The Red Planet

By the time the Global Virus had burned through the last cities, the skies were already too quiet. No flights. No broadcasts. Just the low hum of abandoned grids and the occasional automated distress signal looping into nothing. I was part of the final mission—Ares-Lastlight. Not a colonization effort. Not even a rescue plan. Just a contingency no one thought would ever be used., Four of us. One ship. Four Mars rovers.