A Rational Zombie

But where is the garrison? The prey speaking on the other end of the box, it’s acting like all the other prey already know. It doesn’t include any directions. Garrison is the only hint. It must be the name of a place. To get to a place that only prey know of, the simplest way is to follow prey. But even that itself is difficult. Following prey without alerting them, I’d have to go by myself. It’ll be dangerous. I won’t do it. If all the prey are gathering at the garrison, I need all the others I can rally. If there’s hundreds of prey, I need thousands of others. I don’t know if it’s possible to find that many.

Will there be hundreds of prey? I’m not sure. Finding the garrison, scouting the prey’s numbers, I have to do that first before blindly rushing in. Even if there are hundreds of prey, I don’t necessarily need thousands of others if I use my intelligence. Didn’t three prey cripple over seventy others while I was taking this building? Using trees and a hill, they barely exerted any strength. Why can’t I copy them, produce the same results? I’m just as smart, maybe smarter, than more prey. At first, I was lacking in experience, not intelligence. But I’m experienced now. Even if I fail in attacking the garrison, I can take the motorcycle to flee.

It comes back to the original problem. Where is the garrison? I already have an idea. But I can’t be sure. The motorcycles came from one direction, the left of the road. They went somewhere, did some things. Then, they wanted to go back to the left. If there’s any prey that can turn others back into prey, wouldn’t they be part of the group of prey that had motorcycles? If I travel in the direction that the motorcycles came from, keep my vision on the sky for smoke, won’t I find the garrison? If not the garrison, I’d find a camp of prey. Once I find the camp, if I injure the prey, have the others bite them but keep them alive, they’ll have to leave, search for the cure that prevents them from turning into others. Once they do, I’ll follow them. It’s simple.

There’s a chance the prey at the garrison hasn’t contacted them. But I think they have. The prey’s been repeating the same message, the voice coming from the box at set intervals. If the prey was only trying to talk to the people here, it would’ve stopped after realizing there was no response. Like the prey talking through the smaller boxes I had. Once they realized the prey I ate wasn’t going to respond, they stopped talking. If I’m not wrong, the prey at the garrison is trying to spread the word, talking to every prey with a box. If I am wrong, it doesn’t matter. Following the road the motorcycles took will lead me to food. Either way, I know my next destination.

My injury healed. The meat is done smoking. There’s no reason left to stay. I’ve already done some experiments on the motorcycle too. I was right, destroying the wheels is the best way to stop one. Luckily, the wheel isn’t solid, filled with air. One arrow is enough to create a hole. Knives work too. But if I’m close enough to stab the wheel with a knife, the motorcycle will run me over. Hitting it with an arrow while it moves is impossible too. That’s why, the simplest answer is the metal points. They have four points, arranged in a way that if dropped, one point is always sticking up. If the motorcycle runs over them, holes will appear in the wheels, breaking them.

Hopefully, I won’t have to deal with motorcycles. They’re too troublesome, having only one weakness. If I find some without prey controlling them, I’ll stab their wheels, destroy them before prey can use them. Leading the others outside wasn’t a problem. All I had to do was give them the box. Once they found out it couldn’t be eaten, they stopped moving. Bringing the box with me may be troublesome. If I put it in a blanket, let the others carry it, if the prey’s voice comes through, the others will get distracted. But what if more useful information comes out of the box? If I don’t bring it, I might miss out. Then, I’ll carry it personally. I want the others to follow me anyway. Instead of banging my metal stick against my spear, the prey’s voice should work just as well.

It’ll be troublesome to carry so much. I’m carrying a bag at my waist filled with arrows. My knives are inside too. There’s a bag on my back filled with meat. Between my back and the bag, I’m holding my weapons. There’s a metal stick, a spear, a bow. I usually carry my bow in my hands. But I have to push the motorcycle. I need both hands to be free. Others can’t push the motorcycle for me. And if I control it instead, I’ll use up gas. Gas is precious, not meant to be used for normal travel. I can only save the motorcycle for escaping.

But what if instead of pushing, I have the others pull? If I tie the motorcycle to the others, they’ll drag it along as they walk. It’s heavy. It’ll slow them down. But if I tie it to multiple others, if they walk in unison, it’ll be easy to bring along. The bags that they carried, I can put on the motorcycle. That way, if I have to escape, I’ll have the stuff they were bringing too. And without the key, prey can’t drive my motorcycle away. The others dragging the motorcycle will be slowed down, unable to defend themselves or help attack prey. But that doesn’t matter. The ones I’ll be using are already missing arms or parts of their mouths. They can’t kill prey in the first place. It’s decided then.