The Hollow Memories of Jakobus Coetzee

[Zunn]

Prologue

My hands were wrapped around his grimy neck, squeezing tighter, and tighter. I could feel the life slowly trickling out of his eyes, so I implanted by thumbs deep into his throat. His body was violently shuddering beneath my fingertips, I stared directly into his pupils, they stared back at me, as if it was no longer him but an animal that had taken over. I began to press his head into the coarse grass in the hopes to muffle his screams, they stopped. His he dead? I released my grip, I could no longer feel my fingers, they were as red as blood...wait that was just blood. 

I knelt up, nudging his body as I arose, no movement, that’s a good thing right? I took my switch-blade out of my back pocket and begun to slowly insert it into the man’s lung, he let out a deathly squeal and fumbled for the knife in his own chest. Then, I...I placed my thumbs over his eyes and...slowly thrusted them into his head the screams soon turned to moans, the harsh wind bit into my face, blood and tears ran down my cheeks alike. I let out an animalistic bellow to submerge the wails of the man below, this crescendo of senses culminated in his last breath. I push my thumbs in further one last time to reassure myself. The distance screeches of the infected snapped me back to reality. No, not infected it was the girl her petrified gaze dispelled any doubts of what I had just done. She screamed like a siren as I said the first thing that popped into my head “ I thought I told you to wait in the Truck” with my hands still firmly embedded into the man’s skull. I arose and slowly hugged the girl, my hands dripping with blood. I caressed her cheek to calm her, I leant in to kiss her on her forehead, she then backed away apprehensively. I saw myself in her still and swiftly picked her up as she was immobilized by the trauma she had witnessed. I took her back to the truck before the dead arrived her eyes were closed with anguish as I placed her in the passenger sit of the rusty transport truck. The infected were right on cue, slamming their lifeless body against the side of the V3S before I drove away. 

The journey back to the lodge was quiet, the silenced only dampened by a few perturbed whimpers from the girl...and me alike.

I met the girl several months back her name’s Eliska, didn’t speak much English but we understood each other for the most part. She eventually told me the name Eliska meant God’s oath and that it was my oath to protect her from the dead, I obliged. Only if I realised it lead to this I’d probably rethink my offer.

As we arrived to the lodge I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, I took my shirt of to see a deep blood filled wound. Musta’ been him I thought, only just felt it then due to the adrenaline you see. I opened the rigid door and stubbornly dragged my sorry ass out of the blood covered seat,holding the wound as I staggered over to let Eliska out. I hobbled over to the the front door, before I knew it I was on my ass and the girl was my guardian. The next thing I knew I awoke to an other-wordly pain, it felt like someone was prodding me with a cattle prod. All I could see was the ceiling of the lodge, I tried to lean up but the pain intensified if I did, I felt my stomach where the wound was and there was some wet duck tape, blood. Poor kid musta' tried to fix me up I thought. I mustered up my breath and groaned out "Eliska", no answer. I waited there laying in agony for what felt like an entirety, I heard some rustling in near the lodge, an animal? An infected? I leant up and reach for the only gun we had, didn't have any bullet but 'hey' it kept people from trying anything. Before I could raise my arm to aim at the door Eliska came in, I wanted to spring up even more now. 

She was covered in blood, was it the dead's, survivor's or...her own before I even spoke a word she reassured me saying "It dead blood, no worry" I breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey! Where did you go?!" I exclaimed in fear for her more than myself, she replied calmly "To fix you" She begun to remove the duck tape in one fowl ripping motion, she winced at the site of the wound and began to mutter something in Chernarussian. I couldn't see what she was doing but It stung like hell, I let out a screech and then began to bite down on the handle of my pistol in order to muffle my cries. Before I knew it she was finished and the sun had set, the lodge was a dark abyss and Eliska kissed ME on the forehead, I could feel the warm blood that was on her lips, and I realised I felt but a fraction of what she did earlier.

[Hollows]

See, I didn't fully read the title and thought it was directed to me. >.> After re-reading, though, I can say it's interesting. Keep it up.

[Zunn]

See, I didn't fully read the title and thought it was directed to me. >.> After re-reading, though, I can say it's interesting. Keep it up.

Oh right how come you thought that? And cheers man.

[Sparky]

Very interesting I hope you write some more up.

