All of a sudden everything was so different. Everything that I had ever known, was now gone forever. Everything around me was grey. The buildings, which were very much destroyed by both time and people. Mostly people, I thought. Plants pushed upwards through the beaten roads which were also grey. All windows were broken. As I looked up, I saw the sky, which along with its clouds was just as grey as everything else. It had been raining very recently, but that wasn't the reason. Almost all light from our world seemed to be gone, and we were left with nothing but despair, chaos.. sadness. Loneliness. All those things. Nothing would be the same anymore.

Minutes went by as I stood there. Just stood and stared with eyes that were full of emptiness. I barely reacted when I heard footsteps that came from behind. Footsteps that belonged to two individual people, two of the very few that were still alive and well. From my left walked Elena, my wife. She still looked as beautiful as ever, even in the middle of this dull, grey nothingness. She had a smile on her face. I didn't really see it because I wasn't looking directly at her, but if I got one guess, I would say that she had that familiar, warm smile lighting up her face. She quietly put one hand on my shoulder. No words were needed. Few seconds later from my right came Sam, my big brother. He was also still here with me. Just like Elena had done on her side, Sam also put his hand on my other shoulder and squeezed it tightly. They were both still here after everything that I.. that we had lost. My mentor and father figure, Sully, was gone. And more importantly, he was not coming back. I still had trouble believing that I actually said that. Elena had made sure that he was gone for good. I had been there but I.. I just didn't have the strength to do it myself. Sam had stood there by my side as Elena had.. shot him in the head. Again. And again. And I had watched all of it with a great sadness building up inside me.

Minutes went by until I finally turned my head, even though only slightly, and said:

- I.. I think we should go.. It might rain again soon.

And with that I took the first step forward. I wasn't too sure about where I was actually going. I just knew that we had to keep moving, try to find some shelter for the next night. Behind my back Elena looked at Sam with concern in her eyes. And he looked back. But none of them said anything, they just silently nodded to each other and started walking after me. We weren't the only survivors, I was sure about that, but it had been some days since we had last seen friendly faces. But now, as we walked along the beaten down street, we heard someone talking. It sounded like there were two people. We could hear their voices which were coming closer with each step we took.

- Friendlies, maybe?

Elena asked.

- I don't know.. but here's hoping..

Sam responded. And not long after that we saw two new faces coming our way. One of them was a bearded man. And next to him walked this young girl, aged.. maybe 13 or 14. She couldn't have been much older than that. Her hair was reddish brown, slightly more on the red side.

- Hey, Joel.. look,

I heard her say, and the man, whose name was Joel, turned to look at us. For a while this duo just stared at us, but finally they approached us.

- Hey..

that young girl said.

- Man, it's been a while since we've seen anyone who isn't going to kill us,

she went on.

- Ellie..

Joel slowly said. His eyes were full of distrust. I couldn't really blame him. Lately I had felt that same feeling more often than I would've preferred.

- Joel, look at them. I'm sure that they're not dangerous,

Ellie pleaded, causing Joel to let out a small sigh. He looked at us once more before following Ellie's example and coming closer.

- Hi, I'm Ellie and this is Joel,

the young girl said. Something in her seemed to spark a certain thought in Elena, as she was the first of our group to approach the duo. Sam followed her soon after that. But me.. I just stood there, looking at them. It's not that I didn't trust them. I did. I could tell that they were good people. I just.. well, it wasn't that simple.

- Hey,

Elena said with that smile still lingering on her face.

- I'm Elena, nice to meet you,

she continued and then looked at Sam.

- This is Sam.

- Hi,

Sam said shortly and put up a small but warm smile. As both Joel and Ellie's eyes turned towards me, also Sam and Elena turned to look at me.

- Nate..?

Elena called me out softly before walking back to me and grabbing my arm.

- Why don't you come and say hi to them as well?

She didn't want to push me to do anything, I could tell all that from her tone. And so I soon enough followed her. On the way I saw how Sam looked at me. He was clearly worried about me. I understood, why.

As we had made some new friends, Joel said to us:

- We were actually in the process of finding a place where we could spend the next night. I assume you were doing the same, because we heard you talk before actually seeing you.

