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He caught Willow watching him sometimes now, and knew that she was worried about him. Apart from when they’d seen the Third Wave arrive, he’d kept silent about his fears, even to her.
What was there to say? The world was screwed.
Alex struggled grimly against that deep-down conviction, against the nagging inner voice that said that if he were any kind of a leader at all, he’d know when to quit – just go start a settlement high up in the mountains somewhere. Jesus, what was wrong with him, that even now he had to keep a war going against the angels? But the stupid thing was, the other AKs still trusted him…and still wanted to fight.
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. It was late November, after midnight, and he was in the empty rec room with his laptop and a long-cold mug of coffee. Tiredly, he brought up a Word document filled with his notes. If they were to have anything more than a suicidal chance at this, they had to get camps established all across the country: small teams that recruited and trained people themselves, then splintered off to do the same thing again, over and over, until there were hundreds of sniper groups fighting the angels.
In the base’s office, they’d found details of another facility in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho – smaller than here and too remote to be of much use. The teams would somehow have to source their own shelters, along with food and ammunition, and this current group of eighty-seven would need a lot more training. Not to mention survival skills, if they were to have any hope of existing in the wild.
Alex added these thoughts to his notes, though it felt like a waste of time. Yeah, sending everyone out to set up more AK camps was great in theory…but once Raziel realized the Angel Killers were still around, he’d annihilate them.
Alex stared blindly at his laptop, imagining small inexperienced groups being systematically decimated by the angels. He let out a breath and rested his forehead on his fists. He knew his team; he’d worked with every one of them. How the hell was he supposed to send them off to die?
But how could he just let the angels take over?
Alex looked up as Seb appeared in the rec room doorway. Seb stopped short. “Ah. Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know anyone was here. ”
“It’s okay, c’mon in. ” Alex pushed the laptop away, glad to stop looking at it.
Seb dropped into a nearby armchair; his feet were bare. Glancing at him, Alex held back a slight smile. “Go ahead and smoke – that’s what you came in for, right?”
Seb quirked an eyebrow but didn’t deny it. He produced a battered red and white pack and dug a lighter from his jeans pocket. “Last pack,” he commented as he tapped out a cigarette.
“So you’ll be quitting again? Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. ”
Seb shrugged and settled back, blowing out a stream of smoke. “Meghan hates the smell anyway. She threw me out. ”
It was a relief to have something else to think about – even if it was Seb’s love life. “She’s a nice girl,” said Alex.
Seb nodded. “Yes, I think so too. ”
They sat in silence, Seb occasionally turning his head to blow smoke over his shoulder. Finally he looked down at his cigarette and cleared his throat. “So, I’ve been thinking…maybe Meghan and I will go away. ”
Alex had been trying to rouse himself enough to go to bed; now he straightened. “What – seriously?”
Slowly, Seb ground out the cigarette in a saucer someone had left behind. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do now to stop the angels, amigo. ”
Hearing his own worst fears put into words, all that came to Alex’s mind was, Yeah, I don’t blame you. But he said nothing.
Seb sat playing with the ground-out cigarette. “If I thought there was any kind of chance, I’d stay for ever. Now, though…” He shrugged.
“What about Willow?” asked Alex finally. Ever since the two half-angels had met, Alex had been forced to accept Seb’s presence in his girlfriend’s life as a given.
Seb’s mouth twisted; he snorted slightly. In a low voice, he said, “I keep thinking it will someday get better, you know. That I’ll get over her and not care so much, but—” He broke off, his expression more vulnerable than Alex had ever seen it. He tossed the cigarette butt back ontothe saucer.
“Anyway, I’m still her brother if she ever needs me,” he said tiredly. “But I want to really try with Meghan. And…here isn’t the best place, not with Willow here too. ”
Watching Seb as he looked down at the table, sympathy stirred within Alex. Christ, how had it happened that he and Seb had actually become friends? But somewhere along the line, they had.
“Look, don’t go,” he said finally. “I know what you mean about the angels – I was just sitting here thinking almost the same thing. But even if we don’t have a chance now, you’ve got to keep training people in the aura work – if they’re not proficient in it, they’ll die. ”
Seb didn’t answer, but Alex could sense the argument had hit home – Seb had sometimes spent up to twelve hours a day training recruits, with no complaints.
“And come on, this place is big enough that you can avoid Willow, isn’t it?” Alex went on. “What if I changed your teaching schedules, so that you don’t work together any more? You’d hardly ever see each other. ”
Seb plucked at a loose thread on his jeans. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “It might help, but…”
“Does Meghan want to go?”
“I haven’t asked her,” Seb admitted. He met Alex’s gaze and smiled slightly. “Why are you arguing for me to stay? If I could take your girlfriend away from you, I’d still do it. ”
“Dude, if you could take my girlfriend away from me, you’d have done it a year ago. Let me make the change, okay?” Alex scanned Seb’s face, his voice lowering in intensity. “Come on, man, I need you here – I’ve got to give them all the best chance I can before I send them out there. ”
Seb blew out a breath. “All right,” he said. “I’ll stay for now. ” After a pause the corner of his mouth lifted. “I didn’t want to leave the hot showers anyway. It’s the real reason I’m staying, you know. ”
“Yeah, you see? Massive perks. ”
Seb lit another cigarette and smoked it with one foot up on the chair. And as Alex thought about the day to come and all the days after that – while above, humanity became cattle for ever, because of him – for the first time in his life he was tempted to light up too.
He shut down the laptop and rose. “Don’t think too hard,” he said.
Seb gave a small smile. “No. You either. ”
Fat chance, thought Alex – and then the pager clipped to his jeans waistband burst into life. “Alex, could you get up here?” said Heather’s worried voice.
He grabbed the pager. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. There’s a truck coming. ”
“What?” Alex and Seb exchanged a startled glance, Seb lurching forward to stub out his cigarette and scrambling to his feet.
They took off at a run, pausing only to duck into the armoury and grab a couple of pistols. When they reached the small room above ground, Heather was hunched over one of the monitors; her gaze flew tensely to theirs.
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