Compared to the bloodthirsty mood she had a while ago, she instantly melted into a puddle of water seeing the small bundle on top of the single bed.

Lallie slept leaning on her left curled up like a tiny caterpillar. She must have cried a lot, the corners of her eyes were still red and her curly eyelashes turned spiky from the tears.    

Poor baby. 

[Major, she looks like you!] 00 praised, [Like a miniature major with a less threatening aura.]

Alvis smiled, swallowing back the emotions gurgling inside her. 

[It’s your reunion after so many years, you must look your best.]

00 words prompted her from ogling Lallie. It’s true, she missed her for twenty years. Returning looking like a wreck seems to be too rude. First, clean herself up before Lallie wakes up.

Alvis walked to the closet at the foot of the small bed to find clean clothes. The room was a former storeroom. It didn’t have a bathroom but there is one in the hallway. 

Cold water hit her body sobering her in the process. Today’s event was strange. It appears that the cause of her death was overdose. There wasn’t a large conflict inside the office as far as she could remember. Her boss is a nice lady and her colleagues were too busy with their own jobs to engage in dramatic rivalry. 

Who would want to murder her?

By the time she finished cleaning herself up, she was also done sorting the information in her head. The smelly clothes filled with vomit was dumped into the washer. She put on a knitted yellow pullover then dark blue fitted jeans and sprayed a bit of cologne to ward off the horrid stench. Going back to their bedroom, she resumed staring at her sister. 

She will make it up to her. She ran a finger on her cute nose and smiled.    

The four-year old cinnamon roll is still asleep. The tiny pink lips were slightly open making her look more adorable. The curly hair framing her small face was a little yellow and dry indicating a lack of nutrition. Fortunately, it was only that. Lallie has no life threatening illness. 

Aunt Lin frequently ridiculed the light hair color saying it was because her mother hooked up with a foreigner. For her, she and her sister were a result of their mother’s wild and ambitious nature. On the other hand, she seemed to be completely blind of her own obsession with foreign imported products. She even sent her daughter to study abroad.  

Alvis sat on the edge of the bed. A white laptop rested on the nightstand, she reached for it and began fiddling.

Looking at her own savings of only ten thousand, Alvis felt her earlier confidence waver. The money is only enough to buy them a month’s worth of supplies. If she sold their old house in the capital it would take more than a month for it to find a buyer. She couldn’t just wait for the apocalypse to come to gather free supplies, she has a baby with her! 

She sat lost within her thoughts for a while. When trouble begins, transportations, communication, and food production would halt. If she neglected to prepare for it, her return will be in vain. 

Aside from Lallie she still has a mission to complete! She cannot fail at the first step.

Then like a voice from the heavens, 00 spoke, [Major, your parents still have a property in Luxor Gardens in the central business district and a villa in Magnolia Park.]

Alvis doubted she was hearing this right.

[How come I didn’t know if this.]

[You’ll be surprised what else was recorded in the virtual archive.] but since the elders feared that too much information would affect her mental state, they decided to leave it to 00 to sort out for her.  

[Magnolia Park…]

[It’s a private area within the state park a couple of hours away from J City. It’s very remote and secure unlike the other property. Also, you and Miss Lallie were left a trust fund by your parents worth thirty million dollars.]

 She died without knowing this? How laughable. 

Two properties in J City and money. That’s a lot… Do environmental scientists earn so much? This was more than enough for two girls to live a comfortable life. 

[Your parents left the necessary papers to their lawyers. Signed and notarized.] 00 continued.

[Where did you pull up these recent records?] Alvis asked curiously. She was still busy filtering through emails she had to refresh her memory. 

[From your aunts computer inside her room.]

Alvis was stunned, her hands stopped typing on the keypad. [Aunt knew of this but she never told me? I wasn’t even aware our parents saved us a little something.]

00 had no idea about human conflicts and reported another thing it dug up from the other room. [There are suspicious exchanges of messages here. Today it looks like your aunt left to meet with a man who knew about the will.]

Lawyer, huh.

[She even has contacts.] Alvis said derisively. [Name?]

[I traced the IP address to a lawyer named Sol--]

[That is my parents lawyer.] 

Aunt Lin sounded particularly excited this morning. Turns out she’s cooking up something. Although what happened to this greedy aunt of theirs at the end of the world was beyond her, the things she did today still managed to irk her.  

[Then what are you waiting for Major Al? You can’t just let her do the same thing again.]

[Relax 00, it’s going to be different this time.] 

Their father is a meticulous man. A little paranoid too. The seemingly odd habit reflected on his career and daily life. 

Their dad would always make sure to leave duplicates of his most important things. Alvis and her mother couldn’t be more aware of this yet for them the habit is nothing out of the ordinary. His attitude reflected from the littlest of things such as keys, his favorite mugs, pens, to important documents.

It’s no wonder why he contacted two separate lawyers and gave each a set of legal documents.

