Danil Volkov

Hello, my name is Danil Volkov. Has it ever happened when you’ve read a book or seen a movie and just kept thinking about it? The events, the characters, the world. I do in fact, though I’m the only one in this village it seems.

Right now, I’m just relaxing under the shade of an enormous tree. I know such big words thanks to the book I’m holding, I have just finished it. Its width is average, but the contents is far from ordinary. It’s a historical book about the battle of Verdun. It’s small stories of different soldiers from the French and the German side. There was everything! interesting plot and characters, that ww1 world and its technologies and the horrors that come with it. Damn what a ride it was.

The wind is slowly blowing. The leaves dance and sing in a harmony with the wind while gently caressing my face. The sky is blue with lone white clouds.

The green grass joined the party. Dancing all wild and singing. And then there’s me, just sitting here and enjoying the clean cool air. Last time I visited the city, it was so stinky and suffocating. I think I’d rather stay here.

Someone is coming, all I can see are familiar figures. There goes my peace.

-“Danya, what’cha slakin’?” Said Arseniy. We call him Senya, his short hair is dark brown and the eyes are blue. Despite our age, he has a strong figure and mighty stature. If only his face was older, he’d look 20 at least.

-“We’re preparing for the festival, working our asses off and you’re here relaxing like a little princess.” Said Valeriy, we call him Valera. His hair medium messy brown and his frown is stupid. He’s a skinny guy around my height which is around 160 cm.

-“I already worked, let me relax for a bit.”

-“Yeah, and I’m the president! C’mon! Let’s go!” Valera grabbed me by the arm forcing me out of the shadows.

-“Otyebis’1 Valera!”

-“Zatknis’2! we’re off to work. By the way, I heard that Karina and her friends are helping out too!”

-“Well, why didn’t you say it!? Let’s go! We have work to do!” And so we went to help the village. The houses are of stone and wood, but mostly wood. Most of the roofs were either thatched or out of wooden planks. While some of the houses were plain and bland, some were painted blue or other eye catching colors. The roads are of dirt. A regular Slavic village, welcome to Novopotka.

The center of the village is where most of the houses are. All connected by a main street. All around are familiar faces, though not all of them are friendly. Some are swollen by alcohol or some just are unhappy.

On our way, I bumped into someone. It turns out it’s Lev Kamkin, he lives in the center. Behind him are his wife and his 3 sons. The suitcase he held is on the ground and all muddy. He’s generally a polite man. Never seen him making such a worried face.

-“Ah sorry!”

-“Oh, Volkov. Don’t worry.” He hastily picked up the suitcase and at a fast pace walked away, his family followed him.

-“They movin’ away?” Senya asked.

-“Hmm… I remember when he yesterday evening was talking to pa. They were arguing or something. I dunno… Something about the war I guess...” Valera wondered.

-“It’s grownup business prolly.” Senya said

-“Well, we ARE grownups.” I told him.

-“Calm down, we’re just twelve.” Valera assured.

We walked down the path. People are walking from one end to the other, greeting each other on their way. Life goes on, though a little livelier.

We’ve arrived to an open meadow outside the village. Near us overlooks an orthodox church on its holy hill. The white walls and the golden dome of the church are as blindingly bright due to the reflection of the light.

The folk are setting up pavilions and decorate the wooden beams with colorful yellow flowers. I saw Vanya, my big 18 years old brother, lifting a bench with dyadya3 Pasha.

Amidst the preparations, one flowers was the brightest. A dangerous flower as it has a special poison, just by looking at it, the heart will stop. The name of this flower is Karina Koskova. She’s the most beautiful of them all. Golden smooth hair, eyes bright and blue as the skies. A face so angelic and doll like.

If only looks are her fine points. She’s the smartest in our school. The highest grades in almost every subject. Personality so kind and warm. I don’t remember why, but our local school sent us to the forest. God blessed me and I was paired with Karina.

We were taking notes of some mushrooms. Well, I have no idea why, but I dropped my lunch. She decided to share hers. She didn’t call me a dumbass for messing up my lunch, she didn’t judge me. That was the moment when I fell in love.

