That step on the bus might have well been the end of it all.
That was the moment Harper realized they knew, that she had been careless, that she could no longer hide what she was and from other standpoints the scariest. Her eyes darted around to around the bus, as she was urged through the line to a seat. She didn't open her mouth to breathe, even though her lungs felt like they were about to implode.
They had guns. It concerned her, it controlled her thoughts. She wasn't going to try anything. She wasn't going to die today.
The ride was a long one but she couldn't sleep, not that she tried. She stayed up, tapping her foot lightly on the ground, looking around with her red, puffy, tear-stained eyes. She saw some of the other kids were asleep, others were like her. She met eyes with some of those kids, but no one had anything that was more reassuring than the next. She knew they weren't going to die, but she also knew from what her father always told her- There are a lot of things worse than death, and she was about to find out.
She then felt the bus stop, the men with the guns stand up, almost too fast to process. Her first reaction is instead of looking down, is to take a look out the window. To see where they were going and she did, and what felt like seconds later they were all lined up off the bus into another building. The smell that filled her noise was enough to give her a headache alone if it wasn't for the fact she had already had one.
Like a crashing wave, she heard the kid say run, and instead, she froze. She felt the tears come through her eyes as she turned around to see what had happened and the large man in front of her giving the speech. She wiped off her tears furthermore feeling the burning in her throat.
Harper made her way to the room forcing her steps forward. She felt like she was going to collapse, nevermind has to deal with more. She looked at the girl in the room raising an eyebrow at her before laying down under the machine.
She closed her eyes and opened them and it was done. She was expecting something worse, a lot worst. She sat up, looking at the lady, before answering.
"Harper, Harper Azalea Cartella" She continued to answer the questions, not immediately but after a few seconds and briefly. She let the girl place handcuffs on her but panicked seeing the muzzle. She shook her head no, tears coming out her eyes.
"No, no please-" and the rest was muffled away, and she was sent on her way.
She saw the kids poor in after her all placed into lines, all with a color marking them, and soon they made their way to the camp, and into the beds. A guy came and took her muzzle off and the handcuffs for the time being. Harper looked at Min-a and the other girls in the cabin before sitting on a bed somewhat in the corner and placing her heads into her knees.