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

Time Period: Before Cold Comfort.

Summary: Zack doesn't know what to do, but who does a CO turn to when he's lost? Why, the second in command of course.

332340090210

by

Brin

You will not know where we have struck until you have fallen. –Halo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1: Four Walls, Five Shadows

The miles seemed to melt away underneath the wheels of his motorcycle as he sped along, his gaze unwavering and focused on the road ahead. Icy cold rain pelted his helmet like ice droplets and soaked him to the bone. Twice already he had been chased by those flashing red and blue lights, but he took no heed of them and simply went faster. The farther he went, the worse the storm became, but he never slowed.

Zane was dead, and with him had gone all the comfort Zack had ever known. It was quite possible that all twelve who had escaped and himself might die the horrible, obviously painful death of his little brother. And that was just too unbearable to imagine.

In a matter of hours Zack reached his destination, San Francisco. Once in the heart of the city, he cruised through a densely populated area until he came to what was once a Holiday Inn, but was now an apartment building. He parked his bike and tied it to a light post, then casually strolled inside.

There was close to no security in the Inn. After the Pulse, nearly every major hotel chain across the nation had shut down or gone bankrupt. Where once you needed a special hotel room key to enter, now the door hung loosely off its hinges—allowing both human and animal alike inside without hindrance. Zack took full advantage of this—he didn't even touch the door as he entered, just slipped inside and ventured over to the fire escape stairwell.

From there, he went up two flights and exited into a dark, putrid hallway. The numbers on the doors had long since rotted away or fallen off on most of the doorways, but some still had their numbers hanging upside down or hanging by a thread; ready to fall off the next time the door was slammed. The carpet, once several shades of green and blue, was now a foul-looking brownish gray color. Little bits of metal and sharp, rusty nails dotted the floor, making it a perilous walk from one end of the hall to another.

Zack reached a door carelessly marked 210 in magic marker and, not bothering to knock, went inside.

As soon as he had taken a step past the door, a hand shot out of the darkness to punch him in the face. He easily caught the wrist connected to this hand and twisted it around, pulling his attacker towards him. "I told you to check before you try to knock someone's brains out," he whispered into her ear solemnly, then pushed her away from him.

"You ass!" shouted Jondy with a glare. "I told you to knock before coming into someone else's house." She shoved him into the wall and got very, very close. "Now what are you doing here?"

Something behind Zack's eyes flickered, something Jondy couldn't explain and something she had never seen before. His lips parted just a bit, then he slowly told her, "Zane's dead."

Jondy took a step back, her big blue eyes widening. "What…?"

"He just… died. I had visited him earlier, and a few hours after I left he called me saying something was wrong. I got to him in less than five minutes, but he was half-dead by the time I got there and died in about thirty seconds. His throat was swollen and he had this rash across his chest."

"But… how is that possible?"

Zack shook his head. "I don't know. He had thrown up a few times before I got there, and blood was coming from his mouth. There was a rash across his chest… I've never seen anything like it. Besides that… his barcode was gone."

"Gone?!" Jondy took another step back. "What do you mean, gone?!"

"The word… EXPIRED replaced his barcode, Jon. He expired," explained Zack cautiously. "He reached his expiration date."

"Expiration date? Zack, you can't be serious. Tell me you're not serious," pleaded the female X5, tears glimmering in her eyes. "If that happened to Zane then… what about the rest of us?"

"I… I don't know," admitted Zack. "That's why I came here… I don't know what to do."

Jondy sighed and turned on the lights, revealing a messy living room. "Look, Zack, if we all have an… expiration date, then why was Zane the first to go? He's not the oldest, not the youngest; not the strongest, not the weakest… You think it's random?"

"Maybe." Zack watched her as she shoved a pile of clothes off her couch and sat down to think. "Jon, I think this isn't something that just the two of us can take care of. We're going to need everyone for this."

"Are you sure?" Jondy frowned. "All of us?"

"Well, maybe not every single one of us… but we need Brin, Tinga, Ben, Max, Krit, and Syl."

Jondy's face lit up when he said Max's name. "Maxie? I get to see Maxie?"

"The eight of us were always the closest in the unit," explained Zack. "I have their phone numbers. I want you to call them and arrange a meeting, okay?" He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and wrote down the numbers. "There are some things I need to do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Tucson of the Tucson Health Studies Clinic was taking his time closing up that night. His wife was angry with him for spending a thousand dollars of their savings on lab rats (nowadays he only got ten for that price), and he was in no rush to get home. He locked up the supply cabinet, covered the surgery tables, and made sure all the windows were shut tight before heading towards the front door. Before he could open it, however, he heard a window shatter in the nurse's lounge. Alarmed, the doctor grabbed the emergency gun from the secretary's draw and went to investigate. He poked his head in the lounge and glanced around suspiciously. A pile of broken glass sat on the floor, but there was no one there. He moved farther into the room to see if someone had thrown a brick through the window, but when he was in the middle of the room he felt cold hard steel against the back of his neck.

