These afternoons were what made the end of the world bearable. Far from the chaos of collapsing civilisation, the facility was nestled within an isolated forest, and Zachary felt safer here than he had in years. It had been a long time since he'd been hopeful about the future of humanity, but when he was out here, the fate of his kind seemed almost... small. Not unimportant, never that. But it was a reminder that even if their medical trials didn't succeed, even if humanity gave in to the virus that was tearing it apart... places like this would remain.

The end of the world meant quite little to the trees, in the grand scheme of things.

He adjusted the blanket they were resting on, just slightly, as to not disturb his wife. It was rumpled up from where she'd turned onto her side in her sleep. The breeze had blown a few leaves to tangle with her hair, autumn brown clinging amongst the blonde strands. He almost wanted to brush them away, but worried he'd wake her... and she needed the rest.  Ella's face was still far too pale, robbed of its faint colour even in the warmth of the afternoon. The loss of weight over the last few months had left her cheeks hollow, her ribs prominent.  When she slept beside him, she was all points and angles; she got cold easily, and he shared his warmth. He shared with her all that he could.  But love couldn't cure what no one could understand, and after years of tests and questions and wondering, they were no closer to a solution.

The trials they had been doing so far were showing promise, but only on patients who had only recently been infected. During the early stages, when damage was confined to the red blood cells rather than to the marrow itself, treatment could limit the disease's progress. But once it had progressed past a certain point, the damage to the body became too severe to be reversed, and it was only a matter of that slow decline, the sleepy descent into death.

Ella had passed that specific point long ago.

Transfusions had been offered, considering that Ella had volunteered so much of her remaining time to this project... but she'd refused them. They'd learn more from her as a subject this way, she said, and when Zachary had retorted that there was no shortage of dying people to observe, she'd told him the truth.

"I don't want to prolong it," she said, shaking her head. "At this point, anything I'm offered is just making the process take longer- it isn't making it any easier."

They both knew it was only a matter of time- they'd talked about it again and again. But every time the topic was brought up, she just said she was lucky. Lucky that he was immune, that his own disease, what he'd thought his whole life to be an unlucky draw in the genetic lottery, made his blood inhospitable to the virus. Every other scientist here was in the same position, whether they had a form of thalassemia, like him, or sickle cell anaemia... Whatever mutation they possessed, it now gave them a strange sort of good fortune, their abnormal red blood cells making them immune to the disease they were so desperately trying to cure.

Ella saw herself as lucky that thanks to that, she wouldn't be alone in her last days, or surrounded only by the dying.

"I'll be able to be with you at the end," she had said quietly, and she'd been smiling. "A lot of people don't have that chance."

But what about Tom? he'd wanted to say. You can't call yourself lucky when you'll never see our son again.

Drifting in his thoughts, he didn't realise she was awake until she spoke.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep... What time is it?" She hadn't moved, was just staring upwards through the trees, watching the shadows they cast across their resting spot. He checked his phone.

"A little after three. You weren't asleep for too long- and don't worry about it."

"It's your afternoon off, I wanted to spend time with you, not just... drift away."

"It's alright. Really."

They were silent for a little while, the sort of silence that didn't need to be filled. They both knew what was coming, and talking more about it wouldn't make it much easier. Between them, they'd said all they really needed to say. Now, they simply listened to the calling of the birds, the trees' whispering leaves.  The wildlife out here was plentiful- before the bloodplague had set in, this place had been a designated national park.  Maybe after humanity recovered- if they did- there would end up being more places like this. After all, how many humans were there left now? How many had died, or were too late to save?  He felt Ella gently squeeze his hand- maybe she knew what he was thinking?

"You're staring off into space," she commented. "You didn't look happy."

"I wasn't, not really." He could admit that, at least- but he wasn't going to start that whole conversation up again. They'd spoken enough about this, if only he could stop his mind gravitating back to it. The bloodplague was the black hole at the center of his universe, and even when he was supposed to be resting, he couldn't keep his thoughts away from it.

"Would it help if we gave Tom a call?" she asked softly, smiling at the thought of their son.

"I thought we were going to call him on Friday?" Their routine was usually constant.

"Why not now? He'll be finished school by now, and since you have the afternoon off..."

"Alright- I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from us early."

She nodded, then tried to sit up; the movement painfully slow, the effort it took to shift and stand without dizziness overwhelming her. He helped her up, carefully supporting her as she got to her feet. Her hands were so cold.

