Lippe Simone - Blank

The yacht was only about 20 yards away and they treaded the calm water slowly toward it. When they were at the diving platform they could see that Clint was no longer Clint nor Ray nor anyone else. He sat as and where they’d left him, looking toward the horizon with the familiar expression of absolutely nothing, finally cured of his demons. And in the water where he’d dropped it floated the box of vaccine, completely still in the currentless waters as though resting in soft earth.

They recovered the box and climbed to the bridge and Honor surveyed Los Angeles through the high-powered binoculars. It was dead again. Any people she could see stood just where the sun had found them and left them completely blank.

“North?” asked Honor.

Tom looked at her like he was about to tell her that her dog died. “I’ve been thinking about that. Honor, we need need to go back.”

“Back?” she asked, with the exact tone she’d use if he’d suggested that they sink the boat. “Back to LA? I can only assume you’ve lost your memory of the last 24 hours. We need to go north. To Seattle or Canada. We need to find help.”

“Honor there is no help. There’s no one. Don’t you think the army would be here by now if there was? Don’t you think that someone would have noticed that a city the size of LA had stopped answering the phones? If there’s any hope it’s back in my laboratory.”

“Tom, you don’t remember how you made the vaccine, if it was even you that made it.”

“We can get a generator and get the computers working. We can go through my notes. We’ve got a working lab and a sample of the vaccine. We can do it.”

“I could drop you off.” she offered.

“Honor, I need you. You know that. You can open doors and drive things and make things work.”

Honor looked at the cloudless sky and the mindless city and Clint and one or a combination of these things told her that Tom was right.

“Promise you won’t try to cure me again?” she said.

“Not even if I thought I could.”

Honor turned the key in the ignition and when the propellers caught she steered toward shore.

“Thanks Honor.” said Tom.

“Forget about it.” she said.

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