Legal Disclaimer: I don't any of the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show, Dark Angel, which are owned by James Cameron. I do, however, own the original characters featured in this story. If you wish to use them, please ask me.

Storyline Summary: I created two characters, Eddie and Pick, on my other DA story, The Siege, and I like them so much that I've decided to fill in the gaps about who they are, along with several other DA characters—Gem, Dalton, Dix, Mole, and CeCe, from the moment of the escape 'til chaos erupts in "Freak Nation."

Tag Line: Who said the transgenics in Seattle were the only ones with interesting lives?

A/N: This is a bit different from the things I've written so far. It's a little more intense, but not as dark. It's rated R, but if I find it within myself to do so (lol), I will revise the questionable sections and make it PG-13 for moral reasons.

Chapter Summary: Takes places immediately after Designate This.

Binge

By

Brin

"We got a new mission. It's called getting a life." –Max

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binge n.

1. A drunken spree or revel.

2.

a. A period of unrestrained, immoderate self-indulgence.

b. A period of excessive or uncontrolled indulgence in food or drink: an eating binge.

intr.v. binged, bing·ing, or binge·ing bing·es

1. To be immoderately self-indulgent and unrestrained

2. To engage in excessive or uncontrolled indulgence in food or drink.

Chapter 1: Meet You There

Everything was burning, from the barracks to the medical wing. The explosion set off unbearably hot flames that spread a little too quickly for comfort. People were running and screaming, trying to figure out what was going on. Amidst the chaos, the few that did have their minds intact ran around trying to calm everyone down and get the youngest out before they burned alive.

X6-901, eldest X6 and CO of the entire X6 batch, made sure that all the young X8s were safely out of their barracks and over the perimeter fence. He had to make several trips, though, and by the time he had gotten the last of them out of the building it was pouring down icy cold rain. As they climbed over the fence, he glanced back at his home, burning to the ground. The barracks had collapsed and the training halls were obliterated. Everyone had scattered.

He turned and helped one of the youngest X8s climb up the fence. Looking back at Manticore one more time, he was about to jump the fence himself when he saw something moving in the grass. He ran over, thinking it was an X, only to find a cat-faced anomaly crouched low in the tall grass, attempting to walk. His first instinct caused him to cower back from the creature, then she looked up at him with almond-shaped doe eyes.

"Help me! My leg's broken!" she cried desperately, her fangs gleaming in the moonlight as she spoke.

901 took a few steps backwards, then shook the fear from his head and grabbed her extended hand, pulling her to her feet. He tossed her over his shoulder and climbed the perimeter fence, dropping her on the ground as he reached the other side. "You take it from here," he said before running off into the darkness.

"Wait!" called the anomaly, crawling after him, but he was gone. "Well that's just wonderful." She pulled herself over to a tree and yanked herself up into a standing position. "Bastard X series. I oughtta scratch his eyeballs out."

After a few minutes of standing there, contemplating what to do, she heard distinct growling from above her. The anomaly looked up to see a dog anomaly staring down at her from the tree. She yelped in surprise and instinctively took a step back, slipping on a tree root and topping onto the ground.

The dog anomaly jumped from the tree, his feral eyes pinned to her. He had long, scraggily hair down past his shoulders. His eyes, just a little too close together, were the color of the German shepherds' used by the guards.

She started in surprise as he barked at her a few times, baring fangs. In reply, she pushed herself against the tree and hissed at him.

"You!" he said, his voice a deep baritone. "Come with me!"

She just continued to hiss at him, her pointed years flattening against her head.

The dog anomaly took a step forward, then another anomaly materialized from the dark trees behind him. She was very obviously a bit too much simian, with tiny years and an irregularly-shaped head. Her fingers were a bit longer than the norm and her feet were huge.

"Stop it!" she said, swatting the doggish young man on the head. He abruptly sat down, but continued shooting glares in the cat anomaly's direction. The monkey anomaly then turned to the scared young girl and held her hand out. "We've found a safe area not too far from here. I'm 654, and this is 890. He's a bit excited. Who are you?"

