[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 461 - Done Deal — Steel and Blood
The ground of the greenhouse lurched.
The glass dome groaned under the strain, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface. Dirt and broken glass rained down in a steady, pattering shower.
"What's he trying to do?"
Glenn gripped his gun, eyes sweeping the room.
Marcus hadn't moved. Then the skin on his face began to slide, dripping down like melting wax to reveal the black, writhing mass underneath.
"Ah—!"
The scream that tore out of him wasn't human. His entire body shriveled in on itself, fast, like something was sucking every drop of moisture from the inside out.
His expensive white suit split apart from within.
Countless black leeches poured out of him, pooling at his feet, spreading into an ever-widening tide of black.
"Open fire!"
Shawn was the first to roar it.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Bullets shredded the squirming mass. Every round that connected just splashed up a clot of black liquid before more leeches flooded in to fill the gap. No effective damage. None at all.
The pool started to rise.
Like living clay, it shaped itself. Legs first. Then a torso. Arms.
Finally, a massive skull formed from countless intertwined leeches mounted itself on top of the body.
It stood more than twice the height of the man Marcus had been.
Its entire frame was sheathed in a slick black carapace. Both arms had become tentacles with no limit to how far they could reach.
The enormous head had no face.
Just a mouth. Stretched ear to ear, packed wall to wall with teeth like the inside of a meat grinder.
"ROAR—!"
The Leech Abomination opened that mouth and bellowed, and the whole greenhouse hummed with the force of it.
"What the fuck is this thing?"
Merle slapped in a fresh magazine and swept the entire clip at its head. The bullets rocked it slightly. That was all.
Then one arm snapped outward. A black whip, fast, catching Abraham across the body before he could do more than raise his gun.
CRACK!
The force launched him off his feet. He hit the glass wall behind him hard and coughed up blood.
"Abraham!"
T-Dog and Glenn sprinted over and hauled him upright.
"I'm fine." Abraham braced against the ground, trying to push himself up. Something in his chest wasn't right. Several somethings. "Its strength is too much."
"Everyone stay back from it!"
Rebekah had pressed herself behind Leon, but her voice was sharp and clear.
"Its body can break apart and reassemble whenever it wants. Bullets can't destroy it!"
The Leech Abomination's other arm swung toward her.
Shawn and Daryl opened up at the same moment. The combined fire slowed the tentacle down.
Only slowed.
It kept coming, inching forward through the hail of bullets, patient and relentless.
"Leon! Figure something out!"
Shawn roared.
"Merle!"
Leon's voice was perfectly calm.
"What the fuck are you waiting for?"
"On it, boss!"
Merle slung the oversized tactical pack off his back and pulled something out. A modified high-powered flashlight. The kind police used on fugitive hunts.
"The rest of you!"
Leon called out.
T-Dog, Glenn, Daryl, all three reached into their own packs and came up with the same thing.
Leon had told them to bring these before they ever left the prison.
"Alright. Let's take this bastard's picture."
Five blinding beams blazed on at the same instant.
Like five spears, they drove straight into the Leech Abomination's body.
"ROAR—!"
The shriek it let out was nothing like the one before. This one was raw terror.
It had spent its entire existence in the dark of the sewers. The leeches that made up its body were exquisitely, catastrophically sensitive to light. For them, this was a nightmare made real.
Everywhere the beams touched, the leeches convulsed and thrashed. Its two reaching tentacles snapped back instantly, throwing themselves up in front of its massive head, trying to block out the light.
"It's working!"
Rick shouted.
"Keep the beams on it! Don't let up!"
The five lights stayed locked on the creature.
It retreated, step by step, under the relentless glare. Its massive body slammed into the wall behind it with a boom that shook the air. It had nowhere to go. The greenhouse was too small, and the light was everywhere.
"Rat Boss!"
The quiet figure at the back of the group, the one who'd barely said a word the entire time, unslung something from his pack and hoisted it onto his shoulder.
An RPG.
"Here."
He passed it to Leon.
Leon took the heavy launcher, disengaged the safety with practiced ease, and pressed his eye to the scope. The monster was still thrashing in the columns of light.
"Come on, baby."
He pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The rocket streaked across the greenhouse on a tail of fire, perfectly straight, and hit the Leech Abomination dead center in the chest.
The explosion swallowed it whole.
Leon didn't flinch. He stood rock-steady and watched the center of the blast through narrowed eyes.
The fire cleared.
Half the Leech Abomination's body was simply gone. Black fluid and the shredded husks of leeches spread across the floor in every direction.
"Dead?" Merle climbed to his feet and rubbed his ringing ears.
The word was barely out of his mouth.
The black liquid on the floor twitched. The shredded chunks stirred. As if something had switched them back on, they began crawling toward the half-destroyed remains, converging, pulling together.
A tumor bulged at the ragged stump where the body ended, swelled fast, then burst. A new arm pushed its way out.
Still alive.
Still fighting.
"Fuck!"
"Knew it wouldn't be that easy," Merle spat.
Leon waved a hand.
"Rat Boss. Two more."
No wasted words. Rat Boss reached into the pack and came out with 2 more rockets. Handed them over.
Leon reloaded fast. Chambered. Raised the launcher.
He watched the monster rebuilding itself at speed and put the crosshairs on its head.
"This time," he said, "I'll make sure you die knowing how."
BOOM! BOOM!
Two rockets, one right after the other.
The first took its head clean off mid-reassembly.
The second turned what was left of the body into a spray of gore across the greenhouse walls.
Silence settled over the room.
The black fragments on the floor twitched a few more times, reflex and nothing more. No sign of reassembly. Nothing pulling back together.
"Done?" Glenn steadied himself against the wall and looked around.
Leon set the launcher down. He walked to the pile of wreckage and looked it over for a moment.
"Should be done."
He turned away.
"Rebekah, dig up that flower. Whole plant, roots and all."
"Everyone else, stay sharp."
"We're out of time."
➤ Next: Morphology Two — Clash