Hearing her younger brother Henry's voice, Emily sprang up from the couch like she'd been shocked, staring at him in stunned silence as tears began to stream down her face.
She'd always had a gentle, soft-hearted nature. After the world ended, she fled with their parents from one hellhole to another—until she watched them die right in front of her. That broke something inside her. Since then, she'd been hanging on by a thread, hiding the trauma under forced calm. But now, seeing Henry again, she couldn't hold it back anymore.
She ran straight into his arms, broke down, and cried like she couldn't stop—like every tear she hadn't shed came pouring out all at once.
Henry's eyes were red too. It had only been, what, seven, eight months since they last saw each other? But in the apocalypse, that felt like lifetimes.
