Saw this movie yesterday and I agree, this is a very interesting point.
The single bullet is clearly significant and suggests suicide but surely it would also take one bullet to kill Maggie if Wade chose to. He knew the gun wasn't loaded when she kissed him but perhaps he was willing to follow Nathan's fate who chose to be infected by his own daughter rather than kill her. After Wade killed Nathan and his daughter he said he thought there was still something there in their eyes which is why he also tried to talk to them. Something makes him believe that when someone has turned a bit of their humanity remains which is why he can't bring himself to kill Maggie.
Vern has already told him that to 'make it quick' would be the best way to end it but Wade still asks him to bring a syringe. Perhaps when he waits in the chair for Maggie to come to him it's a test - if she bites him then it's proof that the virus is stronger than their father/daughter bond so he would shoot her and then inject himself. The quick way for her, the slow way for him. But he's proved right and something of Maggie still remains in her and she kisses him instead.
So why load the gun? I don't think he'd bear to kill Maggie knowing that there is something of her still alive. But I also don't believe he'd kill himself and allow her to be shot by the police. Maybe he's resolved to protect her now so he loads the gun for when the cops finally arrive to take her. Perhaps we see the bullet simply to prove that the gun wasn't loaded and he was defenceless in the chair - proof of his faith in her.
Brilliant movie with lots of complex moral issues. Thanks for raising this point evildeadmitch.
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