Wherewithat 2

There was no one left alive who could remember the devastating waves of disease that had brought humanity to its knees.

During the latter part of the previous century, countermeasures had become increasingly desperate. Irradiation was one of many steps taken to make food safe. Synthetics had been ruled out as a solution. Intake of artificial nutrients and protein was strictly controlled from the previously high levels that had been implicated in the collapse of the human immune system.

The species tried to shut itself off from anything that might be a vector - even from itself. Human eggs and sperm were now State property - insemination and incubation industrialised in an effort to recover the population to a sustainable level. Physical sex was now punishable by blanking and reintroduction.

Nobody could now remember when blanking had first begun, or why. It seemed to have always been around. The same was true of reintroduction. The two generally went together, it was said. Nobody could claim to have ever met anyone who had been reintroduced. It was just kind of accepted - there as an ever-present threat to those who might stray. People disappeared from time-to-time but, hey, people disappear. They had their own reasons, as Marthi had.

When newcomers arrived, who was to know if they were being reintroduced? They certainly wouldn't - that was the whole point of blanking. A fresh start. A blank sheet.

Marthi was hungry. A pain gripped his stomach. He needed to find food. As he listened in the darkness to the whimpering of an injured dog, he thought he saw something move under a nearby building. Too big for a dog. Too stealthy. He shrunk back into the shadow - blood pounding in his ears.

© Copyright Kevin Buckle 2012