Chapter 4: Morning routine

I was running through the field. There were lots of zombies chasing me, getting closer every second. I was almost near the school gates when suddenly I tripped over a piece of rock and fell on the ground. Zombies surrounded me. I tried to defend myself with a sword, but they kept coming…

I woke up with a cold sweat. It was just a bad dream after all. But the situation I was trapped in was real. I was in a school besieged by hordes of zombies, with no hope for any relief, only walls protecting us from imminent death. I stood up and made my "bed" which now consisted of only a bunch of blankets and a pillow. I looked at the clock hanging at the entrance of the classroom – it was 8:05 am, all the girls were still sleeping. I decided that there's no time to waste and used a brutal yet effective method to wake them up. I took big metal ring I found in the back of the classroom and made a loud noise with it:

- "Okay, sleeping princesses, time to wake up!"
Girls started to wake up. Sayori loudly apologized:
- "Monika, it's almost a night, why are you waking me up, I could still sleep"
- "Don't sleep or zombies will eat you. We must keep order here or else we won't survive, remember what Bernard said? Not please all of you, make your beds and stand near the exit"
- "What, are you our teacher now to give us orders?" asked Natsuki angrily
- "Yes, I am. Now do what I say, or y'all won't eat dinner today"

This proposition must have really woke them up, because soon all five of them had organized their sheets and were standing in a row, from the door, Natsuki, Yuri, Linda and Sayori. So that's how it feels to have power? Not bad after all I thought to myself.
- "Very good, now we don't want to be dirty, so we are going to the bathroom. Now, march politely behind me"
- "Ayay, captain Monika!" said Sayori, and other started to laugh

Upon reaching the bathroom there were already toothbrushes and toothpastes prepared near sinks. Xavier found them yesterday with his group in the nurse room, so their lack was not a problem for us, at least for now. I washed my teeth and then face using a soap. We didn't have much of a choice in regards to cosmetics, so it had to do now. After I was satisfied that everyone has washed I pointed at the shower room and said:
- "Okay everyone, now please take a soap, we are going to have a shower"
There was a bigger room with three shower heads at the back of the bathroom, which was usually used by gym club members. There were several towels flown outside.
- "What, are we going to shower together?" asked Natsuki, not believing
- "Michael told us that the water from the city grid has stopped flowing, and now the school only has a limited supply of water and we'll probably have to start collecting rainwater soon. We must save water in other survive"
- "Okay, but am I supposed to get naked in front of everyone?"
- "Please Natsuki, don't make a problem of such a trivial thing. From now on we must live together like a big family"
- "You didn't make it sound much better, but let's just get over it" said Natsuki, throwing her clothes in the dirty pile and going to shower. Soon after I also stripped naked and went to the shower. Sayori and Linda soon followed, however I noticed that Yuri was standing outside in her pajamas looking unsurely around her.

- "Yuri, why aren't you coming into the shower?" I asked
- "I… think I will come later"
- "Nonsense, I already said we can't waste water on individual showers. Please come in"
- "I don't want others to look at me, I will just skip it…" I started to get annoyed.
- "Yuri is disrespecting my orders, Natsuki can you please come and bring her to her senses?"
- "With pleasure, Captain Monika!" said Natsuki enthusiastically, as she sneaked behind Yuri.
She grabbed her shirt and pulled it up above her neck.
- "Boob reveal!" laughed Natsuki, until she suddenly froze in place, looking at Yuri's arms. They were both covered in multiple scars, many of them still looking fresh, as if they were made a day ago. Yuri covered both of her arms, hiding her eyes from us.
- "I didn't want you to see my scars"
- "Yuri, did you make those yourself?" I asked with a serious voice.
- "Yes, I cut myself regularily. Please don't look at me, you must think of me now as some kind of weirdo"
Sayori stepped in, looking at Yuri.
- "Please don't say that Yuri. We won't think less of you, just because of you do. Everyone of us does weird things that others think of as weird. There is no reason to be ashamed of the way you are. You don't need to keep secrets from us, we'll understand you"
- "Really, Sayori?" asked Yuri, looking shyly at her
- "Yes, really Yuri" I said "We are your friends after all. What friend would think of you as someone worse because they have different coping mechanisms"
Suddenly, Natsuki grabbed Yuri from behind and hugged her tightly.
- "Yuri, why did you never tell me? I would understand you. You are not a weirdo! You are my best friend!"
Yuri visibly flushed and said calmly:
- "Thank..ks Natsuki, i feel better now"

When we explained everything between ourselves I put a liquid soap on a brush and opened shower water. I started washing. I started nodding to myself. Sayori, who was near me, also started nodding, though it didn't sound nearly as good as mine. After a while I placed a soap on my hair and I washed them. It took some time, due to the length of my hair. After I was done a waited a bit and said:
- "Okay, time to come out everyone, there is a pile of clean clothes laying near"
I grabbed a towel and covered myself with. There were two hair dryers in the room. Thankfully electricity was still running, so I grabbed one and proceeded to dry my hair. Linda sat near me and grabbed a second dryer.
- "Hey, Monika" said Linda
- "Hey, Linda" I responded
- "I must say, you are taking this situation surprisingly well. We are trapped in a school surrounded by hordes of zombies, and you are giving us orders without any self-doubt"
- "You know, I have led the Literature Club for some time now, so I have some leadership skills. Also I had to work under stress many times in my life. I don't give up that easily. Life is hard and you need to work with your problems, or they will defeat you"
- "This feels so surreal to me, we are bunch of nine adolescents trapped in a building, who must organize everything around us"
- "Well, think about it as a final test of adulthood. If you survive it, you will survive anything"
- "Yeah, let's hope" I said, trying to smile.

After drying my hair I grabbed a bunch of clothes from a pile. I took underwear, a shirt, shoes and trousers. Skirt probably wouldn't be too helpful when running from zombies, I thought, remembering my dream. I hoped it wasn't a prophecy. After everyone finished clothing, we came out of the bathroom. That's when we noticed Arthur running towards us. He stopped near Linda and kissed her on the cheek.
- "Oh here you are Linda, we are having breakfast in the cafeteria, come with us now"
Girls looked at me and I simply nodded. After coming to the cafeteria I noticed Bernard, Xavier and Michael were sitting around a table with food discussing something. Michael noticed us and waved:.
- "Oh, hey, I made a breakfast from packed food we found in the cafeteria, it's still hot" He stood up and went to the counter"
We stood in a line and Michael started giving us food on plates. When it came to me:
- "I must tell you that I am a vegetarian, so I don't eat any meat. Also, is there coffee?"
- "Ohhh alright, I don't think it will be a problem. Yeah we have coffee, Michael always drinks it"
He gave me bread, butter, peanut butter, cornflakes, yogurt and a cup of hot coffee?" I thanked him and grabbed my plate. When I sat at the table, everyone was already discussing. I drank a bit of coffee, to get energy, because I was getting bit sleepy, when Bernard stood up:
- "Allright, now that everyone is here, I want to announce that I plan to make an expedition to the P.E. supply room outside of school"