I tested on one of the unmoving others. It took fifteen plates to expose its brain. Useless. Its head wasn’t protected by a dome; the hits required were still doubled compared to killing an other with a metal stick while it wore one. It’s not as accurate either. And with more distance, the number of plates needed would increase. As for the bowls, they’re like smaller, less effective domes. I’ll let the others wear them. Maybe I can tie plates onto their heads too.

In the drawers underneath the countertop, there are small knives. They don’t seem like they can cut anything. Perhaps its meant for the prey’s food that they keep in the metal box. That makes sense. The plates and bowls too. Now I understand. The food goes on the plate. They’re afraid of setting their food on infected blood. Would that cause them to turn into others? Most likely. The innards I smeared others’ blood on turned black. The ones I didn’t stayed pink. But as an other, I don’t have to worry about turning. These items are useless to me. Unless. Can I turn back into prey if they bite me? No, it doesn’t work that way.

There doesn’t seem to be anything else of use. There are a few boxes underneath the depression in the countertop. Inside of them, there’s glossy, thin material that looks like metal. It’s wound up over itself, pulling on the edge extends it. It doesn’t seem like it can be used for anything. Even my fingers can tear it. Maybe the prey use it to keep food off of infected blood. But once it’s used up, where do they get more? Prey create the oddest things. Or it grows on trees too. Other than the metal rolls, there’s clear, translucent rolls. They’re stretchier than the metal, harder to rip. They seem to serve the same purpose, being in the same place. No, there’re more uses for these than just keeping away infected blood.

Like the tarp covering the first pit trap I saw, I can use these rolls the same way. Dig a trap. Extend the rolls over. Keep them in place with spikes. Cover them with leaves, dirt, make it look like there’s no hole underneath. Then, when a prey walks over it, they’ll fall in. Adding spikes to the bottom will cripple their movement. Even if they crawl out, they’ll be hampered, smell like blood, giving the others a chance to catch them. I want to monopolize them for myself. But that’s difficult. Trapping prey without letting others get them, there has to be some way. Other than killing all the others. If I have no others around, all the prey are mine. If I have no others around, I’ll be in danger. What a dilemma.

Maybe I shouldn’t worry about monopolized prey. I should worry first about trapping them. Two prey walked in on me, injuring my shoulder. I killed one while the other got away. Afterwards, I let the others out for protection. But what if the prey that got away comes back? It has knowledge of the building. Scaling the fence, it should be able to do that despite the spikes. I can climb the fence without being injured. It’s only meant for dumb others. Yes, I should prepare some traps to catch the prey in case it comes back. If I’m lucky, the others won’t eat it if it falls into one. If I’m not lucky, I’ll still be safe. And I’ll have brains to eat for the day, marrow for another. There’s no reason not to set up traps.

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Luckily, there was a hole-digging tool outside, leaning against the building near the food-preservation room. I can use that, dig holes, add spikes, cover holes with these thin things, mask them with grass, or even others’ blood. As long as the prey can’t see the holes. Place them right by the fence. Once they climb over, they’ll fall right in, crippling their movement. If I move fast enough, I can disable the others in the surroundings. Yes, it’s perfect. But before I do that, there were still the traps the prey left outside that I want to gather. The metal spikes in the grass. And the ropes meant to trip others, making them fall on spikes. Those are obvious, won’t work on prey. But the gathering the spikes means I won’t need to create my own for my traps. And rope is always useful.

While the sun’s still out, I’ll collect the metal spikes outside. They’re hard to see in the dark. But the prey know where they are. They know the region to avoid; otherwise, wouldn’t they step in them themselves? But I don’t believe prey have better vision than I do. There’s no way for them to see these in the dark. If I relocate the spikes, shift the region they’re supposed to be in, wouldn’t they be effective on prey? If not, at least they’d slow prey down. They wouldn’t want to step on them if they saw them. While they’re crippled from my hole traps, they’ll have to slow down even further to avoid these when trying to escape. It’s perfect.

I’ll move these rolls outside first. Place them next to the food-preservation room. The others won’t touch them since they’re too dumb to realize their importance. Now, I’ll climb over the fence since the others are still stuck at the only entrance, preventing them from entering or leaving. I still don’t know how they did it. Maybe two or three tried to leave at the same time. As I thought, climbing the fence isn’t hard. It’s not very high, only a little higher than my neck. It must’ve been designed with spears in mind. The spikes on the outer side of the fence keep others from approaching, keeps their hands out of reach. The prey don’t have to worry about distance with their spears. If the others were more careful, they can maneuver through the spikey portion of the fence, climb over. But they’re not. Only I am. And prey. That’s why, I should add some of the tiny metal spikes onto the ground underneath the spikes on the fence. Make it harder for them to approach.