terminal in the assessment center. His blonde hair shines under the lights, and the tie around his neck is loose.
I’m so distracted by Burke’s appearance that I walk right into a pod before I notice that it has been lowered. That’s when I notice the pods are already lowered and are flashing with our names. Some of our cabin mates stand in front of their pods, waiting for the door to open.
Burke steps away from the terminal.
“Sorry for missing lunch,” he says. “My attendance was required at a debriefing.”
Debriefing. My mother’s words, Burke has killed more than once, pop into my mind. Either he witnessed another termination, or he terminated someone. He looks so good in a suit that it makes me distrust him. He is my friend. He is a stranger.
I look at the chart to see where my name is. It’s lower than it was before.
“It’s not a ranking,” Burke says. “Cheer up.”
He catches my eye and I purse my lips.
&nb
sp; “I don’t believe you,” I say.
He laughs. Something has put him in a good mood. I doubt a debriefing could do that. He types a command into the terminal and the pod doors open.
“Get in your pod and have a good trip. I’ll meet you on the other side.” Burke pulls off his tie. “After I change.”
I duck into my pod without looking at Burke. Who needs the distraction? The door closes just as he walks past my pod. The dark helps me reset. I fumble for the goggles, put them on, and ready myself for the ride.
This time I fly over camp. I can see the Vactrain, the steaming gorge and bridge, the jumbled towers of the buildings, and the cabins. I see the whole camp from above, including the three other groups of cabins. Just like our section, most of the roofs are green and blue. I pay special attention to their location. It makes me feel better knowing where all of the campers’ cabins are, just in case they attack.
After my tour of camp, the visual takes me onto the bridge and then over it. I’m doing my bungee jump again. This time I can see everything and my tongue isn’t in my throat. I still feel the sensation of falling, but the pressure is not on my lungs and the wind is not in my hair.
“You go for a dive over the bridge,” the computerized voice says. “And see a body lying at the bottom of the gorge.”
I can make out the figure of a girl with a red sweater and white tights at the bottom of the gorge. Her legs are splayed in a way that makes me think they are broken. I hope this isn’t real. This can’t be real. I didn’t see anything when I was down there.
“Your friend tells you she jumped. What do you do?”
My answer choices are:
Leave her be. Nature will bring her back home.
Is it easier that way?
She was murdered.
I have to choose by elimination. I wouldn’t want to leave her body down there and I would never take my own life. It can’t be easier that way. The thought would never cross my mind. She was murdered. A chill runs down my spine when I make my choice.
The visual flies out of the gorge, through the woods, and then into a crevice. The screen is dark for a moment and then I am flying over a large stadium. Kids on hoverboards bat balls around with sticks. I feel like I am watching the games in real time, as if this isn’t a recording. Garnet and ruby striped uniformed kids play against opal.