One Eye

-“Don’t move.” Olivia said. She placed her hands on the eye patch. I slowly felt how the fabric that was glued to me, is slowly being unattached at a slow pace. What seemed like the full picture, is now only a half. The right side was suddenly bright, too bright, blindingly bright.

-“Why you close your eye?” She asked.

-“It’s too bright.”

-“Good news, eye isn’t… What’s word? Kaput?”

-“Dead? Doesn’t work?”

-“Something like that. You has to develop eye. What doesn’t work die.”

-“Yeah I know. Thanks.” I stood up from the stool.

I opened my right eye. My vision is fuzzy and my eye hurts. Could be that my eye can’t be used anymore and it’s going to stay like this. Honestly, this is the least of my worries.

Where the curtains are closed, Katya is asleep. Olivia said that it’s because of malnutrition, dehydration and just huge stress, she needed to be put in a coma for a rest. I don’t know which is worse, blissful dream or truthful reality. Though who knows, could be that she has nightmares.

-“Wait. Take eyepatch. Remove sometime. Let the eye works.” Olivia gave me a pirate like eyepatch.

Olivia doesn’t like guests, so I left the tent. What do I do now? I don’t feel like doing anything. It’s not my usual laziness where I’d rather to lie down with a book, I just feel so lost.

-“You’ve been staring for a while” Someone said. I didn’t see him, I was looking at the clouds.

-“I guess. What do you want?” I looked at the speaker, it’s Nerayo.

-“Just checking on you. How’s your eye?”

-“It’s alright.”

-“Then why is it behind an eye patch?”

-“It’s too bright.”

-“During cloudy weather?”

-“Just tell me what do you want.”

-“I want to know how are you.”

-“I’m fine.”

-“A man after experiencing hell cannot be fine. I won’t bother you then, but let me tell you at least something. It’s natural to feel this way. From personal experience, I can tell you that being busy helps to get distracted. If you want, I can give you some little tasks to help around the camp. Of course, if you want to.”

-“Okay, I’ll help.”

-“Good, find Neven. He’s the cook. He’s a big guy, you won’t miss him.” I walked way in search of this Neven.

I walked around the camp, circling it a few times. Still didn’t find this Neven. Then I went to the center, there’s a gray pickup truck. In front of it is a folding plastic table and a small fridge. Behind the table stands a large sized man. He’s hairy everywhere except the head. Right now he’s cutting meat on a wooden board.

-“Neven?”

-“Da, me Neven. Neven Lazić(Lazitch)” His voice is hoarse and deep.

-“I was told you need help.”

-“Da, da. Eh… Cut the onion.” Neven pointed at a knife with a thick blade. He then gave me five onions and a wooden board. The moment I picked up the blade, I started to feel something.

My heart started beating fast. Flashbacks of that night and how I plunged the knife. The heavy metallic smell of blood. That fire inside the heart, as if powering all my body. The knife dived in and within a few seconds the onion was cut.

-“Boy!” I felt Neven’s heavy hand on my shoulder. That’s when I realized that everything was in onion juice. Near the pile of onion pieces was an onion mishmash. On Neven’s face I saw a mix of concern and anger.

-“You murdered that poor onion.” In the side was standing Siggie with his always stupid smirk.

-“What do you want?”

-“I was just preparing for the mission. Then I heard you butchering this poor onion. Do you really want to just cut onions?”

-“Maybe. What is it to you?”

-“Neven! my man. Do you really need help with cutting stuff? A man of your talents?”

-“Ne.” He said while professionally cutting tomatoes. Surprisingly, there aren’t any splashes. He just cuts them really fast.

-“See? Nerayo always does this to the newbies. Now tell me, honestly, do you want to cut onions and other vegetables so badly? There’s nothing bad about it, but don’t you think you can help with something else?”

-“Then what? Helping with cleaning shit?”

-“A fair offer. I’ll forward Nerayo that you want it. Though, if you’re interested in something else, you could come with me. I do have to warn you, you’ll see some bad shit after which cleaning shit will seem like heaven.”

