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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSP6ZxNZdM0
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzI9rshfU7
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—84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1OATuCDIy
Tearing colored paper into small pieces and pasting them onto a drawing. The drawings were sketched on the spot by Nora herself.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOOr7Hmtxv
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ltmA4MmZm
Everyone was saying that Finn was going to be a big brother.
Because the godmother was about to have a baby—a little sister.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvb7RoZ1ZT
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,84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslwEwbZNYh
“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—84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTE86cjJjcM
The woman in the video, the children, the colors and paper scraps...84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rswdm2nZf
So far removed from Gotham’s dark nights and towering buildings.
Tim wondered to himself,84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2I86yF79Bo
A good example…84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbcCd9DGmb
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.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVaiD4XBT1
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1kG9C95aj
“Then I met a retired female soldier.”
She looked up at Tim, her tone suddenly a little lighter.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY52HsVki6L
“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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfhowQyeqP
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ430r19174M
“Tim, kids born into the apocalypse don’t get a childhood.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNM6TdBSu1i
She lowered her head, a shadow passing through her eyes.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50xgUcD8tV
“I rewrote all the lesson plans. I convinced the base that… children had ‘value.’”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCh5hwdoLy
She lifted her fingers, lightly forming quotation marks in the air, her tone a mix of sarcasm and cool detachment.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwAOoZOGNW
“We dug out crystals from zombie brains. I taught them how to shoot, how to fight.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuO1gi2lee
I taught them how to grow crops, how to identify safe zones, how to avoid the infected.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrn2JS6iJM
She took a deep breath, as if the children’s faces were surfacing in her mind.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmUNLyQgRO
“They were all great kids.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6eUmTDbMY
That line sounded like a quiet confession,84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AeX0WnCeq
Or perhaps a belief she clung to with all her strength.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9kftSjoyB
Nora paused. Her gaze drifted into the air.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvLXTBwzUR
“But once they turned fourteen, they had to leave.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnMzYlPvky
She wasn’t speaking to Tim anymore, but to some version of her past self.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLATC7eJEk5
“They weren’t children anymore. Those with advantages, with powers… of course, they could have a bright future.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjHlMwEkcA
“But the ordinary ones…”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlGWWAOHfV
Her voice grew faint.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqAOyRyeep
“They never came back.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPaeHDDtmn
Her eyes dropped to her hands—84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqKGYZs12X
Hands that once guided children in holding guns, planting seeds, stroking hair.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtx6k52GqdF
“There was a time… when I became very strict.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYOapTyYu9
She said this slowly, as if confronting a part of herself she wasn’t proud of.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTcpLLOWZq
“I used everything my teacher—the soldier—taught me.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5bXJAkwOy
Her tone carried a fierce kind of resolve, the kind that once meant burning all bridges.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYUl3FNzpw
“I demanded they learn every survival skill, from basic to advanced.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8NCqOeY3M
Every moment counted. No room for carelessness.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeEJIpVvJA
Finally, Nora turned to look at Tim. Her green eyes brimmed with something heavy.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJsKbUsPkH
“You can’t even imagine… what I was like during that time.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQwwN7hTS5
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“It got so painful… I even thought about leaving the base.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Wko8JxHG4
Nora looked up at the ceiling, her voice as light as the wind.
“But those kids…”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHCcRiXgMM
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblAgzLgBAM
Not a laugh of joy, but one of surrender to fate—84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSwafpti3Q
And acceptance of it.
Nora actually laughed.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2KCkVtuk6
“Tim, like I said—they were great kids.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBAOIaIxhB
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.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2HwOSfDh3
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—84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfd7ycS7hT
Yet every word burned.
“I drove north.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zQwl7vp5n
She closed her eyes slightly, like she could still feel the weight of the steering wheel.
“By then, I… was already infected.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWHWDdW4lt
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcEsxmAgbx
“I might’ve gotten off halfway.”
Her tone suddenly lightened.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAZNiAa4Ni
“…I have no memory of that part.”
Her eyes drifted away.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKs9fCfTzQK
“So I don’t really know what happened to the children after that.”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO15IBCEv7n
and then Add to home screen.