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.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvkU6na0P9
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.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJKaVo4TO7
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—126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCPDGCIUeW
Tearing colored paper into small pieces and pasting them onto a drawing. The drawings were sketched on the spot by Nora herself.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0S5rp401vZ
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.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyK5DFwv3FJ
Everyone was saying that Finn was going to be a big brother.
Because the godmother was about to have a baby—a little sister.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRFer4FNAj
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,126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WXndPwNZQ
“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—126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhVCRlCfOz
The woman in the video, the children, the colors and paper scraps...126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqrOPNM4Qy
So far removed from Gotham’s dark nights and towering buildings.
Tim wondered to himself,126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhyMvQ9ILOJ
A good example…126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKPO9vGgXu
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.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfNQcchILz
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.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwMUE4bKtK
“Then I met a retired female soldier.”
She looked up at Tim, her tone suddenly a little lighter.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeqdfpxWvN
“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.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vJoPmm7JF
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.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7zohaIa0g
“Tim, kids born into the apocalypse don’t get a childhood.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZ11B9p5TA
She lowered her head, a shadow passing through her eyes.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrLYh0C2Ze
“I rewrote all the lesson plans. I convinced the base that… children had ‘value.’”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvh2RvLsV0
She lifted her fingers, lightly forming quotation marks in the air, her tone a mix of sarcasm and cool detachment.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVi3bOzSgE
“We dug out crystals from zombie brains. I taught them how to shoot, how to fight.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4AOZhm3aY
I taught them how to grow crops, how to identify safe zones, how to avoid the infected.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybIK65ZOWm
She took a deep breath, as if the children’s faces were surfacing in her mind.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6cr1t6Kha
“They were all great kids.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHws7gGpPga
That line sounded like a quiet confession,126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTd2YaLF4ji
Or perhaps a belief she clung to with all her strength.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikpD6nFnWa
Nora paused. Her gaze drifted into the air.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8lgB5LHLd
“But once they turned fourteen, they had to leave.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs97Cgq0faP
She wasn’t speaking to Tim anymore, but to some version of her past self.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7LVNYzqkL
“They weren’t children anymore. Those with advantages, with powers… of course, they could have a bright future.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7z2TSNhJC
“But the ordinary ones…”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuU04JvP95
Her voice grew faint.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUb91SEMOOs
“They never came back.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwiNGkpp3ru
Her eyes dropped to her hands—126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcheMiB8vak
Hands that once guided children in holding guns, planting seeds, stroking hair.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIlppeTozF
“There was a time… when I became very strict.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSohDXTF9o
She said this slowly, as if confronting a part of herself she wasn’t proud of.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxV9EBFGeIm
“I used everything my teacher—the soldier—taught me.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEeH7LYZNM
Her tone carried a fierce kind of resolve, the kind that once meant burning all bridges.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EdidL3h8I
“I demanded they learn every survival skill, from basic to advanced.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrl1zsGkmN
Every moment counted. No room for carelessness.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZllxN1TGv3
Finally, Nora turned to look at Tim. Her green eyes brimmed with something heavy.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohvfBszj9I
“You can’t even imagine… what I was like during that time.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aoF9exl1O
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“It got so painful… I even thought about leaving the base.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXt6m9R9d2
Nora looked up at the ceiling, her voice as light as the wind.
“But those kids…”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEJFLUnDpF
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.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowKn0ZyRPB
Not a laugh of joy, but one of surrender to fate—126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb01VBbrcfA
And acceptance of it.
Nora actually laughed.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUCAA8wLDf
“Tim, like I said—they were great kids.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCrAyvHB1t
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.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CbzxB66iV
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—126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjt5SK4Uwh2
Yet every word burned.
“I drove north.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbv8McwEVE6
She closed her eyes slightly, like she could still feel the weight of the steering wheel.
“By then, I… was already infected.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvdjnEzyDN
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.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDcW8VSbwrz
“I might’ve gotten off halfway.”
Her tone suddenly lightened.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBkhOOmEcR
“…I have no memory of that part.”
Her eyes drifted away.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sLK8SrQZX
“So I don’t really know what happened to the children after that.”126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yhIYSLmUv
and then Add to home screen.