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.64Please respect copyright.PENANAzKKaJ7qrwn
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.64Please respect copyright.PENANAqzRu1p18G0
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—64Please respect copyright.PENANAx9BwViupvm
Tearing colored paper into small pieces and pasting them onto a drawing. The drawings were sketched on the spot by Nora herself.64Please respect copyright.PENANAsw7hSVpdYA
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.64Please respect copyright.PENANA626saOtYcz
Everyone was saying that Finn was going to be a big brother.
Because the godmother was about to have a baby—a little sister.64Please respect copyright.PENANA2HbvWe5ciA
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,64Please respect copyright.PENANAFdzdyy2lB5
“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—64Please respect copyright.PENANAXnJS2oW5TK
The woman in the video, the children, the colors and paper scraps...64Please respect copyright.PENANAwSb0I0qEC8
So far removed from Gotham’s dark nights and towering buildings.
Tim wondered to himself,64Please respect copyright.PENANA7dpwi5JKIf
A good example…64Please respect copyright.PENANA2crpX8ARYd
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.”64Please respect copyright.PENANACgJOfXgh9T
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.64Please respect copyright.PENANALIzG6KtrJN
“Then I met a retired female soldier.”
She looked up at Tim, her tone suddenly a little lighter.64Please respect copyright.PENANA8JrPkuLFc0
“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.64Please respect copyright.PENANAlsACnrhuro
The woman smiling like sunshine amidst a group of children—Had once carried a night like that on her back.
64Please respect copyright.PENANAhoa12G99Nn
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Nora continued, her voice steady but distant, as if it traveled from far away.64Please respect copyright.PENANAscGvJpEmRD
“Tim, kids born into the apocalypse don’t get a childhood.”64Please respect copyright.PENANA1tlfnQ8aTC
She lowered her head, a shadow passing through her eyes.64Please respect copyright.PENANAwf4Tu4JcQa
“I rewrote all the lesson plans. I convinced the base that… children had ‘value.’”64Please respect copyright.PENANAeeXxlXtIYu
She lifted her fingers, lightly forming quotation marks in the air, her tone a mix of sarcasm and cool detachment.64Please respect copyright.PENANAiMRjqG7j08
“We dug out crystals from zombie brains. I taught them how to shoot, how to fight.64Please respect copyright.PENANAlkiT2elXqO
I taught them how to grow crops, how to identify safe zones, how to avoid the infected.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAkk0Ps65JX8
She took a deep breath, as if the children’s faces were surfacing in her mind.64Please respect copyright.PENANA64gckhRReZ
“They were all great kids.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAhfK7S8w6Fc
That line sounded like a quiet confession,64Please respect copyright.PENANAOSQm0cqdw6
Or perhaps a belief she clung to with all her strength.64Please respect copyright.PENANAsna93RTHie
Nora paused. Her gaze drifted into the air.64Please respect copyright.PENANALvX4dVFT2A
“But once they turned fourteen, they had to leave.”64Please respect copyright.PENANA7Dc51SaBHn
She wasn’t speaking to Tim anymore, but to some version of her past self.64Please respect copyright.PENANANzzfI1LdE3
“They weren’t children anymore. Those with advantages, with powers… of course, they could have a bright future.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAHVuSOkhmK8
“But the ordinary ones…”64Please respect copyright.PENANAcgDtVZvfUe
Her voice grew faint.64Please respect copyright.PENANAiq9pncE5Wo
“They never came back.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAZsErIrwA56
Her eyes dropped to her hands—64Please respect copyright.PENANAkbpodV2lpM
Hands that once guided children in holding guns, planting seeds, stroking hair.64Please respect copyright.PENANABctOxIBYKG
“There was a time… when I became very strict.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAxo9YpHzjmW
She said this slowly, as if confronting a part of herself she wasn’t proud of.64Please respect copyright.PENANA93872qFoQI
“I used everything my teacher—the soldier—taught me.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAF12bNqGECN
Her tone carried a fierce kind of resolve, the kind that once meant burning all bridges.64Please respect copyright.PENANAtTAjaWI6Js
“I demanded they learn every survival skill, from basic to advanced.64Please respect copyright.PENANAWz8cG8rOyp
Every moment counted. No room for carelessness.”64Please respect copyright.PENANABDD6BdOQF8
Finally, Nora turned to look at Tim. Her green eyes brimmed with something heavy.64Please respect copyright.PENANAS7yMapvrsZ
“You can’t even imagine… what I was like during that time.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAUwWIVY496e
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“It got so painful… I even thought about leaving the base.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAmYLOUSDrEO
Nora looked up at the ceiling, her voice as light as the wind.
“But those kids…”64Please respect copyright.PENANAGT8OSC0g3x
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.64Please respect copyright.PENANA6AzSCh3P39
Not a laugh of joy, but one of surrender to fate—64Please respect copyright.PENANAeLO2sf55Rb
And acceptance of it.
Nora actually laughed.64Please respect copyright.PENANAqwQxSLvvEw
“Tim, like I said—they were great kids.”64Please respect copyright.PENANA7E6dg1iGMq
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.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAsGbEiKf5pD
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—64Please respect copyright.PENANA2JXpKzypsT
Yet every word burned.
“I drove north.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAze8WTa31ao
She closed her eyes slightly, like she could still feel the weight of the steering wheel.
“By then, I… was already infected.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAKmWIhKcOYH
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.64Please respect copyright.PENANAJnb92rnBfq
“I might’ve gotten off halfway.”
Her tone suddenly lightened.64Please respect copyright.PENANAHhtjUE24DK
“…I have no memory of that part.”
Her eyes drifted away.64Please respect copyright.PENANAYeLWnpGvaL
“So I don’t really know what happened to the children after that.”64Please respect copyright.PENANAGnN4mMJgTV


