Remains Brave {New War Series Book 1}

Chapter 5: The Bar Code Tattoo

September 8th, One

"Sis check it out," brother says as he shakes me out of my sleep. Its bright out, and I instantly look to my wrist to check the time. The LED reads 8:49AM. After a moment of collecting myself from my half-asleep state, I look at where my brother is pointing to. On his left wrist reads .000002RB in black bold in the same spot as mine. I give him a confused look.

"Its our war ID's. We sent off the information to Hana, and she thinks it an awesome way for us to keep track of everyone. The tattoo parlors all have an ink database with all of the designs they've created, so its easy to see what number was last inked, and that way no two people could have the same number. Its also less likely to be tracked, as tattoo ink could mean anything. Hana has spread the word. She's keeping records anyway in case the ink site gets removed, but she said it was a genius idea," he says. I continue to look at him in confusion.

"We got your tattoo. It's the way we can all be accounted for. I mean it won't be a decimal really, but it works. I think Sofi just finished getting hers done, so Javi is the only one left to get one. Tre already gave himself one before any of us woke up. It serves as a reminder for us all-"

"To remain brave. Jesus, I sounded like an idiot out there. I should stick to keeping my mouth shut. I'm not sure where that even came from. 'RB' should've stood for 'retarded bastard' because that's what I seemed like out there," I say, shaking my head in disgust. More so for saying retarded, and less at my cringiness. Brother laughs at me.

"It was somewhat cringey. People need encouragement from you though. It served its purpose," he replies. His demeanor is quite authoritative today, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. He has been so quiet the past couple of days, which is unlike him. Mr. President of his high school class almost always has something to say. I guess he's just let everything go with the flow since I've been assumed some sort of leadership... leadership that I haven't wanted.

"Why don't you hate me? I killed our family..." I say, and he shakes his head.

"I won't hold it against you. It was just a book. You couldn't have known people would take it as real. You didn't try to cause an uprising. If anything, every little event for the past two years has led up to this. They would've done this to everyone at some point. They killed our family. We can't take all of the responsibility," he says.

"We have things to do today. I don't want to dwell on it," I sigh. He looks annoyed but doesn't say anything. He helps me up and we walk outside to find the rest of the group. We are met with thousands of people surrounding the tiny building. News travels fast, I guess.

"They've all been waiting to get tattoos," Jax tells me. I sigh again.

"Well if the government didn't know who's against their cause by this point, they will after they find people with the tattoos," I say. He doesn't really respond, but I can tell he is thinking about it.

I see Erik standing by Sofi, trying not to make eye contact. I can feel Dak's gaze, but I choose to ignore it. I grin at Erik, and I can tell that he lost the bet.

"Don't try to hide from the bet, good buddy," I say to Erik causing him to look up at me. Sofi looks at us confused. I laugh.

"Ready to have a sore ass?" I tease. He sighs and starts back toward the building while everyone around us watches. He doesn't say another word, and it makes me laugh again.

"I'll be nice and won't make it too big. I'll even let you choose which cheek," I say, and he shakes his head in reply.

"I regret my bet," he says. Once inside I realize the entire group has joined us to see what we were talking about. I smile to myself.