"301," replied the cattish girl.

654 nodded and helped 301 to her feet. 890 remained where he was, staring at them indignantly.

"There's a manhole to a large sewer system near here. We've taken shelter there for tonight. You can come with us or stay out here," explained 654.

301 looked at her suspiciously, then shrugged. "Okay."

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901 sent the X8s with a few older X5s and set off in search of the other X6s, whom he had lost in the chaos. He didn't know why he was searching for them; in all the away missions he had been on, the world had been so big he didn't know how anyone found anybody. He did, however, know that his comrades would be smart enough to hide out in the woods until new orders came.

New orders.

He laughed, the sound hollow and nothing more than a puff of air. He knew Manticore was gone, and with it everything they had ever known. It was silly to think command would contact them again. The anomalies would most likely get killed off and the Xs would live the rest of their lives with a secret that would have to be zealously protected… He sighed, shaking his head, knowing it would've been better if Manticore hadn't burned down. For the most part, he didn't like being away from Manticore. He was a loyal soldier and had pledged his allegiance to his superiors. It was wrong to just… leave. Wasn't it? Well, it couldn't be a good thing. He was sure of that.

"901! Sir!"

901 whirled around and peered into the darkness, where seven figures were standing. "Ssh!" he said, narrowing his eyes at them.

The X6 who had called out winced and covered her mouth.

"787, come here!"

787, who also an X6 and CO of a small unit, jogged over and saluted. "Sir!"

"We've got a situation. I want you to take 809, 320, 756, and—" He glanced over at a particularly short soldier and shook his head. "Is that an X8?"

"Sir, yes, Sir!"

"You should've sent him with the X5s. They're trained to handle children." 901 ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Alright, take X8-621 with you. You are to head north and look for shelter. If my instructors were correct you should hit Seattle a few miles up. If you see a signal, respond immediately. You're in charge of them, 787."

787 nodded. "Sir, yes, Sir!"

"Alright. I'll take 449 and 583. We'll take another route to Seattle. I hear there are a few rogue X5s there so I guess it's a good place to hide. And whatever you do, don't flaunt your barcode? Got it?"

"Sir, yes, Sir," they said, keeping their voices down.

"Dismissed," 901 said, watching them as they walked away. "449, 583, what are your mission aliases?"

"Hank, sir," said 583, saluting.

"I don't have one, sir," stated 449.

"Your name is Junky," declared 901 sternly. "Because that's what the Director always said of your training exercises."

449 cringed, but said nothing.

"And I'm Pick. I'm Pick because I am the first born. I am the one picked to be your CO. I have picked your names and I am always picked first. Do you understand?" 901 barked, narrowing his eyes at them.

"Yes, Sir," they said, saluting again.

"Alright, if we can get to Seattle, we can sort things out. We move quickly, we move quietly, but always keep a look-out for word from base. Got it?"

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654 led 301 to a small dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Next to the road was a large tree stump, and behind the stump was a manhole. The monkey anomaly lifted the lid and let 890 go down first, then helped 301, then jumped inside herself. They slowly crept down the ladder, and it wasn't too long until they reached the sewer systems.

301 leaned against 654 for support as she glanced around the huge tunnel. A wide river of nasty-looking green water ran down the middle, but the sidewalks on either side were rather large considering it was a sewer. There was the horrible stench of human waste and trash in the air, but it was just bearable. Anomalies sat all over the place, mostly alone, and the only thing that could be heard was the rushing water.

"Do you expect to stay here for very long?" shouted 301 over the roar of the water, covering her sensitive cat ears with her hands.

"No, this is temporary. We've got scouts looking for a less… squalid area," replied 654. "They should be back in a few minutes. In the meantime, try to get some sleep."

