#zombie leon

[quackysprouts]

zombie-leon will still have to suffer through being a government puppet, and it’s even more dehumanizing this time. the good news is, he can backflip!🥹💔

he also has to wear a muzzle when interacting with humans, even though he won’t eat them. even without it, he can’t really speak. so he writes with a notebook and tries to cheer ashley up🥰

[tophollands]

Zombie!Leon x f!reader

Notes: this one isn’t abt how they met yet, still thinking of how I want that one to play out:) basically just a filler continuation of zombie! Leon and reader trying to escape the sewers. I def want them to have a romantic aspect to their relationship, but at the same time want Leon to for sure know what is happening- like still zombie leon no cure- but more aware and cognizant (obviously..) but it seems as they progress more and more he’s getting there😋 jealous zombie leon in the works!

warnings: typical gore and violence, mentions of death, fluff

inspired by zombie!leon art by @quackysprouts

part 1 part 2

You didn’t think Leon could get clinger. You were wrong. Not that you minded. Leon’s hand never left yours, and if you tried, even for a split second, you were met with a frustrated grumble and a tighter grip on your hand. He’d snap his head towards you, tilting his head, almost as if he was wondering what was so important that you felt you had to let go. Is this how Leon felt all those times you dragged him through the sewers?

You loved that he wanted to hold your hand, but couldn’t deny the fact that it made certain things much harder. Anytime you wanted to turn a certain way, backtrack, pick up a clue and study it, Leon had to be gripping your hand, worried you’d disappear. Doing things one handed were… difficult. You wanted to laugh, tease him about the fact that it was actually him who would run off without a second thought, ditching you, but you held your tongue, appreciating his concern nonetheless. It made your heart swell as he fretted over you.

“Leon-one sec buddy, just wanna see what’s over here,” you spoke, turning back to see faint white paint written on the wall. His hand tugged you back into his chest, slightly knocking the wind out of you as you made contact. Your eyes widened at the impact, not expecting his chest to be so firm. Sure he looked built in his uniform, but you weren’t expecting him to be a brick wall.

He mumbled, sounding annoyed at another one of your attempts to escape him. The two of you had been exploring a new part of the sewers for hours now, clothes almost entirely dry after your little… swim earlier. Your throat still ached, but the pain from talking had significantly diminished. Every now and then, Leon would stop walking, turn you towards him, and gently run his hand over your bruising, as if he’d suddenly remember what happened to you and wanted to make it go away. Each time, you let him, reassuring him that he saved you, that you were okay. You wondered if somehow, his cognitive function was improving on its own. He understood you more, was moving faster, making more decisions without you.

“Oh come on, don’t be upset, it’s just a second,” you murmured, wriggling your hand out of his clutch. You didn’t miss the small whine that left his lips at the loss of contact. You playfully rolled your eyes to yourself as you made your way over to the wall. Such a whiny baby, you thought.

Once you were close enough, your eyes scanned over the faded words, squinting as you tried to make out some of the ineligible letters. Doing your best to focus, you unintentionally ignored Leon as he dragged himself over to you, hands finding purchase on your arm, grip tight. You gasped. “Leon! This is- this is good news! It’s hard to make out but- but look!” You squealed, face turning to look up at him as you pointed at the wall. A huge smile was painted on your face, excitement getting the best of you as you felt hope flood over you for the first time in what felt like forever. You forgot what it felt like.

Leon faced the wall and stared. He tilted his head. You winced as the realization hit you. He couldn’t quite read anymore- something you hoped he’d recover as his cognitive function improved. “Oops! Sorry- forgot,” you awkwardly chucked, your hand raising to rub the back of your neck, pink dusting your cheeks. He turned his head back to face you. “Someone wrote directions on how to get to a door down here! Doesn’t say to what, but it’s better than wandering down here until we-we…” you quickly cut yourself off, a sudden wave of sadness washing over you. You stared up at Leon, taking him in, his eyes, his face. Leon that had stuck by your side and protected you.

