"We're going to need to get more ambitious. The solar panels we're scrounged are okay, but they're not reliable enough. We're going to have to go nuclear. There's "

"Nuclear? Abigail that's insane. We don't have the expertise to handle it properly, what if it's degraded or damaged or worse? There's a reason why so many places avoided having nuclear power, it's dangerous and unstable and will probably kill us."

"It can't be worse than this." I waved a hand around at our surroundings. "We have an engineer, Dev can check it out and make sure it's not going to explode on us. But we have to be realistic. We barely get enough direct sunlight to get a tan, let alone to supply the sort of power we need if we're going to make this place our new home. Anything nuclear we find will have survived the apocalypse, which means it'll be fine for our purposes. We don't have time for your hippy bullshit."

Linka stared at me for a few moments, and I knew she wanted to keep arguing. I even knew the arguments she wanted to use, because once upon a time, I would have used them as well. The potential fall out, the instability, there was too much that could go wrong.

But then the world as we knew it was destroyed, and now those kinds of concerns were a luxury. We'd finally found a place to live that the angels hadn't blasted out of existence, a husk of a building that we could put back together and make our own. And now that we had it, I wanted more. I wanted light, and warmth. I wanted to be able to cook something that didn't end up tinged with charcoal or under cooked. The place we'd found I thought might have been a hotel, and for whatever reason most of the levels were underground. It was the perfect place to live, and to hide, and maybe eventually we'd be able to build as well.

"It's not bullshit," she replied eventually, through gritted teeth. "But you have a point."

The rest of the group let out the breath they'd been holding. I might have been the leader of our ragtag group, but without Linka on board we'd lose her tribe, and they were the best scavengers we had. We couldn't have found the place we had without them, and we definitely wouldn't eat as regularly as we did without their skills. Behind their backs we called them the Mole People, and I privately wondered about the angel they were descended from.

"I know it's not ideal," I inclined my head, acceding a little now that she had done the same. "But if we can find it, it'll be a stable source of power. And we've survived worse, right?"

That got a laugh, and the tension of the meeting was broken. Linka lifted her glass to me, and I followed suit.

"So tomorrow the scouting party will leave to check out the old power station. Dev and Aviv are going from Science, we'll need some volunteers from the Warriors and Scouts, and some Scavengers. Anyone else we want to include?"

"Who is going to be leading the party?" The question came from Alec, who hadn't spoken a word during the meeting thus far. Which was usual for him. He wasn't a member of any particular tribe, and had a tendency to drift from group to group, offering his assistance and then moving on. But inevitably, nothing was successful without his support, and it irked me.

"I will. It was my idea, so I'd like to see it through."

More than a few eyebrows went up at my statement. It had been a long while since I'd been out with any of the parties. I'm not sure I'd even been out since we'd settled here. It was largely because I spent most of my time negotiating between the tribes and making sure everything was running smoothly. I'd become the defacto leader of our community because I got shit done and people trusted me, so somehow I'd turned into someone who needed be protected and kept close to home.

"I'll join you," Alec said. And then walked out of the meeting, hands in the pockets of his tattered jeans. I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head, black hair disappearing against the black of his leather jacket, huffing before looking back to the group.

"And then we were four. Anyone else?"

* * * * * *

It wasn't long before the team fell into place, and I couldn't help but noticing the tribe leaders putting forward their best. Considering the importance of the mission, I was pleased, but I wondered about it. Was it because it was such an important mission, or that they thought it would be dangerous? Glory or risk? Or both.

I was still mulling over it when I returned to the space that had become my quarters. I think it might have been a stage of some kind, a raised area in a much larger space. I'd scrounged a screen to create some privacy to sleep, though it didn't help much. But the illusion of privacy was everything, and I would cling to it as long as I possibly could. Which looked like it was going to come to an end pretty quickly. When I ducked behind the screen Alec was sitting on the chair I kept next to the bed to hang clothes over, looking annoyingly put together in the mess that was my space.

Also, he was in my space. The one place in this fucked up, wretched world that I didn't have to worry about people, didn't have to pretend not to be exhausted by being surrounded by them constantly.

"What are you doing here?" I crossed my arms across my chest, my eyes narrowing at him. He looked up, those cat green eyes of his landing on me before he stood up.

"I'm sorry to intrude. I just wanted to talk to you about the mission." He didn't move, just standing in front of the chair, next to my bed. A tall, dark shadow against the colourful mess that I'd made of my space. Because it was mine, and only people I chose got to see it. It didn't matter if it was messy, or colourful, or anything that clashed with the persona I had created in order to lead this community.