Looking at it now, she realized, daddy did everything for a reason and she couldn’t help but remember him with renewed respect and admiration. If it weren’t for this unnatural hobby, there wouldn’t be anything for her and her sister to fight back. 

[Money makes people blind.] 00 commented based on the data he gathered from various human behaviour. 

[Right…] but she herself is fiercely dependent on ‘money’. Without it she and Lallie will surely suffer. 

[So what’s the next step?]

One of the lawyers completely betrayed them when she died. When she was gone they only left Lallie with several thousands which her aunt paid the orphanage director before tossing her out. Then one of the houses was gobbled up by them. The other, sold. 

[What happened to daddy’s other lawyer?] she didn’t have a clear memory of that one.

00 kindly extracted records from the archive. 

[The lawyer will have an accident and fall into a coma. A week after his recovery, he will be eaten by a zombie in the hospital ward.]       

Ugh, that’s tragic.   

At this moment Alvis knew she had no time to sit around like a clueless kid waiting for her aunt to succeed. She must get that money! 

Brushing her phone on, she filtered through contacts until she found the number she needed most right now. 

“Hello?” a clipped professional voice answered.

“Is Mr. Keith available?”

The line was stagnant for a few seconds, “May I know who’s calling?”

“Tell him it’s Alvis Klein.”

Beyond the phone is the sound of a door opening and the secretary’s faint voice informing his boss.

“Miss Klein, this is your lawyer Mr. Keith. I assume you found out something?”

For the following minutes, he and Alvis talked about her father’s duplicate will and a meeting place. 

 

“Hey sunshine, I’m home.”  

Lallie was still sad because she couldn’t find Sissy all day. She was not feeling very nice since this morning. She wasn’t hungry, she just doesn’t feel right. Sissy was always out because of work but today she felt inexplicably down.       

Remembering the uncomfortable feeling, her little mouth puckered and her eyes watered. She wants to see Sissy now! 

“Hey, hey… don’t cry Sissy is back.” Alvis coaxed by gathering the child in her arms. “See? I’m here.”

Lallie’s crying was put to an instant halt when a flurry of kisses landed on her forehead. The pretty face with the same curly hair as hers was the culprit, smiling at her followed by gentle warm hands touching her cheeks and wiping away the tears. 

“Now that Lallie is awake, Sissy will bring you out to eat. Do you like that?”

The four-year-old girl blinked her eyes, she looked outside the window and saw it was still bright. 

“Sissy is early?”

Alvis nodded. 

“Tired?’

She shook her head. 

How good was it to see your favorite person when you wake up. All the bad things Lallie felt today suddenly disappeared replaced by a burst of happiness. She rubbed her eyes, reached out to her big sister’s neck and cuddled for a while. 

Then the soft ball squirmed, grabbed her cheeks and printed a kiss. 

“I miss you.” Lallie’s sweet innocent voice murmured.

[Huhuhu… such a lovely child.] 00 wailed in the background.

Alvis hugged her tightly letting all the years of fatigue and pain melt in that one kiss. 

“I miss you too.” she whispered back in a fervent voice. “A lot.”

From the bed she brought her to the bathroom to be washed then dressed. 

Even for twenty years that she was separated from Lallie, this habit still remained. In those lonely times, the memory of this child is what sustained her to remain sane and fight for the Brass clan. 

Her sister’s legacy. 

“Where are we going?” Lallie asked after she was put in a frilly yellow dress.

“Sissy will bring you out to play. Then we will eat anything Lal wants.”

“But…” the little one hesitated. “It’s not yet my birthday.”

Alvis touched her throat preventing the ache from the incoming tears. She remembered promising her to eat at the newly opened restaurant on her birthday. Lallie knew they had little money but like any other children, she couldn’t help herself wanting to enter that bright and colorful place. 

Thinking about the apocalypse, Lallie may not have a chance to enjoy something like that ever again so made a decision. 

She gently patted the child’s head, “It’s okay. Even if it’s not Lallie’s birthday, Sissy will take you there.”

In fact, she will bring her out to play everyday!

Not just there but in all other nice places that will make her happy. If she could, she would pluck the stars and put it on her sister’s palm. The thoughts about the end of the world will be put on hold for the time being. 

She has to give her sister good memories. 

Lallie believes everything her big sister says so she nodded and jumped back into her embrace happily. “When I grow up I will work too then buy nice things for Sissy and... and make Sissy happy.”

Her eyes reddened, the warm words hit her long-dead heart. Chipping away the callous and scars accumulated from the harsh experience in the military. 

[Major, if I had eyes. I’d be crying by now. The children in the empire wouldn’t hold a candle to Miss Lallie’s cuteness. As expected of the carrier of superior genes.]

Alvis was in between crying and smiling. The expression looked a little ugly. But deep inside her heart she was proud. Superior genes or not, Lallie is Lallie.