-“Just tell me” Cleaning shit sounds better than listening to him rambling.

-“Straight to the point, eh? Well, we’re doing recon work. They split up and raid villages at different times. Probably to draw attention away from the frontline if you’re asking me.” Could be because they’re a bunch of animals disguised in human skin, that’s why they’d do it.

-“We’re looking for survivors, loot, valuable intel. You’re interested?”

-“I guess.”

-“Good enough, you drive the ATV. I’ll drive the bike. Stick close, we might bump into marauders or other friendly faces.”

Neven nodded and then we walked away. I sat on the quad and Siggie threw the keys to me. He picked the helmet from the bike and put it on his head. He showed with his hand to follow him. I turned the key and we both drove off to the south. If I remember correctly, in that direction is the Bratilsk village. I’ve been there once, though it was a long time ago.

If I remember correctly, we needed to buy another cow. Dad brought me along with Vanya and dyadya Pasha. We went to some family there who had the cow. While talking, dyadya Pasha offered some them vodka. While dad and dyadya Pasha were talking, laughing and drinking themselves to death. Me and Vanya used the noise to get away with the cows on a tractor.

Later in the morning, the same guys came. They were angry and hangover. Vanya was still asleep, so I had to be the one defending and saying how we didn’t steal anything. I thought they already paid, turns out we paid with vodka.

I have the same feeling as before. The same wind from the speed, the same smell of burnt meat and wood. It looks the same as Novopotka, though there’s less destruction. That’s what I saw from the entrance to the village which is on the little hill.

More importantly, I see people there. Could be survivors or marauders? I don’t remember we had survivors. Just dead silence.

We entered the village. It’s silent, yet louder than Novopotka. It has that loud silence. At the village center there’s a big tree. On the tree are 3 people, hanged. Two of which are the elderly, another is a girl, too young to be there.

Their tongues are out, swollen. Their skin is pale with differently colored spots, some are green, some are dark red. The eyes of one elder man are opened, showing how yellow his eyes are.

Near the tree sits a boy. He’s around my age, maybe even older. He stares at the ground with a lifeless look. His clothes are ragged and stained with dark red liquid, though it’s not fresh.

-“Can you translate for me?” Siggie got off his bike and removed the helmet.

-“Okay.”

-“Hey kid.” He approached the boy. He didn’t respond.

-“Hey dude.” I sat in front of the boy. He looked at me, revealing his tear stained face.

-“What?”

-“What did he say Danil?”

-“He asked “What?”.”

-“Ask him when it happened.” And so I did.

-“I don’t know.” The boy replied.

-“He doesn’t know.”

-“Ah shit, guess I’ll have to deduce from the bodies. I hate it, this is nasty. Bleh…” Siggie approached the corpses. His stupid smirk which he always wears has changed into a different expression. It’s a mix of disgust and sadness. Though I think he’s just disgusted.

-“There’s no stench yet. When the wind blows they move stiffly. So it’s still in rigor mortis. I’d give it around 13 to 48 hours. Since they’ve come from the north, I’d say the raid was around 2 to 3 days ago. I don’t see any maggots yet, so they’re still considered fresh. Danil, ask the kid about the survivors. Don’t be too rough on him, make sure he trusts that you won’t hurt him.”

The boy is still sitting on the mud, looking into nowhere. I sat near him, he didn’t react.

-“Are you hungry?”

-“No.”

-“Yeah, me too.” We didn’t speak for some minutes.

-“How old are you?”

-“14”

-“Huh... I’m 12… Name’s Danil. You?”

-“Taras.”

-“Why are you sitting here, Taras?”

-“I don’t know. Maybe Nadya will wake up.”

-“Who’s Nadya?”

-“Her.” He stared at the corpse of the hanging girl. Her clothes are all torn, revealing too much. When the wind blows, she stiffly rotates in place showing everything.

-“Do you have a shovel?” I asked him.

-“Maybe.”

