Chapter 2. You Lie Down With Dogs You Get Up With Fleas

A few hours later Rebecca was standing next to the bed in the small clinic, watching Billy closely. He had been coming in and out of consciousness the entire time and seemed to finally be coming around a bit. Rebecca took a step closer to the bed as her partner sat in the chair set against the wall at the foot of the bed. She gently brushed the hair back from the pale face and turned when she heard her partner's voice.

"He's been through hell huh?" Michael said, still breathing a little heavy from the effort it took to get Billy in and situated and taken care of.

"Aside from the obvious injuries, he has a black eye, and broken ribs that seem to be fairly new. He also has pneumonia and obviously has not been eating well for quite some time. Though he still has a good bit of muscle mass considering everything he seems to have gone through."

"And the track marks?" Michael asked, watching Rebecca closely.

"No drug that we know of is showing up on the bloodwork so far. And the only track marks I found are on his neck and his back."

"Which means…" Michael started.

"Which means he couldn't have done it himself" Rebecca said as her eyes widened as the form in the bed started to stir.

"Doesn't mean he wasn't letting someone else do it to him either," Michael said gently, earning a silent glare from Rebecca.

Billy groaned as he began to stir and his eyes fluttered open. Blinking hard, he stared up at the grey celling as his eyes slowly began to focus. He wasn't in the alley anymore and he felt warm for a change though his entire body ached and it hurt to breathe. Turning his head, he saw Rebecca and his eyes grew wide with disbelief.

"It can't be… Becca? I must… be dreaming again…" His voice was hoarse and weak as his breath came in shallow gasps, but his eyes were as piercing as she had remembered.

"It's me Billy" she said, taking is hand in hers gently.

"Well damn..." Billy said with a slight chuckle that turned into a ragged cough. "Never thought… I'd see you again… doll face."

Rebecca sat of the edge of the bed and shifted the pillows to help him get more up right and breathe a little easier. It was then she noticed how bad he was trembling and shaking and that he was drenched with sweat.

"Billy… what happened to you?"

"Can't… explain it all… don't have the time..." he said, closing his eyes against the pain he felt washing over him. "Did you… get my pack?"

Michael stood and picked up the tattered knapsack from the foot of the bed and handed it to Rebecca.

"There's a notebook… it has everything... you need to know…" Billy said his voice down to barely a whisper as his body trembled. "But Becca… I need you to…promise me…something."

"What… what is it?" Rebecca asked, taken aback by how serious the tone of his voice was, despite the obvious pain he was in.

"You have to restrain me."

"Wh…what? What are you talking about? Why would I need to restrain you, Billy?"

"This drug… it's bad Becca… it's really bad… and coming off it… it just as bad. I don't want to.. hurt you… So promise me…" Billy looked at her, eyes pleading as he gripped her hand.

"I promise" Rebecca whispered as she watched Billy relax, nodding as he closed his eyes.

"Did you use the drug willingly, or were you forced to?" Michael asked, still standing at the foot of the bed as he watched them.

"Yes… and no" Billy said through gritted his teeth as the pain washed over him. "The notebook will explain…" he said as his voice trailed off and unconsciousness took him once more.

….

"Forgive me, Billy" Becca whispered as she helped Michael secure the leather restraints around his wrists and ankles. With a sigh she looked at her partner who was flipping through the notebook. "What does it say, Michael?"

"It's a journal of notes and reports… going back over the last three yeas it looks like…" he said as he flipped to the first few pages of the tattered book and read one of the notes scrawled on the pages.

"It's taken me a few months but I think I finally found someone connected to Wesker's operation. I know it is crazy to be doing this, but I have to do something. I can't let Becca be the only one to stand up to Wesker and his gang. The fuzz can only do so much. I can't be seen within 100 yards of the PD so I should be a natural target for Wekser's recruitment. Hopefully this works. Supposed to meet with one of the team in two days."

"He… he chose to stay in Racoon City… for me?" Rebecca muttered in disbelief. She had always thought Billy had ran from the city the night they last saw each other. It had caught her off guard to find him still in the city…but to learn he chose to stay behind, knowing he was still a wanted man, in order to help fight Wesker, that was something she had never expected to hear.

"Looks like he managed to get in with Wesker fairly quickly. Seems he impressed them with his background and track record," Michael said as he scanned the entries and flipped through a few more pages. "Seems Wesker liked the idea of having an outlaw on the team and saw it as guaranteed loyalty since he could never go to the feds with anything without risking his own life" he said as he started reading another passage from the notebook out loud.

"I've been assigned one of the highest ranks in Wesker's inner circle. A surprising feat after only 6 months. Guess that's what happens when a military background in combat training meets the worst of the worst outlaws. Wesker has even told me a little about what all these missions and mule runs are about. Seems he's been working on manufacturing a new street drug. I've heard the name A.W. thrown around, and I am assuming that is what they are calling this new drug. Think he's kinda full of himself trying to name this thing after himself, but guess I shouldn't be too surprised, it is Albert Wesker we are talking about here."