Sympathy engulfed you, tearing at your heart, and clawing its way up your throat. You swallowed the lump that formed, blinking back the tears as you fought to maintain your composure. “Until uh-.. until I die,” you quietly finished, eyes looking anywhere but his.

You knew it, of course you knew it. But Leon had always just felt so… human to you, that sometimes the fact that he was technically dead never really occurred to you. The thought of him, your little rookie officer, a baby basically, so full of life just- just dying. You squeezed your eyes, tears threatening to fall, as you faced away from him.

You didn’t know if Leon remembered his death, if he was even aware that he was dead, but the thought of him dying alone, calling out for help, fighting for his life- you shook your head, refusing to think anymore about it. You were about to start sobbing, and you didn’t want Leon to see that. You could tell he already felt so guilty and apologetic about what had happened to you earlier, you couldn’t imagine the level of clingy he’d get if he saw you break down out of nowhere. You pressed the heels of your palms to your eyes, ignoring Leon’s noises of confusion. You didn’t trust your voice.

Another grumble, soft and curious, as you felt a shaky hand rest on your shoulder, trying to spin you back around to face him. You lightly shrugged your shoulder shoving him off. “Not- not yet-” you barely broke out, voice choppy and strained. You could almost hear him think, hear him try to figure out what was happening, and while it hurt you to brush him off, you needed a minute to gather yourself.

The tightness in your chest slowly began to fade as you concentrated on your breathing, inhaling deeply, exhaling slowly. You dropped your hands, sniffling as you cleared your throat. With one last breath, you pivoted to face Leon, heart dropping when you saw him several feet away, head down. He looked so fragile, standing alone as he stared at his water covered feet.

“Leon, I’m sorry baby, I just,” you swallowed, tone shakier than intended, “needed a minute,” you sighed, quickly closing the gap between you two. He let out a low guttural rumble. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. Sometimes you knew exactly what he was trying to say, other times you had no idea- just a general gist of what he might be feeling. When you were unsure, you’d resort to comforting him in any way you could, whispering words of endearment in hopes his usual mood would return.

You reached out to loosely hold both of his hands. A pang hit your heart as he made no inclination to move or squeeze your hands back. He just let them hang limp in your grasp. “Leon? Come on, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” You begged, speech edged with desperation and concern. You absolutely hated seeing him like this. It felt like there was a physical knot in your stomach.

A silent cry left his lips as he opened his mouth. He brought his hands up to his face, fingers pressing into the skin below his own eyes. Confusion filled you, trying to make sense of his actions with a slight shake of your head. “I don’t- don’t..” you trailed off, head angled, thoughts dropping when he cautiously moved his fingers to now lightly tap the skin below your eyes. Oh. Eyebrows rising in shock, jaw dropping, it suddenly clicked.

Crying. He was mimicking you, because he knew you were crying- at least about to- and… was he upset because he couldn’t figure out why? There had been no zombies for some time, he was protecting you, keeping you close, so why would you be crying? Did you brush him off because you were angry at him for not being there sooner to help you earlier? He was confused.

A shocked gasp escaped your lips at the idea. “Fuck, Leon, no no no baby- I’m so sorry,” you quickly raised your hand, placing it on the back of his head as you brought him in for a hug, face tucked into your neck- or more so limply resting there. He was tall enough that he had to cower down to properly fit in your arms, but he didn’t seem to mind. His arms laid limp by your torso, not bothering to place them around you. You huffed at his stubbornness, not even paying attention to your fingers that thoughtlessly started to play with his hair.

“Are you.. are you mad at me?” You wondered, feeling heat creep up your neck to your cheeks. Maybe you guessed wrong. You felt slightly embarrassed at his refusal to hug you and for a moment, envied Leon’s lack of perception for certain emotions. If he wanted to hug you, he’d hug you, if he wanted to touch you, he’d latch on to your hands or arms or shoulders. But something as simple as him not fully hugging you made you want to shy away.

He murmured, and you relaxed, exhaling in relief as you felt his arms lift to tighten around you, squeezing you harder than expected. Air left your lungs at the pressure, hand leaving his hair and tapping his shoulder. “Yep- that’s.. that’s go..od- Leon-” you stuttered.