"Don't move," ordered a harsh voice, skewed by a voice scrambler. "Drop your weapon."

CLANG! Tucson's gun dropped to the floor.

"Turn around, slowly. No sudden movements," continued the intruder.

Obediently, the doctor slowly turned around to face his attacker, who was wearing a black ski mask. Angry, confused eyes stared out at him from the holes in the cloth. "W-W-Who are you? What do you want?" demanded the doctor.

"Who I am is none of your concern. What I want is you to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death for my friend here," he gestured to the body bag sitting on the ground behind him. "And I don't ever want to hear you speak of this incident. If you do, I'll kill you."

Dr. Tucson gulped and nodded. "Okay, I'll do it. Just don't kill me. I've got a wife and kids."

"Do what I say and we won't have a problem."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Jondy was a bit apprehensive about calling her family. She hadn't talked to many of them for ten whole years. What would they be like? What if they didn't remember her? What if they didn't turn out as good as she had hoped? The phone seemed to leer at her from its spot on the wall. She looked over the numbers, easily committing them to memory, then, after a few minutes of arguing with herself, she picked up the phone and dialed Krit's number.

The line rang four times before a sleepy voice answered, "'Lo?"

"Krit."

Silence.

"Who is this?" demanded the voice, suddenly very awake and agitated. "If this is some kind of joke…"

"It's Jondy."

"Jondy?" There was the sound of rustling fabric and the soft 'click' of a lamp being turned on. "How did you…?"

"Something's happened," she quickly explained. "Zane's dead."

"What are you talking about, Jon?"

"I don't have time to answer all your questions, Krit. You have to get down to San Francisco, now," said the female X5. "Zack sounded really scared, Krit. You've got to hurry."

"Alright, I'll be there in five hours, okay?"

Jondy was about to reply when she heard a sleepy, "Who is it?" in the background. "Krit? Is someone there?" asked the younger X5 carefully.

"It's just Syl," he said quickly. "Does she need to come, too?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, we'll be there."

"Thanks, big brother," said Jondy quietly. "See you soon."

"Bye."

The line cut off and Jondy hung up the phone. Two down, four to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zack returned to the apartment a couple hours later, covered in dirt and holding a soggy piece of paper in his hand. He took off his sodden jacket and hung it in the entryway closet before walking over to Jondy, who was leaning against the window with a blanket around her shoulders. Her blue eyes stared out at the city below as rain droplets slowly dripped down the cracked glass.

"Finish the calls?" asked the male X5, putting his hands on her shoulders. She nodded slowly, so he continued, "Everyone coming?"

"Yeah… but Ben didn't seem too happy about it," said Jondy quietly.

"I was going to talk to you about him," stated Zack. "Ben's… not quite how he used to be. When I sent him off on his own, he found too many questions he couldn't answer. Sometimes, he scares me with his unfailing faith. It's like he's not there anymore… he's just a shell of what used to be Ben."

"Then why'd you want him to come?"

"Because I was hoping that maybe being around us would help him out. He's lost, Jon… really lost."

Jondy sighed and leaned back against him. "Anything else I should know? About the others?"

"That's it." He paused for a moment, then continued, "I wish this could be under different circumstances."

"What? Zack, you never wanted us to get together. Too dangerous, remember?" Jondy turned around to face him. "You must be joking."

"No, I'm serious. Maybe, in a few years, when we were old and wise enough, I'd call a meeting like this. All thirteen of us. The twelve of you who escaped that night, then me," he explained with a small smile. "I don't enjoy keeping you apart, Jon."

Jondy provided him with own of her own soft smiles, then she noticed the piece of paper in his pocket. "What's that?"

Zack pulled out the paper. "Zane's autopsy report. I buried him next to a water tower outside of the city… just like he wanted."

The female X5's eyes quickly took in the small print on the paper, then she handed it back. "Says he died of a virus."

"A virus resembling the flu, but very different. He suffocated on his own vomit, and his lungs were filling with blood. This is serious," Zack said gravely. "The rash on his chest was similar to smallpox, but not contagious."

"But we have antibodies to those diseases," protested Jondy.

"It's not a disease that this doctor has seen before."

"What about the word across his barcode?"

"The barcodes are genetic, so the only possibility is…" Zack let his voice trail off and raised an eyebrow.

"Manticore did it."