-“Danya, stop starin’.” Valera said.

-“Wha-?”

-“You’re staring at her, dude.” Senya said.

-“Let’s invite those girls. It’s your chance Danya!”

-“Wha-!? I- I mean…”

-“Picking up on girls?” A condescending voice buzzed behind my ears. That voice, it’s of my older brother – Vanya.

-“What?? No! Of course not!! Hahaha…”

-“Oh…? Why are you red then?”

-“It’s because it’s hot!!”

-“20 degrees is hot? Yeah sure. Hey girls!! Danya and his friends want to talk!” He called the girls.

-“Vanya! You zaraza4!” I said quietly.

-“Hehe, you’ll thank me late-”

-“Watcha yappin about? Davai Vanya!” dyadya Pasha raised his hoarse voice.

-“Good luck” He winked and went with Pasha, abandoning us here. The girls are approaching us. I feel that my thoughts race faster than the speed of light, maybe even faster, yet they’re empty.
It’s a group of three girls, around our age. One of them is her.

-“Heyo!” One of the girls greeted us with high energies.

-“Ivan said you wanted to talk, or was he just joking?”

-“Pffft, o-of course he was!” Valera was nervously laughing.

-“You idiot! This is our chance!” Senya said quietly to him.

-“Um… Uh… So we thought that… Maybe you want to… Um, well… Come to the dance?” I filled my lugs to the brim and took a step forward. That's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for a man!

The girls giggled. I feel like getting lost in the woods, maybe some bear will eat me.

-“Sure! Let’s meet here when the dance starts!” Karina said with an innocent smile on her face.

Maybe I don’t want to get eaten by a bear. No, I definitely don’t want to.
They left while turning back to us and waving. The boys tried to keep a calm composure, but even I can tell that they’re excited as hell for this. Me? I can hide my emotions. I can keep a straight poker face.

For the rest of the hour, we were helping with moving the tables. After we were done, we went to my house. I heard my brother talking with someone about “Gentlemen Magazine”, maybe we can get some tips for the evening.

My brother is a university student. Most of the time he’s out there in the city, though he came back for the festival. March 29th, the day of victory.

We went into his room. I think the magazines are in his drawer. We searched the drawers, I think we found them. On the cover there’s some girl, in a beach she’s posing half naked.

-“Oh! Who’s this?”

-“The hell do I know?”

-“Maybe there’s a name?”

-“Let’s see… “Gentleman Club”… Doesn’t seem like her name.”

-“Hmm… Maybe her name is Porn?”

-“What? That’s a strange name.”

-“But it’s written here, it says “Porn Magazine, adult only”.”

-“Duh, only grownups can give advices. Maybe on the next page.” When Valera turned the page, I felt something. The contents made my heart race, but in a different way. Maybe that was not my heart.

-“Oh my god… Is that…?” Senya was surprised.

-“Ebat’5… So that’s how…” Valera expressed.

-“Hmm…” I hummed. There’s another woman, uglier than the one on the cover in my opinion. She stands in some room. Hands on hips and trying to look all mighty. Except for the lady from the cover, she wears no clothes. I see tits. I’ve heard the lads and the men talk about them. I had different ideas of how they looked like, I think I was right. I’m not disappointed.

I’ve heard the men also talk about pussy. Maybe it’s the same thing? Could be also what girls have between their legs, instead of a penis. The way this woman stands, I can’t see what’s there. The legs are hiding it. Is it like a penis but it goes inside? Like a hole? That’s kinda weird.

-“Guys, have you heard of a pussy?” I asked.

-“You mean a cat?”

-“It’s not a cat Valera. It has different names – Vagina, pussy, clitoris… They’re like a replacement to the dick.” Senya taught with confidence. So it’s not the same as tits.

-“Turn the page Senya.” We looked thoroughly for a vagina, but we didn’t find it. People praise it so much, I don’t get the enthusiasm. Tits on the other hand, I understand.

-“I mean you can see it in the baths, you remember the hole?”

-“But there’s a risk of seeing babushka Polina… Brrrrr….” Without my consent, my own mind painted a picture I want to forget.

