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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWD0dYga5W
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ekwytf2If
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWDHO1OfzB
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbm0dqiH1cN
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhDgJp0njV
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqP6fZoYlH
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAmSovTNa2
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04R6Y1kCOE
The woman in the video, the children, the colors and paper scraps...122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJO4sYsNqH
So far removed from Gotham’s dark nights and towering buildings.
Tim wondered to himself,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8U9QadmO0
A good example…122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuYJ0bFNpF
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXf54XP44IH
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdM4yyZjZJ
“Then I met a retired female soldier.”
She looked up at Tim, her tone suddenly a little lighter.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBhYC6GA9e
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4y1hs2HDIo
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXtmHoaxoe
“Tim, kids born into the apocalypse don’t get a childhood.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiivv1GcbM
She lowered her head, a shadow passing through her eyes.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IF7nzpk0S
“I rewrote all the lesson plans. I convinced the base that… children had ‘value.’”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTztCsCK8l
She lifted her fingers, lightly forming quotation marks in the air, her tone a mix of sarcasm and cool detachment.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkmED9bSWT
“We dug out crystals from zombie brains. I taught them how to shoot, how to fight.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXbHYw3CZe
I taught them how to grow crops, how to identify safe zones, how to avoid the infected.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79vSIebB6i
She took a deep breath, as if the children’s faces were surfacing in her mind.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkXWERQGM0
“They were all great kids.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGgEvWqmtzC
That line sounded like a quiet confession,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXwqYRG5q7
Or perhaps a belief she clung to with all her strength.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENtihxyYbE
Nora paused. Her gaze drifted into the air.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLAOl4YFEO
“But once they turned fourteen, they had to leave.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPxEINhr8G
She wasn’t speaking to Tim anymore, but to some version of her past self.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCgTKnq1vl
“They weren’t children anymore. Those with advantages, with powers… of course, they could have a bright future.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhB0xFBEjnq
“But the ordinary ones…”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNZnfvkg8r
Her voice grew faint.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZLlKGEZVq
“They never came back.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlP84vesuKA
Her eyes dropped to her hands—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNNV0dWp4S
Hands that once guided children in holding guns, planting seeds, stroking hair.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIrd4M9bdQ
“There was a time… when I became very strict.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtvkZqQ2YP
She said this slowly, as if confronting a part of herself she wasn’t proud of.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJNYwaszNQ
“I used everything my teacher—the soldier—taught me.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDpyGIRuX8
Her tone carried a fierce kind of resolve, the kind that once meant burning all bridges.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3TXWeMCIM
“I demanded they learn every survival skill, from basic to advanced.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBe7SbxvLP
Every moment counted. No room for carelessness.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KOkMTz8hz
Finally, Nora turned to look at Tim. Her green eyes brimmed with something heavy.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIS5vE0fOue
“You can’t even imagine… what I was like during that time.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJjcW1Dkwd
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“It got so painful… I even thought about leaving the base.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jLU4wEKa4
Nora looked up at the ceiling, her voice as light as the wind.
“But those kids…”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPc37tccgC
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YUu875mFy
Not a laugh of joy, but one of surrender to fate—122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzoRGMPCtv
And acceptance of it.
Nora actually laughed.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RwOhSLE1G
“Tim, like I said—they were great kids.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ929KhB5vob
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcCsIN9nCKu
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGaCtDNpxw
Yet every word burned.
“I drove north.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4v6MvNVYP
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyPq1RatIi
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Bo5kmh5ht
“I might’ve gotten off halfway.”
Her tone suddenly lightened.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqDdjyHDP4
“…I have no memory of that part.”
Her eyes drifted away.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62eCY6Tlps
“So I don’t really know what happened to the children after that.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPX8mQwZHaH
and then Add to home screen.