Chapter 7: Farming

This night I slept very well, waking up refreshed. I almost did not feel pain in my hands. After going to the bathroom, we had to take a shower with rainwater, as the running water from the pipe system had already run out. Thankfully we managed to gather some at night in vessels when it was raining, so after covering myself in soap I flushed myself with water in some bowl. It wasn't perfect, but better than running dirty during an apocalypse. Electricity also cut off and we didn't manage to set up a power generator yet (especially that I doubt that Bernard would allow electricity to be used for such a trivial thing as hair drying considering limited supply of fuel and coal we had) so I had to cover them with a towel and wait for them to dry themselves.

While being locked in school with a limited amount of supplies without running water and electricity sucked, we managed to do some things to stay alive and sane. Every day someone washed our used clothes using rain water and soap, so we always had clean clothes to wear every day. Michael with the help of Natsuki were preparing breakfasts and dinners with canned food, using a propane-powered heater to prepare hot food. Linda became the main nurse, treating everyone's illnesses using a limited amount of medications and equipment in the nurse room. There was a plan written on the doors of the main room with tasks delegated to everyone on every day and hour. Bernard was directly giving orders and helping everyone who struggled with their tasks, but also punishing those who forgot to do them with more tasks next time. He was almost always surrounded with Michael and Xavier during patrols, like some kind of warlord. They often looked for zombies approaching school from windows. Xavier was regularly training with his new bow to be better prepared in case of zombie breakout. For now everything was calm, although I doubted it could stay that way for long.

After the morning shower and breakfast, I decided to go to the gym. I was disappointed by my performance during yesterday's battle and decided to strengthen my muscles. There was a gym in our school with, with approximate equipment, that could be used without any electricity. I grabbed a water bottle and went. When I entered I noticed that Xavier and Natsuki were already there. Xavier was doing push-ups, while Natsuki was doing crunches.
- "Hi there!" I said
- "Hi!" responded Natsuki and Xavier simultaneously.
I decided to train a bicycle, not to overwork my arms, still wounded. Good old technology, without any electrical parts. I asked Natsuki:
- "I didn't expect you at the gym, Natsuki. Going for a six pack?"
- "You know, I just think I don't want to be a defenseless lady, who must be protected by others. I want to be able to defend myself in case. Just because I am short, does not mean that I must be short"
- "Right. I think that as important it is to know how to fight, it's also important to know how to run away" I said while running faster on the bicycle.
- "Yes, it is a lesson, that you should definitely learn"
- "You know, Natsuki, I like athletic girls" said suddenly Xavier with flirtatious voice
- "You idiot! Shut up or I will throw a dumbbell at you!" responded an outraged Natsuki. I laughed. After running for 15 minutes on the bicycle and stopped and drinked a bit of water. That's when Michael came in and said:
- "Xavier, Monika, Natsuki please come on the rooftop, Bernard wants to meet you"
- What does he want? Another stupid suicide mission? I am not going to do that!" said angrily Natsuki
- "No, no, it's nothing like that. He is setting up something and need your help, he will explain everything to you"

When entered the rooftop Bernard was sitting on a plastic chair looking at the horizon. Around him were a few bags with gardening dirt, a container with water, rotten food from the cafeteria, some sachets, shovels, plastic foil and other equipment.
- "We are here, as you wanted," said Xavier.
He stopped looking at the horizon and smiled.
- "Oh, good good. As you all know, we do not have an infinite amount of food. That's why I decided we will build a garden on top of building where we will grow edible plants to become self-sustainable"
- "Do you at least have any idea how to plant and grow food?" asked Natsuki
- "Well, no, that's why I asked you to come and help me with it. Others are currently doing some tasks around the school, so it's a perfect opportunity. I have gathered everything that we might need, I think"
- "Allright, I used to be a member of a gardening club in middle school, so I think I got it. What plants do we have?" She looked into a bag with leftover food from the cafeteria.
- "Allright, I think we will plant radish, potatoes, tomatoes and lettuce. We will divide the field into four parts. They all should grow on a relatively thin layer of dirt and provide us with enough nutrition. Allright, let's start by placing layer of foil on the ground"
- "Why are we doing this?" asked Xavier
- "Isn't it obvious, dummy? To prevent water from sinking into the ground!"
- "Oh, right"
We took a big piece of transparent plastic foil. Each one of us grabbed one corner. Then we stretched it and placed it on the corner of the rooftop, near the fence.
- "Okay, everyone please place something heavy in each corner to keep the foil stretched!"
I took a brick laying around and placed it in my corner.
- "Looks like there is enough space for planting. Do we have enough dirt"
- "Yeah, I gathered a few bags of dirt I found around the school" responded Bernard
- "Splendid" said Natsuki "amazing how many different weird things can we found at school building"
- "Very convenient for us definitely" said Xavier
- "Okay, open the bags with solid and spread them on the ground"
Bernard took out his knife he was always wearing on his neck, grabbed one bad and cut it open in one clean move. Then he opened the remaining two bags, now laying on the ground.
- "Done. Monika, Xavier help me spread this"
- "Yes, general!"
I grabbed one bag, carefully transporting not to lose any soil and then in one move opened it above the foil. There were approximately 40 liters of soil there.
Natsuki looked not pleased:
- "You were supposed to carefully spread it on the ground, not create one big heap!"
- Ohh, sorry, sorry" I said
- "Ahh, lemme help you!" said Natsuki, grabbing a shovel.