He released, pulling away to stare at you, fingers going up to your neck. You breathed. “It’s still there, buddy.” He grunted. Your hands wrapped around his wrists pulling them away. “It’s okay, Leon. Now let’s go find that door.” You spoke, walking in, what was hopefully, the right direction. Leon mumbled, speeding up to catch up to you to lace his hand through yours.

“Ah fuck- I’m out,” you panicked, hearing the empty clicks as you kept pulling the trigger, praying there was one more bullet in the magazine. Leon had done his best to shield you away, stubbornly keeping you glued to his back, but once a hoard of zombies showed up, there was only so much he could do. He mauled and tore at as many as he could, as quickly as he could, giving you the ability to preserve as much limited ammo as possible. You had to get really fucking good at headshots, really quick.

There were a few more that trudged your way. “Okay, okay I got this,” you hyped yourself up, shaking out your arms as you prepared to dodge their attacks. You hoped you had a good kick. Leon was about fifteen feet behind you, preoccupied with a handful of zombies himself. Narrowing your eyes, you slightly bounced on your feet, hopping around as if you were some boxer getting ready to beat someone up in the ring. “Yeah, fuck with me-” you went to threaten, right before Leon, faster than you had ever seen him move before, launched himself at two of them, jaw wide open to rip at their necks. One hand constricted one of their throats, pinning it down to wait out its turn, while he tore open the throat of the other. He quickly switched.

The third one barely made any distance towards you by the time Leon finished his work, diverting his full attention to the last one. When he got like this, you couldn’t help but notice the murderous look that formed in his eyes, a complete 180 of how he looked at you. You also couldn’t help but notice how flustered you got, butterflies forming in your stomach as you watched him do everything he could to protect you. Was he being unnecessarily brutal? Probably. But you couldn’t deny how it felt to see him want to tear at anything that threatened you. No one had ever really protected you before, always doing it yourself.

“I think it’s dead,” You lightly chucked, finally snapping out of your trance. This had to be fucked up on so many levels. Sure, he was- extremely good looking- butttt he was also technically a zombie. But clearly he had feelings? And thoughts? He made noises too so you guessed he had to probably be breathing right? You wondered if his heart was beating. Would he still be a zombie then? Does that mean he came back to life-?

Your spiral of thoughts was interrupted by a muffled noise, Leon now right in front of you, gaze fixed on you. You blushed again, quickly shaking off the feeling- you had to focus. You didn’t pay him much mind as you smiled up at him, quickly resuming your trek. “C-come on! Think the door is close!” You chirped, bolting past his side. You could’ve sworn you saw him furrow his eyebrows.

You gasped as your eyes landed on it. A door at the end of the sewer tunnel. A massive smile grew on your lips, excitement coursing through your veins. “Leon!! We found it!!” You cheered, spinning back on your feet to run towards him. Before you could process what you were doing, you jumped in his arms, latching your arms around his neck, burying your face into it as you squealed. He let out a small grunt, stumbling backwards at the unexpected gesture, but brought his muscly arms up to embrace you, hands crawling under your shirt to feel the warmth of your back. He loved feeling your body heat.

The two of you stayed like that for a minute, smile still painted on your face as your feet dangled in the air, inches off the ground. Your arms were still tightly clutching onto him, as were his. With a happy sigh, you let go standing on your own two feet. You weren’t embarrassed, just so happy to have finally found something. Maybe you imagined it, but it looked like Leon was blushing.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” you cursed as you tried the knob. The door was locked. You brought a palm up to smack yourself in the forehead. “Leon, it’s-” he threw himself against the door, jamming his shoulder into it as it opened with a loud thud. He stumbled inside. “Not…locked,” you finished eyes wide in amazement. He surprised you more and more everyday.

You stepped in, beyond relieved to not be standing in water anymore. You scanned the room, praying for not only another way to go, but possibly any food. God you were starving and it had been at least 24 hours since you ate anything. There were lockers, a handful of computers, and another door.

