Chapter 3 - Distress Signal

*Ophelia's Point of View*

I awoke abruptly when I felt the need to use the restroon, and just right when I stepped outside the classroom. I noticed students gathering in the corridor.

"Oh, Ophelia's here," my classmate Martin said, handing me some supplies. A water bottle, a hotdog-filled waffle, and two packs of cookies.

They truly accomplished the impossible. But it's such a waste that people will still blame them when they run out of resources after all their hard work— That's why I won't volunteer in the first place, even though I'm well aware of my... abilities.

Also, my two best friends died because of me. I don't want to repeat the same mistake again, and get involved with such matters.

After I finished what I was doing, I returned to our room, and I noticed that three of my classmates were also there. They were Myrah, Sarah, and the man who handed me some food a while ago.

"Sit with us, Ophelia," Myra said, and so I sat next to her and took a bite on my waffle.

Martin sighed deeply. "This is really shocking for everyone, huh?"

"At least we got our food," Sarah joked, I noticed her voice trembling.

I can't blame her. We were all thinking the same thing. It's not like we're expecting something like this to happen to us.

Sarah sighed, "This is depressing."

"Yeah, for sure; I hadn't imagined it to be this difficult... It's not like in the movies," Myrah added.

We all sighed, and these awful incidents hit us hard. The only sounds in the room were our breathing and the munching of our food.

I stood up and went over to my bag to get my lunch. I just realized I hadn't finished my bento. That's why I took it and returned to them to share.

"I haven't eaten my lunch yet, and it was packed with a thermal bag and a lunchbox," I explained as I opened it.

My bento is made up of three layers. The side dishes are egg rolls and lettuce salad with avocados, tomato, and cucumber on top. The main course is two servings of tonkatsu with sauce and stir-fried adobo with quail eggs on the middle layer. And the rice is at the bottom layer of the bento.

"I've always packed a lot since my..." I took a quick pause and sighed before I continued, "My bestfriends... Loves it," I confessed remorsefully.

"Wow!" Myrah exclaimed and clasped both her hands while she fawns over my bento, "So this is the famous bento of Ophelia! We heard so much about your food from my friend who is a friend of your best friend!" Myrah exclaimed. And the other two appear to be equally ecstatic.

"Thank you for the food!" We chanted and we began our feast.

"Woah! This tasted good!" Martin exclaimed after swallowing the eggroll. "And this, too!" he added after taking some adobo.

"Dhid shou meyk dish?" Hannah asked while chewing. (Did you make this?)

"Not all of it, but every morning I help my mother in preparing our bento."

"That is so sweet!" they exclaimed.

"But hey it's depressing to think that we only tasted this during this time," Hannah said as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Hannah..." Myrah replied, concerned.

"And it tastes really good," she cried out, "Did I just realize that everything tastes so good? Or is her food really this delicious?"

"Of course, her food tastes delicious," Myrah approved. I'm guessing she said that to avoid turning the mood down.

"Yeah, her food is really good," Hannah agreed, and we all turned to look at Martin, who was laughing.

"I'm not sure what to feel anymore; I wanted to be emotional today, but you guys are so funny that it changed my mood," he said, laughing.

The other two laughed as well, and all I could do was smile. I'm glad it worked smoothly. It's a good thing I remembered and shared my bento with them.

They insisted on washing my bento after we finished eating. I don't mind if I packed it clean or not. After all, it's the end of the world.

—

We survived the night, and it's a good thing we're still sane after what happened yesterday.

I'm a little sorry that I got involved with them because I know I'm going to pay the price, which is that they might never leave my side and will lead to them getting killed— again.

Especially the ladies. Not that I underestimate them but it's just they always followed me around like puppies, admiring their master. So I tried distracting them, make an excuse, or sleep on the corner so they wouldn't bother me.

And I'm glad it worked because I've started my training at our INDOOR rooftop. I purposely emphasized 'indoor' since the other half of the rooftop is open area, providing a view of nearly half of the campus from its elevated point. Our building consists of seven floors, plus the rooftop, which comprises a total of eight stories.