Soon after that Ellie's face lit up and she looked at us, saying:

- Hey, why don't you come with us? We could actually use some good company. There aren't too many people with good intentions, as we've seen.

Sam nodded.

- I can agree with that. I think that we should go with them,

he said. Elena nodded, and so did it.

- Well, great!

Ellie called out. Without wasting any more time we started looking for a place that would be safe enough to stay in. After searching for a while we found one house which looked safe enough. Most windows were broken, of course, but it still seemed a lot more secure than most other houses.

- What do you guys say? I think we should check this one out,

Ellie thought out. We all agreed with her, since daylight was almost gone and none of us wanted to stay on the streets after dark. So we walked up to the front door and went in. After that we just stood there and listened. But the house was quiet, no sign of infected or other inhabitants. We still looked through all the rooms just in case. Better be safe than sorry. After we were done with our inspection, we all gathered in the living room. There was a very huge tv, bigger than I had seen ever before. On the walls were quite a few paintings of different animals. I spotted two, maybe three duck paintings. We sat down on the floor and just took a much needed breather. Ellie took some cans from her backpack and put them down in front of us all.

- Canned peaches,

she said.

- I bet that you guys are hungry. We had some close calls so we didn't have time to search for more food, but we can share these,

she promised. Elena also opened her backpack, took some cans and other things and put them down on the floor as well.

- Some crackers and jerky. It's not that much, but we can all share these and look for more food later.

After our rather late dinner we all decided that we should probably call it a night. So we took out our old blankets and what not and settled down, one by one. We all decided to stay close to each other, that way we felt that we were as safe as we could be.

A few hours went by and I suddenly woke up. I had no idea of the time of day. There was an old clock on the wall, but it had stopped who knows how long ago. I sat up as quietly as possible. Everyone else seemed to be asleep. Or so I thought, at least. I moved a little closer to the windows because I thought that I had heard something coming from outside. I sat down next to the window and started listening. For a while I only heard silence and I thought that I had to be mistaken. Maybe there was nothing. Some minutes later I heard something again. But this time the noises came from behind me, and as I looked to my side, I saw Ellie sitting down next to me.

- You can't sleep, right?

she asked in a silent tone.

- Well, yeah.. or, I thought I heard something from outside,

I then told her.

- Oh.. what do you think it was?

she then said, but I wasn't sure about it.

- I don't really know, sounded like someone yelling something, followed by footsteps, which I thought were coming closer, which is why I'm sitting here. I'm waiting and trying to see if there's something out there.

- Well, I can stay up with you if you'd like to,

Ellie volunteered. I smiled at her in the dark room and accepted her offer.

We didn't have to wait for too long, actually. As we sat by the same window, looking outside and trying to see something, we eventually saw a dark, rather slim figure. It was a miracle that we even saw anything at all, since the figure seemed to have darker clothes. Only the said person's skin was light, and in the pale moonlight it must have been the thing that caught our attention. As this figure ran towards our window, he could see that it was a pretty young adult, and a male. A few seconds after that he banged franticly on our door. He must have seen us through the cracked window. And as I saw his face, I stood up and ran to the door, opening it.

- What are you doing?

Ellie hissed to me. But I knew who this guy was. I had to let him in. And as soon as he was inside the house, I quickly closed the door once again. This man sat on the floor and breathed heavily. He looked pretty much horrible. His black t-shirt was slightly torn and stained with blood, which had also splashed on his face and arms. His short, dark hair was a mess with a few, individual strands sticking out.

- Rafe. What the hell happened?

I asked the man.

Rafe had somehow changed since I last saw him. He looked the same, but still I felt like all this craziness had changed him as well. He seemed to be more vulnerable and down to earth now that his money meant absolutely nothing. He was scared. Before I got a chance to ask what had happened before he found us, we all heard some muffled footsteps coming from behind our backs. It seemed that Elena had woken up. She was the only one, though. Both Sam and Joel were still completely out.

- Hey.. why are you two still up..?

she asked sounding still half asleep. But as she saw Rafe, she got an answer to her question.

- Oh,

she simply said and then sat down with us. I then went on with my original plans and got a chance to ask what had caused Rafe to run here.