You threw open every single locker door while Leon stood and gazed at you. “Yes!” You gasped when you found a granola bar in what you guessed was a workers bag. Wolfing almost all of it down, you offered some to Leon, who took one sniff at it and visibly cringed away. You laughed, jokingly rolling your eyes. “Oh my bad, Mr. Brains eater,” you teased.

Just for a bit it felt like time was frozen. You blushed realizing just how close the two of you were, stepping back against the lockers to create a little distance. Your heart was pounding. Leon took a step closer. His eyes were locked onto yours, unwavering. Gulping, you whispered. “Hi.”

He leant down and internally you freaked out. Was he about to kiss you?? Not that you didn’t want him to, but you really did not want to feel as if you were taking advantage of him, not when he couldn’t say what he wanted. What if you were misinterpreting everything and he viewed you as nothing? You went to speak, but your voice died down as he rested his forehead against yours, noses almost touching, your heart melting in the process. While he might have not been able to speak his emotions, he clearly could physically convey them, even if it was just partially. How was he so attentive and focused on you, when he wasn’t even fully cognizant? Once again, you felt that fluttery tingly feeling return to your stomach.

He muttered something you couldn’t quite understand, but it was clear that he was trying to say something. “Say- say that again?” You lightly pushed. He took a moment, then grumbled out a word, broken up, choppy and anything but clear, but unmistakably a word. Unmistakably your name.

Jaw dropping, your heart skipped a beat. You felt like you couldn’t breathe. There was no way he just said your name. Or well tried to, intended to. He didn’t react, just scanned your features while you stood there, gaping at him like a fish out of water. “You just- Leon, you just..” you couldn’t even finish. He had never said a word, and now here he was, trying to utter your name. He had learned your name. God you wanted to cry.

“Leon..” you started, hands lifting to cup his cheeks. “You just said my name, buddy,” you grinned, sniffling as your eyes prickled with tears of happiness, a nice change for once. It had been days since the outbreak started, since the world changed for the worse. Emotions were running high, and you craved an inkling of normalcy. Despite being anything but, Leon gave that to you. You would’ve gone insane by now if you had to do this all alone. No- scratch that, you would’ve been dead by now, if it weren’t for him.

Would it be fucked up if you were starting to fall in love with him? Because if so, you were so fucked up.

[polarspaz]

Everyone keeps drawing the infected Leon's together, SO I MUST JOIN THE BANDWAGON!

So here's a silly doodle of Zombie Leon introducing Devil Leon to the Bug Leons. SO MANY LEONS.

[missus-seals]

a zombie!

Zombie Leon inspired by the amazing arts of @quackysprouts !! Ouwww poor leon… whumping him is too tempting 😋

[gojos0los]

zombie leon is for real gnawing at my brain rn, the urge to write about him is driving me insane, I love himfldmdkdl💔💔

art creds : quackysprouts and gutturalprayer on twt

[ryo-creampuff]

based off of @quackysprouts zombie leon au on twt 🧟‍♂️

[otaku-dragon-lover]

A collection of diseases (or into the Infected!Leon-verse)

Oh boy here we go again.

Au breakdown:

Rookiebug!Leon: both my version and @polarspaz 's

Infectionre au: Polarspaz, okamishimada18

Zombie!Leon: Polarspaz

Verdugo!Leon: Polarspaz

Color code so we don't get confused:

Leon - my RookieBug

Leon - Polarspaz's RookieBug

Leon - Polarspaz's Infectionre!Leon

Leon - Zombie!Leon

Leon - Verdugo!Leon

Leon - Okami's Infectionre!Leon

Pings: @quasar-crew @laf-e-taffy @okamishimada18

------------------------

Leon yelped as his feet slid out from under him, talons slipping on the dew-covered grass. Now, normally this wouldn't be unusual - maybe a bit embarrassing but nothing more.

Except he hadn't been on any grass, and even if he had, it was the middle of the day! There shouldn't have been any dew to begin with!