-“We can’t let them stay like this. Those animals did horrible things, as if that wasn’t enough… They stripped them of their dignity in their last moments.” I felt it again. Liquid fire has replaced my blood and was coursing through my veins. I was just tired a moment ago, but now I feel power.

-“Yeah…” He barely stood up, holding on to the ruined wooden fence. When trying to take a step, he stumbles and almost falls. Thankfully, I picked him.

-“I’ll find the shovel, you can rest here.”

-“We had one in the basement. It’s that way. The third house to the left.” He pointed toward east. The big tree is just in the middle of this T shaped intersection. Our village was just a line.

I walked in that direction. Our villages look the same really. Same houses, same nature and same outcome. Some of the houses remained intact, looted, but intact. Some had just a chimney left. Nothing more.

The further I am from the village center, the less damage there is. People live among the nature, without having to fight it. More trees are shading my way. The dirt road gets grassier and grassier.

The third house from the left. There it is. A normal looking wooden house. The door was broken and brows footprints are leading in and out.

When I entered, everything went blurry. The floor is too close, everything is upside down. No, I’m upside down. When I looked up, I saw a shadowy figure blocking the sunlight coming from the doorframe. Said figure got closer. Sat on my torso. It’s very heavy.

Its hands are on my neck. Now that it’s closer, I can see its face. It’s a face of a man, unkempt smelly beard and a messy very short hair. On his face is a smile.

-“Shhhhh quiet…” He said. He restrained my arms, I can’t move. My throat hurts, I’m out of breath.

I feel it. Anger is it? No, it’s fury. At least something changed that expression from a smile to something less reminiscing of a happy expression. I don’t know, I don’t really think. Everything is just red.

-“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I heard. Somehow I have a metallic taste in my mouth. He backed away, holding his right hand. Something was in my mouth so I spit it out. Why there was a piece of a finger inside of my mouth? All bloody.

I get it now. That bastard tried to kill me. My body is aflame, so much power. I’ll show you. I’ll fucking show you. I’ll show you.

I dashed towards the guy, he prepared to attack me with his left fist. Jokes on him, my target was his lower part.

-“Take this!” I kicked the shit of out his balls. He squirmed and fell on his knees. Now my knee met his face. Second time. Third time. He’s lying there, not bloody enough. I opened his eyelid with my hand and with the other tried to squash it. I’m not the only one eyed here. I tried, but Siggie stopped my hand.

-“Stop.” He holds my wrist. His expression is cold.

-“Why? He’s a piece of shit. Another one of those animals.”

-“And? You want to join them?”

-“They deserve it! Out of everyone!”

-“And then you’ll become like them. Come on, kill him, do what you wanted. But then you’ll become a savage just like them. And then…” Siggie drops my hand and pulls a small pistol out of his pocket.

-“You want to defend this fucking animal? Even though you were buddy buddy with me?”

-“I’m not buddy buddy with savages. It’s your choice Danil, give in or become a human.”

-“Hrgh!” I stood up. Who knew Siggie was such a bitch. Suddenly all about morals and how we can’t kill animals. Maybe it’s because they lack balls they can’t kill Gunkata.

The house itself is small. I currently stand where once was a living room. The door on the left leads to the kitchen. The door to the right leads to the bedroom. The hatch is on the floor, covered by a carpet. I pulled the lever and the hatch is wide open.

Inside the basement are a bunch of tools, clothes and carpets strangely. All are dusty and some even entangled with spider webs. Among the tools is the spade, a little rusty. When I went up, both the man and Siggie were already gone.

My abdomen started to pain, so did my mouth. Every muscle feels sore. At least I taught that piece of shit. That’s the only way they’ll understand.

Taras is standing, looking at the hanging Nadya with a blank face. Not a single emotion at all.

-“I heard screams, what happened?”

-“Some mudak1 attacked me. We need to get them down somehow.”

-“You can climb the tree and untie the knot. Or just cut it with a knife.”

