Grey Bees (2024)

[bunniefuu]

Serhiich!

Cold?

Should it be warm?

Wish it was. Let me in?

Why, wanna see me?

Heh, who else?

Close the gate!

What for?

Against trespassers.

That alright?

Well, hello!

Wipe your feet.

- What? - A b*mb drop.

Why sh**t there?

You still got some

Same place you did.

Yeah, right!

Why so weak, huh?

What are you nosing around for?

Here.

What, broken?

Put a new candlewick, goes out.

Hey, got any food?

No one brings me humanitarian aid at night.

Me neither.

What do they bring you?

What do they bring me...

So nobody came to you at night?

Today?

You know best.

What, you roam around the village at night?

So...

Where?

Where they come to you at night from.

Offered me to buy a car.

You got money?

Funny. Very funny.

Even if I had it...

I go for the money and

get an axe on my head: bam!

Hey, you got any money?

Could buy chocolate through our boys.

My boys are in the shed,

I know, your bees are

How are you still alive?

Why k*ll me?

A waste of b*ll*ts.

So what?

What?

Why did they start to visit us again?

How should I know?

You thought about your pension?

What about pension?

Wanna call anyone?

Katia...

Katia, Katia...

Katia?

Oh, this Katia...

[Owners alive]

Coming.

What?

You have binoculars?

What?

Binoculars or a spyglass.

Maybe you picked up

something like that somewhere?

Hold on a minute, you

accusing me of something?

What do you want?

So you got them?

What for?

So you got them?

Well, yeah! What for?

I want to take a look.

Course he's dead. Two

days ago, there was nothing.

See anything? A soldier?

Who else would crawl over here?

But no uniform.

Give it here.

So, you saw enough?

Who?

Well...

Or you think, maybe from yours?

From mine?

From your side.

Who visited you yesterday?

I heard a car.

I heard it too.

But nobody visited me yesterday.

Maybe we should bury him?

Yeah, go on, knock yourself out!

The sn*per will bury you right next to him.

Which sn*per?

Any.

The dead should lie in the ground.

Yeah, right, so go lie down next to him

and you two keep each other warm.

Stupid b*stards!

At you?

At the shop.

My windows are blown out.

Come on in.

around! The glass in shatters!

So many b*mb drops,

and now right next to me!

Kaboom!

Threw me up to the ceiling.

Oh, I thought they forgot about us, but no!

Again, grey zone here, grey zone there.

One shoots here, another one there.

Like playing badminton.

Listen, can you help me remove

What if they come back?

I promised them.

Why, must I live without windows?

Put the mug down.

Take another one.

Enough with the booze!

Cut it off. Sick of it.

What if the lights are back?

Fried garlic. I add it to porridge.

Got any onions?

Ran out.

Strong black tea with honey and lemon.

Huh?

Strong black tea with honey and lemon.

Tea as well, if not to

stretch it out for a month

We can make such a strong tea, my word!

A lemon we can get too.

Where?

From your visitors?

On what? Barter honey for a lemon?

They b*mb us and we give them honey.

Forget it!

Well then...

Chocolate sausage...

And green tea with milk, yum!

Disgusting.

You know who you are?

sh*t, I forgot the word...

Retrograde?

Nah.

Do you think...

Will they sh**t again?

Where are you?

What?

If you have to.

You know...

Maybe a b*mb hits this house today,

then what?

windows and our village?

The whole Universe

Hey Universe, hallo-o!

The Universe, constantly expanding,

only sees in human life what?

You mad?

What?

Come on, help me! Read your bullshit again?

Every as*h*le makes up their

own philosophy to grab some cash...

...and you just fall for it!

Here we go again...

Here we go what? Live your own way!

And what?

Why are you standing there? Help me!

Oh, I know that.

Completely sick in the head.

Who?

You! Pain-in-the-a*s!

did it help you?