[Zunn]

Very interesting I hope you write some more up.

ty man and will do

[Zunn]

Prologue: No escape

A few cruelling months had past since that incident, the wound never healed properly, physically...and mentally. Eliska wasn't the same after it, more...tense, she declared it didn't faze her, it did, there was no way it couldn't. I saw myself as her guardian more than father figure, although I did grow an undying attachment to her, I hoped the feeling was mutual. Eliska and I had been just surviving for a longtime, but I kept finding something to fight for...her. I simply reminded myself that I had fought to be here and I had to keep fighting, I had to do what is needed, then...then I, knew we could live. 

Eliska and I arrived at a train station just south of Vavilovo, the night was numbingly cold but we didn't travel during the day due to the raiders. The lack of order was ever present, and a girl and an injured man travelling together was almost suicide in some areas. I entered the run-down garage and was soon followed by Eliska, I told her to scavenge for supplies, she didn't listen. Too lost in that probably fragmented mind of her's, she sat down on an old tire and took out her journal, shit I don't know who would want to document this living nightmare. I left her to her business anyway as cautiously lurked around the garage, the truck we....acquired has broken down you see, the battery was fucked, so we thought the garage was the logical place to search for a new one. 

I ventured into the office, the place looked forsaken, lost in the stretch of time when this world turned upside down. It clear that one had been here for a long, long time however there was a framed picture on the main desk. I picked it up with curiosity and wiped away the dust that had accumulated on the glass frame.

From what I could make out the picture consisted of a local family, my mind wandered thinking about what they might of went through, or possibly even worse, what they are still going through. I was snapped back to my world from theirs due to a screeching of a truck's tire outside. I panicked, dropping the picture frame as I slid across the dusty debris for cover. I slowly poked my head over the broken window, avoiding the glass as I cautiously looked on every side of the garage for Eliska. I couldn't see her. I opened my lips to blurt out her name under my breath, before I did the large rusty door began to open, creating a metallic grinding sound as it opened. As one man held it open with great force, another shifted his body underneath the overhead door. Once he was through the burly man on the other-side released his grip on the door, my body uncontrollable shuddered as the metal hit the harsh concrete ground.

The man who had entered began to call out in a deep Chernarussian voice, I put my hand over my mouth to dampen my heavy breathing. I edged my body to peek around the corner to have a gaze at the man, but as I did my foot landed on a fragmented piece of glass, it crunched underneath my foot drawing the man's attention to my whereabouts. I let out an uncontrollable groan through my fingers as I knew he knew he was not alone. As I heard the heavy man walking over the garage debris I looked around for inspiration. Do I run? Do I talk it out? Before my mind had settled the man stood ominously above my and placed his hand on my shoulder, he clenched his hand around my bony shoulder lifting me up as I struggling out of his grip. 

"I just want to talk" the man exclaimed, I stumbled over my words "I-I-..." he smiled sinisterly, looking like he had seen an old friend, he placed his hand on the side of my arm, "It's okay přítel" he said with enthusiasm. My instincts still told me not to trust this man, but what could I do? He towered over me and stuck his arm out in the direction he wished for me to go, I obliged. I looked around as I feared the worst for Eliska, as I thought this involuntary chat could turn intense any minute. Still no sign of her, or the man's friend in fact. He told me to take a sit, I slowly lowered myself onto an old spare tire, I had my hand on my switch-blade the entire time for precaution. Once I was on the tire he began to talk in Chernarussian, I couldn't understand a word, nodding in agreement  I desperately looked for a way out of this involuntary chat. 

Suddenly the man stopped talking and a look of anguish appeared on his grizzly face, I arose from the tire and shifted my body behind him cautiously. I looked in direction his gaping eyes were focused, was it his friend? No. I hurried across the debris ridden floor to close the rusty steel door that had been left freely open. Tripping as I made my way over, I quickly picked myself up, I had to get to that door. I lowered my body against the door and used my feet as leverage, no luck. The door was jammed. The Chernarussian man soon crackled back to the situation and stumbled over to the door, towering over me he let out a physical moan before the door started to inch forward. We soon both were screaming with fear more than anything else, with my back to the door I felt a hand grab me from the other side, I spun my body around preparing to defend myself. It was just the girl. "Get your ass inside" I exclaimed before grabbing here coat and yanking her in like a doll. Before Eliska was inside an arm grab her loose hair, before I could think I found myself severing the arm off with my switch blade, I didn't care who's it was. I twisted and pried the knife until the arm was disconnected from whoever, or whatever it was attached to. With one last heave the man closed the steel door, breathing heavily as he slid down the wall in exhaustion, and loss of hope. 

