[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 497 - Frenzied Reproduction

A dozen Walkers tumbled into the murky pool.

Leon stood at the edge, watching.

Beneath the surface, the crystalline Leech Queen drifted toward a Walker's calf and pressed against it.

The Walker thrashed.

The leech bit through gray, rotting skin and burrowed into muscle.

Merle pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and blew a slow stream of white smoke into the air.

"Boss, can this little thing actually eat worth a damn?"

"Feels like they're too small to me. Even if they gorged themselves to death, how much could they really put away?"

"Just watch." Leon smiled. "Guarantee you'll be surprised."

He knew better than anyone. This little thing's appetite was something else entirely.

Half an hour passed.

The Walker was still struggling in the water.

But the Leech Queen had swollen. Her tail split open and spewed dozens of black cysts into the water around her.

The cysts burst.

Tiny leeches poured out and swarmed onto the same Walker. They stripped the leg muscles clean, right down to stark white bone. The Walker lost its footing and pitched forward into the water.

More cysts came.

The hungry little leeches scattered and hit the other Walkers. The water churned. Black leeches blanketed every body in the pool. The Walkers' snarls disappeared beneath the surface, swallowed by water and the spreading cloud of blackish-red blood.

Merle's cigarette hand trembled.

"Fuck."

"That fast?"

T-Dog stepped back.

"This damn thing breeds way too fast."

"You think if we accidentally fell in, that'd be pretty exciting?"

Leon smiled.

"Guaranteed to send you flying, buddy."

It hadn't even been long. The first Walker to go in was already a skeleton, white bones swaying gently in the churn.

The feeding ability of these mutated leeches was flat-out terrifying.

The swarm turned to the next target.

Leon watched the surface.

The cycle was simple.

Hunger. Feed. Breed. Sated. Hungry again.

"Drive the rest of them in."

Merle waved. Several survivors stepped up with long poles and shoved the Walkers lingering at the truck's edge into the pool one after another.

Splash after splash.

The leeches piled over each other and wrapped around every Walker that hit the water. Flesh shredded. Organs hollowed out.

Jim came jogging over. He took one look at the pool and his face went pale.

"Boss, they're eating way too fast."

"Yeah. This many Walkers isn't going to cut it."

Leon looked at Merle.

"Two truckloads isn't even enough to pick their teeth."

"Take some people and keep going out. I've got most of the Walkers around here under control already. Go further out, hit the smaller towns, and bring back everything you find."

Merle ground out his cigarette under his boot.

"You got it."

"While you're at it, have Jim modify a few heavy trucks. Loudspeakers and steel plating. Your job is just luring them in and closing the doors. Without me controlling the Walkers, you better not get sloppy."

Merle nodded and turned to round up his crew.

Leon pointed at the white bones drifting on the surface.

"T-Dog."

"Yeah."

"Get a few people. Long poles with hooks. Fish out whatever they've cleaned."

T-Dog swallowed.

"Fish them out and put them where?"

"Stack them in the open lot. Dry them out, smash them up, use the powder as fertilizer for the outer fields. Don't waste it."

"Alright. Got it."

The feeding continued.

Black leeches packed the water, pressing against each other. Red bubbles rose steadily to the surface.

Several survivors came over with poles and waded to the edge. They lowered the hooked iron rods into the water. A hook caught on a skeleton's ribs. Two men hauled upward together. White bones broke the surface with a wet drag, a few unsated leeches still clinging on.

The leeches dropped back into the pool.

The skeleton was pulled to shore. The bones were immaculate. Not a scrap of flesh anywhere.

Leon crouched and picked up a section of arm bone, turning it over.

The pores on the surface were clearly visible. These things had eaten the marrow too. Hollowed it out completely. Cleaner than he could ever manage.

Good.

T-Dog came over and looked at the bone. His scalp prickled.

Leon noticed the look and patted his shoulder.

"Relax. I already told the Leech Queen, living people are off-limits. They're well-behaved right now. Want to go for a swim?"

T-Dog's face went white.

"Hard pass."

Leon let it go.

"This is a long-term operation."

He stood up and dropped the arm bone.

"The leeches in this pool are only going to multiply."

"They need a constant food supply."

"Stop feeding them, and they'll start eating each other."

"So we're basically nannies for a bunch of worms now?"

"They're weapons." Leon looked at T-Dog. "Weapons need maintenance. The gun in your hand needs bullets. What's in this pool is the gun. Walker flesh is the bullets. When the moment comes, they'll earn their keep."

T-Dog nodded and didn't argue.

➤ Next: A Bold New Idea