Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Sam and his brother crawled on the tin roof in the hot sun. Sam had been a roofer in the village for a few years, his body scarred and calloused. His younger brother Mitchell wasn’t so lucky. This was one of his first jobs as a new roofer and the metal caused blisters all over his skin.

“Ackk” Mitchell dropped his hammer again, but Sam caught it.

Sam smiled. “It hurts less… eventually. Keep going, we still have to finish this roof by today.” Sam forced the smile to keep Mitchell’s morale up a bit.

Everyone in the village had specific jobs, and a daily quota to fulfill. Fishermen had to catch so many fish, weavers had to weave so many garments, glass blowers had to make so many items, etc. Years ago the quotas were reasonable, but now they started getting more and more out of reach. The punishments were now typically death, or worse.

Both of them had to finish patching the roof of a goat barn, and a fisherman’s roof which leaked. The roof metal was thin, the nails were brittle, and the sealing tar was hot. Village roofs often leaked, and the two had to fix so many every day. Failure wasn’t an option for them.

By the end of the day, a group of two walked by, an overseer and a hollow. The overseers were officials that counted the daily quotas and ensured they were met, while the hollows acted as enforcers. People in the village started calling them ‘hollows’ because of their cold and emotionless nature, many wondered if they were even human anymore.

“You’ve both done your quota.” Said the overseer as he scribbled on a paper as they walked along.

Sam resented the overseers, they didn’t have to hit daily quotas. Instead, they had a bit of authority and just counted everyone else’s work every day. Ironically, it was also Sam’s goal to earn the job of overseer for himself and his two brothers one day. Deep down it made him feel hypocritical, to judge the group of people that he wished to be a part of.

The brothers hopped off the low ledge of the roof and onto the dirt floor below. They walked home covered in sweat and sun burns.

“So tonight I can make grilled fish, or fish porridge again.” Said Sam.

Mitchell rolled his eyes. “Jake and I are sick of fish porridge.”

Sam was sick of fish porridge as well, but there were few things he could make from a small ration of fish and potatoes.

“Please, no! DON’T TAKE ME!” A woman screamed as she ran out of a nearby hut, a hollow threw her against the ground.

“You have missed the daily quota. As punishment, you will be taken.” Said the hollow as she stepped closer.

“I’ll do more tomorrow! Anything! You’re my sister! Please, stop!” the woman said as she crawled away.

A crowd of villagers formed. They watched the guard as she beat the helpless woman.

“SISTER! PLEASE! SISTER! No more…” the woman begged. But the hollow didn’t stop; their training compelled them to punish any resistance. The hollow’s cold, lifeless eyes all had a slight glow that was more visible in the dark. But there was no hint of remorse or sadness in them.

One overseer ran up, “Stop! Stop! You can’t kill her! We need to take them in alive!”

The hollow glanced at the overseer, then back at the woman, and lowered her leg. Two other nearby guards picked up the unconscious woman and carried her away, letting her feet drag along behind her.

This was the fate worse than death, to be ‘taken.’

“Are they going to turn that woman into a hollow too?” Mitchell asked.

Sam grabbed Mitchell’s shoulder and started walking back to their house. “Come on, I’ll grill you up some fish.”

The two stood in silence in their tiny home. Sam stood over the grill, cooking three thin river fish that were in their basket of rations. The rations used to be daily, then one every two days, and now twice a week. It wasn’t quite enough for the three of them to live on, but they made do with other bits of food they could scavenge or grow.

The fish were on skewers, along with bits of potato and a type of edible root the brothers dug up the week before. It was very plain food, but they were very hungry.

Mitchell played with a nail in his hand. “I knew that Hollow. She used to be a weaver, like her sister. She was so kind and nice to everyone. But after she had some kind of hand twitch that kept her from doing any more physical work, she was taken away.”

“That’s been happening more and more. Nothing we can do about it.” Said Sam.

