FANDOM: FAKE & Resident Evil: Zero

PAIRING: Billy Coen/Rebecca Chambers, Dee Laytner/Ryo McLane

RATING: NC-17, just to be safe

WARNINGS: Yaoi, Het, Gore, Violence, Angst

DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'em. Don't sue me, I'm not worth enough. The loveliness that is FAKE belongs to the talented Sanami Matoh. Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen are property of Capcom. No Zombies were harmed in the making of this chapter, except one...and he deserved it. >.>

Chapter 03 – Running the Green Mile

by C. Ravenlocke

When Billy and Dee returned to Ryo's room, they found the Umbrella Agent they'd left unconscious there gone. Ryo was still in his bed, blissfully unaware of the events unfolding around him. Dee kinda envied Ryo his ignorance, since he was still struggling to put all the pieces together. Things had just spun out of control too quickly. The only one who seemed to know anything was Blake, who was standing near the door, looking tense as he occasionally glanced outside, then at his phone.

Dee didn't spare Blake another thought as he checked Ryo over carefully. There didn't seem to be any new marks, and it didn't look as if anyone had tried to move him. Only when Dee was certain that Ryo was really okay did he turn toward Blake again. "So, are you ready to tell me just what the hell is going on?"

Blake turned away from the door, closing it behind him. "Could turn into kind of a long story."

"Then how about we start with the Umbrella Agents you mentioned earlier?"

Blake flinched and Dee felt his earlier suspicions returning. Obviously, those agents were something he hadn't planned on Dee knowing. Still, the detective said nothing of it, waiting for whatever explanation Blake had for him. "The two men who came in here?" Blake began, "They were agents from Umbrella."

"They said they were from the CDC," Dee replied cautiously, hoping a little give and take of information might earn him a better explanation than he'd otherwise get.

Blake snorted, his hand dropping to pat at his pocket in a gesture Dee knew all too well; Blake was obviously a smoker, and probably in need of a cigarette as much as Dee was at that moment. He was about to comment on it when Blake seemed to catch himself and let his hand drop to his side again. "I guess that's sort of a half-truth."

"What do you mean?"

"Umbrella is a big company, Detective. One of their divisions happens to specialize in bioweapons. And when you're playing with fire like that, you damn well better have firefighters on hand, if you catch my drift."

Dee nodded. "Yeah, I get you. They kept talking about taking Ryo with them."

"To put him under quarantine?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Blake shook his head. "Damn. It is a clean-up crew."

"What kind of clean-up crew?" Dee was frowning.

"The kind that comes through to make traces of their screw-ups disappear."

Dee growled, leveling a glare at Blake. "Goddamn it, Stone, quit fucking with me! Two guys just tried to run off with my partner! When I wouldn't just roll over and take it, they try to fucking attack me! And this is after they start asking me the same kind of questions you and your wife did. Not to mention that they were damned interested in you two. Now what the hell is going on!"

Blake's eyes narrowed, his hands clenching into fists as a muscle in his jaw twitched. Dee thought for certain that he was two seconds away from a punch in the mouth, but he didn't care. He wanted answers and he was damn well going to get them! He was still surprised when Blake only took a deep breath, and very slowly relaxed. "Okay, Slick, you really want to know what's going on?"

"Damn straight I do. And don't call me Slick."

Blake smirked. "You remember that 'chemical spill' that happened in Raccoon?"

At Dee's nodded affirmative, Blake went on. "It wasn't a chemical spill. You don't nuke a city that big off the face of the planet because of a chemical spill."

"If it wasn't a chemical spill, then what was it?"

"A virus. A nasty as hell little bug called the T-Virus."

"What does it do?"

"You want the scientific answer, ask Katherine."

"And if I don't?"

As Blake opened his mouth to speak, the phone at his hip beeped and Katherine's voice suddenly came through. "Billy, help me!"

Billy fumbled the phone off his belt and hit the button to send. "What's your location?"

There was no answer, and Billy's stomach knotted painfully. "Rebecca! What's your location?"

Still nothing.

Billy swore sharply, jamming the phone back on his belt and heading for the door. Dee grabbed him by the arm, and as Billy turned toward him, Dee spoke. "Your name's Billy?"

