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.
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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
and then Add to home screen.