It wasn't far back to their shared home. The walk would have been about five minutes for him alone, but they had to stop once for her to catch her breath.

When he looked at her leaning against the tree, half in light and half in shadow, he felt like the image would stay with him for the rest of his life. Though each moment they spent together was just one more moment closer to the end, he promised that he'd remember this; etch this afternoon's beauty into his mind in as much detail as he could.

Once they got back to the house, Ella got herself settled on the couch, while it was Zachary's job to arrange the call. Contact the Parent-Guardian number for the Westhill Quarantine Center, then navigate through however many different connections he had to until they finally transferred the call to the computer in Tom's dorm room.

The boy was visible, grinning at the screen. His lips were moving, but they couldn't hear a thing he said.

"Is it working?" Zachary asked, uncertain.

"Zach, you've got it on mute." Ella laughed, leaning over to adjust the volume setting. "There-"

"Mum!" Tom laughed from the far side of the camera. It hurt to have him so far away, even if, thanks to technology, it could feel like he was almost in the room with them, rather than on the other side of the country, in one of the many quarantine facilities that had popped up in the past few years. He was nine- he'd been two when the bloodplague had begun to spread, and remembered little of the world before it. He'd been four when Ella had caught the disease, since he'd been able to so much as stand in a room with his mother.

And he accepted it all as simple truth.

"I got my first bloodtaking today, look!" Tom twisted his arm towards the camera, trying to show off the small, brightly coloured band-aid on his inner arm. "It hurt a bit, but I wasn't scared at all!"

"Proud of you," his mother encouraged. Zachary was less certain about it- though he tried not to show how he was feeling.

"It's good you were brave," he agreed, then asked the question tugging at his mind. "Did they tell you where your blood was going to go?"

"To people who need it," Tom replied without a pause, as if repeating something he'd been told several times.

To people who can afford it, Zachary thought, bitter. People who would extend their lives by any means possible, by taking what little these quarantined children could give.

Their child was practically living in a blood-farm, raised, fed, harvested. Before the plague hit, you had to be at least sixteen to give blood for any cause... now it was taken routinely from anyone who was still uninfected, anyone who was able to give it.

His anger faded to the back of his mind, though, as Tom continued to talk- he was doing well in school, he had a good group of friends... The family couldn't truly be together, but maybe Ella was right. Maybe it was the best they could hope for, in these difficult times.

"Will you still call on Friday, too?" Tom asked, as they prepared to disconnect. They'd been talking for almost an hour.

"Maybe-" Zach began, before Ella interrupted him.

"It depends on if your father's busy with work, sweetheart." The boy looked a bit disappointed, but he understood.

"Okay... well I'm glad you could call today!"

"It has been busy lately..." Zach nodded. "Going well, though. I expect we'll be sending through our first treatments in a few months from now."

Hope lit up his face. He looked about the room, as if he was afraid someone else would hear.

"Dad, does that mean...?"

"Things won't go back to normal for a long time yet, Tom. But we'll get there, someday. We'll all be able to go home." Zach did believe what he said... partially, at least. It was difficult to have hope, after all of this.

"I hope it's soon!" He smiled. "But I also hope you aren't busy that day so you can still call. I know I'll be busy. Miss Cara won't stop giving us homework, even over the weekends."

Zachary laughed- even at the end of the world, children were no different.

"You work hard, now."

"We love you." Ella chimed in.

"I love you too!"

They were waving at that little camera on their screen until the call fully shut off, and for a few moments after. It took a while for the smiles to fade from their faces- the parents losing that sense of happiness faster than their son did.  The joy of that unexpected call filled Tom for the rest of the night- discussing it with the other children before bed, as a nurse slathered antiseptic cream over their matching puncture wounds.

There was a general feeling of hope within the house that they shared with several of the other scientists. Trials were progressing well, and dinner was punctuated by laughter. Ella went to bed early, tired after the walk and the call- she slept a lot, these days.  When Zachary joined her, she mumbled in her sleep and rolled closer to him, her skin slightly warmer than usual due to the heaped blankets she sheltered beneath.  He slept easily with her small frame in his arms.

It was early morning when he woke again- before the dawn, the room still colourless and gray. She was no longer quite so warm, and lay still as he held her. Her hair tickled his face, and he brushed it back, only to realise that her cheek was cold, exposed to the cool air of the room. 

Cold.  No hint of warmth.  He gave her a gentle shake.

"Ella?"

There was no response.