[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 540 - Diverting to the Prison

Chris froze.

Too much information. He needed time to process.

Jill kept one hand pressed against the holster on her thigh, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Leon and Rebekah.

She had a clean crop of dark hair, a few strands knocked loose by the dying wash of the rotor blades. Her tactical vest hugged her frame, tracing curves that had no business being in an apocalypse. High nose bridge, full lips — classic West Coast bone structure, but what you noticed first were her eyes. Aggressive. Searching. The kind that never stopped working.

Beautiful, and dangerous enough to match.

"Man." Chris rubbed his face. "That's one hell of an accusation."

"Wesker is our commander. You're telling me he's a sellout spy who's been treating us as disposable assets..."

"It's not that I don't want to believe you. But we can't convict the man on a few words alone."

He worked on evidence. Always had.

From inside the cabin, a young guy in a red bandana leaned halfway out the door.

"Hey! If that's true, I'm shoving those sunglasses straight down his throat!"

"I have been sick of those shades for way too long."

Joseph Frost. Hot-blooded, the shotgun in his hands clicking with impatience.

"Cool it, Joseph." A big man squeezed past him from behind and dropped a hand on his shoulder.

Barry Burton.

Full beard, face like a man who'd seen the worst and come out meaner for it, but when he spoke, the voice that came out was warm. Decent. The kind of warm you didn't expect.

"Chris is right."

"This is serious."

"If Wesker's actually dirty, we need proof we can hold up. Real proof."

"My family is sheltering at Fort Benning. I'm not getting them tangled up in some baseless conspiracy and watching them get thrown out on the street."

Brad's head appeared from the pilot's seat, face sheened with sweat.

"Can we maybe get out of here first?"

"There's not even a bird in this whole area. I keep feeling like something's about to crawl out of those bushes and start eating people."

Leon looked at them.

Quite a group.

At the core, none of them were bad. In this rotten, godforsaken apocalypse, they might actually be among the last few genuinely decent people still walking around.

Too much heart. Too much loyalty.

"Solid proof."

Leon dropped his cigarette butt, burned all the way to the filter, and ground it out under his heel.

"Fine. Solid proof. That's a fair ask."

His posture eased.

Honestly, if they'd believed him outright, he'd have found them less useful. People who took things on faith got killed.

"If you're thinking about heading to the Spencer Mansion to dig up evidence, forget it. Wesker's probably already got the detonator in his hand by now."

"You'd be walking in to hand him your heads."

Leon raised a hand and pointed at the helicopter.

"Get in. No — get on. I'm taking you somewhere."

Jill's eyes narrowed. "Where?"

"West Georgia Correctional Facility." Leon held her gaze.

"My turf."

"That's where your proof is."

"Umbrella's top-secret hard drives. One T-02 Tyrant. And a living, breathing William Birkin."

"Plus the truth behind why this world started coming apart."

"And while we're at it, I'll get you all a hot meal."

Chris and Jill looked at each other.

Walk into a prison someone else controlled?

In this world, private territory could be more dangerous than open wasteland. People with walls had a way of making sure you never left.

But Leon had saved Rebekah's life. And the chips he was laying down were too big to ignore.

"Alright." Chris made the call. "We're coming with you."

"If this checks out, every single one of us owes you."

They boarded.

Brad pulled back on the stick. The helicopter lifted, banked, and headed toward Atlanta.

The cabin shuddered with turbulence.

Barry reached into the inner pocket of his tactical vest and drew out a photograph, folded with the kind of care you gave things that mattered. He smoothed it with one rough thumb.

Two little blonde girls. A woman with a smile that could light up a room.

Leon sat across from him and glanced over.

"Two daughters?"

Barry looked up and grinned, his beard moving with it.

"Moira and Polly."

"My angels."

"Whole world's gone sideways. All I want is to finish this job and get back home to them."

Good father.

Leon filed the assessment away.

Shame, then. In the original timeline, that love was exactly what Wesker used against him. The leverage that turned a good man into a traitor, just to keep his family safe.

That plan had just fallen apart.

One more life changed. He supposed that counted for something.

"You'll get the chance." Leon said it easily, like it was nothing.

Joseph leaned over, eyeing him with open curiosity.

"Hey, man — who taught you those tactical moves? I caught the way you were standing back there. Your footing was solid as a wall. You've had real training."

"Kill enough people, it comes to you." Leon didn't take the thread and shifted the topic. "You guys have enough fuel? My place doesn't carry aviation stock."

"Full tank when we lifted off," Brad called from the front. "Round trip's not a problem."

Jill sat to Leon's side.

She hadn't said a word. Just watched him.

Composed.

That was what she kept landing on. Not the performed kind of cool, the real kind. The settled stillness of someone who had come through actual storms and stopped flinching on the other side.

There was something else, too. Hard to name. Like a well-fed predator moving through a room, claws pulled in, everything about it relaxed, and yet you knew, with absolute certainty, that if it decided to move, nothing in that room would be fast enough.

It put her slightly on edge.

"Why did you stop us?"

She broke the silence without preamble.

"You could have taken Rebekah and left. No reason to risk Wesker's attention saving people you don't even know."

Leon turned to look at her.

Those eyes, striking with a feral edge, studied him right back.

"Because I don't like Wesker." Flat and simple. "He played me, so I burned his board down."

"Saving you was a bonus. Call it good karma for my next life."

Asshole logic. But the kind with no performance in it.

Jill couldn't stop it. A short laugh slipped out.

That smile hit different, the full brightness of a West Coast girl, sudden and genuine.

"You're actually kind of interesting."

"Alright. I believe you."

The helicopter cut through the sky beneath the cloud layer, eating up the miles.

Then, ahead on the horizon, something came into view.

A massive complex. Walls rising high and hard. Dense coils of razor wire layered inside the perimeter. And around the outer edge, walkers moving slowly, methodically, digging.

"That's the West Georgia Correctional Facility?" Chris had his face pressed against the porthole, eyes wide.

➤ Next: Alpha Team Believes It