-“I’ll try.” It’s hard to climb when my body barely moves, especially with a rock in hand. I climbed up the branch where Nadya is hanging. Using the rock, I struck the knot multiple times.

-“Get ready to catch her!” The rope was already worn out, soon it’ll snap. A few minutes of hitting and the rope snapped. I hold onto the rope so the decent will be slower. I did the same thing for the elderly people. They don’t deserve this.

Mudak1 – When a person behaves like an asshole, knobhead, dickhead… He’s called Mudak

When I got down, I saw Taras embracing Nadya. I picked a shovel and started to dig a hole. It’s harder than it seemed. The ground is sturdy and the soil is heavy.

At around 30 cm I dropped the shovel and just sat beside the grave. Is it enough? When I looked up, the sky has become even more gray, I’d even say black. The ground makes a ticking sound. With each second the interval between the ticks is lesser. The water starts to gently pour.

-“You need help?” Taras came.

-“Yeah…”

He picked up the shovel and went in the grave. He planted it in the ground and threw away the soil. I think the grave got deeper for at least around 10 cm before he got up and plumed to the ground.

We took turns to dig. While I was inside, I heard more footsteps and a sound of dropping metal.

-“I brought you something.” A familiar and an annoying voice was heard.

-“Get it to at least 3 ft.”

-“How much is that in cm?”

-“I dunno, I guess it’s 30 times 3. I was bad at math.”

-“Yeah, no surprise.”

Each one was digging a grave, though we mostly helped to dig Nadya’s grave. After maybe 2-3 hours we finally finished digging. Taras dragged the bodies to the graves. Siggie was burying and I was making a wooden cross using the rope which hung them and the broken fence.

The dug the graves near the village center. I’m a little tired, I should stop digging for a few seconds. I look at the village. Why did it happen? Why they deserved it? Why we had to go through this? Why would someone do this?

-“Time to say goodbyes. He’ll drive with you.” Siggie walked to the bike and sat on it.

-“It’s your time to say your final goodbyes. We’re going.”

-“Going where?”

-“We have a camp, of people like us.”

-“I’m not going anywhere. This is my home. Nadya is here.”

-“So you’re going to stay here?”

-“What else is left? All I ever wanted is to just live a simple life. Those people took everything. We speak the same language. Tell me, where are you from?”

-“I’m from Novopotka…”

-“A neighbor. Why did you join them? “

-“I… Don’t know… All this time I was doing what I was told. Going with the flow.”

-“Even you don’t have a specific reason. I’ve seen a lot of things… I saw how they hanged Nadya, raped my girlfriend… I wanted to marry her. Now the only thing I can remember about her isn’t the beautiful smile… It’s this… Why should I go? Why should I stay alive? Out of everyone? Me? Who just ran away.”

-“The man who did it. The man who made us suffer. They call him Gunkata. It’s because of him everything happened. Because of that ublyudak2, ebanutiy3 uyebak4… I know now… I know why I am here. I survived for a reason. I have a mission. I will kill Gunkata, and I’ll make it the most painful death possible. I’ll make him feel twice the pain he causes to everyone. I swear it, I’ll avenge everyone!” Every cell in my body is now burning. I’ll make sure he’ll regret everything.

-“If you want, you can stay here. I’ll go forward and I’ll strangle him with his own guts. Goodbye Taras.”

I went to my quad and sat on it.

-“What about the kid?”

-“He wants to stay here.”

-“Okay, less mouths to feed. Let’s go.”

Ublyudak2 – Literally translates into “Bastard”

Ebanutiy3 – Translates into “Fucked up”, but means that someone is crazy

Uyebak4 – Doesn’t really have a translation. It’s just an insult as it is.

->   To be continued

Authors note

Well this chapter got released too late due to the simple fact that I’m lazy. Other than that, I want to address the strange problem that only occurred to me while writing this chapter. It’s the language barrier. Siggie and Danil both speak English while Taras spoke Russian. I thought about maybe writing in Russian but then most of the readers won’t understand.