- Did you get chased by hunters?

I asked in a quiet tone, and Rafe shook his head while using the collar of his shirt to wipe some of the blood off his face.

- No, even though a couple of them shot at me earlier,

Rafe told us and gestured towards his left shoulder.

- Assholes got a few hits in. I shot one of them, which made them real pissed. But back there.. I was looking for a place where I could stay until dawn, so I entered one of the abandoned houses down by the road. I stepped in and only just then noticed that the place was already crowded with infected. I made one false move and got a herd of runners after me. One clicker, too. I was stupid enough to try and shoot them. Wasted almost all of my bullets in the process. They would have most likely overrun me if I hadn't just bolted.

After Rafe had told his story, we sat there talking for a little while before going back to sleep. We all then slept like logs until the next morning.

A few more days passed, and Joel and Ellie said goodbye to us.

- Maybe we'll see each other again,

Joel said and Ellie nodded with a smile on her face. I hoped so too, they were really nice people and I felt that we could count on them, no matter what. We stood and watched as they walked away until we couldn't see them anymore. Now it was back to me, Elena and Sam. Rafe was still with us, too. Back then and there none of us could believe what was about to happen. We had been really lucky until then, but soon everything would take a turn.. not for the better, but for worse.

We had walked almost all day, and as the dusk slowly started creeping in, we had made it to a remote warehouse. The front door was heavy and made a lot of noise. It took both me and Rafe to open it, while Sam stood with Elena right behind us. As we finally got the door open, I stopped and wiped my hands to my jeans which were worn out and dirty to begin with. Elena was the first one to enter the building.

- You know, we should check this place out, to make sure that it's secure,

she said and we all agreed. The place was pretty big so we all went on different directions so that we could cover more ground and work faster. I had just found a few bodies of some dead soldiers, when I heard Elena's voice from the opposite end of the warehouse.

- Elena, what.. what is it?

I yelled to her, still with no idea about what was going on. She didn't answer. But as I heard gunshots, I started to understand. She had most likely found some infected. But why had she yelled? She was wiser than that. She would've never given away her position, unless..

- Oh, crap..

I said as I started making my way to Elena. I ran and ran until I finally reached her. It was just like I had feared: Elena had run into a small group of runners. She had managed to shoot one of them, but the other two were onto her, with one of them pinning her to ground.

- Oh no you don't, you son a bitch..!

I yelled in something that was half rage, half worry. I took my pistol and shot the two remaining runners. As I did so, Elena pushed the now dead runner off of her.

- Elena! Are.. are you okay?

I franticly asked as I kneeled down next to her. She didn't give me an answer right away, which made me wonder if.. she had been bitten.

- Elena? You.. you have to tell me, please,

I pleaded. And then, as Sam and Rafe came running, she finally showed it to me. Clear bite marks on her left arm.

- No.. oh, no.. No, no.. This can't be happening..

I repeated as I stared at Elena's arm, which had started to bleed.

- Nathan..?

I heard Sam say as he and Rafe walked closer. I didn't really care to respond, not immediately. I was in shock.

- Bitten..

I finally said after some minutes had passed.

- Excuse me? Nate?

Rafe said in slight confusion.

- She's.. Elena's been bitten,

I cleared out. There was no way that this could happen to us. But it had happened anyway, and there was no vaccine to this. This was it. We were done for.

As the night fell on us, everyone fell asleep one by one. Everyone but me. I just sat there close to others, close to Elena. I had pulled my legs against my body and put my arms around them. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours. I just didn't notice any of it. The thought of my wife getting bitten, getting infected could not leave me alone. If it had been a complete stranger, I couldn't really give a shit. But it wasn't any stranger, it was my Elena. She was bitten, and there was no hope for her to recover. These depressing thoughts raced in my head on a neverending loop. And as the darkest night turned into a new day, I still had not moved, or slept. As my companions woke up, I still sat there, not moving. It was concerning, to say the least.