301 nodded and sat down against the wall, curling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on the top of her knees. 654 and 890 wandered off to chat with some of the other 'nomlies, so she decided to close her eyes for a bit. The longer she sat there, however, the harder it was for her to sleep. It was weird to be on the outside. Yesterday she was sitting on her bunk with her cell mate playing poker with a weathered set of cards Joshua had given her. And now… Manticore was gone. Totally and completely gone. Where would they go? It was possible for them to live in the sewers, but that was less appealing than Manticore's basements. And they weren't stupid; despite lack of norm contact, they knew that the norms wouldn't be too pleased to see a 'nomlie sitting on their doorstep. They way she saw it, they had two choices: one being the sewers and two being the forest. From what they had perceived, Manticore was in a rather desolate, government-owned area. It was possible to live in the forest.

"What's your name?" piped a small voice, rousing the cat 'nomlie from her thoughts.

301 looked down to see a young anomaly, only about eight years old, staring back up at her with orange eyes. He was covered from head to toe  in black-and-white-striped fur. In fact, the only thing human about him was his mouth. "What?" she asked, thrown off-guard by his appearance.

"Your name. What is it?"

"I don't have one," she replied. "Who are you?"

The young boy, who looked more like a tiger cub than anything, shrugged and said, "A special unit gone wrong. I was supposed to be a talking tiger, but I got a little too much norm." He waggled his paws at her. "Joshua named me David."

"Oh," 301 shifted away from him. "That's nice."

David scooted closer, unconsciously licking his furry jowls. "You should have a name. I gave everyone else names, but they aren't using them yet." He pointed at 654. "She's Tegan, and 890," He gestured to the dog anomaly, "is Axle."

"Where did you get these names?" asked 301, giving him a bored expression.

"Joshua would take magazines from the guards and give them to me. I found all kinds of cool names and words!" said David with a wide smile. "Your name should be Eddie, 'cause I think you look like an Eddie."

301 narrowed her eyes at him. "Ed…die?"

"Yep."

"Whatever," 301 waved her hand at him dismissively. "Have the search parties come back yet?"

"No… but there they are!" David jumped to his feet as several anomalies appeared from one of the smaller sub-tunnels. They were covered in slime, but didn't seem to take notice of it.

"We found a better place to stay, and there's a manhole right next to it," announced a transhuman, gesturing behind him. "But it takes some walking to get there."

654, or Tegan as David called her, nodded. "Alright, people. Let's get moving."

With sighs of relief and various mutters, the transgenics slowly rose to their feet.

"What's it like?" asked 890, or Axle.

The tranhuman looked at him and shrugged. "We think it was some sort of headquarters back when they were building this place. It's got steel pillars and soundproof walls; you can't hear the water in there."

"Good. I can't stand this any longer," said Tegan with a snort.

Quickly and quietly, the anomalies followed the search party. They had to crawl through three or five tiny sub tunnels. At one point the tunnel was so small they had to hold their arms above their heads and inch through it by pushing with their feet. The tunnels were pitch-black and covered in smelly slime that made them gag and caused their eyes to water. The air was noxious in some of the tunnels so they had to hold their breaths while going through. On top of that, they ran into more than one rat nest during their journey. The rats would pile into the tunnel, blocking their way, and start biting them with sharp fangs. Eventually, they had to put 301 at the front because her cat scent seemed to drive them off. It must've been a good half hour before they finally popped out of the last sub tunnel into a large one like before.

"This is it," said the transhuman, pointing towards a steel door across the sewer river.

"You mean we have to cross this?" asked another transhuman, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"It's not exactly our idea of a nice swim in the lake either, but you do what you gotta do," said the first transhuman.

David, who had been attached to 301's heel since the moment they met, leaned over and said, "That's Dix." He wagged a furry finger at the transhuman.

301, or Eddie as he had named her, nodded distractedly. "Okay… whatever you say."

"The current is pretty strong, so watch your feet. 890, hold tiger-boy," said Dix, pointing to David. "No dawdling. You get washed away and you're on your own."

So, keeping in mind the quiet room that awaited them, the anomalies slowly and carefully crossed the river. And what Dix had said was true; the water was alarmingly strong and some of the smaller anomalies had to be carried.

