[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 551 - Seven Minutes Is Too Long — Seven Seconds Is All You Get

Leon didn't answer.

"I could spare seven minutes to play with you — but time's short. Seven seconds will do."

One second before Wesker made his move, Leon was already in motion.

Fast enough to leave an afterimage.

One kick drove hard into Wesker's leg.

A crisp crack of bone rang through the corridor.

Wesker let out a muffled grunt, unable to take the force. But his reflexes kicked in, his left hand shot toward the backup knife strapped to his outer thigh.

Leon was faster.

His boot came down onto Wesker's wrist and ground in hard.

"Don't move." Leon looked down at him from above.

His other hand had already clamped onto the back of Wesker's neck. He shoved down, hard.

BOOM!

Wesker's face met the marble floor.

His signature sunglasses shattered. Sharp fragments sliced open the skin at the corner of his eye, and blood began to seep out.

"What's wrong — surprised?" Leon said coldly.

Wesker roared.

The savage power the T-Virus was feeding into his muscles had begun to wake up. He braced both arms against the floor, trying to throw the man off his back.

He discovered, with genuine horror, that the hand pinning his neck carried a force that made no sense.

He was a turtle under a hydraulic press. No matter how hard he strained, he couldn't move a single inch.

This kind of strength was beyond any ordinary human. It surpassed early-stage bioweapons entirely.

He hadn't even lasted 3 seconds.

The corner of Leon's mouth twitched.

"You only just injected the T-Virus. Go lie down and let it settle, stop embarrassing yourself."

"Who the hell are you!" Wesker snarled through clenched teeth, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

Leon ignored him.

He crouched down and, without any ceremony, started squeezing and prodding at Wesker's face. He yanked along the edge of his jawbone, then pressed hard behind his ears.

"Rough handling. Don't take it personally."

Leon muttered as he worked.

"Just making sure you're not wearing a fake skin. Or a clone body."

"You bioweapon types are all underhanded bastards — who knows what tricks you'd pull."

Wesker was being ground into the marble floor, the humiliation nearly driving him insane. His eyes, already flushing red from the viral infection, were locked in a dead stare at the floor, veins standing out at his temples.

Leon confirmed what he needed to know and gave a satisfied nod.

"Good. It's the real one."

Wesker kept straining. All that tactical expertise, all that viral enhancement he'd spent years being so proud of, in front of this man, it was a complete joke.

Leon let go of his face.

He picked up Wesker's knife and drew the tip lightly across the back of his neck.

Flesh parted instantly.

Several black Mutant Leeches slipped through the opening and burrowed fast into his body.

Wesker convulsed violently.

He could feel them, cold, slick, writhing through him. The sensation of foreign things moving inside his body flooded him with raw terror.

"What did you do to me!" Wesker shrieked.

"Put a leash on you." Leon stood up and dusted off his hands. "You've got treachery in your bones. Without some kind of insurance, I'd be worried you'd turn around and bite me."

Wesker's consciousness began to blur.

The toxin was invading his central nervous system, seizing partial control by force. This was Leon's custom compound, Murphy's factor fused with T-Virus Leeches. It wouldn't just hold Wesker in place; it would grow more ironclad with every advancement the T-Virus granted him.

For the rest of his life, he was going to wear Leon's leash.

"I was going to kill you outright." Leon looked down at him, Wesker gasping on the floor like a dead dog. "But you just made contact with H.C.F. Dying now would be a waste."

"I'll keep you around as a mole. Plenty of use for you down the line."

Wesker wanted to curse him out. He didn't have the strength to open his mouth.

His vision went black. He lost consciousness entirely.

Less than 2 minutes on the countdown.

The red strobe lights were flashing faster now, the alarm shrieking through the halls, driving the last evacuation forward.

Leon bent down, grabbed Wesker's Tactical Vest by the collar with one hand, and lifted him off the floor like a garbage bag.

He turned and walked in long strides toward the Spencer Mansion's emergency exit.

➤ Next: Taking Control of Wesker