You walk around the

village like a stubborn sheep,

Ooo, bla-bla-blah!

Well, they are stupid!

Not the smartest. Makar was the smartest.

Right, he was the first to

get k*lled behind the barn.

The smart are the first to

be k*lled, to control the others.

Oooooh... Holy sh*t!

What, got your mouth full?

Piss off!

People! My a*s, people, morons with g*ns.

Senior safety inspector!

Come to check your windows.

Open up!

Coffee?

Sure!

my wife to cackle about it.

Wife? You? Yeah, right!

You got any visitors at all?

Piss off, which visitors?

You heat water in the room?

Why?

Got another stove there?

Does it bother you?

Why would it?

I just do everything with one...

...heat the house and cook.

Or you jealous that I heat

with rubber instead of coal?

Better tell me,

Saw enough through my

binoculars or broke them?

For his peace and mine.

Lucky, aha.

Aha!

The chairs seem familiar.

Coffee made me hungry.

Had no breakfast yet.

Go on then.

Good evening!

Aha.

Alive.

You home alone?

Alone.

Sit here, please.

Serhii Serhiiovych Khmelenko. Born in 1964.

Do you live alone in the village?

Alone.

Any relatives?

Yes, in Ukraine. Divorced, before the w*r.

No relatives in Russia.

I see...

Why is it locked here?

I see.

Get in here.

Got at least any food?

Still alive.

Tea?

Sit down. No need.

No need to go for it, it is here.

Okay then. Thanks.

Long time without lights?

Long.

So, what are you doing

here in the grey zone?

Keeping bees.

And Pashka... Just enjoys life.

And what about you?

I see that.

And before the w*r?

Before the w*r was before the w*r.

So, Petro, to what do I owe the visit?

You want something?

To get acquainted.

Where did you see me?

No, not soon.

years of w*r with Russia.

Oh really?

Uh-huh.

Well, you know best.

So, is that your goner on the hill?

On which hill?

Near the old railway. Right over there.

Sure, I buried him in to

get him out of my sight.

with Ukrainian sweets, a big earring.

I see.

might take you for an enemy.

Are you here all the time,

ever leave the village?

When it all started, I managed

to get away once to shop.

I had to buy wax and medicine for the bees.

I spent all my money on that,

Medicine for bees?

Of course.

Bipin against lice.

tinier than a poppy seed.

Sitting on the head, eats it

through and eats the brain.

If not treated in the fall,

the whole bee family

may die during the winter.

here, there used to be three.

Makar was k*lled, and

so he moved to Transcarpathia.

your bees somewhere quiet too.

You come to my house

This is my home.

Wanna live here instead of me?

Me?

No.

Why not?! Is it bad here?

Why bad...

I see.

Why not?

Beekeepers never let a

visitor go without honey.

Since the w*r began, the

production has stopped,

Write down my mobile number.

If you need something, just text me.

My number is blocked. Should top it up.

So I can top it up and charge it too.

Anything can happen,

you may need it in the w*r.

You know, what for?

Come on.

No need.

Serhii Serhiiovych,

give me your phone.

Got it.

Serhiichyk! Alive!

Alive.

Come on in!

Hungry.

You should keep chickens instead of bees.

before the w*r, and now especially...

Thought I could get hold of some

eggs or maybe something else.

Sure, two jars is too much for me.

You can barter it for

something with your neighbors.

Bong, bong.

Bong, bong.

Serhiichyk, do you remember?

Bong, bong.

No.

How are yours, settled in?

You know how they

treat our people at first...

now they seem alright.

Thank God, in peace.

And your neighbor still in the village?

Is he friends with the DPR people?

Friends?

He just wants to drink

a bottle with someone

and not get his a*s kicked.

Not saying what?

They say on TV that a

big w*r is coming soon.

The Russians are pulling in troops.

Stop watching that TV.

What do they need here in Donbas?

This is politics, scaremongering

us to forget about the Crimea.