-“…You have a point… Ugh…” We heard the door open behind us. I felt chill going up my spine.

-“Blyat’6’, kakovo khuya7??”

-“Vanya!?”

-“Don’t touch the mags with your shitling hands!!”

-“I’m sorry, we were just curious!” He snatched the magazine right out of our hands. He flipped through the magazine while looking at each page.

-“You should keep quiet. If the girls will know that you read this stuff, they’ll stop talking to you.”

-“The same goes to you!”

-“Heh dummy. I don’t read stuff like this. “

-“Then why you have mags of naked ladies?”

-“It’s for business my little brother. I don’t need these mags, I have my phone.”

-“Oh you mean that thing? It actually has uses?”

-“Damn well it has. It can find ANY video, not just a boring picture.”

-“A video… Moving… Like real…?”

-“I can watch this shit but because of the shitty internet here, I can barely load a 720p picture under 5 minutes.”

-“…What…?”

-“Anyway, you’re too young. Now fuck off.”

-“We’ll keep it shut if you’ll give us one.”

-“…Fine, just shut up and get out.” He gave us the magazine. Outside Vanya’s room, I gave it to Senya. I believe he won’t lose it nor Vanya will find it.

During the afternoon, we were at our homes trying to prepare ourselves – clothes, hair and what to say. I’m finally getting to dance with Karina. A smile won’t disappear. It stays there, permanently.

In the mirror, I see a boy. Green eyes and somewhat blond hair. A buttoned white shirt and dark green pants. Hell yeah baby!

The clock shows 18:00, we’re going to start soon. My parents were also preparing and they saw me coming out of the room, in this outfit. My little 6 year old sister Katya is sitting on the sofa, waiting for my parents.

-“You go out?” She asked me.

-“Yeah. You won’t believe it, but I got asked out for a dance!”

-“A giwl asked you out??” She seemed too surprised.

When mom enter the living room, Katya jumped out and enthusiastically told her:

-“Mommy! Mommy! Dan’ka is dowing a date!!” She was dancing a little on the sofa.

-“Oh really? Who’s the lucky girl?”

-“Koskova Karina”

-“Really?? With a gal like her, you need to at least iron this shirt!”

-“I dunno, I think it’s fine.” At this moment, dad came out and saw us.

-“Where ya going dressed like that?” He asked

-“He was asked out by Kaskova Karina, daughter of Rodion Koskov.”

-“Really? You’re not sure it’s the other way?”

-“Kolya!”

-“Heh. But damn, if you want to impress a gal, you need to wear something else. I have to teach Danila how to be with the ladies.”

-“And then have a grandkid in a few months? You’re going to take care of it?”

-“Oh come on! He doesn’t even know about that yet. Say Danila, you want to make papa proud?”

-“Uhh… I guess…?”

-“Good enough… Listen, they like men. Be a man, show that you’re the boss. Bring down a big guy, maybe even your friend Arseniy will help you. Show her that you OWN her, be a real man.” Mom slapped dad at his back.

-“Grisha blyat’, what are you teaching him? I guess someone will have to stay in my sight the whole time. But Danila, Grisha is right. Why won’t you wear your jeans? They look good.”

-“They’re Vanya’s.”

-“Don’t worry, he has a lot of them in the city. He won’t have a problem lending you one.” Mom went into his room and pulled out of there his blue jeans. I wore them in my room and it looks a little better, still they’re not comfortable. While I was trying out the jeans, my mom ironed the shirt. I actually look good wow.

-“Have fun!”

-“You too! See ya!” I rushed to the village center where my friends are waiting.

The sky is of a violet color, my friends are already there. Waiting just for me to come. From there, we went to the festival area.

There are a lot of people. Not only our villagers have come, but also people from other villages and maybe even from the city have come. They’re eating, drinking and dancing. There’s music blasting from the speakers.

Right there she is, standing there. Waiting for me. She looks the other way, the moment I tried to call her, I noticed something.

A tall man was standing in front of me, he didn’t notice me yet. His eyes are cold ice blue. He’s gray haired and yet, he doesn’t look that old. On his face are numerous scars. Scars are everywhere on his expressionless face, as if it’s an empty husk. He wears a dark knee high coat. He takes something from a pocket.