He ended up sliding down a pretty steep hill, crashing into something huge at the bottom. He wheezed as the breath got knocked out of him, claws scraping against the thing for purchase. He stopped shortly after though, because that didn't feel like a rock or a tree, it felt like carapace.

He scrambled off of the thing, nearly tripping over his damn feet. His hand instinctively went to his waist, closing around his gun as he got his bearings.

The thing looked like a giant lump of dark carapace, red leathery skin peaking out between the plates. A long tail that looked like it belonged to a fucking Xenomorph was splayed out behind it, with a wickedly dangerous-looking stinger at the end. Its arms were covered in dark chitin, ending in three long and spindly-looking claws. Not fingers, claws. Its legs were skinny, spikes adorning their backs and ending with two thin claws.

Slowly, Leon crept around the thing, tail arching slightly just in case. He blinked as he spotted clothes (which were absolutely shredded, by the way) on it. Was this… a BOW?

Probably recently mutated, if it's still got clothes on. He noted, trying to keep his steps quiet.

He stopped in his tracks as his gaze landed on the thing's head, brain short-circuiting as he stared at its - his - face.

Unlike the rest of his body, the BOW's face was actually skin-colored. Well… the top half of it was, anyway. The bottom half was completely dedicated to ten - yes, ten - insectoid mouthparts, small black fangs tipping a couple of them.

Talk about a face only a mother could love. He distantly quipped, more focused on one detail in particular.

The BOW had hair, sandy blond and stopping just before the mandibles. That in-of itself was unusual; BOWs didn't normally have hair, or at least the T-Virus ones didn't. But what was really fucking with him was something that was impossible: that was his hair. The exact same shade, a little bit longer, and a little bit messier, but still.

Shit, had someone fucking cloned him? Was that even possible?

"What the fuck-?" He whispered in disbelief, slapping a hand over his mouth when he realized talking might not be a good idea.

Because his luck was absolute shit, the BOW's eyes snapped open (solid blue, no pupils that he could see). They looked around slightly before zeroing in on him, widening before the BOW leapt up.

Both Leon and the unknown bioweapon bolted away from each other, the ex-cop yanking his gun out and training it on the creature.

"Fuck wait wait wait DON'T SHOOT-!" The BOW screeched with his hands raised, insect-like noises spilling forth from his mouthparts (Leon shuddered as he spotted the needle-like teeth in the other's mouth, fuck that looked creepy).

He briefly sent a mental thank you to Foxtrot for translating all of that, his tagalong chittering happily.

"I won't shoot if you don't attack." He replied, watching as the BOW's face twisted in shock, "Who are you, and where am I?"

"What the hell-? How can you-? How are you even-?" The possible-clone chittered and growled, shaking his head before finally replying, "I don't know where we are. As for who I am… you wouldn't believe me."

Leon's eyes narrowed, pupils thinning as he grew irritated, "Try me."

The BOW hesitated for a moment, mandibles twitching and stinger tapping against the ground, before sighing heavily, "Fine. My name's Leon Kennedy."

What?

"Excuse me what?!" He exclaimed, bottom jaw flaring out on reflex. He didn't want to believe the guy but, fuck how else could he explain the similarities?

The other (and way taller holy shit) stared at him openly, which… buddy you sure as hell don't have any room to judge appearances.

Feeling petty (and wanting to confirm the guy was telling the truth), Leon flicked his tongue out, catching the guy's scent, and watching as the guy got more weirded out. Foxtrot's own senses gave him a good idea of what his natural scent was, so all he had to do was compare the two and-

They matched. They fucking matched.

Now, don't get him wrong, it wasn't a direct one-to-one. The stranger smelled… older, and there was this weird scent underneath it that Leon couldn't pin down. It smelled almost like… chemicals?

"What the hell." He sighed after several seconds, holstering his gun as he relaxed, "As if my life can't get more fucking weird!"

The other Leon gave him a sympathetic look (he had no clue how the guy made that work, given how fucked up his face was), before responding bitterly with, "Hey, at least you can talk."

Leon winced at that; yeah he'd be pretty miffed if he couldn't speak either, "Sorry. It's just- fucked up y'know?"