“Would we be like that too… if we were taken?” asked Mitchell.

Sam glared at Mitchell for a moment before softening his expression to a sigh. “None of the three of us are gonna be taken, so we’ll never know.”

“What if one of us gets sick? Or breaks a bone? Then we can’t complete our quotas,” asked Mitchell.

Sam just kept cooking.

Mitchell stood up. “I don’t want to do this anymore! I don’t want to be scared of getting sick or hurt every day! Mom and Dad said they wouldn’t be taken! Everyone else in the family is gone! So many…”

Sam didn’t know what to say. The truth was cold and harsh, and there wasn’t a way for him to sugar coat it. “Quiet, someone might hear you. Here’s your fish, I added some extra salt today.”

The two ate in silence since there weren’t cheerful things to talk about. The extra salt barely made the fish palatable, which was almost a bright spot to their day.

“Jake’s food is getting cold,” said Sam. Then the brothers looked at each other with wide eyes.

A group of teens ran through a thin alley, each carrying as much food as they could carry. They stole it from a wagon as its wheel was being fixed.

Two hollows chased them, and were quickly catching up.

“Split up!” The teen in the front yelled. “They can’t catch us all!”

The group broke up, some ran toward the crowded market, others toward the horse stables. Jake was towards the back of the group, his arms filled with apples. He ran through the market, zig-zagging between stalls of spices and furs. One of the Hollow’s hands glowed, and flames came from their outstretched palm. The sounds of screams filled the air as people and goods burned. The hollows focused on capturing the thieves, giving little thought to any collateral damage.

Jake hobbled back onto his feet, one of his sandals fell off of his foot in the blast but he continued to run. He recognized the hollow chasing him, the man had been taken the year before for stealing food, which Jake thought was ironic. Now the person came back as a hollow, inhumanly fast and had some kind of magic power.

The hollow leaped in the air towards him, jumping with a flame under him. Jake ran left under a tent selling live fish in tanks. The hollow blasted flames to its left, shifting course mid air and crashed through the top of the tent. The hollow landed in one of the fish tanks and screamed in pain, the first time Jake ever saw one show any emotion.

Jake kept running and turned toward the back alley behind his home. He was nearly there and saw his two brothers out looking for him in the distance. Jake wanted to scream at them to go back inside, but he didn’t want to get a hollow’s attention. He felt a strong grip on his leg, which pulled him up into the air. The apples flew everywhere, and he saw a hollow standing on a roof. An odd purple haze surrounded the hollow’s arm, and it outstretched in a long tendril, grabbing his foot.

The voices of his brothers rang out, but he couldn’t understand them as he was slammed into the ground. The pain took a moment to register before consuming his mind. Again and again, someone slammed him into the ground, leaving him nearly unconscious. He was barely awake as he saw his brother Sam attack the hollow from behind, hitting it in the head with a steel bar.

Other hollows swooped in like mindless vultures, pinning Sam and Mitchell to the ground as well. One of the overseers ran up, out of breath. His eyes meeting Sam’s.

Sam had two hollows holding him down, “Please! Jake was innocent, I forced him to carry the apples. It was me! Not him!”

The hollows all looked in unison to the overseer for new orders. The bags under the overseer’s eyes were dark, and a pained expression was on his face. He heard other overseers around the bend who would be there in less than a minute.

“Please…” whispered Sam.

The overseer wiped his face and nodded, “Let the younger two go, take the older one.”

Sam had tears in his eyes, “Thank you,” he said.

The hollows surrounded Sam as they took him away. Jake tried to get up to his feet, he tried to yell at them, that it was his fault not Sam’s. But he couldn’t speak with his injured throat.

The overseer looked to Mitchell, “Take your fool brother inside. There’s no use to take all three of you.” Mitchell had tears streaming down his cheeks, and started pulling Jake inside as he struggled.

Sam knew it would be the last time his brothers saw him, so he turned his face to them and forced himself to smile.