"This would've been so easy if I had just continued our taekwondo drill," I grumbled to myself.

I just finished basic stretching and moved on to acrobatic stretching; I forgot to mention that I also compete in school acrobatic competitions which is why I can perform these kinds of stuff; after that, I began basic exercises such as walking, jogging, jumping jacks, sprinting, and other basic things.

My body hurt the next day, so I just did some basic pilates stretching. And that went on for several days.

When Lucas asked for volunteers, one brave soul stepped forward, and they were obviously grateful for it.

Additionally, I was assigned to work the guarding shift from 12 to 5 o'clock, with a five-hour shift change. It's a good thing I'm assigned to that time because I can sleep from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., and when I wake up, I am able to start my training.

And so far, there haven't been many complaints from students—I mean, there was this one guy who tried to oppose but gave up after being roasted by Lucas.

"HIYAAA!!" I roared, quickly closing my mouth. I got carried away; I was having so much fun with my training that I forgot we were supposed to keep our voices down.

I also started my arnis training after breaking a chair by repeatedly kicking on its steel foot.

Finally, my arnis and taekwondo training paid off. It's not that I enjoy having to use these abilities to fight monsters. And I'm not going to kill them with these. Nonetheless, it motivated me.

Thinking how useless I am the first day the monster attacked us. I swear I'll never let my guard down ever again... That was the biggest mistake of my life. If only I'm a bit braver like Dev and Johanne. They would still be alive right now... Maybe if i'm not that nosy...

"Lia!" Lucas voice echoed as he ran and grabbed me away from the balustrade of the open area.

"F#ck..." I muttered to myself when I realized I've been looking at the ground for a while.

"What the heck are you doing? Do you wanna die!?" He yelled.

I pulled my arms off him and glared, "The fuck are you screaming for? Do you want to attract the monsters?"

"And what about you? Exposing yourself outside knowing those monsters have super vision and could see you from afar?"

"Shut up and go away if you have nothing good to say," I rolled my eyes and walked inside the indoor rooftop, and he's still following me, "It ain't even your shift yet."

"I..." He sighed, "I couldn't sleep."

"Then go outside and get some food." I scoffed.

"Why don't you come with us? I'm well aware of your skills—"

"F#ck off, I don't want myself to get killed."

"At least i'm doing something to not get us killed from hunger."

"Then don't do something! We're not asking for you guys to do it anyways!?" I yelled and immediately stopped realizing what I've just said. That was uncalled for. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have—"

"It's fine," He forced a smile, "...I won't stop persuading you to join us.

I'm such an idiot, I should be grateful for their stupidity slash bravery. That was rude of me. I became one of those people I hated, blaming Lucas and the other's for their kindness.

I looked at Lucas and followed him as he exited the door.

Anyways, I started Taekwondo when I was five years old. My father is also a black belter in Taekwondo, having won several competitions when he was a teenager. So he encouraged my older brother and me to learn.

And for my Arnis, I learned it after becoming a fan of Rorouni Kenshin in grade 7. I began my "so-called training" with a broomstick until my father noticed my determination to learn and enrolled me in learning Arnis.

I can now appreciate everything my parents signed me up for because hopefully it'll came in handy for defending myself.

After being trapped in our school for days. Today was supposed to be my day off from training, but a loud scream echoed throughout the entire floor, so I dashed outside with the steel I used for practice.

And when I realized what was making the noise, adrenaline rushed through me. I gripped my weapon tightly and jumped on the monster's back and using its crooked arm as a support to gracefully pierce its neck.

"T-thank you so much!" she said as she knelt on the floor. I noticed her body trembling and her face turning pale as a result of the situation, but I didn't mind.

Anyway, it was my fault; I left the door on the rooftop slightly open, allowing a monster to sneak inside.

I was too preoccupied with the monster, that's why I forgot to help her up. I ripped the skin off its arm and ripped the bones out. I tried swinging it around and it felt perfectly fine. I smiled and walked away.