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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcRsFIoE9w
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH0sdHoQlHD
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsrsCBOkqX
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BnL7gBloj
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkiNC0c2QLu
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9x6uQBtGu
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45oHw3Qm8u
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFt5t1o3mY
The woman in the video, the children, the colors and paper scraps...122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBlNk5g3sO
So far removed from Gotham’s dark nights and towering buildings.
Tim wondered to himself,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bxH259yuW
A good example…122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zcba1fZ8X
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUzXqSqka6
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaUFkBu0K8
“Then I met a retired female soldier.”
She looked up at Tim, her tone suddenly a little lighter.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NOfGEqirO
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDbPp6Hwh2
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoeawxAHhrw
“Tim, kids born into the apocalypse don’t get a childhood.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNs5F0afknO
She lowered her head, a shadow passing through her eyes.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sEum925YY
“I rewrote all the lesson plans. I convinced the base that… children had ‘value.’”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZYM7igAHl
She lifted her fingers, lightly forming quotation marks in the air, her tone a mix of sarcasm and cool detachment.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRJZwfXmst
“We dug out crystals from zombie brains. I taught them how to shoot, how to fight.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwx6O0XQ8N0
I taught them how to grow crops, how to identify safe zones, how to avoid the infected.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Vg8CZpqmg
She took a deep breath, as if the children’s faces were surfacing in her mind.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4fu7JSnPX
“They were all great kids.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1RFBrlzur
That line sounded like a quiet confession,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2HlUwMJg0
Or perhaps a belief she clung to with all her strength.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkIfR4tfYR
Nora paused. Her gaze drifted into the air.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6odWLS9Ex
“But once they turned fourteen, they had to leave.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Hb0aW8VxT
She wasn’t speaking to Tim anymore, but to some version of her past self.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA75OpME8zz
“They weren’t children anymore. Those with advantages, with powers… of course, they could have a bright future.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybju0CItzF
“But the ordinary ones…”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Dg2me1cyI
Her voice grew faint.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡupB6GIPPPD
“They never came back.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5vSJH7PX2q
Her eyes dropped to her hands—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJHmxibLw5
Hands that once guided children in holding guns, planting seeds, stroking hair.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEmKZ1RXJQ
“There was a time… when I became very strict.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7Dw2NJCUh
She said this slowly, as if confronting a part of herself she wasn’t proud of.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64eHeBhS2E
“I used everything my teacher—the soldier—taught me.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaobUCOxZw
Her tone carried a fierce kind of resolve, the kind that once meant burning all bridges.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡry2jFlgaeQ
“I demanded they learn every survival skill, from basic to advanced.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTcgZxoUb5
Every moment counted. No room for carelessness.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDTALOrIC9W
Finally, Nora turned to look at Tim. Her green eyes brimmed with something heavy.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMUFW9UXsy
“You can’t even imagine… what I was like during that time.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkz4blmv2R
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“It got so painful… I even thought about leaving the base.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17Fq1h35jb
Nora looked up at the ceiling, her voice as light as the wind.
“But those kids…”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ299LUimMzb
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3lqdxVxg4
Not a laugh of joy, but one of surrender to fate—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHivk4dxvwb
And acceptance of it.
Nora actually laughed.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mLBx6ADTp
“Tim, like I said—they were great kids.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxx1fDDJpan
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK3S3yz3ICn
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVx12ggIQyK
Yet every word burned.
“I drove north.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszeCW0lSaq
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXHaxIC0Yk
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsHddB9b2b
“I might’ve gotten off halfway.”
Her tone suddenly lightened.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DWqFdYwGB
“…I have no memory of that part.”
Her eyes drifted away.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnDbBJggcT
“So I don’t really know what happened to the children after that.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCd0CFf6rf
and then Add to home screen.