I'm so happy to see you writing again (although you made me choke on my tears at times) - and with such a powerful piece of fanfic at that, Shay!

The very first paragraph already made it perfectly clear that it was Max' POV, although the name wasn't given per se, because reading it really sounded like her.
The second paragraph though came across so much like Zack IMHO. On the other hand, that's no contradiction either because he influenced her very much in most everything about handling her siblings and/or all the transgenics in Terminal City and taking responsibility.

You did a marvellous job of portraying the desolation - and its effect on the transgenics there - that took Terminal City eventually after 'Freak Nation', when it was hermetically closed off from the outside world.

Stating that Alec of all people refused to give up and still stood by Max' decision(s) warmed my heart. But then, he's probably too stubborn to throw in the towel. ;-)

I will not hide the fact though that I'm beyond glad that you ended on a hopeful note. It might not come to a positive ending, I'm aware of that, but the phone call at least offered some measure of hope. To end the stand-off if nothing else...

Also, thumbs up for putting the shiny, new prompts to good use with lightning-speed.