A heart to remember

Before the world restarted

Rae is the youngest of 3 kids and the only girl, being raised by a single dad. Tim, the dad, was going to school trying to earn his degree, working full time and raising his 3 kids. He always referred to her as his sweetheart, and sometimes she would introduce herself as her dad's sweetheart. One year for Halloween her dad dressed up as a superhero, and ever since then she thought he was a real life superhero

Tim did not mind his daughter thinking he was a superhero, he actually embraced it. For her 8th birthday, he got her a heart shaped locket necklace, with the Batman logo in the middle of it with a family picture inside it. She loved it, and when she wore it felt like she had super powers like her dad. She would go to school wearing it, and made sure no one would bully any of the other kids at her school. One day coming home so proud of herself, she runs to Tim and tells him of how she punched a boy in the throat for trying to steal her Batman necklace. The boy named Billy told Rae to take it off because she is a girl and can not wear anything with Batman's sign on it. Tim made sure she understood he was really proud of her for standing up for herself. Years pass by, she still wears the heart shaped locket, and knows her dad is not a superhero.

After the 48 hour meteor shower that destroyed civilization:

The radiation from the meteors has given a very small percentage of the surviving population different abilities they did not have before. This includes Rae, has developed super-speed, and Tim super strength.

6 months after the events that crushed most of the planet, Rae is now 16 years old. She and Tim are by themselves because her brothers, Tony and Emanuel were kidnapped by a terrorist group wanting to establish a new government. The terrorist group goes by the name NCG, or New Country Government. Every survivor struggles fighting for food and shelter. Tim and Rae make their way towards a small cave outside the city in a very secluded place by an aquifer. At this point, Rae wonders why a cave and asks Tim about it. He tells her if she is going to be wearing a Batman necklace, she should at least have a cave to hideout at. But in reality, Tim knows the cave provides them with shelter and fresh water, even though they sometimes have to go out and find food. They do miss the boys and wonder if they are safe, or still alive.

Rae wants to go find them, but Tim doesn't want to, he wants them to keep a low profile and stay safe.

Rae: “What happened to you dad? You used to be strong, taught us never to give up when the odds are against you! We learned to be there for others, from you! Now your sons need you, and you are going to turn your back on them? That is not what a hero would do, that is not what my dad would do!”

Tim: “Don't you think I miss them and worry about them too?! I think about them all the time, I hope we run into them every time we go out for food! The 3 of you gave me strength to never give up, yall were the fuel to my fire that pushed me to want to become a better person and set a good example for y'all. Everything I did was for you and your brothers. The thing is, I'm older now and not not strong enough anymore!”

Rae: “You don’t have to be, I'm here and we can go after them together!”

Tim: “No, I mean if I lose you, I am not strong enough to keep going. When I lost your brothers, I lost a big part of me. I can’t lose you too. I can't live without my heart"(referring to Rae being his sweetheart).

Rae: “I never thought my dad would be scared of a challenge.”

Tim: “It’s not that I'm afraid, it’s that everything I have attempted to do to better our lives, I have failed at.

Later that night, Rae gathers a few supplies and leaves anyway. She is determined to find her brothers. The next morning Tim finds a note she left behind telling him that she will be back with her brothers, so make sure to get plenty of food. Tim knows she is confident enough to think she can do it one her own, but will not let her so he grabs a few things and runs out trying to find her. He figures she will head back to the city first, so he goes in that direction.

A family with small kids are being harassed by 3 scavengers after their food. They got the dad on the ground and the kids and mom hiding and crying in their car. The scavengers tell the mom to give them all their food or and they will release him. She comes out slowly with their food. Suddenly a loud crash comes from the direction where the scavengers are and a big cloud of dust goes up. The mom, frightened, thinks they killed her husband. As the cloud starts to clear, only 2 people are visible, the rest are on the ground unconscious. One of the people standing is the husband, the other being Rae. She had overheard what was happening and couldn't walk by without helping that family. Without hesitation, Rae throws a bomb she had with her from the supplies she took. The bomb was just a distraction as she didn't want to throw it too close and kill innocent people. Once the bomb blew up, she ran, making a cloud of smoke, knocking out the scavengers before they realized what was happening. The family wants to thank her by giving her food, but she refuses. Tells them to be very careful and to always stick together. Shortly after she continues on her way.

