The Bar Code Tattoo

The patient beside Kayla begins thrashing, distracting the nurses before they can summon the doctor to administer a tattoo for Kayla. The nurses evacuate the patient to a lower floor, and Kayla uses the opportunity to escape, dressing in a man’s suit that she finds hanging in a hospital closet. A few miles away from the hospital, Kayla stops at a diner, where she overhears a woman in her 30s named Katie speaking to someone over the phone and making plans to leave town. Kayla secures a ride with Katie, who reveals that she used to work for GlobalInsurance, where she learned that genetic codes were shared in the bar code. She has decided not to get the tattoo because her family has a history of cancer; she knows that if the tattoo were to broadcast that information, her life would begin a downward spiral. Katie gives Kayla a temporary rub-on bar code tattoo and offers to drive her to Binghamton. From there, she says that Kayla can get on the Superlink and escape to Canada. Katie also reveals that The North Country News announced Kayla’s disappearance and enlisted public help in detaining her for tattooing and questioning.