Meanwhile Bernard and Xavier were spreading their bags of soil from other ends of the parcel. I grabbed another shovel and helped them. After a few minutes of hard work it looks like it was ready.
- "Now we need a place to plant all of our vegetables. Create a holes every half meter in the ground"
- "Hmm do I measure half a meter?" asked Xavier "Should I go back to the classroom to find some ruler?"
- "Just use your arm, you dummy! Distance from your elbow to your fingers should be equal to roughly half a meter"
- "I remember" interrupted Bernard "You're talking about the ell, medieval Northern European unit of measurement, although it varies greatly between different countries…"
- "Thanks for your lecture, Bernard, now let's get to work"
- "Hey! Have some respect for your leader!"
- "I respect you, but I will respect you more if you help me in digging those holes!"
He swallowed his pride, grabbed a shovel and started making holes.
I approached him while he was working:
- "Well, looks like you now receive orders from a little girl, hmm" I said teasingly
- "You know, good leaders know when to listen to advice from those who know better than him how to do stuff. Also Natsuki is not a little girl"
- "Yeah, yeah"

After finishing we dug around 100 holes divided into four quarters. After working so hard for a longer period of time, we were really tired, and heat from the sky did not help.
- "Man, I am so sweaty, I feel like water is running from me. My entire shirt is wet!" complained Natsuki
- "If you have a problem with his, you can always take off your shirt" said Xavier
- "Yeah, you would certainly want to, you horndog, huh?" said Natsuki
- "What if I don't mind?"
- "Fine, but you first!"
- "If you really insist…" said Xavier and took off his shirt, revealing a bare chest and a decent abdomen. Natsuki blushed looking at him.
- "Didn't know you wanted to see me bare chest this much, now your turn"
Natsuki took off her shirt, and tied it around her waist, standing only in a white bra. She had very light, visibly signaling that she rarely went outside.
- "Please don't laugh at me, I know I'm not attractive like…"
- "I think you look very beautiful, Natsuki, you should just sunbathe more often!"
- "Hey you two!" said Bernard, interrupting the awkward conversation "Can you stop flirting and get back to work?"
- "Yes, sorry!" said Xavier and Natsuki almost in sync.
I rolled my eyes.
- "Okay" said Natsuki "Now I will explain to you how to plant vegetables. Bernard, you will plant potatoes. Please notice where they have their eyes. Those are small bumps where potatoes will start growing their sprouts. Then cut off a piece of potato which has between two to three eyes and place it in dirt. Now, tomatoes don't need a lot of water, one or two inches every week should be sufficient. They should grow between 60 and 80 days between being ready to harvest"
- "I get it, I get it"
- "Monika, you will plant radishes. Place seeds in holes and water them regularly. After they grow, please remove the green parts so as not to block the sunlight. They should be ready to harvest after between three and five weeks. Do not wait too long or they'll not be tasty!"
- "Got it" I said
- "Xavier, your job is to plant tomatoes. Place their seeds into holes quite deep and cover them with soil. Water them regularly, slowly and deeply. They should take around 60 to 100 days to mature, and don't need to be trimmed.
- "No problem!"
- "I will take care of the lettuce. After the first harvest, our soil will lose some of its nutritional value, so we must set up a composter where we will throw leftover food to make compost for next planting. Plants require care but after a few months we will be able to eat our own homegrown food!"

The perspective of our own food production reminded me that we can potentially be restrained here for months if not for years. All of our old lives were gone. But there was no time to complain about our situation. I took a sachet with radish seeds that Bernard found somewhere and started planting them. After placing one seed in each hole I covered it with soil. After 15 minutes of work I planted 25 radish seeds. Bernard took the longest to complete his work, as he had to cut the potatoes first and find eligible parts. After everything was planted it was time to water everything.
Natsuki took a big vessel with rainwater, and started pouring onto each patch. After approaching the last part she stumbled upon the brick in the corner, lost her balance and threw remains of the water in my direction. It banged my head and soaked my entire shirt.
- "I am so sorry, Monika, I didn't want to…"
- "No, it's kinda my fault, I shouldn't have placed a brick n there. Well I will have to take it off now too"
I took off my shirt and remained in my bra.
- "Now, we are shirtless club" said Natsuki "and grabbed me and Xavier"
- "Allright shirtless club, now everyone please grab things that we left, and gather them back to the supply room"
I took three, now empty, bags and one shovel and descended down the stairs. Xavier was flirting with Natsuki during our way. When I looked at Bernard, he was looking at the distance, probably thinking about something. Uhh, what was wrong with him? An attractive girl was walking shirtless in front of him and he didn't even care to complement her or even look at her. But… why did I even care? It's not like I liked him or anything, he can do whatever he wants!

After returning all the stuff, I went into the bathroom to take a quick shower and find some new clothes. I stumped upon Sayori:
- "Hi, Monika! I noticed you were walking around shirtless with Bernard, did anything exciting happen between the two of you?"
- "No, we were just planting vegetables and Natsuki accidentally tripped over a brick I planted and poured water on me…"
- "Now that's a bold strategy to get his attention, did he make any moves on you?"
- "No, we are just friends Sayori…"
- "Well, you should perhaps try to change it before some other girls grabs him teehee"
- "Like I would even care.."
- "Well you seem to care very much for someone who doesn't care, but I'm sure you will realize things sooner or later" said Sayori before leaving the room.
I was left alone thinking about my own feelings.