Billy sighed. "Yes, that's my real name. Look, it's a long story and we don't have a lot of time. Is there somewhere we can take your partner where people would leave him be?"

Dee blinked but nodded. "Uh, yeah...Our Commissioner is in the room two doors down. It's a dual occupancy, although he's alone in there right now."

"Perfect. Move him in there and wait for me."

"What the hell is going on!"

Billy sighed again, and shook his head, speaking very quickly. "Here's the short version. That attack may have been caused by one of Umbrella's bioweapons. We don't know who might have been infected. Umbrella doesn't know either, and they've sent in a crew to make any possible traces of the virus disappear before it gets out in the open. Rebecca and I were in Raccoon City. And we work for an organization who's trying to expose Umbrella. Now, she might be in trouble, and I've got to go find her. Move your partner and sit tight. We'll be back."

Dee nodded silently. For the first time since he'd come in contact with Blake...no, Billy...Dee had the feeling that the man was telling him the truth. "If you're not back in 30 minutes, I'm calling security to go looking for you."

"If I'm not back in 30 minutes, Slick, I'm probably dead."

"Don't call me Slick!" Dee shouted, but it was useless; Billy was gone.

Rebecca's scream echoed off the walls as she spun away from the hand that had clamped on her shoulder, bringing her gun up and firing once into the dark blindly. The shot went wide, and the groans suddenly seemed to be all around her. She yanked her phone out of the pocket of her lab coat, and put a call for help through to Billy before another clammy hand closed down on her arm. With another shriek, she pulled away from her assailant, and started stumbling backwards toward the open elevator, dropping the phone as she went.

As the doors opened completely, pale light spilled out into the black corridor, bright as a new sun to Rebecca's eyes. She threw herself into the elevator car, flattening herself against the back of the car as she punched the button to close the doors. The doors started to slide slowly closed as the first of the zombies stepped into view. The creature had once been a man, nude and as decayed as if he'd been left outside for weeks. His jaw hung open loosely, black ichor dripping from between gaps in the broken teeth. His skin bore numerous lacerations, as well as the tell-tale inverted y-shaped wound of an unfinished autopsy. As the zombie lurched forward, internal organs shifted and gaped, one or two loops of intestine falling from the opened abdominal cavity. Rebecca fought the urge to be sick. Oh god...the morgue...it got loose in the morgue...

Then there was no time to think. The zombie was too close, and others were getting closer every second. The doors simply couldn't close fast enough, and she brought her gun to bear, firing two shots. The first one went high, but the second one found its mark, causing the zombie's head to explode in a shower of brain-matter and blood. Rebecca almost sighed in relief at that, only to swear when the body fell toward her instead of away, blocking the doors.

The moans in the hallway were getting louder, the other zombies drawn by the smell of fresh blood. Rebecca braced herself and kicked hard at the body blocking the elevator doors, using the heel of her shoe to push hard at it. The first shove didn't move the corpse at all, and she repressed a shudder at the spongy feel of the flesh. A second shove actually gave her a little leeway, and as she gave a third shove, she saw the other zombies in the doorway, grasping at her, and at the body she was trying to move.

A final shove freed the zombie from the elevator car, and the other zombies turned toward it, distracted from Rebecca momentarily. Those few moments were enough to allow the elevator door to close completely. She sagged back against the back of the elevator car with a shuddering sob, her eyes closing as she felt the slight lurch that meant she was moving again.

Billy's heart thundered in his ears as he reached the stairs and took the same route down that Rebecca had just a little while before. He took the stairs two or three at a time, praying with every step that she was all right, that perhaps something had just spooked her. Her lack of reply worried him, but he reined it in. Panicking now wouldn't get him where he needed to be to help her.

He emerged into the basement level, looking around, tense as a bowstring. His gun had found its way into his hand at some point, though he didn't remember drawing it. As he crossed the room, heading toward the elevator, it suddenly chimed the arrival of a car. Billy dropped into a crouch, gun aimed unwaveringly at the doors, not wanting to be in the line of fire if the passengers happened to be unfriendly

The doors opened after a moment, and Billy was both surprised and relieved to see Rebecca stumble out. Billy flicked on the safety of his pistol, and was at her side in a moment, wrapping her up in an almost frantic embrace. As her arms wrapped him with similar ferocity, Billy noticed she was trembling. "What happened, Rebecca?" he whispered, his arms around her tightening.