The bug-man waved him off, growing curious as he asked, "How can you understand me anyway?"

"Because of this guy," He tapped his chest with a claw, tail flicking casually, "Foxtrot's translating those noises you're making. 'S really handy with badly mutated victims."

"Foxtrot…?" Leon tilted his head before suddenly blinking, "Hold on, you mean the fucking Plaga?!"

"Yup." He replied casually, popping the "p", "Why?"

"The hell kind of Plaga do you have?!" He asked incredulously, eyebrows raised, "I thought they turned people into fucked-up bugs! And why did you name the damn thing?!"

"What do you mean "why did I name it"?! Why wouldn't I? Fox is stuck with me as much as I'm stuck with them! Neither of us exactly chose this y'know!" Leon snapped in reply, the plates on his back raising up a bit in anger.

"It's a parasite," His monstrous double hissed, tail lashing behind him as he balled his fists, "one that turns you into its fucking meat puppet and mutates you."

Foxtrot's righteous indignation nearly bowled him over, his passenger screeching in fury, hive guardian danger danger danger howdareyou?!

He let out a long-suffering sigh, trying to calm the Plaga down. Foxtrot was so angry that he didn't even bother asking what they meant; the last thing he needed was an angry bug who could influence his own emotions.

"Look," He ground out, breath hissing past his teeth, "whatever kind of Plaga you've dealt with, mine isn't that. From what Dr. Serra's notes said, this," He jabbed his chest with his thumb, "isn't a parasite, not anymore. Umbrella fucked with any member of their species they could find; they wanted a weapon, something they could package and sell or use against their enemies. You do not want to know what was in that fucking lab, it made William's mutations look like child's play!"

That seemed to catch his attention, his more bug-like counterpart's eyes widening. Leon was both relieved he understood, and disturbed that William's bad decisions were apparently multiversal.

…Points for consistency at least?

Sherry and Annette would kill me if they heard that. He thought with a shudder.

"…Hang on, you said Dr. Serra? As in Luis Serra?"

Leon snapped out of his thoughts at that question, looking at his counterpart curiously, "Uh… yeah? I think that was his name, why?"

"Probably because he knows me - or well, a version of me, Mini-Sancho."

He nearly leapt out of his scales at the unknown voice, whipping around with a surprised hiss. His eyes landed on a dark-haired man smirking at him, and a blond girl (who looked about Claire's age, if he had to guess) standing next to him was staring at him openly.

"Who're-?"

"Oh for the love of-! Luis, Ashley what did I tell you?!"

"To be fair… they don't look hostile?"

Leon watched in utter shock as more versions of himself walked towards them, brain short-circuiting from the absurdity of the situation.

-----------------------

Ashley couldn't help giggling as Viper (the Leon with scales) collapsed on the brake room couch, groaning like a man done with everything.

Z (the undead Leon) tilted his head at the technically-younger (even if he looked the same age) man, tapping his shoulder before signing, "You okay?"

Thankfully he knew sign language, replying with a sigh, "Yeah, I'm fine… maybe."

Leon (the amnesiac kidnapped bioweapon; everyone agreed that he got to keep his name ((and oh boy was Ashley fighting the urge to just… keep him here. The poor guy deserved so much better))) chirped curiously, the antennas on his head twitching like a pair of ears.

Viper sputtered, raising up to stare at Leon as Z watched in confusion, "I'm not sick! Fuck I don't think I even can get sick anymore!"

"Um," Scott (the more bug-looking of the younger Leons) spoke up hesitantly as he entered, Ashley wincing as she looked at his ill-fitting clothes, "according to Kennedy, he definitely caught the flu after mutating."

The bug-like cop paused, glancing around awkwardly for somewhere to sit. Ashley took pity on him, scooting over and patting the now-empty space. Scott blinked before smiling at her, sitting down carefully.

From his spot next to the couch (on the floor, which broke her heart a little), Ver let out a chittering laugh (or at least she thought it was a laugh).

"Oh, like you're safe." Viper snipped playfully, tail jabbing in the older man's direction.

