A Rational Zombie

Chapter 95

I found prey. It took several days of walking. But this should be the garrison. A garrison is a heavily fortified place. This preys camp, itll be difficult to take over. The defenses are more daunting than every other camps Ive seen before. Theres a fence surrounding the place. In front of the fence, theres giant circles of wires. It looks like the wires have barbs on them too, perfect for cutting armored clothes. The wires are looped, making three big circles, two circles attached to the fence stacked on top of each other, one circle in front of the other circles. Are they only for cutting armor? The circles dont seem sturdy. Maybe theyre tougher than they look.

But the fence isnt the problem. Surrounding the fence, theres a trench. I cant see the back of the camp from my spot on the tree. But the hole should go all the way around. Its deeper than the others are tall. Even Big Other wont be able to walk out. Theres a wooden plank traversing the gap. Its wide enough for one other to cross at a time. The others wont walk into the hole, stopping at its edge. But the others behind them cant see it; theyll push the others in the front into it. This chokepoint is much more difficult to deal with than a door. If it was a door, the others can endlessly swarm. But the chokepoint is a wooden plank. The others will fall into the trench; there wont be any pressure on the prey if they defend. If the prey dont defend, some others will fall into the trench anyway when the group tries to cross.

I have to find a way to fill in the trench. Or find a way to let all the others cross without losing them. After that, theres the fence. The barbs on the wire loops might snag the others clothes, preventing them from moving ahead. If the others were prey, thered be a danger of bleeding to death. Maybe the loops are only meant to deal with prey. But until I witness their characteristics for myself, I wont know for sure.

Thats not the garrisons only defenses. There arent any tents. The prey, all of them, are living in buildings. Theres some big buildings, some little ones. But there arent any easy prey to hunt. All of them are behind chokepoints, doors. This place, its dangerous. I might die here. If the prey are capable of creating these defenses, what kind of offense will they have? Theres people standing behind the fences, not doing anything except watching. Looking outside. They have bows. When Big Other tried to attack my food-preservation room with the four other prey, it was my bow that made them easy to hunt. These prey can shoot from behind the fence, always alert. Before the others even cross the trench, theyll die by arrows.

And almost all the prey are wearing armored clothes. They have domes on their heads too. But theres a few prey, tied by ropes, that arent threatening. It seems like the prey are like me. Preserving food to eat. Why else would they tie up prey, keep them alive, if not to eat? The prey inside this camp are smart, dangerous. And it doesnt seem like I have a numerical advantage. Theres a lot of prey. I cant count them all. But theres at least two hundred. A dozen others are needed to kill one armored prey. I dont even have a thousand others following me. I thought I could figure out a method to reduce the number of others needed, take advantage of the prey by using my intelligence. But seeing how defended this place is, how alert the prey are, I dont think its possible.

Do I give up? Retreat? I have a few weeks of meat left. If I can find one prey, keep the others off of it, Ill be set for another few weeks. But will I be able to find prey? The prey on the other end of the box, it should be from the garrison. It wouldnt ask prey to come to the garrison if it wasnt. If all the prey in the nearby vicinity come here, how am I going to find a prey to eat? There wont be any prey around for me. And the more time that passes, the more prey will enter the garrison, making it even harder to attack. If I think its difficult to take now, how will I take the garrison when theres even more prey gathered? I have to attack soon. Itll be too late if I dont.

But what can I do? How do I create a passage across the trench without the prey noticing? I can wait until nighttime, when the prey become sluggish. But how am I going to get all the others across without losing them to the trench? Do I have to go over the trench? If I go down, use my hole-digging tool, cant I dig a hole starting from the trench, gently slope it up towards the center of the garrison? That way, Ill bypass the trench, the fence, the prey with the bows. The only defenses the prey will have left are the buildings.

I dont think itll work. If I do that, Ill have to enter the garrison first. No matter what, the first other that enters a preys camp always dies. If the others could dig, they could go first. But they cant dig. And I dont want to die. It wont work. Digging is loud too. Even if its at night, the prey will notice if I dig a massive hole underneath them. And if an other falls into the trench at a poor angle, breaking its leg, itll block the hole, preventing all the others from entering the garrison. Theres too many problems with this plan. Maybe Im approaching this the wrong way. Do I have to attack the garrison? The prey are coming to the garrison. Theyre passing through the woods, defenseless: no trench, no fence, no buildings, maybe bows. Ill ignore the garrison, target the prey heading towards it instead. And if the prey inside the garrison dont like that, what can they do? Leave their defenses behind to hunt me? If they do that, theyll be the hunted.