[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 555 - Chris's Decision

Chris and Jill exchanged a glance.

Reading people was something they were both very good at.

This was not the moment to keep talking about grand plans.

Chris tactfully picked up the ballistic helmet from the table and tucked it under his arm.

"Alright, Leon."

"We've covered what needed covering. Go check on that girl."

"We're new here anyway — good time to take a look around your camp."

Barry stood up too.

"That's right. I still need to scout out a good spot to build a place for my two girls."

"This place is big enough. That open ground to the south looks promising."

The group left the office together, all on the same page without a word spoken.

Out in the corridor.

Chris walked at the front, his stride noticeably lighter than when he'd come in.

Jill walked beside him, one hand tucked in the pocket of her tactical pants.

"Chris." Jill turned to look at him.

"Have you really made up your mind?"

"About what?" Chris asked.

"Disbanding Alpha Team. For good." Jill said it plainly.

"What's the point of keeping that empty title?" Chris spread his hands, and his tone carried the easy relief of someone who had finally stopped fighting a losing argument.

"The government? To hell with the government."

"Umbrella Corporation turned the Arklay Mountains into a live testing ground, and those people didn't dare make a single sound about it."

"Wesker used us like disposable parts. Half the brass at the bureau were probably Umbrella shareholders."

"And didn't Rick say it himself — when Leon came back, they had people set up checkpoints to intercept him. You're telling me there was nothing dirty going on? I don't buy it."

Chris stopped walking and looked out through the corridor window at the high walls rising outside.

"If the government can't save everyone, then we will."

"As of today, S.T.A.R.S. is officially disbanded."

"Whoever wants to go join something else, go ahead. I'm done looking at those hypocrites."

Barry nodded beside him, several times over.

"Now that's what I like to hear."

"All I care about is where my wife and kids sleep tonight and whether there's a hot meal on the table."

"If Leon can give them that, I'll fight for him."

"Come on, let's go pick out a spot down south. Wait too long and the good ground will be grabbed by whoever just showed up."

They walked toward the yard with a lightness none of them had felt in a long time.

......

Leon rose from his office chair and walked out in long strides.

Rebekah followed close behind.

"Has Candice examined her yet?" Leon asked as he walked, pace quick.

"She has." Rebekah hurried to keep up, slightly out of breath.

"Her vitals have stabilized. The T-Virus and the Progenitor Virus have formed a very unusual kind of equilibrium inside her body."

"But her emotions are all over the place. She's been crying since she woke up and keeps saying your name."

"Ms. Candice wanted to give her a sedative. I talked her out of it."

Leon gave a small nod.

That foolish girl had nearly gotten herself killed.

Waking up now, she would be terrified.

Down the stairs, through the administrative block, through the push doors of the isolation ward.

Candice and Lee Mi-joo were standing beside the bed, clipboards in hand, watching the numbers on the monitoring equipment.

They turned at the sound of the door.

"You're here." Candice set her clipboard on the bedside cabinet.

"The data is remarkable. She came out of this better than before — she survived the initial rejection response."

"Her physical condition now far exceeds that of an ordinary person."

Leon paid no attention to the data. His gaze went straight to the bed.

Ashley was in an oversized hospital gown, her whole body curled into the corner of the bed.

Her golden hair was slightly disheveled, sticking to her cheeks.

The moment she heard Leon arrive, she snapped her head up.

Those eyes, normally bright and full of life, were red and swollen now, nothing in them but fear and unease.

The instant she confirmed that the man standing in front of her was Leon, her whole body went rigid.

She rubbed her eyes in disbelief, terrified this was nothing but a hallucination conjured at the edge of death.

Leon waved Candice, Lee Mi-joo, and Rebekah off.

The three of them understood without a word. They slipped quietly out of the Infirmary and pulled the door shut behind them.

Just the two of them left.

Leon walked to the bedside. He didn't say anything. He just looked at her.

"Leon......"

Ashley's voice came out thick with tears.

She threw the covers back and flung herself straight into his arms.

The force of it drove Leon back half a step, but he caught her solidly.

She locked her arms around his neck and held on with everything she had, tight enough that Leon felt somewhat smothered, though still bearable.

He remembered not having great control over his own strength once, either.

Ashley's tears broke all at once, soaking through the fabric at his shoulder in seconds.

"You're alright... you're really alright!"

She cried without any restraint, letting out every fear that had built up over these past days.

Leon didn't push her away. His broad palm moved in slow, gentle pats across her thin back.

"What could possibly happen to me." He kept his voice soft.

"It's you who managed to get yourself into this state."

Ashley cried in heaving sobs, tears and snot smearing freely onto his shirt.

She couldn't spare a single thought for her dignity.

In her mind, Leon going missing was essentially the same as being taken by Umbrella Corporation, almost certainly a death sentence.

She'd had one thought, and one thought only.

He can't die.

She had to go save him.

But she was too weak. How was she supposed to fight Umbrella Corporation.

"I thought they'd taken you away to dissect you......"

Ashley lifted her head, face streaked with tears.

"I was so scared. I was terrified I'd never see you again."

Leon exhaled slowly. He reached up and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"So you swallowed the Solar Stairway petals."

His tone held a note of reproach, but underneath it was mostly resignation.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that thing is?"

"Marcus spent years studying it and never dared try it casually. And there you were, eating it raw."

"If Marcus hadn't happened to be hiding in the sewers, you'd be a tentacle-covered monster right now."

Hearing that, Ashley wasn't frightened in the slightest. She only held him tighter.

"I'm not afraid of becoming a monster!"

She bit her lower lip, something stubborn and unyielding fixed in her eyes.

"The only thing I'm afraid of is not being able to save you."

"I was out of my mind when I couldn't find you. I really was."

"I went to the Underground Laboratory. I saw that flower."

"I knew it was the source of the virus. I knew eating it might kill me."

"But I had no other options left, Leon."

Ashley looked directly into his eyes, tears brimming at the edges again.

"I had to get stronger."

"Only if I got stronger could I take you back from those people."

"Even if I ended up a monster at the end of it, as long as I got you out, I could live with that."

There was no technique in these words. Pure feeling, all the way through.

Direct. Burning. And a little foolish.

But it was precisely that foolishness that stirred something in Leon's chest, whether he wanted it to or not.

In this world, people who shoved teammates into a walker herd just to buy themselves another minute were everywhere.

A fool willing to throw their own life away for someone else was practically a rare species.

Leon pinched her cheek. The skin felt somehow firmer than he remembered.

"Foolish girl."

He pulled a chair over and sat down, settling her onto the edge of the bed.

"Next time something happens, use your head."

"If I dared walk out with them, I had a way out. That's how it works."

"You swallowed those petals and nearly threw your life away with them."

"Remember this: no matter what, you come first."

"Make sure you're safe. Then go do whatever you want to do."

Ashley sat with her head low, fingers twisting at the hem of her hospital gown like a child who'd done something wrong.

"I panicked. I wasn't thinking that far ahead."

"But Candice said I've become very powerful now."

She looked up suddenly, a flicker of excitement crossing her eyes.

"Leon, does that mean I can actually fight alongside you?"

"I absolutely won't hold you back anymore!"

Watching her this eager to prove herself, Leon felt something close to amusement.

Having been tested by life and death, this girl's spirit had grown quite a bit tougher.

"We'll talk about fighting later."

"You only just woke up. Your body is still adjusting."

"Once William has the latest enhancement protocol ready, you'll have plenty to suffer through."

Ashley held on to him anyway, arms still wrapped tight, afraid he might disappear without warning.

As long as Leon was beside her, this miserable world didn't seem quite so frightening.

➤ Next: Ashley's Decision