What we left behind

Before the outbreak, Y/N was Sarah's 19-year-old babysitter-bright, grounded, and secretly in love with Joel. Despite the age gap and the risk, they shared quiet nights, stolen touches, and a bond Joel never let himself name. Then the world collapsed. Chaos hit, and they lost each other.

Twenty years later, Joel finds his brother Tommy at a Jackson commune-and with him, Y/N. Alive. Different. Hardened by the world, but somehow softer with Tommy. She'd survived, found stability, and built something with the only piece of Joel she had left.

Joel never says it out loud, but it cuts deep. The past claws at all three of them: old love, new trust, guilt, and the brutal reality that in this world, love is a luxury few can afford-and second chances are almost never clean.