Chapter 5

The day that it started

 

Marilyn was on her way to the school in her area. This is where she would normally vote. She notices that the streets were still fairly busy and that the school looked like it was a normal school day but it was a Saturday.

 

The line wasn’t a long line. It kind of reminded her of the voting process where they ask your name, and they go to the list and cross your name off. It was kind of weird that there were some people who were standing off to the side.

 

Marilyn asked the woman in front of her,

 

“What do we do?”

 

The woman replied,

 

“You go to the first table and state your name and address, how many children, and if you are married, then, if you have your children with you, they will tell you that they will be in another room while you go through the screening process. The screening is down the hall. I don’t know what happens after that. I wonder what this is really all about.”

 

An official starts some instructions and repeats what the woman just stated except he added that if you fail the screening that there will be further instructions given when you get to that point.

 

A man in the crowd in grumbled,

 

 “This it is interrupting my day, and I want to get this over with!”

 

 Others are saying the same thing. For a moment there was some real discontent and then it settle down.

 

“I wonder how the other districts are handling this.” Marilyn thinks out loud,

 

“I am glad I am not in charge of this.”

 

She knows what they are scanning for but doesn’t know what to expect. Her line moves and she gets closer to the table. She is next in line.

 

The person in charge of the book with names and addresses asks her name, if she is married or not. She notices a man coming in the door. She sees some girls see their dad and they wave at him. Then she is taken to the screening room.

 

There were some people standing to the side. They look nervous and look like they are waiting for something. She is anxious to see what happens in the screening process. All the time wondering what this new race could possibly be doing here and what are they going to do with them when they find them.

 

She was escorted to one of the doors with a number on it and waits in another line. There are lines in front of a couple other doors as well. There are armed guards at each door. So far there was nothing exciting happening. One person comes out and another goes in. No noises or screams or anything that was turbulent.

 

The next thing she knows she is next to go into the room. The woman that was in front of her comes out and she looks at her and shrugs her shoulders like to say, what was that all

about?