We were almost completely out of food so Rafe and Sam volunteered to go look for some so I could stay with Elena. I was grateful for them even though I couldn't find the words to say it. As they walked off, I let out a desperate sigh. My life had turned into a nightmare. I didn't notice it immediately, but after a half an hour or so Elena started slowly showing me some symptoms. She still talked normally like she always did, but it was the other stuff that scared me. Occasionally she held her head and moaned in pain. It was scary to watch, but even scarier was to know that there was nothing I could do.

An hour had passed, and Sam and Rafe were still out. Elena's condition had turned worse. I had talked about it with her. About what she wanted me to do. She was sure about something: she didn't want to turn to one of those things. I didn't want it either.

- Please.. don't let it happen to me, Nate..

she begged me. I tightened my grip of her hand and promised her that I would end it before it would come to that.

Slowly another hour went by, and there was still no sign of others. I had started to wonder if something had happened to them. But I couldn't leave from Elena's side. I just had to hope that Sam and Rafe would be okay. They would take care of each other. Elena kept twitching and moaning. It hurt me to see her in that much pain. It was much harder for her to talk now.

- Nate.. pl..ease..

she kept saying on repeat. The other thing that she said, was that she loved me, no matter what. I held a pistol in my hands, just stared at it. Elena had taken notice of it and said, almost whispered to me:

- You.. please, Nate.. do it.. I don't want to.. live like this..

As hard as it was for me to admit, I agreed with her. If I really loved her, I should be brave enough to let her go. I looked at her with pure sadness and hurt in my eyes. It pained me, but I had made my decision.

- For better or worse, right..

I said with sadness in my voice, and she slowly nodded.

- Yeah.. Nate, I.. I love you,

she said and smiled. Even that small smile was full of pain.

- I love you too, I.. I always have.

- I know..

After we had taken a long time to say our goodbyes, I finally tightened my grip of the pistol, which was already loaded. I took one good, final look at Elena and tried to smile at her. She did the same to me.

- Goodbye, Elena..

I whispered with tears finally forming on the corners of my eyes.

- Good..bye, Nate,

she responded, also whispering. And then I slowly held up the gun, pointed it at her head. I forced myself to pull the trigger. Soon a loud bang filled the empty space, echoing off the walls. I had done it. I had shot my own wife, whom I had loved more than life itself. My whole body started shaking and I let the gun fall off of my hands. I completely broke down just as Sam and Rafe finally came back.

They shared one quick look of worry and confusion, until Sam finally ran to me, with Rafe right on his heels. I was nothing but a sobbing mess. Elena's body was still on the floor not too far from me. That and the pistol that I had used in easing her pain, they both told their own dark story.

- Holy shit, Nathan..

Sam was the first to call out as he kneeled down in front of me. I barely even noticed it. My whole body was shaking violently. Rafe followed Sam and soon he was by my side as well.

- Jesus Christ, Nate..

he said in what sounded like shock and disbelief. We all had killed someone before, but this.. this was different. I had shot my own wife.. my Elena.

- She.. she asked me to do it..

I finally said in between the many sobs that escaped my lips. I almost sounded calm when I said that, but the whole impression shattered onto the ground when I spoke some more.

- I.. I killed her! I.. I.. Sam, I can't do this anymore.. I killed her..

I nearly yelled. I was done for. I didn't know what to do anymore.. with my life, with anything. I didn't know how I could live without Elena. We had always talked about how we'd be always together, for better or worse. But now.. I felt like I myself had broken that promise. I couldn't protect her. It was all my fault. And I hated myself for that.

That day slowly passed by. I didn't eat, I didn't really even sleep. I just sat there in the corner. I stared at Elena's body, stared at my wedding ring which was still in my finger. And more importantly.. I cried my eyes out. It didn't really matter what Sam or Rafe said, or how they did their best in comforting me. I was a broken man.

And as the night fell on us and both Sam and Rafe had fallen asleep, I silently stood up, said a quiet goodbye to them and then left, just disappeared into the night. I had left almost all my belongings back there with Rafe and my brother. The only things I had, were my wedding ring and a pistol. I wandered aimlessly on the dark, empty streets until finally entering a lonely house by a road. I sat down in the abandoned living room and looked at my pistol.

I didn't really care anymore. I lifted up the gun, put it against my temple, and.. pulled the trigger. After that.. there was nothing left for me.