[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 499 - Basically Confirmed — The Conversation

Leon studied the lines scratched into the dirt.

"Keep expanding the prison outward." Maggie looked at him. "We build the north and east walls right on the riverbanks. Natural rivers make the best moat."

Leon's eyes lit up.

"The Leeches go straight into that river." She kept dragging the branch. "Set up containment nets upstream and downstream to keep them from drifting out. Then the south and west sides..."

The branch drew two connecting lines across the southern and western sections.

"Manual excavation." Maggie tapped the ground. "Divert water from the northern river, dig an artificial canal, bypass the western farm, cut through the southern woods, and connect it to the eastern river."

"That cuts the workload in half." Leon said.

Maggie tossed the branch aside.

"Not just the workload — we're expanding our territory." She brushed the dirt off her hands. "The whole western farm area gets folded inside the safe zone. If anything goes wrong, the survivors working out there won't be caught in the open. And the southern woods give us a timber source."

Leon studied the crude map scratched into the earth.

The plan was solid. Use the natural terrain to push the defensive perimeter outward.

"The containment nets have to hold." Leon said. "The Leeches can't get washed downstream."

"Jim knows how to build them." Maggie leaned against Leon's arm. "Multiple layers of rebar mesh, fine wire netting over that. And since you can control the Leech Queen, you just tell those Leeches to stay put instead of tearing everything apart."

She paused, then added, "You remember those Walkers the Fort Benning signal kept drawing in? We haven't cleared them in a long time. There's probably another massive horde stacked up by now."

"You could have Murphy steer tens of thousands of them straight into the river. I can't even imagine what the Leech Queen becomes after feeding on that many Walkers."

"Jim!" Leon's eyes lit up. He called out across the yard.

Jim stopped in his tracks and jogged back.

"Boss." He was slightly out of breath.

"Find Rick and Dawn." Leon said. "Tell them to bring the prison's topographic map to the meeting room."

Jim nodded and took off toward the cellblock.

---

Thirty minutes later. The prison meeting room.

A massive military map of Fort Benning and the surrounding area covered the long table.

"This is the plan." Leon pointed. "We're building a moat. North and east use the natural rivers. West and south we dig manually."

Rick uncapped a marker and drew red lines along the northern and eastern sections of the map.

"The current in both river sections is gentle." Rick said. "We can build new walls along the riverbanks first and use them as temporary defenses."

Dawn pointed to the western farm area. "The farm sits lower than the surrounding ground. Running the canal through there won't be difficult — the soil is soft."

She moved her finger south. "The woods are the problem. The root systems are dense. Once you drive excavators in, they won't have room to work."

"Cut the trees first." Leon said. "Clear a 50-meter isolation strip through the southern woods. The felled trunks go in front of the walls as chevaux de frise."

Heads nodded around the table.

"We're going to need more hands." Rick set the marker down. "Logging, digging, wall construction, laying containment nets — all of it at once."

"Put everyone on it." Leon's voice left no room for debate. "Candace and the research team stay in the lab. Everyone else gets assigned to the engineering corps. I'll bring in some Walkers to help with the heavy work."

"What about the containment nets?" Jim asked.

"Rebar and wire mesh, welded solid." Leon looked at him. "3 layers at each end, upstream and downstream both. Water flows through. Leeches don't."

"Got it." Jim wrote it down.

"Merle and T-Dog stay on Walker capture." Leon moved to the next item. "Until the moat is finished, the Leeches stay in the pit. Once the canal connects, we breach the pit and flush them straight in."

Rick stared at the vast area circled in red on the map.

"That's 3 times our current territory." He drew a slow breath. "We were already big enough to draw attention. I'm worried the Fort Benning military is going to notice us."

➤ Next: Confidence to Back It Up