[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 477 - Lilly's Inexplicable Guilt

Lilly knew this had nothing to do with her and her sister.

They had only rescued a half-dead man from the river.

Dragged him back. Cleaned and dressed his wounds. Changed him into fresh clothes.

They did a good thing.

But because of their "kindness," they'd delayed him. Indirectly pushed his other companion to the edge of life and death.

And to keep this place safe, she had physically blocked him from leaving. Refused to let him use the radio.

If she'd just let him go from the start, let him reach his people without any of this — would any of it have happened?

What the hell.

Leon didn't take it out on them.

Not a single word of blame. Not from the beginning, not at the end.

He knew. Even if the two of them were tangled up in this, they were still innocent. They had no idea what had happened. She didn't even know what was going on back at the prison. It was pure bad luck. Nothing more.

But that silence was worse than screaming. It pressed down on Lilly's chest until she couldn't breathe.

In the end, she walked over like a woman accepting a sentence, grabbed the keys off the hook, and dropped them on the table.

"I'll go."

Tara froze in the doorway.

"What did you just say? Lilly — are you out of your mind?"

"I'm not out of my mind." Lilly turned to face her sister. "I have to go with him."

"Why?" Tara stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "Go with him? What about Meghan? What about Dad? Just walk him to the door and come straight back!"

"He's my patient." Lilly offered an excuse that even she knew was pathetic. "I stitched his wound. If something goes wrong on the road, that's on me."

On you.

Tara almost laughed.

She looked at her sister's face. Something written there she couldn't read. That particular brand of stubbornness Lilly had carried since childhood.

Leon said nothing. He just watched her.

Whatever was going through this woman's head, he couldn't be bothered to guess. Couldn't figure it out even if he tried. Right now, all he wanted was to get back to the prison at full speed and see what had happened to Ashley.

"Take your medical kit." Tara gave in. She knew she couldn't pull her sister back once she dug her heels in like this. "And a gun. Extra bullets."

"I'll drive." Lilly picked up the keys and glanced at Leon. "I know these roads better than you do."

Leon pulled at his T-shirt, then looked down at the bandage wrapped across his chest. Someone had tied it off with a clean, practiced knot.

"You stitched this?"

Lilly nodded without answering, then turned to gather her things.

So she was a doctor.

That explained it.

Leon slung both carbines over his shoulder and checked the blue syringe tucked against his ribs one more time. Satisfied, he followed Lilly out of the house.

Meghan peered out from behind Tara, just her eyes visible, wet and wide, watching the man who'd been so terrifying minutes ago with equal parts fear and curiosity.

Leon didn't spare the kid a glance. He walked straight toward the beat-up pickup parked out front. Dried mud still caked the truck bed from when they'd hauled him back.

Lilly was already in the driver's seat. Engine running.

Leon pulled the door open and climbed in.

"Hold on."

She floored it.

The truck burst forward like a bull off the rope, tires biting into mud, throwing a long arcing spray of filth in every direction.

Tara stood in front of the house holding Meghan, watching until the truck vanished into the tree line. The worry on her face didn't go anywhere.

......

Inside the cab, the air was unbearable.

Lilly had both hands locked on the steering wheel, eyes fixed on the rutted dirt road ahead, focused like she was defusing something. Leon was reclined against the seat back, eyes shut.

Nothing left in him now but exhaustion and a rage pushed so deep it had gone cold and still.

Lilly could feel it. The thing sitting next to her wasn't a man. It was a volcano. Capped, pressurized, waiting.

She didn't dare breathe too loud. Afraid the smallest sound would be the spark.

She still couldn't explain to herself why she'd come.

That ridiculous guilt?

Or something else?

Honestly, Leon had made a rotten first impression. And she knew Meghan shouldn't go touching strangers' things.

But the way he'd screamed at Meghan — it had reminded her of her ex. The drunk.

That was why she'd pushed back so hard against Leon.

Which was why Leon had run out of patience.

A vicious cycle. One that ended with Leon getting what he wanted through sheer force, and everyone walking away feeling worse for it.

But now she understood. He wasn't just violent by nature. He was desperate. Running out of time. That was all this was.

She stole a glance from the corner of her eye.

When he was quiet like this, he didn't look like a bastard at all.

Sharp jaw. Clean lines. And under those closed eyes, his lashes were longer than she expected.

If the world hadn't ended, he'd be the type who made every woman in the bar forget what they were drinking.

But this same man, the moment he heard that woman named Ashley was in trouble, had gone pale with a panic and fury that wasn't performance. Couldn't be faked.

It stayed with her.

He must really care about his people. That desperation, that violence, maybe it all came from that.

"Watch the road."

His voice hit without warning.

Lilly's whole body jerked.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"...Lilly."

"The other one's Tara?"

"Yeah."

"The little girl is yours?"

"...Yes."

Question. Answer. Question. Answer. Like an interrogation.

Then Leon went quiet again, and the suffocating silence swallowed the cab whole.

Lilly felt like she was losing her mind.

She broke first.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you had somewhere urgent to be. I just didn't want my sister and daughter to get hurt."

The words were out before she could stop them.

She regretted it immediately.

That was completely useless to say.

➤ Next: Another Self — What Was Lost