Armbands (Chapter 3)

The Bus Ride

“Twelve…thirteen, fourteen,fifteen!” Vinessa said counting quietly “fifteen girls in the bus!” 

I wrote down the number in my book adding it to the number of boy’s we had already counted the total of people on the bus was twenty two. Seven boys and fifteen girls. Whatever this thing was girls seemed to be more susceptible to it than boys if that was any correlation. 

Vinessa had jumped right on board with my research despite the fact that she was obviously exhausted as evidenced by the dark circles under her eyes and the fact that she yawned every two minutes.

“Alright we have the number of people here and there is a different number of girls and boys which means that for whatever reason it is that we leave it isn’t equal for genders.”

“But” Vinessa countered “the Tranceport centers have multiple busses coming in and out each day there could be more boy’s as a whole but we just can’t see it on our bus.”

I nodded discouraged.We didn’t have enough information on any of this! Maybe we should look for something else?

“The armbands” I said “they’re different colors. For different people.”

Vinessa nodded her black hair bouncing. “I saw a girl with a yellow band,and that boy across the isle has a blue one.” 

“Let’s see” I said turning the page. I started writing the colors down. 

“There’s red for us” I said holding my right arm up as I wrote down red and put down two tally marks.

“Blue for the boy across us and the girl you saw” she said

“Yellow for the girl you saw… and green for the boy who hit the bag surcher when his phone was taken.”

“So we have red,blue,yellow,and green.” My new friend said “but what’s different about them? What decides who gets a red or a blue?”

“Well…what’s the same about us? We’re both reds. Why are we the same and the others different?”

“Well it’s not our gender we know that. There’s a boy behind us with a red band.”

We both looked at each other. We both looked completely different. One thing was sure,it wasn’t our looks.

“What’s your birthday?” Vinessa asked “maybe it’s based on age or birth month or something”

“I’m fourteen. How about you?”

“Same! How about birthdays? What month are you?”

“August,you?”

She shook her head “May”

“Day maybe?”

“I’m twelfth. You?”

“Fifth”

“What are you doing?” a voice asked behind us annoyed.

I turned to see a boy with a red wristband around his arm looking over the seat. 

“How old are you?” I asked

“Umm…thirteen. Why?”

“We’re trying to figure out why people have different colored wristbands.” Vinessa told him.

The boy just shrugged and sat back down in his seat. For a bus full of twenty two kids it was extremely quiet. Everyone seemed to be to scared to talk; instead just sitting quietly or staring out windows as unfamiliar scenery rushed by, no one knew how long we would be driving. It felt like forever.

“Well that crushes that theory” Vinessa said then yawned for the umpteenth time.

“Did you not sleep well last night?” I asked

“Yeah, I can never get to sleep; even if I’m exhausted”

“Well; feel free to take a nap if you wan’t. I won’t judge.”

Vinessa smiled. “Thank’s”

“Could it be the number of a certain color?” I wondered,  “I’m not sure what it’ll prove, but it’d be something.”

“How are we supposed to see what color everyone’s wristbands are? It’s not like we can walk down the aisle and ask everyone! The bus is moving!”

I stood up a bit clutching the end of the seat in front of me,with the bus moving down the road so fast even that felt dangerous. Vinessa was right,there was no way we would be able to go down the aisle asking questions. 

Maybe we don’t have to walk around to ask everyone?

“Hey!” I said surprised by my bravery “If you have a red wristband raise your hand!” 

Heads turned in my direction a few people raised their hands eagerly looking around to see who else was in their group others who did it were hesitant, unsure if they wanted to be seen or singled out. I counted them out and told Vinessa the number when I sat down. 

“Fourteen redbands counting us,” I said. She filled them out in tallys next to where I had written Red.

I stood again. “All people with blue bands,raise your hands!”

Three people with blue raised their hands. Vinessa took down the numbers. 

“All with green bands raise your hands!” I said, still holding onto the bench in front of me so I wouldn’t fall.

“Why?” an annoyed voice said to my right. I looked over and saw the green armband boy who had punched the surcher in the face. I felt myself tighten, I never liked conflict. 