Z looked her dead in the eyes before signing, "This is a fucking mess."

Ashley laughed but couldn't disagree, nodding along.

"I don't know what you mean," Luis replied, earning several raised eyebrows, "I think this is amazing."

Oh, of course he'd be enjoying this.

"Luis for god's sake," Kennedy (their Leon, her best friend) huffed, ruffling the Spaniard's hair as he passed, "would it kill you to behave?"

The scientist squawked and batted Kennedy's hand away, earning a few snickers from the others (herself included).

"So this just… happened to everyone? Randomly?" Scott questioned once they'd settled down, tail awkwardly piled near his feet.

Everyone (minus herself, Luis, and Kennedy) nodded, Z furrowing his brows in thought. The gut hadn't taken off the honest-to-god muzzle on his face, the chunk of metal covering his mouth and nose. Ashley felt sick at the thought of someone muzzling him - or any Leon for that matter, the idea made her angry.

Eventually, the literal dead man walking's hands moved, "I was at the lab… Rebecca wanted to take some blood samples. Next thing I knew, I was in a forest."

"In fucking Alaska of all places!" Viper chimed in incredulously, "Seriously, do those assholes want you to freeze to death?!"

He swiftly pointed at Ver, his voice leaving no room for arguing, "When you go back to them - because I know you will - your Luis had better make sure they don't put you close to the cold! If it's even half as bad as what I go through, I'll tear them a new one myself!"

Leon snickered as Ver wilted, earning himself a hiss (which was countered by a screeching howl).

It was so… weird hearing about how different they all were; most of the changes started in Raccoon City, but they varied and deviated so much that it was head spinning.

Viper wasn't a government agent; he helped found an anti-bioterrorism group - their world's BSAA.

He also got Texas to say "fuck you" to the government?? He didn't clarify on that one, but god did she wanna know the story.

[somehowcreativename2]

I got really inspired by @polarspaz ‘s zombie Leon au. So here’s a kinda fic about the lead up to requiem. I really like the idea that zombie Leon can’t talk and no matter how much he works on ASL there’s just some people who he has to struggle with like when he did in Raccoon City. I have a post requiem in mind. Mainly because I want to write zombie Leon being understood by Sherry/the others through mostly body language cues and the little noises he makes when he’s not using ASL in front of Grace. Maybe they don’t cure him until he’s in a sterile environment because he probably needs a skin graft or something.

———

Leon could only cry in pain when the bullet pierced his right arm, luckily only skimming it. Maybe? He didn’t really have the brainpower to figure out if he could heal long term. All he knew is that it hurt.

“Claire no!” Sherry cried tugging at Claire’s arms which prevented her firing again. “He’s friendly.”

Once Claire had lowered her weapon Sherry ran in between the two adults. Leon tilted his head. How could he show he wasn’t a threat. He’d just saved the pair of them from Birkin.

“Sherry sweetie. Whoever was there before isn’t anymore.” Claire looked directly into Leon’s eyes as she said it.

Leon started to dig through his pockets. Come on a pen and paper. Anything.

His reporters notebook! That would do. “Stop!” He wrote in big letters. “Not hurty! Help me!”

Claire lowered her gun. The zombie wrote. He heard about them talking. Like death echoes. But writing. That was unusual.

“When did you get bitten?” Claire spoke dragging Sherry behind her.

Leon pulled a page out his notebook. ‘Yesterday!!!’ He wrote massive across the page. ‘I met Sherry today.’

Claire looked between the zombie and Sherry who was trying to push past her. He seemed cognitive enough. He knew he couldn’t talk.

“You did save us. Fine. But one wrong move and I shoot.”

Leon nodded.

The walk out of Raccoon City started with Leon walking a few paces ahead of the two girls. Sometimes the zombie would stumble over his feet and Claire reached for her gun. But when a passing truck came Leon reached for his gun. Almost as if the creature was trying to protect them. A few hours in Claire noticed Leon wincing at his arm. Guilt pierced her heart when they had stopped for a break. It needed bandaging.

