Guilt

       His breathing was becoming more shallow with each passing moment.  Well thought out sentences were now barely intelligible grunts, he had maybe minutes to live.  Reaching for my handgun I point it towards the floor, "I hate to do this, but as of now, you are a threat.  Its nothing personal, and I'm sorry."  He closes his heavily bruised eyelids and takes a deep breath before trying to say his last words.  "I'm.....I'm scared, just get.... this over with."  I nod as I pull the gun up, level with his forehead.  The gun feels like it weighs a ton, the weight of taking another mans life perhaps.  Keeping my focus proves to be difficult, for I close my eyes for a moment and I see my sister.  I see her face, once beautiful and alive, now devoid of any color and humanity.  I lower the gun and take a step back.  Have I lost it?  How many more people will I have to put down in order to secure my safety?  I look back and see him again, those eyes so full of suffering.  "Now or never..." I mutter as I raise the gun to his face as I pull the trigger.  The shot rang loud in the small bus, a few whimpers come from the front of the bus, but I ignore them.  Unable to move, I stand over his body, gun still pointed at the motionless husk.  It seems like an hour passed by, unable to do anything but stare at the latest victim to the virus and my gun.
    The bus comes to a stop, and the back door is opened as we roll the corpse out the back.  No time for a eulogy, or even a proper burial at that.  "This doesn't feel right.  I cant just dump him on the side of the road."  Unaware I was speaking out loud, I grab a musty blanket and hop out of the back exit.   Landing next to the corpse, I straighten him out.  Throwing a blanket over him was the best thing I could do for now.  At least that's what I tell myself as I get back in the bus, taking one last look at the lump under the blanket. Silently we move on, coming closer to the coast.  Its funny, I never met the man before in my life, but there I was thinking about what he did with his life. I wonder if anyone else in the bus knew who he was.After covering the body I get back on the bus and take a seat.  Nobody says a word for a few good hours, not even  a complaint as the splatter from the execution was cleaned up.  I turn and look out the window, still the same desolate scenery.  We haven't come across anybody, living or dead, in days.  Maybe this is a good sign, or maybe there was nobody left.  The farther we go, my hope to find a stronghold of any kind dwindles.  All I come across are ruins of poorly held barricades and overrun safe havens.  Any despite all of this, the desire to leave the bus on my own burns bright.  Its all I can think of after that dream. Was it a day ago?  The days seem to blur into one  lately, sleep comes in brief periods.  Even among the living I find myself on edge, I wait for it all to come crashing down at any moment.  The question for the time being is when it will happen.
     Several days pass as we make our way towards the coast.  Coming up to a town, we see the signs of a fallen barricade.  The amount of bodies strewn about the field mark a rather intense gunfight.  Rich stops the bus, and begins to start the usual speech.  "Well, we need to grab any supplies we can find, do we have any volunteers?"  This was it, my chance go get out.  I wait a moment, and as usual, nobody volunteers.  Grabbing my equipment I stand up, sarcastically raising my hand.  As if anybody else was going to go out there.  "Well, I'll see what I can find."  Putting a rather heavy emphasis on the I.  I step off the bus and the smell of decay washes over me.  These bodies have been sitting out in the sun for some time, that was for sure.  This was it, I was on my own again.  I sprint for the closes building and with my back against the wall, I strap my equipment down and get ready for a run through the town.  With everything snugly in place, I pull my handgun from its holster.  Taking a deep breath or the noxious air, I spin around the corner aiming down the alley.  Clear of any bodies, I slowly head down the path.   Coming to a fire exit set in the side of the building, I climb to the top to get a better view of the town.  As I come to the fourth floor, I can see a group of the undead shambling around in the hotel room.  I dash past the window not wanting to see if I had been spotted.