“Because I want to see how many people have all the different colors of armbands.” I said quietly mustering up some courage that was quickly fleeing. “I want to figure out why we all have different colors.”

“That’s stupid” he said rolling his eyes annoyed “Shut up and sit down”

It felt like a slap in the face. I slowly sat back down in my seat. What was I thinking of doing? Do I really think I can figure out a mystery that’s so secret even the people pulled into it don’t know what it is?

“Well,do you have an idea of what’s going to happen?” Vinessa said to the boy. 

I blinked looking over at her. She was staring at the boy a few seats up and across the aisle her eyes a mask of challenge even though I could see her leg bouncing up and down with nervous energy. How had such a brave friend happened upon such a simple person like me?

“No” the boy said, “but everyone’s heard of the theories,the rumors. One of them has to be right.”

His eyes lit and on his face he held a mischievous,even evil smile. “I bet it’s aliens or a secret group of the government or something and we’re all going to be test subjects in a bunch of experiments that are too gruesome to share with the public!”

His statement drew gasps and horrified looks from people. One person-a small girl with a blue band- broke into sobs in the seat across from mine. I hunched down lower as images came to my mind along with an onslaught of terror. Around me whispers and comments started.

“What if it’s true?”…“what if we’re all being sent to our deaths?!”… “no it’s not that!” … “Why else would they keep it a secret from everyone?”… “What do we do?!”

I looked out the window to the world spinning by outside. I put my forehead against the cold of the windowpane. It was good to not have to worry about getting makeup smeared on it. My mind spun in a whirlwind of fear.

They would only hide it if it’s something bad. What if he’s right? What if we’re all going to be prisoners? What will happen to us? What will they do?

At that last thought I winced at a prickling feeling that slithered over me. I shuddered wrapping my arms around myself. Trying hard to block out images of creepy aliens and evil scientists.

If something like that happens, what’s a person like me supposed to do?

I glanced over and saw that Vinessa had scooted closer to me on the bench. I could see in her eyes that the words had troubled her too and she had started plugging her ears to block out the comments from the other passengers. I leaned over against her shoulder letting her warmth sink into me. I could feel myself shaking,but if Vinessa felt it she didn’t show it.

I clutched my smooth stone in my hand rubbing my finger across it letting the smooth surface to ease my nerves.

Nothing will happen,you’ll be alright, nothing will happen,no one will hurt you.

I took some deep breaths closing my eyes and imagined myself somewhere else… I stood in a meadow in the mountains. Alone;blissfully,peacefully,alone.The green grass was tall and soft, warmed by the sun and surrounded by trees. Out in front of me a ways was a small river of clear water trickling out of the forest. It curved out of the forest, went along the southern edge of the meadow and then disappeared into the trees again. I felt the warm sunlight on my skin letting it seep into me and warm my cold hands. I layed down in the soft grass and looked up at the sky. Nothing bad would ever happen here,nothing would ever find me here. This… this was peace.

I opened my eyes surprised by how relaxed my muscles had gotten. Had I really been that tense? I looked over at Vinessa who seemed to have calmed down a bit and was slowly taking her fingers from her ears. The bus conversations had died down a bit and now it was just whispers mixed with a few sobs from the girl across from us and a few others.

I picked up my notebook and turned to Vinessa. “No matter what happens,we stand up for each other ok?” 

Vinessa nodded. “I was thinking maybe the Tests could tell us what will happen? I mean they’re how we get chosen for all of this. Maybe if we can figure out what they’re looking for we could find out what will happen.”

“Ok” I said nodding “what’s everything we know about the Tests?” 

I went to the next page and wrote at the head: TESTS

“Alright let’s see,everyone is required to take the tests by national law.” I said writing it down.

“I heard in my current issues class that the tests and everything started in 2026!”

I scribbled it down. “The tests are done throughout two weeks at school and you only start taking them in seventh grade or when you’re twelve.”

“They’re done every three months throughout the school year.”

“Yeah but these are just timing facts. What do they look for?”

“Which one?” Vinessa asked

That was indeed the question. There were about five different tests that were taken at school during testing weeks,and then there were the physicals that were sent in by doctors and nurses; most of the time blood tests and genomes were taken as well. 