“Here.” She walked over to the zombie with a bandage but Leon growled at her. “LEON.”

Fuck. He grabbed his notebook, the pages thinning out. “I bandage?” He tilted his head. “Blood might be a biohazard.”

Oh. Claire thought to herself. Leon looked like he surprised himself by growling.

The walk back to civilisation took them days. Raccoon city was so isolated that it was almost lucky for the world that the outbreak happened there. Unfortunately, it did mean that the group had to camp out. The first night, Sherry had fallen asleep in Leon’s arms. Claire had stared at the pair for hours before she couldn’t resist sleeping any longer. Leon was a lot noisier in his sleep than he was awake, growling, and grunting. It didn’t help that he’d gone notebook quiet too, being low on pages.

Claire did the talking when they reached a hotel. She needed to find Chris but couldn’t leave Leon or Sherry. When they got into the hotel room, 2 single beds and a sofa bed that Leon had insisted that he took. Claire threw a new notebook, and some decent shampoo onto Leon’s bed.

“Go shower. Please. You’ve got pretty hair don’t ruin it.”

Leon made a noise that sounded like a laugh.

——

Those 28 years felt like an eternity. Sherry thought to herself as she looked at the photos on her desk of her, Leon and Jake. Since Hunnigans’ retirement Sherry was in charge of Leon dispatch (plus she could kind of make sense of the zombie’s grunts and growls). Leon would be coming in soon, there were some interesting new developments in the Midwest.

As if on cue, Leon walked through the door to Sherry’s office. His translator following a few steps behind. They were all so scared of him. Nobody would dare touch him. Or smile at him. Or make eye contact. When Sherry had the chance she (like many of Leon’s friends) would give the 50 year old the attention nobody else would dare to go near him with.

“We won’t need translation.” Sherry spoke to the staff member.

“But I’ve been asked to provide it everywhere.”

“This is a classified conversation. Please give us time.”

The translator stepped out. And Leon made a grunting noise as he pulled up a chair.

“I can’t tell if that’s an old guy grunt or a zombie grunt.”

Leon let out a louder sigh then signed ‘can it be a hello?’

“It was an old guy grunt.” Sherry noticed Leon was struggling a little to pull up the chair properly. His face wincing behind his mask. “Are you okay. Your arm giving you trouble.”

‘Don’t feel bad about it, don’t tell Claire.’

Sherry stood to give Leon a hug. Same thing she did when she saw Leon for the first time in years and found out he was missing half of his mouth. Leon had decided instead to sit in his chair. Straight to business. He always was when it came to a cure for Sherry’s predicament.

“I need you to go to a hotel in the Midwest. There’s been an interesting predicament.”

Leon cocked his head.

“Bruises like you know what. On corpses Leon.”

Leon’s eyes narrowed.

“I need you to get there urgently, I don’t know how much time I have left.”

A zombie in a Porsche was a funny sight. But Leon was paid too much and he didn’t really have to pay to live at a DSO base. So an expensive car it was. Plus it was armoured. He pulled up his car outside the hotel.

———

Meeting new people was always difficult for the older zombie. Must’ve been something about his face. As he shot at the tall zombie, all he had was to hope and pray that the girl understood ASL. And could look at him long enough to listen. At least she had the sense to run back into the light. Leon pulled out his badge. He signed that he couldn’t speak.

Throughout panicked panting the girl introduced herself. “Grace Ashcroft, FBI.”

Leon signed. ‘Why are you here.’

“I was kidnapped. I think that’s what you’re saying.”

Leon stepped a bit further towards Grace. His dead eyes illuminated by the care centre lights.

“No.” Grace stumbled back. “Please don’t hurt me.”

Old fashioned way Leon mumbled to his self in his mind. It probably just came out as a low nonsensical mumble. He pulled out his notebook and slid a piece of paper to Grace.

“You’ve been like this nearly 30 years.”

Leon nodded.

He was about to walk towards the girl when the gate slammed shut. Shit. He pulled on the metal and motioned. Passing Grace his requiem pistol.