[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 472 - Brat — The Conversation

Meghan had been yelled at by Leon, and now her crying threatened to lift the roof clean off the room.

Lilly's face went ugly.

"Mister, we saved you."

Something hostile surfaced in Lilly's eyes, sudden and unmistakable.

Leon's action had already tanked her first impression of him completely.

"You can't even say thank you — fine, whatever. But why are you scaring a little kid?"

Leon's temples throbbed.

He couldn't be bothered to explain, and he couldn't explain it properly anyway. The T-Virus wasn't just important, it was dangerous. And he couldn't tell her that outright. If word got out, it was game over.

Sure, you saved me. But before you touch someone else's things, you ask first.

Forget it. No point arguing. You couldn't reason with someone like this.

Right now his mind held exactly one thought: get that damn syringe back.

He watched for it. The moment Lilly's grip slackened, that split second of distraction from the emotion running through her, Leon exploded off the bed.

Lilly never saw it coming.

She felt her wrist clamp down, an irresistible force wrenching through her arm, and then the carbine was gone. Just gone.

"Don't move!"

Leon had the gun reversed and aimed at her before she could breathe. His other hand snapped down like a trap, scooping the blue syringe off the floor in one fluid motion.

The T-Virus was back in his hand.

The heart that had been lodged in his throat finally dropped back into his chest.

If Carl had been messing with it, fine, Carl was a kid, he'd manage. But this little girl was a brat, and this was absolutely not something to play with.

"Mommy!"

Meghan wailed harder. She lunged forward and wrapped herself around Lilly's thigh, her tiny body shaking in fits.

Lilly had gone white. She raised both hands.

Leon looked at them, mother and child, pale and terrified, and lowered the carbine.

"Listen." His voice dropped.

"I apologize for what happened. I shouldn't have yelled at a kid."

He paused, and held up the syringe.

"But you have no idea what this thing is."

"If it had broken, every single one of us would be dead. A hundred times worse than turning into one of the Walkers out there."

"I don't care if you believe me. Right now, I need to leave."

The door swung open again.

Another woman stepped in. Tara.

She was holding a gun. She took one look at the standoff and frowned.

"Lilly."

"Didn't I tell you to keep this room locked? Meghan shouldn't be touching other people's things."

Tara glanced at Leon, then at Meghan sobbing behind Lilly, and put the whole picture together in about 2 seconds.

"We don't even know what that is. What if it's valuable?"

"It's his. Meghan doesn't get to touch someone else's property without permission."

"You spoil her too much."

Lilly looked like she had something to say. But she caught the look in Tara's eyes and swallowed it. She knew she was in the wrong here.

That didn't stop Leon's yelling from making her feel like she'd saved the wrong person.

So it's the curvy one, Tara. Leon let out a quiet breath. Finally. Someone with a functioning brain.

He carefully tucked the blue syringe back into the inner pocket of his tactical vest, zipped it shut, and patted it once to confirm. Safest place it could be.

"First things first — thank you for pulling me out of whatever that was."

Leon looked at Tara directly.

"I'm not a bad person. I just ran into some trouble."

"As payback, give me an address or some coordinates. I'll have people bring you a supply drop, food, medicine, enough to last about a month without having to go outside for anything."

Tara studied him.

His eyes were steady. No flinching, no darting around. Nothing like the people she'd seen out here who'd put a knife in you for half a cracker.

"We don't need your things." She shook her head. "We just did what anyone should do. Living people look out for each other."

Leon nodded and let it go.

"Do you have a radio? Anything that can transmit long-range? I need to reach my team."

"No."

Lilly. She pulled Meghan tighter against her.

"We can't let you use the radio."

"Why not?"

"Who knows who you'd call?" Her wariness was back, harder than before. "What if your people track us down and kill us all? We're not taking that risk."

Leon looked at her and felt his patience filing itself down to nothing.

He got it. He genuinely did. In this rotten world, strangers meant danger, that was rule one of still being alive.

But he couldn't afford to wait. Rick and the others had to be losing their minds by now. God only knew what kind of mess that would turn into.

"My people won't touch you," he said, keeping his voice flat.

"Nobody believes that," Lilly said, and her smile had no warmth in it at all.

The air in the room went solid.

Tara looked at Leon. Then at her sister. She sighed.

"Okay. Here's what we do."

She stepped forward.

"You're badly hurt. Rest first."

"The radio — we need to talk it over between us."

"We honestly don't know if you're someone we can trust. And the last little while wasn't exactly a warm welcome for anyone. You can understand that, right?"

It was the most ground she was willing to give.

"Fine."

Leon nodded. He sat back down on the edge of the bed and leaned against the wall.

"But you give me back my gun," Lilly said.

"Not a chance," Leon said immediately. "Not until you give me back mine first."

His gun was already confiscated. He wasn't handing over another weapon.

"I'll be right here."

He closed his eyes. Conversation over.

Tara and Lilly exchanged a look. Nothing more was said. They took Meghan, still hiccuping through her tears, and walked out, pulling the door shut behind them. The lock clicked.

Leon could hear them through the door, voices low and tight.

"...He's too dangerous!" Lilly.

"If you throw him out now, he dies. Lilly, we can't do that..." Tara.

"Then what do we do? I saved the wrong person. He's violent, he picks fights on day one, he's unstable..."

"And what if we do throw him out and he remembers the way back? What if he brings people? Have you thought about that?"

"..."

The voices faded down the hall.

Leon opened his eyes.

The room was quiet again.

➤ Next: What Happens When Rebekah Isn't Around?