A Rational Zombie

I’ve taken all I can out of this room. It’s time to move on. Maybe take multiple trips. Carrying everything at once is impossible. I’m too weak, my arm is injured. Even if it wasn’t injured, I’d still be too weak. I’ll take the woodcutting tool first. And the tool case. There’s a handle on top, easy to carry. It’s a bit heavy. But I can lift it. Do I need to move these tools to the food-preservation room? Or is it enough to know that they’re here? It might be better to move them. It’s the most important place. If I’m ambushed again, if I’m forced to flee, I’ll have everything I need in one location. Food, tools, what more is required?

But I seemed to have missed something in the lobby. There’s another door behind a counter. I didn’t notice it earlier, too distracted by the twitching others on the ground. The first time I entered, the lobby was crowded too. What’s in here? Prey? Should I call the others? I’ll lower the glass on my dome, protect my eyes. The woodcutting tool, it can probably be used on heads too, prey’s or others’. It seems solid enough. And the top portion is made of metal. I can’t smell or hear any signs of prey either. I’ll open it.

Behind the door, there was another room. It was brightly lit by the sun. But there weren’t any windows on the walls. Most of the ceiling was glass, letting in light through there. That’s why I didn’t notice while I was outside. How did prey construct a building like this? How do they make glass? If I watch prey long enough, will I find out? Maybe if the prey started from nothing, constructing a building for shelter. But it doesn’t seem likely.

The room was filled with cabinets. There was a countertop with drawers underneath. The surface of the countertop had a depression, a huge metal one with a circular drain at the bottom. There was a spout hovering over the depression, a handle next to it. The handle could twist, rise, wiggle. But nothing happened when it did. I’m not sure what the purpose of this is. But it feels very familiar. As if I’ve used something like this many times before I lost my memories. Or it’s designed in such a straightforward way that there’s only one obvious way to use it. But the others wouldn’t figure it out. They don’t understand handles, don’t understand movable parts.

Beside the countertop, there’s a white box. It’s large, impossible to move. It’s as tall as the counter with a little extra sticking out of it. On that extra portion, there’s knobs that can be turned. When they turn, there’s a clicking sound. And fire comes out of the four black circles underneath black squares that’s on top of the box. Each knob corresponds to one circle. Interesting. There’s no wood nearby to burn. Why is this here? It doesn’t make much sense. But there’s a tube attached to the box, leading to a canister: Propane. What happens if I remove the tube? The fires go out. And there’s a loud hissing sound coming out of the canister. It smells rotten. I’ll put the tube back on. But the fires don’t start again. Turning the knobs a few times relights the flames. Removing the tube puts out the flames. Turning the knobs a few times doesn’t do anything; the flames are still gone. Is the fire fueled by the smelly gas? It must be. There’s no wood burning. It’s similar to the fire in the box that I took from that prey. It goes out when I lift my thumb off the button. Perhaps there’s propane in the little fire box.

But enough of this. There’s an even bigger box made of metal. It’s taller than me. I can’t see what’s on top. It’s split in two, two handles next to each other. I pulled on them, the side of the box swinging open. On the left side, there’s white mist pouring out. On the right side, there’s a light inside. The left side has solid items, stiff and blocky. They seem like food products. But I already know prey’s food isn’t meant to be eaten by others. Maybe I can use these as bait. Like the prey placed dead dogs at the bottom of pits, I can place these packages of … chicken nuggets at the bottom. I don’t know if it’ll work. Prey aren’t that dumb. They can climb down pits, unlike others. The others just fall in.

The right side, there’s lots of bottles. Many, many bottles of clear liquid. Spring water. There’s also some more food similar to the pork I found in the convenience store, wrapped in plastic, resting on the shelves inside the metal box. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything useful inside. I closed the doors to the box. Connecting to the metal box, there was a black wire which was connected to another metal contraption. It had a skeletal box frame. But a cylinder was suspended inside. There was a label: gasoline generator. It generates gasoline? What happens if I disconnect the wire? The metal box stopped humming. It wasn’t very loud before. I didn’t notice the noise until it was gone. The light inside the metal box turned off. It seems like the metal box is similar to the other box. Gasoline lights up this one, propane lights up that one.

Other than the countertop, boxes, canisters, there was a table. Just a table, nothing special about it. There were chairs too. If I ever run out of wood when I need to start a fire, I could use these. The preserving process of meat does involve fire. But I have enough wood; there was some inside the room. In the cabinets above the countertop, there were bowls, plates, cylindrical containers. Throwing weapons? I’ll try to kill an other by throwing these at it, see how many plates are required. But I have a feeling they’re not very effective.