I hope we don’t have to get our blood drawn again. I thought rubbing my arm. Needles scared me.

“Well they have all our health records.” I said writing it down. “What did the tests at school ask about? Do you remember?”

“Umm” Vinessa said thinking “they asked a lot about… moods,and motivation and stuff. Kept asking whether or not you still wanted to do things you liked.”

“Yeah,I remember that too. There was also some stuff on physical conditions,like if you got headaches or had cold hands and things.” 

I remembered that one because my hands were always freezing so I had answered ‘yes’ always’ to that one. I looked down at my hands and spotted that my fingernails were a shade of purple! I put my hands together and rubbed them, they felt as cold as ice, this was as normal an occurrence for me as my back pain while lying down. An almost unconscious fact of life.

“Speaking of cold hands” Vinessa remarked watching me rub them to get rid of the purple color.

“I can never seem to get these things to warm up.” I said putting them in between my crossed legs to warm them. “Hopefully wherever we’re going has corn bags”

“And a bed” my new friend said yawning again.

We went over all the different questions we could remember searching for any reason we could think of for why we had to leave,where we were going,and why. After a long while of talking we still had nothing concrete. The most hopeful theory was that it was some sort of research study. 

I wish I had a watch. I thought. The sky outside had begun to darken and I was starting to get hungry, everyone used their phones to tell time now days but without them now none of us knew what time it was. 

Most of the people on the bus had fallen asleep supposing the ride to just go on forever. We had stopped a long time ago at a place that seemed delegated for the purpose of the program. An empty parking garage that led to a room with tables,pizza and bathrooms. I had gone to the bathroom but hadn’t eaten much of the pizza;I was too worried about what would happen. After we had eaten we got right back on the bus and kept driving. 

Vinessa had stayed awake with me too, even though she looked just as exhausted as I was-possibly more so- she seemed unable to rest. I laid my head back against the seat trying to possibly get some sleep or at least try to relax. I closed my eyes breathing deeply to try and relax my muscles.

My shoulders relaxed,my arms falling limp at my sides. I embraced the darkness behind my eyelids longing for the escape of sleep. My nerves on the other hand had other ideas.

Small shocks ran up my legs making me tense. It was as if my nerves were shocking me. It didn’t hurt too much, but they were annoyingly persistent. I clenched my hands into fists wincing at the shocks that kept persisting almost like a tingling.

I gasped sitting up. I would never get to sleep like this. I looked over at the people across the isle longingly wishing I could escape into sleep like them. Vinessa followed my gaze to the sleeping teens.

“I wish I could too.” she said sadness in her eyes. Vinessa had tried to sleep a few times at my urging but had always woken up soon after drifting off. I scratched my back; a subconscious act to try and get rid of the tension in my muscles; my mother had always complained about all the holes I would dig with my fingernails.

No, she does complain about it. I told myself stubbornly.

I looked past the sleepers out the window and saw that we were getting off of an exit ramp. The land outside was a forest of evergreens and oaks with mountains to the east and a lake in the distance to the north. We got off the ramp and went to the east.

We didn’t drive for too long when a kid suddenly yelped. “Look!” 

I looked up and saw a cluster of buildings in the distance near the lake. Around the cluster of buildings I thought I saw in the darkness, fields of crops and a pasture for horses. 

The bus went right toward it. We rumbled across a bridge spanning a river that fed the lake from a canyon to our right, we went into the cluster of buildings and went toward the largest of them, an enormous structure that looked almost like a castle all made of stone. We turned a corner and went down a tunnel following another bus into the darkness of an underground parking garage. 

We stopped parking along with the other buses. Out the windows to my right I could see doors that kids from other busses were going through. I counted four busses in total.

“We’re here.” I said quietly to Vinessa. I looked at her worried gaze and matched it with my own. 

A man in white scrubs like the ones back in the Transport center stepped onto the bus through the door. 

“Alright follow me, please!” 

Kids started waking their friends and telling them that we had arrived. I gathered up my things and put them in my bag,Vinessa did the same. She turned toward me holding out her hand toward mine.

“Whatever happens we stick together.” she said.

I took her hand nodding. “Together”

Hand in hand we went out the doors of the bus, and into uncertainty.