Tim sat at the computer. His elbows rested on the desk, fingers idly nudging the mouse, but his eyes weren’t focused on the data.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pX7rE17Hz
He was watching the screen.
On the screen, Nora was at the kindergarten. The footage came from the camera embedded in the little dinosaur plush toy.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgW0ewTwrgp
She wore a comfortable long dress, her hair tied back in a ponytail, and she sat in the middle of a play mat, surrounded by children.
The room was filled with the chatter of kids, picked up by the microphone.
They were making torn-paper collages—124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60OfSdBTX9
Tearing colored paper into small pieces and pasting them onto a drawing. The drawings were sketched on the spot by Nora herself.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4XjXX3RQi
She always listened to each child’s idea first, then quickly drew the picture they imagined.
Today, Finn said he wanted to make a gift for the child of his godmother, Claire.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoJOsr7bUQ
Everyone was saying that Finn was going to be a big brother.
Because the godmother was about to have a baby—a little sister.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4GL04T3zP
So today, Finn wanted to paste a heart.
Nora drew a heart and added ribbon and a bow. She outlined it in bold strokes so the kids could better judge where to place the torn paper.
As she handed the heart drawing to Finn, she softly said,124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJvosGbsMn
“Make sure to set a good example for your little sister.”
Finn nodded, looking serious. His small hands clutched the heart drawing tightly.
Tim sat in his chair, watching the scene—124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQnoBlHtbZ
The woman in the video, the children, the colors and paper scraps...124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwk0nsCDg9V
So far removed from Gotham’s dark nights and towering buildings.
Tim wondered to himself,124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aZKwGqORs
A good example…124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVr5AhWU0XW
Like the older sister in the past-life story Nora once told?
That night, Nora had continued speaking slowly—her face pale, but her voice steady.
“Tim, I really did kill her. I killed my sister.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzc3jP37Uj
When she said that, it felt like she was placing a heavy iron lock in his hands.
“I wandered for a year after that,” Nora said, her voice low, carrying the calm that only someone who had walked through long, desolate roads could possess.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEX8uVJv71N
“Then I met a retired female soldier.”
She looked up at Tim, her tone suddenly a little lighter.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEO5lO0DsJ
“We teamed up for two years. Then I joined a human base and became the director of an orphanage… the Orphanage.”
Tim said nothing, simply watched her in silence.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWOc6L0HRL
The woman smiling like sunshine amidst a group of children—Had once carried a night like that on her back.
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Nora continued, her voice steady but distant, as if it traveled from far away.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyGTKhDpct
“Tim, kids born into the apocalypse don’t get a childhood.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnbgrUbXKz
She lowered her head, a shadow passing through her eyes.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgOFwkLUnp
“I rewrote all the lesson plans. I convinced the base that… children had ‘value.’”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgdcN8h2Ob
She lifted her fingers, lightly forming quotation marks in the air, her tone a mix of sarcasm and cool detachment.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTUzf5ykhj
“We dug out crystals from zombie brains. I taught them how to shoot, how to fight.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4QWcrLVcD
I taught them how to grow crops, how to identify safe zones, how to avoid the infected.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYmNAO9gQq
She took a deep breath, as if the children’s faces were surfacing in her mind.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QcyByiaCP
“They were all great kids.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgERayKklf
That line sounded like a quiet confession,124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCaKEwVFk2
Or perhaps a belief she clung to with all her strength.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmKMAT40y3
Nora paused. Her gaze drifted into the air.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbm7bA1KXN
“But once they turned fourteen, they had to leave.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AH3CbLSIa
She wasn’t speaking to Tim anymore, but to some version of her past self.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYHilw22H7
“They weren’t children anymore. Those with advantages, with powers… of course, they could have a bright future.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnL8T59jVN
“But the ordinary ones…”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWobm5NDdf
Her voice grew faint.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3O1fPsT5OW
“They never came back.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEFkCWsR5S
Her eyes dropped to her hands—124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftNlpxYK6J
Hands that once guided children in holding guns, planting seeds, stroking hair.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DynwtZplG
“There was a time… when I became very strict.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIO5M4qHRx
She said this slowly, as if confronting a part of herself she wasn’t proud of.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraN3tmkBFD
“I used everything my teacher—the soldier—taught me.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7PbbZAW3T
Her tone carried a fierce kind of resolve, the kind that once meant burning all bridges.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZxJv6znAj
“I demanded they learn every survival skill, from basic to advanced.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCEsOXOTtk
Every moment counted. No room for carelessness.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByUYclgMt6
Finally, Nora turned to look at Tim. Her green eyes brimmed with something heavy.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHnpVysh7t
“You can’t even imagine… what I was like during that time.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EUfw0JUSU
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“It got so painful… I even thought about leaving the base.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdL9QL3JPCc
Nora looked up at the ceiling, her voice as light as the wind.
“But those kids…”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjme6rmzKJK
She paused. A mist gathered in her green eyes.
“They cried and begged me to stay.”
There was a kind of laugh in her voice.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANgvluexII
Not a laugh of joy, but one of surrender to fate—124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46JdpYzc30
And acceptance of it.
Nora actually laughed.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6A7fjzAQaH
“Tim, like I said—they were great kids.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBlV22WbZn
She tilted her head, looking at her palm, as if the children’s tiny hands had once rested there.
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“Later, the zombie horde from the south suddenly moved north.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DUgkAhwXB
Her tone returned to calm, but her gaze turned alert.
“No matter how we tried to block them… our base was eventually overrun.”
Her voice didn’t waver, as if she were telling someone else’s story—124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sdqp4p0zS
Yet every word burned.
“I drove north.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWmbaHqg4p
She closed her eyes slightly, like she could still feel the weight of the steering wheel.
“By then, I… was already infected.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOSxIb09i7
As she said this, her mouth twitched slightly—half unwilling, half resigned.
“I told the older kids to keep driving, to head north and spread the word.”
She turned to Tim. A flicker of hesitation passed through her green eyes.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ712JbQraMm
“I might’ve gotten off halfway.”
Her tone suddenly lightened.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVHDfrvTfV
“…I have no memory of that part.”
Her eyes drifted away.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKYdaePMjm
“So I don’t really know what happened to the children after that.”124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIte9c06Evn
and then Add to home screen.