A Rational Zombie

Chapter 76

Twenty-eight days have passed since I last saw prey. The meat finished smoking, the last step of preservation done. I completely ate the first preserved prey. One lasts for four weeks. I still have three whole preserved prey. And a little bit left of another. Thats over twelve weeks before I have to find another prey. While waiting for the meat to preserve, I checked the surroundings. I didnt find any more ropes growing on trees. But I found others. Lots of others. I brought them to the building, kept them away from the food-preservation room. Theres over four hundred of them. It was hard to get them all to stay. The inside of the building is full. No more can fit. The rest of the others are outside, in the space between the fence and the building. I blocked off the fences chokepoint with a rope.

The fence hasnt broken down. The others dont move, standing in place instead. As long as nothing attracts their attention, they dont do anything. Mindless. Dumb. Their hunger has completely consumed their brains. They cant even remember how to walk. From the door of the food-preservation room to the fence, theres a path I created. The others dont react when the door makes noise. They used to. But not anymore. Its a bit baffling. Theyre dumb. But they can learn. They know the sound of the door opening and closing wont get them food. Its worrying. What if Im leading them by banging metal together? What if they stop following me halfway to my destination?

I tried to take advantage of this. But I couldnt. I cant teach the others anything, not without prey around. I gave an other my bow, tried to teach it. I can guide it to shoot an arrow. But it doesnt fly far, no power behind it. I have to manipulate the others arms, bend its elbow, pull its hand back. Shooting the arrow myself is much easier. Teaching them to hunt prey without prey around is impossible. And if theres prey around, they only react in one way: chasing after it. So I gave up. Others can learn. But they cant be taught.

No prey has come since the last five. I set a fire, made sure there was a pillar of smoke up at all times. But it hasnt attracted prey. There must not be anymore in the area. Or they chose not to approach after seeing the others gathered behind the fence. Either way, I have to leave. If prey wont come to me, Ill go to them. With four hundred others, theres no group of prey I cant hunt. Ive also gotten better with my bow. Ive practiced, finding the best posture for the highest accuracy. Now, I can hit a prey-sized target one out of two times instead of five. The target I practiced on was the prey dangling from the tree.

Theres only one problem with leaving to find prey. The food-preservation room, I cant take it with me. The hooks. The shelf. The table. Those are hard to take. And if I hunt prey far away, I cant bring them back to the room, not with the others trying to eat them. Im too weak to carry prey too. I can bring the salt with me. I can create a fire to smoke the meat too. But the room is important. The ceiling has loops for the hooks to hang from. The room also prevents others from getting in. I cant preserve food without a door. As long as the prey I hunt live in buildings, it should be fine. But the most important part is the hooks to hang meat from. Without them, I cant smoke meat, only salt it.

But I have to leave to find prey. Ive already packed a lot of items. The cloth inside the rooms of the building on top of the beds, I used them to bundle thingseverything that wasnt a part of the building: bowls, plates, utensils, canned food, jars, everything. Then I tied the bundles to the others that were weaker than the rest: the armless ones, the shorter ones, the ones with no lower mouth. Theyre not good for hunting prey. But I can still make use of them. The bigger others, I gave them more clothes. I took clothes from the weaker ones, put them on the big ones. It makes sense to strengthen the most effective others at hunting prey.

I also used the woodcutting tool, cut down many trees. Mostly for wood to keep the fire burning. But also to make into spikes. The spikes were for the others to tie to their wrists. But I ran into a problem. There wasnt a lot of rope left. I couldve torn clothes into strips. But I let the big others wear them instead. I couldnt tie the spikes to the others. But I figured out what glue was used for. It sticks things together after hardening. I glued the spikes to the others hands, solving the issue of no rope. I glued a spear to an other. But it didnt know how to hold it. It was a waste of a spear.

I want to bring the fence with me. But I dont know how. Instead, I broke the pointy parts off of the fence, glued them to the others stomachs. The pointy parts were like branches of a tree: long, multiple splits. Designed to impale others, prevent them from getting close. It works on prey too. Placing these parts on the others should make it hard for prey to approach. And if I tie all the others with the pointy parts together, thats almost like a fence. A moving one that chases after prey. But still a fence. I havent tried tying them together though. I dont think itll work. If one other falls down, itll drag the others with it. Then the only thing the pointy parts will impale is the ground. Getting them to stand back up would be impossible without untying them.

But its been a productive twenty-eight days. The meats been preserved. Theres a lot more others following me. Im ready to find more prey.