Her hands were bound in front of her waist.

She did not look at the fence.

She did not look at the sky.

She kept her eyes on the back of the man in front of her, her mouth set in a thin line.

The guard helped her up the steps, her boots slipping once on the metal plate.

The bus doors closed with a heavy pneumatic hiss.

The driver put the vehicle in gear, and the tires kicked up gravel as it turned toward the gate.

The bus passed within ten feet of where I stood.

I could see the dark shapes of the passengers behind the steel mesh of the windows.

None of them looked back.

The bus rolled through the gate and turned onto the main road, its red taillights disappearing into the highway traffic.

***

I walked back to my car.

The wind was getting stronger, blowing dry leaves across the asphalt.

I got inside and sat in the quiet of the cabin.

I pulled off my compression gloves and looked at my palms.