A Rational Zombie

Chapter 98

This is easy. Without having to do anything, prey come to me. In one day, I ate eight brains. Delicious. The others ate the meaty parts of the prey; I couldnt isolate prey to preserve them, all of them eaten by the others. Too bad there isnt a way to prevent the others from eating prey. If I remove their teeth, I can stop them from biting. But then theyll be useless. Without biting, they cant kill prey. If they bite prey, I cant preserve them. Theres no good method. Even though I dont have a room to preserve any meat in, I dont want the others to eat my prey. They turn sluggish once they do. Before I even attacked the garrison, a hundred others are already useless. Twenty died to the eight prey. The other eighty arent moving after filling their stomachs.

But theyll move again soon. Im not worried. As long as I have this black box, I can locate prey easily. It seems like the prey in the garrison know Im here. The prey on the other end of the box told the other prey to avoid me. But all I had to do was avoid myself, move to the region where prey were most likely to come from, a route without traps. The traps arent an issue; theyre holes in the ground with spikes, laced with scents that smell good. I filled the others nostrils with rotting flesh that came from an other that fell into a trap. Ive already dealt with these before. Theyre hidden. But walking by poking my spear at the ground before taking a step reveals them all. But the prey seem to have issues with the traps. Back at my first food-preservation room, the building, I placed traps on the way there. The prey fell for it, letting me hunt them with ease. Now, here, the prey not from the garrison avoid areas with traps set by different prey.

Is that how it is? Can I conquer the garrison with this knowledge? Most likely not. Traps have to be placed in advance. To set traps in the garrison, I have to go inside. To go inside without dying, I have to kill the prey guarding itwith the help of traps. Without doing one, I cant do the other. That means I cant do either. And I cant place traps outside the garrison. The prey have already done that. The areas without traps, theyre roads. Its not possible to dig holes through them. I cant hide spikes underneath a disguise. How did the prey create these roads? If they cant dig through them, how do they create unnaturally shaped structures out of their material? Maybe the roads have always existed, like trees. I already know prey can be incompetent. Theyre smart compared to others; thats certain. But prey arent necessarily smarter than me.

The infected horde is migrating to the north. The last group of people who tried to come to the garrison made too much noise and attracted the hordes attention. If youre at the north side, come through the western region back to the south. There are less traps located along that route. Please, be as quiet as possible to avoid alerting the horde.

The preys voice came from the black box. Actually, its been constantly coming out of it, saying the same thing repeatedly. But this time, the message is different. Its important to me. It tells me where my next source of food will come from. Since the prey in the garrison think Im leading the group away, Ill bring them back to the south. If they tell the prey coming to the garrison that Im at the south, Ill follow whatever directions the garrison gives to them. Its not difficult. And it works. The sun is rising; a new day is starting. How many brains will I eat today? Even if there isnt any, I have plenty of marrow to eat before Im forced to eat my preserved food.

As for the western region, it must be the route I took to get to the north. It makes sense that thered be less traps there. I brought a group of almost a thousand others through it. But I wonder if Ill encounter any prey there. The prey in the north, shouldnt they have ran after hearing the screams from the last group? Prey are smart; they wouldnt put themselves in danger unlike others. Others are attracted to screams. Prey are repelled. Ill most likely find prey in the south, the region I was first in. But Ill have to bring the others further out to the north, make a large loop back. I dont want to alert the prey in the garrison. Its difficult for a group of this many others to be quiet. They groan. They break fallen branches. Their footsteps are loud. Sound travels easily. Ill have to bring them very far to avoid the preys notice. But I dont mind. Theres no need to rush. Acting without thinking will only get me killed.

I walked to the north for two hours, away from the garrison. I didnt have to bang my metal stick that often, the others following the others in front of them following me. This is far enough. Its time to head back south in a loop large enough to avoid the prey in the garrison. If they notice, Ill have spent two hours for nothing. No, itll be four hours including the next two hours itll take to travel the distance back. Itll take longer to get back too; I have to make a big loop.

Another three hours passed. Its easy to tell how much time has passed. I count the seconds. I shouldnt be too far from the south where I was originally. The black box is still repeating the same message. The prey think Im still in the north. As I thought, prey arent as smart as I am.

Thwip.

Thwip.

Thwip.

I ducked out of reflex. That sound, it shouldnt be here. Thats the sound the preys bows make. Three arrows flew over my head, hitting the others behind me. Where did they come from? There. A group of prey are up ahead, in the trees. Were these prey waiting for me? Impossible. They mustve heard the garrisons message through a black box. But thats not a problem. Theres three prey. Theres close to a thousand others. But others cant climb trees. I have to hunt these prey myself.