Devoured

O N E

It only took a single bullet to shred through his chest and pierced the woman beneath him, killing them both without any time for a gasp to escape their lips.

I lowered my gun, a thin stream of expired gunpowder rising from the barrel. The dull, cheap grey wallpaper was now painted with a splash of deep crimson from bed in the center of the deteriorating hotel room, where only a pair of bodies lay, pooling in their own blood.

A moment passes and I'm satisfied with the stillness of my victims. I advance towards a large hiking pack they had thrown to the corner of the room and rip it open, only to draw a long, disappointing breath. Two precious hours of my time had been spent stalking this couple, all for a pack that suggested greater rewards. Instead, only a meager set of clothes, two cans of fruit and a few wedding photos were of it's contents. Out of desperation for something to make up for my efforts, I began rifling through the clothes the couple disregarded to the ground.

As my luck were to have it, nothing was to be found. I set my jaw and shoved the cans into my own pack over my back and proceeded to leave.

Then, I heard a subtle, raspy breath. I stopped, listening hard.

"No point in pretending." I drew my gun once more, glancing back at the gore that laid on the soiled hotel bed.

After a long, hard moment, the man's body was gently pushed until it slid off and flopped onto the ground with a sickening splat, blood splashing out from his wound. The woman now sat up, pulling the blood stained sheets up to cover the gunshot in her chest. I saw the attentive detail of terror and anger furrowed in her brow when she sat up. Her dark, sunken eyes fell on my pistol, then to the man on the ground, then up at me, matching my gaze.

"You c-could have just asked." She stammered, visibly terrified. I then noticed a medical bandage wrapped over her forearm that I hadn't seen before.

"Whats under the bandage?" I nodded to it. She said nothing as she slowly tried to conceal it beneath the sheets. "You're infected, aren't you?"

"You've already killed my husband and taken our food, what more do you want?!"

I took the safety off my weapon and brought her head into the sights. "Sorry."

"Wait-!" Before she could plead, I pulled the trigger. The explosion was deafening in the small room as the woman's head jerked back violently, ruining all that sat upon her shoulders. Her body fell limp back into the bed, fresh blood now slowly crawling down the walls behind the bed.

I blinked away the image of her death. Of course it was necessary, but I would never truly get used to shooting someone-- something so humane.

Naturally, I approached and undid the bandage over her arm, revealing a moderate gash underneath, blackened by infection with the stench of rotting flesh. Brevis Fame.
The woman should have been killed from the bullet in her ribs if not for her affliction. Her reaction to her husband's death also gave her away; There was no hint of mourning, but rather, disappointment in a tainted meal.

A glimmer over her finger caught my attention. I slipped a silver ring, crested with a small diamond on the apex off her knuckle and held it up to the late afternoon light trailing into the room. It was still beguiling, maybe worth a few extra ration cards back at camp. I dropped it into my pocket and left without looking back.

This wasn't who I was five or so years ago-- whenever this whole apocalypse began. However, this is who I have to be in order to keep Roxanne and I alive.

No one else mattered. No one else was special.