First, Layla and her family have to hand over their reassignment documents. The man looks through them, scans them, and then tells them to go inside and get their IDs.

Once they get their cards scanned, a guard takes Layla's wrist to stamp it with her ID number. He puts it into a machine that lowers itself to press against the inside of her wrist. She says it's about two inches thick. It stamps her wrist with UV ink, creating an invisible and permanent tattoo.

The man gives them seating assignments and warns them that they shouldn't sit anywhere else. When she attempts to get up to find a bathroom during the trip, she is met with a threat from a guard.

When they arrive at their stop, Layla's tattoo is scanned, and she can see a fluorescent barcode at the base of her hand. Her number is 0000105. She says that it doesn't hurt but she still feels like she's been branded. Throughout the novel, her captors use the barcode to identify her, and its permanent nature haunts her. She was not aware until they told her that they would stamp her that she would receive such an ID number—and no one ever warned her that it would be something that lasted forever, even if it was invisible to the naked eye.