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.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwFs8Tvnvs
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.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcB7vymMmX
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—121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5who41tebq
Tearing colored paper into small pieces and pasting them onto a drawing. The drawings were sketched on the spot by Nora herself.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNSoOOnQrg
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.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYksWgIq3W7
Everyone was saying that Finn was going to be a big brother.
Because the godmother was about to have a baby—a little sister.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOenyPr23kZ
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,121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQXwAdPzp0
“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—121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rXHA8LS0v
The woman in the video, the children, the colors and paper scraps...121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsDG8u6N6F
So far removed from Gotham’s dark nights and towering buildings.
Tim wondered to himself,121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbKsmAZR9W
A good example…121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTf3lpucnB
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.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tTAaHQ0qp
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.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDe7jF68Er
“Then I met a retired female soldier.”
She looked up at Tim, her tone suddenly a little lighter.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15IE9cgI0a
“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.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQBlORnQyR
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.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MPCw2OgVT
“Tim, kids born into the apocalypse don’t get a childhood.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPg2awfCW6q
She lowered her head, a shadow passing through her eyes.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqQ7wRP8r3
“I rewrote all the lesson plans. I convinced the base that… children had ‘value.’”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIvPdcX0J2
She lifted her fingers, lightly forming quotation marks in the air, her tone a mix of sarcasm and cool detachment.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiufHvh0mm
“We dug out crystals from zombie brains. I taught them how to shoot, how to fight.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBdzckGcCY
I taught them how to grow crops, how to identify safe zones, how to avoid the infected.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqQKGxo6bq
She took a deep breath, as if the children’s faces were surfacing in her mind.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpTSj2uCVk
“They were all great kids.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCy92Ym3BH7
That line sounded like a quiet confession,121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFb25YgZMj
Or perhaps a belief she clung to with all her strength.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypu2yz7XRn
Nora paused. Her gaze drifted into the air.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Rs7yf4dTZ
“But once they turned fourteen, they had to leave.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJaWPjdXzT
She wasn’t speaking to Tim anymore, but to some version of her past self.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVceO96JDk
“They weren’t children anymore. Those with advantages, with powers… of course, they could have a bright future.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrX0J1VLzz
“But the ordinary ones…”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHGFVltcP3
Her voice grew faint.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ESIYAR98Q
“They never came back.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqilq8HR4S
Her eyes dropped to her hands—121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFB8imWOrtC
Hands that once guided children in holding guns, planting seeds, stroking hair.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNqIgv33OJ
“There was a time… when I became very strict.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLDlisQgTT
She said this slowly, as if confronting a part of herself she wasn’t proud of.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRNtwDmRd6
“I used everything my teacher—the soldier—taught me.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSreXKgnXO
Her tone carried a fierce kind of resolve, the kind that once meant burning all bridges.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKfXJ7UR0R
“I demanded they learn every survival skill, from basic to advanced.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1ejbczB92
Every moment counted. No room for carelessness.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEyGJbefIH
Finally, Nora turned to look at Tim. Her green eyes brimmed with something heavy.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgEnIqXNvT
“You can’t even imagine… what I was like during that time.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ofwxf1pkm
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“It got so painful… I even thought about leaving the base.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHC7W66jwt
Nora looked up at the ceiling, her voice as light as the wind.
“But those kids…”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDOBANC5dY
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.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJSjnJUQr2
Not a laugh of joy, but one of surrender to fate—121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8v7H4gEmpJ
And acceptance of it.
Nora actually laughed.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2h3xYR0XN
“Tim, like I said—they were great kids.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUB4sGcGNV
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.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp69DGguN5W
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—121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQ3LlABx7f
Yet every word burned.
“I drove north.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKhCJKPQjH
She closed her eyes slightly, like she could still feel the weight of the steering wheel.
“By then, I… was already infected.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEGDTIKJQs
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.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fzXdfIU9I
“I might’ve gotten off halfway.”
Her tone suddenly lightened.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0Ax5SvP0i
“…I have no memory of that part.”
Her eyes drifted away.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VH0lRYAa6
“So I don’t really know what happened to the children after that.”121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfsUXIVzYK
and then Add to home screen.