Finally makes it to the city and sees a bunch of vehicles with the letters NCG painted on them. Seems like they've taken over the city and have grown in size since their last encounter when they took her brothers. Still confident she'll be able to save her brothers, she starts walking in their direction while being stealthy so they don't see her coming. Her best chance of succeeding is to sneak her way in. Before getting too far she runs into a group of them, which they manage to capture. One of them recognized her but he can't remember from where. Then he sees her Batman heart shaped locket and suddenly remembers who she is. Years before the world came to a halt, while they were in school one day he tried taking it from her. Billy remembers all this and wants his revenge because she embarrassed him in front of the whole school when they were little kids.

Rae and Billy get ready to start fighting when out of nowhere Tim catches up to them. Calls them all cowards for picking a fight with a girl by herself. Walks over to Rae and tells her that he wants part of the fun beating on these guys. Right away the fight begins, Rae and Tim have practiced fighting plenty of times. She refers to practice fighting as "playing punchies". They use her quickness and his strength to quickly defeat this group of NCG. Billy, still being conscious, shoots Tim with a sniper rifle. Time felt like it slowed down at this point for Rae, she saw him fall to the ground in slow motion. She turns to where the shot came from, sees Billy with the rifle now pointing at her. He starts shooting at her but misses every time. Although she is extremely fast, her emotions get the best of her and she loses her speed. Continues to run towards him, Billy is not dumb, he knows if she gets to him she will surely kill him so he decides to get in his truck and drive away. Her face filled with tears, she walks over to her dad. Tim struggles to breath, spitting blood as he tries to get a few words out but can’t. She leans over to hug him.

Rae: “DAD, DAD STAY WITH ME! YOU CAN'T DIE, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! I'm sorry dad, you were right, we should have just stayed behind. I’m scared I don’t know what to do!”

Tim is finally able to catch his breath and struggles to say what he wants to tell her. He tells her how proud he is of her for being brave enough to go find her brothers. He assures her that she will not be alone, he will be in her heart. Finally tells her that he wishes he would have just gone to get more food like she told him in the note. Which makes both of them laugh for a bit, the last laugh Rae got to share with her dad before his body finally gives up on him.

It takes Rae till the next day to get her composure and get her speed back. So she starts making her way towards the NCG headquarters again. She finally gets there, but there is a commotion going on inside. Alarms going off, guards running all over the place, things being thrown everywhere.

A few hours earlier, Emanuel and Tony hear Billy make an announcement warning everyone about a girl with a heart shaped locket, he tells everyone to capture her and bring her to him. Emanuel and Tony know exactly who that girl is, they wonder why Billy only mentions a girl but doesn't say anything about anyone else with her. They don't know why their dad would let her go to that place by herself. Knowing she is on her way there, they quickly come up with a plan to break out of their cells. As soon as they do, they are able to start releasing the other prisoners, creating chaos because they outnumbered the guards. By the time Rae makes her way inside the building, most of the NCG has been defeated. Rae was a little disappointed because she did not get to fight anyone. Until she sees Billy trying to escape again. This time Rae was able to get to him. Being face to face with him again, she is filled with rage and starts beating him. However she starts losing her speed again. She quickly learns anytime she is very emotional, whether with rage or sadness when her dad died, she loses her speed. She can not control her rage in the middle of a fight though, not this time when wants revenge. Billy notices she is not as fast, and starts hitting her back. They continue fighting with neither one having an advantage. Her brothers see them fighting through a glass window and quickly make their way to help her. Billy see’s them coming and panics, he runs away from Rae. He doesn’t make it far before being captured by some of the other prisoners. Rae is finally reunited with her brothers.

On their way to the cave, Rae has to break the bad news to her brothers about their dad. They take a moment to grieve over his death. But before they can make it all the way to the cave, they start arguing who had a bigger part in defeating the NCG. Suddenly a gust of wind blew in their direction, they stopped and slowly looked at each other, all three got chills and felt their dad’s presence in the wind as if he was telling them to stop arguing. They continue on their way without arguing.