Bang bang bang bang

He pulled a pistol. He holds it in an unusual way. In movies I saw characters holding a pistol with two hands or just one, but this guy… He holds it with his right hand, caved into his left forearm as if supporting the right hand.

He shot four times in just a few seconds. The smell of gunpowder is strong. I felt that my body gained a consciousness on its own and started to run away. Just run, don’t question, don’t look back.

This is Kamkin’s house. What am I doing here? Why am I hiding in the basement?
It’s dark, I don’t like it here. There’s a small window, it’s small and I can barely see something. There are bars, but it can be also closed with a glass panel.

Bang bang bang bang

I hid myself from the shots. Mass screaming started. I just caved in into myself, I don’t think too much. It’s all just automatic.

-“AAGH!! HELP!!” someone has screamed at the top of their lungs.

Bang bang

He fell down right next to the open window. Some of the blood was spilled into the window as a result of falling down.

-“Haha! That fucktard really wanted some help. Did my AK help ya??” From the little I saw, some dude kicked the lifeless body. He started touching the body and turning it. I saw it, I saw his face. It’s blown out, half of it is just a bloody mess. An eye is popping out. It only took a few seconds to realize that it was our neighbor Zotov Nikolay.

The heavy metallic smell, the screams, the laughs, the smell of gunpowder, the sight… I can’t move. I can’t move? I can’t move! I’m all shaking. I can’t stop, I can’t do anything. This isn’t real. Please, someone, help me.

-“Gimme the lighter!” From the window, I saw an orange glimmering light.

-“PLEASE! LET US GO! I BEG YOU!” Another shout from the top of the lungs. In return, I heard a laughter. Who will laugh at this? What kind of twisted monster would do this? They can’t exist, this is all a dream! It’s not real!!

-“Who’s inside?”

-“It’s some granny, we looted the house already, Gunkata.”

-“Good, you can burn it.” From the little I could see, I saw his face again. Half illuminated by the burning and screaming house, half hidden in the shadows. It’s the same man that started shooting. He is Gunkata.

-“Alright, boss” I heard even more screams, I’m scared to even imagine what is going on. I can’t stop crying, but I can’t make a sound. Please God, help us! I beg you!

I’m hollered up in this fetal position, crying and peeing myself quietly without doing anything. I’m the worst, I’m the fucking worst.

In the middle of the screaming mayhem, some armed guy was dragging a woman by her hair. She isn’t fighting, just letting him drag her like some dirty rag.

-“Ey boss, we want her. How much?”

-“Well, let’s see. Hello lady.” He squatted down to her, and yet still remaining above her. He got silence in return.

-“I’m talking to you lady. It’s disrespectful to ignore me.”

-“Disrespectful?? Ya killed my family!! Took my son!! And you still want respect??” The woman said in tears.

-“Lady, you seem to misunderstand the situation. Common sense and your laws are not in effect right now. I am the master of this situation, I have full control.
I am your god and you will obey, unless you want to meet a worse end.”

-“What’s worse than seein’ ya own love getting’ killed like cattle??”

-“Want to know? Believe me lady, you don’t want to. But from this little conversation, I got the information I wanted. You didn’t cooperate, therefore you will be punished. Your price isn’t that high to deal with you. You’ll be used to keep the morale of my men high. You should believe me on this one, they’re worse than getting killed like cattle. At least they didn’t get to experience this. Have fun.”

The woman is getting dragged away, this time with screams to let her go and personal insults towards Gunkata. He just looked at it all, with a smile.

A second feels like a minute, a minute feels like an hour. The screams have gotten weaker, and the screams in the burning house finally stopped. Even though I’m terrified, I feel relief. Why? Am I relieved that they’ve burned to their deaths?? No this is not it, I feel relief that their suffering has stopped. Will mine stop if I’ll die?

He’s standing there, if he’ll know that I’m here. He’ll shoot me. Will be that bad? Would I rather feel the floor wet with my own pee and Nikolay’s blood? What am I thinking?? I’m not the one who has to die, it’s him. It’s Gunkata!

