[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 302 - Don't Leave This Time, Stay

Leon looked at Michonne, the playful smile never leaving his face. He was just too damn happy.

Back then, all the viewers thought that big dumb lug Tyreese had died in the walker horde, but he single-handedly carved a bloody path through the walker swarm.

Sasha was like 10k — both crack shots with a sniper rifle. Except right now Sasha didn't have a sniper rifle in hand, so she couldn't bring her talent into play yet.

But that was easy to fix. Leon had plenty to spare here.

As for Allen and Donna, just filler. Leon wasn't interested in them.

That was what finally made Leon happy.

"A gift?"

Michonne's brow furrowed. The word made every hair on her body stand on end.

"Yes, a gift." Leon's gaze swept past her and landed on the few survivors behind her, fidgeting uneasily, like failing students dragged to a parent-teacher conference.

He used his chin to point at Tyreese's muscular frame, then at the meticulously oiled and gleaming Glock pistol in Sasha's arms.

Leon grinned, flashing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Michonne, you're a born recruiter."

Tyreese awkwardly scratched his head, feeling like a gorilla being gawked at in a zoo.

Michonne was completely baffled.

Recruiter?

She had just fucking wanted to dump these hot potatoes onto this man who looked capable of handling them, then pat herself on the back and walk away.

From then on, distant mountains and far waters, never to meet again in the wasteland.

But in Leon's eyes, this actually counted as a contribution?

A "gift"?

What exactly was this man's brain circuitry made of? Nuclear-powered or diesel-driven?

Maybe it ran on heavy oil?

"Planning to leave again this time?"

"Stay."

Leon put away his smile, his tone suddenly turning serious.

Michonne's eyes flickered intensely for a moment, but quickly returned to that ice-cold demeanor that kept everyone at arm's length.

Through these few interactions, she knew Leon and his team were solid, that all the thriving prosperity wasn't just for show. If she could stay, it would indeed be a pretty good choice for her...

A look of temptation crossed her face, but then she seemed to think of something, and she immediately shook her head, resolute.

"No."

"I delivered them. My business is done. Now, I should go."

Michonne recounted the whole process of how she'd encountered this group to Leon, and Leon understood how they had come together.

Leon didn't push her. He only changed the question — a question that seemed completely unrelated.

"What's the deal with your two jawless pets?"

The question was abrupt, like a dagger suddenly thrust into the conversation.

But Michonne knew: this was a probe.

This man always liked to use these unexpected methods to tear off the masks others wore.

"They are my boyfriend and his friend."

Michonne's voice was flat, without a ripple, as if telling someone else's story.

"They got bit while out looking for supplies."

"After they came back, they turned."

"I cut off their jaws and arms, so they can't attack anymore."

She paused, and added one more line.

"They can mask my scent, and help me carry things."

A deathly silence fell over the meeting room.

Even Merle rarely shut his shit-spewing mouth.

"So," Leon hit the nail on the head, merciless.

"You'd rather stay with two corpses than with living people?"

"Because corpses won't die in front of you again!"

Michonne's voice suddenly spiked.

In those eyes that had always remained calm, a flash of pain finally burst forth.

"My son... my boyfriend... I watched them, one by one, turn into monsters before my eyes, or get eaten by monsters!"

She was in agony, but she didn't cry.

"I've really had enough!"

"I don't want to know anyone anymore, don't want to develop any damn feelings for anyone, and then watch helplessly as they die!"

"So, I'm alone."

She looked at Leon, every word seeming to squeeze out from between clenched teeth.

"Alone, there is no loss."

"If I die, no one will grieve for me either."

"Isn't that nice?"

As these words fell, the atmosphere in the meeting room grew so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

Beth's eyes instantly reddened.

Tyreese and Sasha also lowered their heads.

These words struck the heart of every person struggling to survive in the apocalypse.

Leon looked at her, offering not a single word of comfort, nor any expression of sympathy.

He simply stated a fact, calmly.

"Here,"

"We don't do dying."

Leon stood up, walked step by step until he stood before Michonne, and looked down at her.

"Michonne, death is not the norm. Surviving is."

"You're right. Alone, there is no loss. But alone, you also fucking can't win."

"You can keep being a lone hero out there, watching one big dumb lug after another like Tyreese get swallowed by walkers, and then sigh: Look, another one dead."

"Or,"

Leon leaned closer, practically speaking into her ear.

"You can stay, pick up your sword, stand by our side, and make sure the probability of that kind of stupid shit happening gets lower, and lower, until it's zero."

"I don't need you to develop any damn feelings. I need you to fight for the living."

"You're not some jinx bringing misfortune. You are a line of defense, a line of defense that can help more people stay alive."

Leon extended his hand, palm open.

"Choose."

"Keep being a coward running from the past, or become a warrior protecting the future?"

"Don't make me look down on you, Michonne."

"I'd hate for years from now, when civilization is fully restored, you, long dead, to become my drinking anecdote."

Michonne looked at Leon's outstretched hand, then looked around at the others in the meeting room.

Tyreese and Sasha looked at her with eyes that were almost pleading.

Don't be stupid.

She understood.

Rick and Shane and the others — their eyes were complex, but without hostility, more a sense of expectation.

Clearly, they hoped she would join.

They seemed to know she had suffered enough out there.

In Leon's eyes, there was none of the Governor's hypocritical warmth, only an undisguised invitation.

It wasn't pity for the weak, but a call to a powerful comrade.

She clenched her fists, thinking for a long time.

Finally, she took a deep breath, as if making the most important decision of her life.

She reached out and grasped Leon's hand.

"Okay."

One word, light as air, yet like a boulder, landing on the hearts of everyone in the meeting room.

Leon released her hand, his face once again wearing that smile of a businessman who'd just closed a big deal.

"Excellent. Welcome aboard."

He clapped his hands, like a host announcing the start of a party, drawing everyone's attention.

"Now then, since we have new members, and have resolved our internal philosophical contradictions..."

"Now it's time to talk about our common enemy."

He turned, picked up a red marker, and on the map on the wall, over the word "Woodbury," heavily drew a blood-red circle.

"Beth," Leon looked toward that kind girl who had been quietly standing in the corner, like a startled fawn.

"What you said earlier was right. We can't kill innocents indiscriminately."

He swept his gaze across the room, his voice instantly becoming loud and full of incitement.

"So, our goal isn't to destroy Woodbury. It's to liberate Woodbury!"

"Our new friend, Michonne, will tell us what that bastard called the Governor has been doing to those innocent survivors in that living hell on earth."

"She will make us understand that what we are about to launch is not an invasion, but a righteous... rescue operation!"

All eyes once again focused on Michonne.

Leon made a "please" gesture toward her.

The posture was like a director pushing the lead actor onto the stage.

"Now, tell us everything, Michonne."

"Tell us what kind of devil the Governor is."

Michonne looked at Leon, at that "righteously indignant" expression on his face, and a ridiculous thought suddenly popped into her mind.

This man might be... a hundred times more dangerous than the Governor.

But... she wasn't sure what she should do either.

Liberating Woodbury sounded like a pretty good idea.

Because no one understood the Governor better than she did.

He was simply a madman, a devil!

She cleared her throat, and in those pitch-black eyes, the faces of everyone in the meeting room were reflected.

"Woodbury... is indeed not a good place."

"Because I just escaped from there."

➤ Next: The True Face of Woodbury