"In the morgue...the virus got out in the morgue..." she whispered back. "They can't work the elevators...they can't get up here...That's why the door is padlocked...Someone...someone was trying to keep them down there..."

"Okay...it's all right, Becca...if they're down there, this'll be easier. C'mon, I promised we wouldn't be gone long. You gonna be okay?"

Rebecca nodded, pulling away from Billy with obvious reluctance. Smoothing down her lab coat, she examined herself, assessing the damage to her clothing. Surprisingly enough, there were no tears in her clothing, and the blood on her shoe where she'd kicked the zombie was hard to see unless under close inspection. Nodding to herself and slipping her gun back into its holster under her lab coat, Rebecca looked up at Billy. He smiled a bit at her, noticing that her expression had become all business again. It softened a bit as she smiled back at him. "I...uh...I lost my phone down there."

"Don't worry about it," Billy replied gently. "It's just a phone. Now c'mon. We've got one hell of a story to tell."

She sighed, shoulders sagging. "I blew our cover, didn't I?"

"Don't worry about it. The only one who heard us was the cop, and I think he might listen to us."

How do I get myself into these things? Why did I let him leave? He's not coming back... Dammit, Ryo, I wish you'd wake up. You're better at this than I am.

Dee sighed and stopped pacing long enough to look outside at the city. He wanted a cigarette, so badly it hurt. He wanted a cigarette, a stiff drink, and a little time to think and try to sort everything out. He had almost made the decision to try hanging out the window by one arm to get the smoke he so desperately craved when a voice broke into his consciousness. Broken from his troubled reverie, Dee looked over his shoulder and met the angry eyes of Diana Spacey. "Huh? What did you say?" Dee asked.

"I said, what the hell is going on, you Neanderthal!" Diana repeated, glaring daggers at the raven-haired detective. "You come barging in here with Ryo, tell me not to let anyone from the CDC in, and then you start pacing around like someone's about to bomb the damned building!"

Dee sighed, sinking heavily into the chair beside Ryo's bed. He rubbed a hand over his face and it was through force of will alone that he didn't light up right there, hospital or no. "Honestly? I don't know if I understand it yet, myself. But...something really weird is going on. It has something to do with the Umbrella Corporation."

"That big pharmaceutical company? What do they have to do with this?"

"Something about bioweapons or some shit like that." Dee shrugged. "Like I said, I don't know if I get it yet, either. But we should have answers coming pretty soon."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

It was at that point that Rebecca poked her head into the room and smiled just a little bit when she saw Dee. She stepped into the room, Billy right behind her, and Dee looked up. A part of him was relieved the two were there; they had answers he didn't, and it also meant his judgment in trusting Billy had been sound. Still, he did his best not to let any of it show on his face. His eyes shifted to Rebecca, who looked somewhat embarrassed. "I...guess you're probably looking for an explanation, right?"

"That'd be a pretty good guess," came Dee's reply, much milder than he'd originally meant it to. He just couldn't stay angry at her.

Rebecca looked at Dee, meeting his eyes evenly. "My name is Rebecca Chambers, formerly of S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, Raccoon PD. I was present for the Raccoon City Incident that involved the Spencer Mansion. I imagine you probably heard about that."

Both Dee and Diana nodded. Rebecca nodded in reply, and went on. "Billy told me that he told you about the T-Virus."

"Sorta," Dee assented. "He mentioned it, but said you'd have an explanation as to what it does."

Rebecca bit her bottom lip, frowning subtly. "Well..."

"Tell ya what, Slick," Billy said, cutting Rebecca off before she could reply "Why don't you and I take a walk?"

Dee looked absolutely perplexed. "What? Where are we going?"

"The basement."

"Why the basement?"

Billy grinned, although it was questionable how much amusement there was in the expression. "Let's just say that there are some things you just have to see."

As always, comments and critiques are appreciated!