I took a step back and saw them all, in all their...glory. The dead. The pressed their lifeless body against the windows, whilst the dead behind them forced their bodies forward, the ones in front were crushed and trampled to...death? Soon there was a small pile of mangled bodies at the base of the window, they didn't care, all they knew was that we were in the garage and they weren't. Their groans of hunger could drive a man insane, I heard a grinding sound from behind me, I turned around to see the man opening the garage door himself. No, his friend was, on the other side. My mind was running a mile a minute, "HOLD IT FOR US" I blurted out as I frantically made my way over to the door. The door slammed shut in my face grazing my arm on the way down, I slammed my fist on the door bawling out "WHY?" There was a small window at eye level, I could see his sinister smile once again, he turned his body and lifted his head up to look me in the eyes. It felt like the garage grew cold, "You see, I-I believe everything happens for a...reason" he said calmly as I shouted to Eliska to look for an escape. Yet I couldn't stop myself from listening to this vile man, "This past summer, was especially harsh. You see..." He paused as if he was mournful, "I had to watch a close comrade pass a few months back, well it was a man...and a girl, they savagely murdered him. His eyes, his throat, his che..." I interrupted him with by banging my fist on the door, "I HAD TO" I screamed out over my cries. "No, no EVERYTHING happens for a reason" he turned his back to my dampened cries, "PLEASE" I pleaded sliding down the metal door, bawling into my hands as I faced my impending doom in this metal lunchbox.

Eliska shook my limp body I looked up to see her face and behind her the dead. The pile of dead was now forcing the window open, it smashes the glass scattering across the floor and the dead falling inside. They crawled across the floor until more dead came through and their heads were squashed into the ground. I emerged from the ground and told Eliska to follow me, she clung onto me with fear as if I knew what to do. I scanned the room before I set my eyes on a large tool cabinet, I ran over with fear written on my face I forced the cabinet open, it was big enough for us both. I let out a breath, the first in what felt like minutes I frantically began to shift the cabinet’s content onto the ground, Eliska was no longer holding onto to me. I could feel them breathing on our necks, all around us I stepped into the cabinet, it was the only way we could make it.

I turned around calling for Eliska thrusting my arm out to pull her in. She didn't grab my hand. I first heard her scream, a dead one had his grip around her, I instinctively sprinted out to her rescue, as I did my ankle got caught on something. I tried to shake it until I look down and saw the legless dead one with his hands wrapped around my grimy leg. I fell, panicking i kicked at his face I didn't stop until his head was rolling on the ground, I pried his stubborn grip off my leg and swung my body around to face Eliska. There was nothing. Nothing but the dead. At this point I felt an animal instinct take over and stumbled into the metal tool cabinet, I used both hand to hold the doors shut at first in the hope she would still emerge. There were three horizontal slits at eye level, I desperately looked around...that’s when I saw her. She was fighting them off at first, then one came behind, then to her left...then everywhere. They tore into her limbs at first her deathly shrieks was drawing more to her, they soon turned to moans as I froze...all I could see was her limbs being rip apart and taken away into the abyss of the dead, her face was...shredded I could still hear her screams yet it was just the dead. I tried to close my eyes but they just gazed at the ruptured carcase, I closed my eyes and still saw here familiar face, I placed my belt through the loop of the cabinet and sunk into its depths, curling myself into a ball, I didn't cry I just sat there listening to her’s, over and over and over again. 

[align=left]//once again sorry for any mistakes

[JohnnyThunders]

Grim stuff. I "enjoyed" the ending. Very graphic.

[Zunn]

Grim stuff. I "enjoyed" the ending. Very graphic.

Cheers man, the colony is gunna have to save this poor man

[Mademoiselle]

Wow loving the read! Great detail! <3

[Zunn]

Wow loving the read! Great detail! <3

Thanks a lot! Wish I was as good as you haha

[Zunn]

-snip-