"You could have done that in the meeting," I pointed out, raising my eyebrows and tilting my head towards what functioned as an exit.

"Wasn't the place for that." He shrugged. "And I was getting sick of all the discussion. It's not a bad idea, and we need to do it. It’s just going to be more dangerous than our usual missions."

“It’s further than we usually roam, sure. But the scouts haven’t reported any unusual activity, and there haven’t been any angel sightings in months."

"Because, for the moment, we're not a threat. We're low on their list of priorities because we stay off the grid, we stay small, and we don't make a lot of noise. They're more interested in dealing with the rebels, and the few of the Beast's supporters that are left. But their job is to eliminate all of us, Jemima. We're not ready for that fight yet."

My arms dropped from their defensive position at some point during his speech, my shoulders relaxing. By the time he'd finished speaking I was sitting on the edge of my bed, looking up at him. I waved a hand towards the chair he vacated, and he sat again.

"I think that's the most I've heard you say in one go," I replied, initially with a smile on my face. "You're right, we are going to have to face the angels some day. Which means we need to start preparing for it. With reliable power, we can fortify this place. Start making it safer for everyone."

"We could have everything we need to hand right now. If we start forcing the Awakening process, then --"

"No." I held my hand up, shaking my head. "If people want to do that, that's their choice. But as soon as we start going down that road, we start becoming more and more like them. Like the angels we're trying to hide from. And if we're going to do that, then what is the point of remaining neutral?"

"The angels will kill us either way. We don't get to enter the City, if we did we'd already be there. The fact that we're not dead or burning is merely an oversight that they'll correct eventually."

"So your solution is to become like them? You don't want us to do something that might catch the attention of the angels, but you think it's a good idea to make ourselves enemy number one? You confuse me, Alec. You really do."

"This is the biggest gathering of half-breeds the world has ever seen. If we Awakened our powers, take advantage of our birthright then we can do whatever we want. Power for everyone. Safety for everyone. We'd have a chance against the angels, rather than just letting them slaughter us like they have everyone else."

"That's worked really well for the rebels." I rolled my eyes. "Awakening our powers is the most dangerous thing we can do. We're safest under the radar and building up our defenses." I smirked. "No wonder you didn't want to have this conversation with everyone. Your whole 'I'm just here to help' shtick goes out the window as soon as you start talking like this. You don't want to just help. You want to start a war."

Alec stood up, the chair falling over in his haste.

"I am here to help. And we'll all live to regret your stubbornness."

"If we manage to survive at all. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Alec left at my dismissal, but I knew this wasn't the last time we'd have the discussion. I was surprised it was the first. Awakening the powers from our preternatural heritage was something that hung over our community, like the proverbial Sword of Damocles. Do we we grasp for that power, despite knowing the perils that came along with it?

We'd seen what had happened with those who had Awakened. Filled with power from their angelic ancestors, they had become like those ancestors. Their passions were greater, their strength beyond measure, and they could command the elements and creatures around them. They had knowledge that was long forbidden to mortals, and they fought. Each other, the angels left to cleanse the earth, the few demons that had yet to be cleansed. They wanted to own the world, or at least what was left of it, and the Lord had decreed that no one would. Those who were not admitted into the City and their Presence were to be destroyed, to be cast into the fiery pit with no hope of redemption.

We were on the list. The descendants of the Watchers and the Wicked, tainted (or some said blessed) with the blood of angels. We'd escaped the ravages of the Apocalypse, the plagues the Lord and their angels had rained down on the world. We'd survived the war between the angels of the Lord and the Beast. We were neither marked for redemption or perdition because we weren't human.

But that doesn't mean we could live. Nothing was supposed to survive Judgement Day, and yet we had. At least for now.

Everything burned. Everything, everyone, and they would for eternity. They had fallen from grace, they disobeyed the Lord, they had ignored the covenants. 

We watched as the angels raged. Winged creatures armed with swords. 

They carved their way through flesh and bone and tree alike, nothing could stand against blades forged in heaven's flame and blessed by the Lord.

There was nowhere to hide. Nowhere the angel eyes couldn't see, nowhere they couldn't reach. Hands as hard as diamond and as hot as fire grasped those who tried to run, tried to hide. They were torn apart, obliterated, without a chance to fight back. Humanity was defenceless against their anger, the righteous anger of the Lord. Those who had sinned would perish, it was too late to repent. Too late to do anything but die.

'This doesn't need to be the end.' Alec's voice whispered over the visions. 'We can fight back. You can fight back. Save everyone.'