Rebecca listened as her eyes fell on Billy as he started to stir, his body trembling again as moans and muttered words and phrases escaped his lips. She had often wondered what had happened to him after that night he saved her life. She had often wished she could see him again, talk to him again. But this was not what she had wanted, to see him in such bad shape, in pain, and not knowing what all he had been through.

"Hey, Bec" Michael said as he looked up from the chair he had been sitting in. "Looks like the A.W. drug might be what we've been running into lately. Seems Wesker and his goons started testing it about a year ago, right when we started seeing this most recent upswing in activity. They were using gang members and people they were grabbing off the street as test subjects…. Oh shit" he said as he flipped a few more pages and started reading again as Becca tended to Billy and tried to make him as comfortable as she could. "Listen to this, Bec."

"Trails have been going on for a few months. Wesker seems to be pleased with the results so far. A.W. has quite the -terrifying- range of effects. It really seems like something out of a sci-fi movie. Reactions have varied but as whole pretty much all the test subjects exhibit the same basic reaction while A.W. is in their system: enhanced strength, improved reflexes and speed, reduced pain reception, heightened aggression, and apparent enhancement of hearing and vision though that is hard to test fully at the moment. So far A.W. seems to be exactly what Wesker wanted- a way to control the city through fear and to have power over his gang members and a way to turn them into his soldiers. May the gods have mercy on us if this stuff gets out of control and ends up getting into the wrong hands. Wesker alone is terrifying enough. I die inside thinking about what could happen if he wanted to do more than control Racoon City with it."

Rebecca left the bed and walked over to her partner and looked at some of the notes Billy had written. Michael handed her to book and she continued reading, flipping through the pages. There were notes about Wesker and the gang, some of the methods they were using for transporting the drug, results of some of the tests, and personal notes Billy made about his own experiences. Becca flipped a few more pages and then stopped as her eyes caught sight of the words she had hoped she wouldn't see " today I experienced A.W. for myself."

She scanned the page for a few seconds and then began reading.

"After a year and a half with the gang it finally happened. Wesker caught me when my guard was down and today I experienced A.W. for myself. We had been watching one of the trial runs for the latest batch of A.W. he had been tinkering with. I know better than to turn my back on that man, but he caught me off guard and that was all it took. He injected me with it and made me into his latest test subject. I survived, obviously since I am writing this down now, but that drug is no joke. It is unlike anything I have ever felt before. What exactly happened is a blur, which judging by the blood that was on my hands when I cam to, might be a good thing. But I remember feeling strong, invincible… everything was clearer and brighter. I also remember the burning feeling in my chest and that adrenaline surge. I felt anxious, angry, and on edge. But that power, that power was absolutely unbelievable. I've never wanted to feel something again a strongly as I want to feel that power again now. It's kinda scary. One dose and I'm already craving another. I can only imagine what these poor souls are feeling after multiple tests."

Rebecca continued to read on, her heart sinking when she got to the page that listed out withdraw symptoms that had been documented.

"Symptoms during withdraw seem to be varied depending on the individual. But looks like it can include things like heightened aggression, anger and paranoia, violent tendencies, severe pain, hallucinations, self-harm, delirium, tremors, and desperate attempts to get more A.W. In past tests it seems those coming off the A.W. high have killed each other in an attempt to get more of the drug, killed others they believed were hiding A.W. from them, tried to claw their way through doors, attacked violently during fits of hallucinations and delirium, some begged to be killed because they were in such pain, one actually committed suicide, and some died due to the shock the drug's effect had on their bodies."

"Damn, Wesker is going to kill off his entire gang if these are the side effects that the poor bastards have to deal with each time" Michael said as he scratched the back of his head. "So, Billy here must be a tough son of a bitch if he's survived that kind of reaction and withdraw. You said the entry was a year and half after he joined Wesker's gang? That means he's been exposed to W.A. for at least a year. And who knows how many times Wesker has injected him with it during the past year!"

"So, then the question comes- what happened to Billy in the last few days?" Rebecca mused as he looked over at the man who lay groaning in pain as his body shook as he pulled against the restraints as tremors shook his body.

"He obviously fell out with Wesker somehow," Michael said glancing at the bed as the groans grew louder and Billy started crying out as he fought against the restraints. "Don't envy the poor guy if this is what he's gotta go through during this recovery. He's probably done it many times before, but if Wesker and he did have a falling out and they tried to off him for some reason, and we just happened to find him in time, this could get really bad."

Rebecca nodded as she closed the notebook and handed it to Michael with a sigh as her eyes fell to the struggling form in the bed once again.

"Oh Billy…" she whispered.