-“Pwease mistew, you huwt me.” For the first time after a while, I flinched. It wasn’t due to braveness or valor. It was due to the immense horror I felt. I saw some another Gunkata’s brigand dragging Katya, my little sister.

-“You found a kid?” It maybe just me, but I felt his gaze. For a split second. Now he just talks like nothing happened.

-“…You see… Well…” The bald brigand hesitated to talk.

-“You’re new?”

-“It’s me Miguel! I just joined the band like a month ago.”

-“Oh right, Miguel. So you want this little missy.”

-“…Well, she’s going to die here anyway… So why not keep the morale high y’know?”

-“I know. Since you’re new here, I’ll explain. You’re here for the money and “fun”?”

-“Yeah, I guess so.”

-“We are a business. We have to make money. Contracts alone aren’t enough. In short, we also sell people. That’s why we kill the elderly, they’re useless. As slaves they’re useless, as organ donors they’re useless and as “toys” they’re useless. But kids, those guys can fetch up for a high price. You won’t believe how much people with money want to have a taste. Letting you ruin this girl, will lower my profits. Do you understand?”

-“So how much?”

-“It depends. Hey missy, I want to ask a few questions. Don’t worry, I’m not a bad guy.”

-“You going to huwt me.”

-“I won’t”

-“Liaw Liaw”

-“… Listen, I’ll give you a candy and let you see your parents. Alright?”

-“No!! My big bwoder Dan’ka will beat you!”

-“Oh, how scary. Listen missy, it’s all just a little game of exchanging traditions. Where I’m from, wieners are a funny thing. How is it in your culture?”

-“Wienie? I dunno…”

-“Well, it seems she doesn’t understand what we’re talking about. Considering how the price went up recently, I’d say 50,000$”

-“That’s a lot!”

-“That’s the price, so you’re paying or no?”

-“Fine! Considering the job, I won’t retire easily. But that was the plan!” He takes out a gold bar out of his chest pocket behind the vest. Gunkata holds the gold bar and shows no expression.

-“Alright, I’ll take it.”

-“Change maybe?”

-“Sorry, there isn’t.”

-“Oh well, time to make up for the price!” He grabbed Katya by the cheek and started pulling it.

-“Stawp mista!” Is he going to do the same thing they’ve done to that woman? But she’s just 6 years old, she’s too little for that! Why? Why her?? Why can’t I move?? Please Danil, MOVE!

What kind of brother I am if I can’t protect my little sister? She was taken off in front of me, crying and fighting, and all I can do is sit here and cry in silence.

-“…Damn animal. At least I don’t owe him change.” Gunkata said to himself quietly. After that he walked away.

I can’t stay here, I have to protect Katya. Why can’t I move?? Is it because I’m a pathetic brother? Because I can’t do anything even if it was before my own face? No! It’s because of that pig, no it’s an insult to pigs… It’s because of that devil, Gunkata. If only he didn’t bring those animals here, if only he wasn’t alive…

I’m getting hotter, my heart beats faster, almost hitting my ribcage from inside.
I feel power, I feel fire. But I’m not burning. I’ll protect you Katya, your big brother will protect you!

I stood up! I can do this, I will slay that monster no matter the cost. Even if costs my own life!! I will kill you and I will save you Katya. I’m coming!!

I’m not just standing, I’m running. From the kitchen I grabbed a knife and rushed to their direction. I can see their footprints on the muddy road, probably leading to the forest. The burning village is behind me.

As I got closer I started hearing screaming. Her screaming. I will Butcher that fucking animal. I will kill it in the most painful way possible, I will make it suffer before it goes to hell!

There it is, with its pants stripped down revealing its hairy ass. It’s a big animal, it will kill me if it notices me. I need to come from behind. I need to sneak and then strike.

I sneak behind it while I was hearing Katya yelling him to stop. Just when the distance was right, I stabbed it in the neck. It fell to the side, holding it’s wound with gushing blood. What is it? The fun just started.

