Summary

In chapter five, Kayla wakes on the morning of her seventeenth birthday, a Saturday, to the news that Amber has filled out the application for Kayla's bar code tattoo to be administered that day. Kayla wavers but finally goes to meet Amber at the Global-1 offices, otherwise known as the post office. That particular post office is where Gene works as one of those who administer the tattoos.

When Kayla arrives at Amber's house, she hears Amber's parents fighting. Amber says that there is a problem with her father's bar code and they've suddenly been rejected for the loan to purchase the house they were about to buy. They've already sold their house and her parents are stressed over where they'll live. Kayla and Amber arrive at the post office to find out there are only a few people in line in front of them...