Eddie, not exactly fond of water, lost her footing once, but Tegan shot out an arm and grabbed her shoulder before she washed away.  The monkey anomaly then pulled Eddie close to her body, shielding her against the current while pulling her across. When they reached the other side, Eddie collapsed on the floor, coughing and sputtering.

"Are you okay?" asked Tegan, rubbing Eddie on the back.

The young anomaly was about to reply, but upon opening her mouth she began to vomit uncontrollably. Being totally submerged in sewer slime was just about the most disgusting thing any of them could think of. Eddie pulled herself to the edge of the concrete and emptied what was left in her stomach—which wasn't much. When there was nothing left in her stomach and she was reduced to gagging on stomach acid, she moved way from the edge and rested her forehead against the ground.

Sparing her sympathetic glances but not saying anything, the other anomalies checked out the quiet room.

Eddie watched them through her peripheral vision, extremely agitated at being in this position. She lay there for a few minutes, then the cat anomaly felt someone rubbing her back in gentle circles. Looking up, she saw David looking at her with a toothy grin.

"What are you doing?" she asked, not bothering to suppress the rumbling purr coming from her chest.

"This should make you feel better," replied David perkily, his paws still moving across her back in a comforting motion.

A little too perkily. Eddie covered her face with both hands to drive away the wave of nausea she felt.

"Come inside. This place smell like rat… crap," suggested the boy, using a euphuism out of pure, youthful shyness about bad words.

"Rat shit," corrected Eddie, smiling weakly.

David laughed and helped her get inside the quiet room, where they located a nice spot in the corner to settle in. The transgenics glanced around the room distractedly, not especially happy with the thought of moving from one basement to another. The walls had reinforced steel beams running through them, the floor was covered in dust and old papers, and their was a cracked window at the front of the room looking out at the sewer system.

"Ain't exactly the Ritz," said a lizard-like transgenic, looking around.

"Shut up, Mole," snapped Dix. "This is the best we can offer. Or do you want to go up and try to hitchhike a ride to the nearest city?"

Several transgenics snickered, and Mole stormed off to sulk.

"Alright, people," interrupted Tegan. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll check out what's left of Manticore."

Eddie looked at David, and David looked at Eddie. There was a mischievous glint in those orange tiger eyes. Eddie scooted away. David scooted closer. Eddie scooted a few feet away. David moved closer until he was practically sitting in her lap.

"Can I sleep next to you?"

"You don't want to. I snore," said the older anomaly with a sigh.

"I don't mind. Please?" He flashed his best doe-eyed look, poking out his bottom lip.

Eddie let out a long breath and scratched her neck. "Okay, okay." She brushed the dust from the corner and curled up there, patting the ground next to her.

David, smiling from ear to ear, moved forward and, disregarding the spot she had cleared for him, curled right up against her stomach like a kitten. "G'night," he whispered, eyes drooping.

Taken off-guard by his invasion of her space, Eddie awkwardly tried to figure out what she should do. It would be rude to push him away, but this blatant show of affection was a foreign thing to her.

Sensing her discomfort, David reached up and pulled one of her arms over his shoulders. He then craned his neck and gave her a kiss on the nose. "G'night," he repeated.

"Night," replied Eddie, managing a small grin as he turned back around.

It didn't take long for the sound of David's soft, even breathing to reach Eddie's honed cat ears. She glanced around the room at all the other transgenics and noticed another cat anomaly—this one a male—looking at her through the darkness with hungry eyes. He was obviously contemplating whether or not to approach them.

"Don't even think about it," hissed Eddie threateningly. The hair on the back of her neck rose and she flipped her tail in agitation. "I'm not on the market or in season."

The male anomaly stared at her for a long time, unblinking, before grumbling under his breath and slinking off into the darkness.

"Serves you right," mumbled Eddie as she idly stroked David's fur. She remained awake for a few more minutes, just in case, then finally put her head down and fell fast asleep.

Meanwhile, Pick, Junky, and Hank traveled a few miles north until they came to a small town. There, they found a few good doorsteps and curled up on the doormats to sleep while the freezing Washington rain dripped down on top of them. By the time all three of them were asleep, the sun was peeking over the horizon.