I hold in my strongest grip and started to repeatedly stab him in the chest. It’s screaming, telling me to stop. You didn’t stop when Katya asked you to, so why should I? Blood is everywhere, the metallic smell is very strong, my vision has gotten red.

I feel how the knife penetrates his skin and flesh, it’s more resistant than cutting meat, it’s a little denser.

The blood stopped gushing when getting stabbed and now it’s just a few drops of blood. It stopped resisting and just lies there, motionless. The eyes look stupid, looking into nowhere. A fitting end to a fucking animal.

-“Katya, It’s me Dan’ka. I’m here to save you.” Her face is in utter shock. No expression except for the wide eyes full of terror.

-“It’s alright, I’m here. You’re safe.” I crawled to her, but she took a few steps back. I reached her. I hugged her tight, patted her on the head.

-> To be continued

Author’s note:

Hello readers, I’m Anregni and I’m the one who’s responsible for what you’ve just read.
This is the Author’s note, where I share my thoughts on the current chapter, future plans or just explaining something. It’s not a crucial part of the chapter, so if you don’t want to read my rambling, you can bravely skip.

Before you do though, you should check out the glossary in case you feel confused with some of the words with the little number.

The beginning, in short:

I’ve had Gunkata as an idea for a while. I fell in love with it and saw great potential. I’ve doubted myself if I’ll be able to deliver the story as I want, but at some point I just went “Fuck it, let’s do it”.

I wanted to write it for a while, but there were a few factors: The previously described doubt and the plan.

Before Gunkata, I wrote Deus Cupio. I had an idea for the plot, but often times I found myself not knowing what to do and often retconning. This time I decided try a different way, by writing a plan first. While writing the first chapter, around 50% is done. I think I’ll stop here before revealing too much, for now enjoy the ride (:

When is the new chapter? How to read?

What you’re reading right now is a web novel. It’s being published through the internet and there’s no need to pay for it (Pay for the internet, not the novel). Taking my life right now into account, each chapter will be usually released in 2 weeks. If you’re interested, you should follow me on my social media or joining my Discord server to be updated or maybe discussing the novel.
Sometimes if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to upload a chapter once a week, but don’t keep you hopes high.

What kind of story is this?

I don’t know if it’s a question I should answer directly, but just in case I will.
Gunkata is a mature story, not because of the violence but also because of the themes and some level of maturity to understand the plot itself. I want Gunkata to be the kind of story that will hit hard and cut deep.

Why Russian words?

This chapter takes place in a Slavic village. I like to add authenticity by adding words from the language spoken there. Fortunately, I speak Russian and therefore I decided to spice up the speech a little bit.

I find beauty in Russian cursing. It’s not like in any other language. It’s like a LEGO puzzle, where you’ve been given different curses and you can build it with other curse words to build a new curse phrase with a new meaning. It’s versatile and can describe a feeling in many ways.

Chapter review:

It was painful writing it. Hopefully you suffered as well (:
Considering the war in the story, it was not inspired by recent events. The planning was written even before. While it’s almost the same world as ours where the only difference is the geopolitical situation. The countries aren’t really relevant, so there’s no need to remember where it takes place exactly. It’s enough just to understand the area.

The story doesn’t exactly represent the real world and its events, therefore it would be recommended to think of the world here as a fictional that was inspired by the real world.

Thank you for reading Gunkata.

Glossary

• Otyebis’1(Отебись)- Directly translates to “Fuck off”

• Zatknis’2(Заткнись)- Directly translates to “Shut up”

• Dyadya3(Дядя)- Means uncle, but in this context it could also mean a simplified way to address a grown man.

• Zaraza4(Зараза)- Means infection, disease. It is also used as damn or calling someone an asshole.

• Ebat’5(Ебать)- Directly translates to “To fuck”, but in this context it could be also used as just “Fuck…”. Usually used to describe quite bad situations.

• Blyat6’(Блять)- It’s complex so buckle up. There isn’t an equivalent for Blyat in English. The most fitting one is Fuck, but with more spice. It doesn’t literally mean “Fuck” but it’s more of a Damn.

•Kakovo Khuya7(Какого Хуя)- Literally it means “What the penis”, but in this context it’s more “What the fuck”