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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡra3mJdScTX
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHM2dRUD2zg
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—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3uwNEP2o9
Tearing colored paper into small pieces and pasting them onto a drawing. The drawings were sketched on the spot by Nora herself.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmG8RAqdtWU
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkdQGT8odU
Everyone was saying that Finn was going to be a big brother.
Because the godmother was about to have a baby—a little sister.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFVXfAjcK4
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,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1cPHAFm0v
“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—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRD1uD0ewS
The woman in the video, the children, the colors and paper scraps...122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvOWWrS5ZN
So far removed from Gotham’s dark nights and towering buildings.
Tim wondered to himself,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkYFCtnMfv
A good example…122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡauKTXIorX4
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.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMp96gU8SjC
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvSx4xyGI2
“Then I met a retired female soldier.”
She looked up at Tim, her tone suddenly a little lighter.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFueQ4hJ9aC
“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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFh8mHjcCCL
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWCRVZnAzU
“Tim, kids born into the apocalypse don’t get a childhood.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyU89UgPE9
She lowered her head, a shadow passing through her eyes.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYx4SdeVazt
“I rewrote all the lesson plans. I convinced the base that… children had ‘value.’”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKecBwtuxV
She lifted her fingers, lightly forming quotation marks in the air, her tone a mix of sarcasm and cool detachment.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cPgxjnwmH
“We dug out crystals from zombie brains. I taught them how to shoot, how to fight.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvrQU26AyA
I taught them how to grow crops, how to identify safe zones, how to avoid the infected.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInmYyo5tte
She took a deep breath, as if the children’s faces were surfacing in her mind.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwv2vPkRYWY
“They were all great kids.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BTPjt6SpO
That line sounded like a quiet confession,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp70aVbPrMV
Or perhaps a belief she clung to with all her strength.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUjOqn1m7M
Nora paused. Her gaze drifted into the air.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyDr4Vvfur
“But once they turned fourteen, they had to leave.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi389XNgQj7
She wasn’t speaking to Tim anymore, but to some version of her past self.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8rJ3jpsxQ
“They weren’t children anymore. Those with advantages, with powers… of course, they could have a bright future.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBz2KnSAKb
“But the ordinary ones…”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqTRhIoxnG
Her voice grew faint.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayv0MjOr13
“They never came back.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnYQU1pi0b
Her eyes dropped to her hands—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMwDMMLMSB
Hands that once guided children in holding guns, planting seeds, stroking hair.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQQHqvxdke
“There was a time… when I became very strict.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtc13hsUOCz
She said this slowly, as if confronting a part of herself she wasn’t proud of.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuYVsjaMEN
“I used everything my teacher—the soldier—taught me.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkX6TGiY7Ju
Her tone carried a fierce kind of resolve, the kind that once meant burning all bridges.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2V3C8rxOVr
“I demanded they learn every survival skill, from basic to advanced.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYztdVJtiZ
Every moment counted. No room for carelessness.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrldg9tnmWl
Finally, Nora turned to look at Tim. Her green eyes brimmed with something heavy.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7n50NW1aUs
“You can’t even imagine… what I was like during that time.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS361XYVc59
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“It got so painful… I even thought about leaving the base.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7DHvGziFW
Nora looked up at the ceiling, her voice as light as the wind.
“But those kids…”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoElzpGvQ70
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs15rxVsBUN
Not a laugh of joy, but one of surrender to fate—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88b4wn70bh
And acceptance of it.
Nora actually laughed.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIF1dD1ETB
“Tim, like I said—they were great kids.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeCWSj18FU
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.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXQMotIWVD
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—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6A2wUnK9w
Yet every word burned.
“I drove north.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVaznQzaBI
She closed her eyes slightly, like she could still feel the weight of the steering wheel.
“By then, I… was already infected.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKODCGa5POo
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgPMfx64iG
“I might’ve gotten off halfway.”
Her tone suddenly lightened.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkFZf5S3zN
“…I have no memory of that part.”
Her eyes drifted away.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4TxLIzZ4Nj
“So I don’t really know what happened to the children after that.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡesIzTBMjoU
and then Add to home screen.