The Bar Code Tattoo

The man following Kayla is revealed to be Zekeal. He is headed to the Lobo2MeClub—the same place that Kayla is trying to find. Zekeal escorts her to the club and invites her up to the quieter setting of the roof.

Zekeal gives Kayla his condolences for her dad’s death and states that he understands the pain the bar code can inflict on families. When his parents got the tattoos, his father kept getting fired, and his mother continued to get promotions. As a result, they began fighting about money, and she questioned his work ethic. Eventually, they split. Zekeal states that because both his parents have become unbearable, he now lives on his own. He and Kayla both wonder if the bar code contains something dangerous. Zekeal now admits that he wasn’t really headed to Lobo2Me but to a KnotU2 meeting. He brings Kayla along to an abandoned warehouse, where they meet with Mfumbe, Nedra, Allyson, and August to discuss article ideas for the next issue.

Allyson presents a virtual reality headset that she stole from her father; the group takes turns entering various resistance websites around the world. When it’s Kayla’s turn, she appears on an outcropping in the Adirondack Mountains, where a woman named Eutonah sits beside a fire.