A Rational Zombie

Chapter 37

Is this meat from prey? It doesnt smell as good. Is it from others? It doesnt smell as bad. How does it taste? Salty. Dry. Another flavor that tastes like smoke smells. Its not saliva-inducing, not tasty, bland. But its not disgusting. The hunger isnt rejecting it. How long until this meat rots? Ill store this piece. And this piece. And this piece too. The bag cant hold anymore. But that doesnt mean I cant have these too. It seems safe for now. The others wont listen now that they found food. To stop them from eating my meat, Ill kill them. Simple. I dont want to make a lot of noise. Arrows are useful that way, they kill silently. The metal stick makes a loud sound. But the arrow, I can stab it into the others eyes. Sometimes they live. But if I wiggle it around a bit, they stop moving. I dont even have to use the arrow shooter. I can use the flat metal sticks tied to my wrists to kill them too. But then my hands smell disgusting.

Is there anything else in here thats useful? I dont know if I can come back safely. The prey might kill all the others. Then I wont have access to this place. On the ground, other than the dead others, theres a fire. The wood is positioned oddly though. Not burning directly, still close enough to let off smoke. Theres a table. It smells like blood, faintly. It doesnt smell rotten. Theres a bag of white powder on the table. It doesnt smell like anything. I wonder what its for. Ill leave it alone for now, my bag doesnt have much space left. Theres a drawer. Inside, therere flat metal sticks. These are useful; Ill take them.

Whats this? It looks like a brick. But bigger. And less sturdy. There are words on the front. Berns Guide to Preserving Meat. It opens too. Inside, there are more words. Salting Instructions. Read this section very carefully. If you dont, youll spend a long time on the toilet. The toilets the last place you want to be during a zombie apocalypse. Step 1. Wash your goddamn hands. Step 2. Make sure your goddamned hands are washed. Step 3. Dry your hands (not on your pants that have infected blood on them!). Step 4. Make sure the table is clean. Imagine washing your goddamn hands and the table has infected blood on it. Step 5.

There are a lot of steps. I dont have time to read everything right now. The others are still being killed. But this openable brick is exactly what I was looking fora method to make food last longer than a day. This is enough. Along with the meat I took, I gained a lot from these prey. Whether or not they kill all the others doesnt matter. Itd be nice if I their brains were available for me to eat. But I shouldnt get too greedy. I might die. Theres nothing left in the room to take. There are hooks with more meat suspended in the air by ropes. But theyre too high up to take. Im not sure I need them. If theyre tied in a different method, itll take a long time to get them down. Ill leave now. And Ill close the door behind me. The others wouldnt be interested with the stench coming off the dead others. But it doesnt hurt to make sure.

How are the others doing? Theyre still surrounding the building. Not a lot of them are dead. The corpses are blocking the holes, not letting the prey kill anymore. But the others havent made any progress. They cant press the walls down. They cant press the doors down eithers. Theres no way for them to go in. Should I bring them away? It took a long time to tie all those spikes onto their arms. Would they even follow, knowing theres prey inside? I cant prod them all, cant bring them all away. What a waste. All the rope, all the spikes. Did I really gain enough from these prey? Others are expendable; there will always be more. But the time I spent on them. I cant get that back. Thats another period of sunrise Ill have to spend on gathering spikes, tying them too.

But I did get a lot from the prey. The method of food preservation. Meat. Isnt it safe to burn the building down now? If I cant get inside the building, why should I care about whats still inside? Its better to burn it. But starting a fire may take a while. The trees are far away. There arent any logs lying around. I shouldve brought logs, shouldve brought many things. I couldve tied a tent to an other, put items in the tent. Why didnt I think of it earlier? I always realize things too late. First, the wood-cutting tool. Now, this. Its a learning experience.

Wheres the other with all my ropes? It should be easy to see with its bag. But I cant see it. There are too many others. It must be near the center. Or in the front. Am I going to lose my ropes too? And the spare bag. I dont want to. But theres no way inside. The others are dying, slowly. But still dying. The prey will kill them all eventually, leaving only me behind. The difference between the prey and the others is too great.

Wait. When I was in the tree, I saw a fire. Where is it? It was over here, by the smoking logs. But its out, already gone. The big logs are left. Can they still be used? After burning something once, it cant be burned again. But these logs still have edges that arent burnt. Are they enough? I dont think so. Wait. There are dead others pressed against the walls and doors. Theyre wearing clothes. What if I light them on fire instead? Others dont catch fire; Ive tested. But their clothes do. Is it enough to set the walls on fire? Theres only one way to find out.