Maybe so...

But they started to sh**t again.

Maybe you should go to

your family in Vinnytsia?

Vitalina has probably got another family...

No...

She called me in the summer.

Maybe you should go away somewhere?

Where should I go?

This is my home.

The same about me.

Ask who it is.

Hello!

Come here.

Why so scared?

My backpack?

Go home, shoo! The dough will freeze!

Whose kids are those?

I make the dough, and she

bakes bread for everyone.

Can you take these jars?

Of course.

A soldier who visits her,

wants to take her

away before it all starts.

Second shift, lunchtime!

Going on a holiday?

Charging the battery.

Why are you late? What time did I call for?

for the lamp, to get more light.

You promised some food,

So, postal truce, you say?

How did you find out?

The boys told me.

You need to talk to people,

might learn something useful.

Sure.

about some big offensive?

What do you talk about?

Serhiich! How do you see it?

The boys are in Donetsk.

Then they receive an order from Moscow,

Are you that naive?

Can you sh**t from a r*fle?

Can you?

I used to sh**t at a sh**ting

range when I was a kid.

When I used to hop by my father in Donetsk.

And then?

Then my father was k*lled

in 1989. Why so curious?

to a bull for a sn*per in the field.

Listen, Serg.

couple of minutes, and dance.

I got no gas for that.

You just live and save

up, no one knows for what.

But people like you f*ck

up everything in an hour,

and then go around starving.

But people like you

have never tried real tea.

Because of people like

What can I do when

screwed over your whole life.

Why?

own opinion, unlike others.

Get the hell out of here!

Already going.

You lost your mind?

Just wanted to make you happy...

To make me happy...

- Come on. - Careful.

Careful.

Hello!

Hello, my fellow countryman!

Of course!

Come in.

number and brought you some food.

Been to the neighboring village.

Let me give you some,

you look a bit skinny.

from my division, but ours.

Good then.

Are you preparing an attack or what?

The Russians are.

When?

It was supposed to start in December.

Should just leave everything as it is.

The main thing is to stay aside

happens to the country.

You know nothing about us.

You think the country cares about us?

And the w*r began because

some cripples here in Donbas said

This is not how wars begin.

The w*r began because you let it start.

All that propaganda from

Russia before the w*r?

Not you in particular, but in general.

Even Pashka got it

that Donbas is a bargaining

chip to wring the Crimea.

We got it a long time ago.

Every man for himself.

I see.

yourselves? You saw it.

what color you are, Russian or Ukrainian.

Or grey: neither here nor there.

You say you had no choice?

You just wanted to be left alone,

to sit it off on a box of coal.

Or even better:

to get a pension from both sides,

like your neighbor, Pashka Yatsiuk.

Pashka Yatsiuk...

and know the whole of Donbas?

Pashka Yatsiuk...

What choice did he have?

like most people here.

Pashka Yatsiuk...

time ago if you were him.

Came here to spy.

What do you know here, in

the dark, where the fox shitted?

I know more than you!

I know the position their

sn*per took your soldier from.

Oh, really?

Really.

Not coming.

Why?

Wait a minute.

- Will it expand in a minute? - Wait!

Now drink!

Well, tasty?

What the hell?

When you delay pleasure, it increases.

Not bad, right?

- You know where I got it? - Where?

He dug it away from his

wife all over the garden.

go to the side where

you can drink to death.

And leave you alone?

Yeah, right!

How long have we been sitting here?

- You get what I mean!

Or you wanna say you like darkness?

Who wants to see us in Ukraine?

and wagging your finger...

...about your Donetsk?

You also want to wring

cars from people like me?

Everyone is a stranger.

Pretending to be like us when in need.

useless, not wealthy...

So strangers came, pretended to be like us,

made strangers from us,

and now the strangers are

also strangers to strangers.

an electrician in the mine...

But an electrician in parliament.

Who is against raising wages for miners?

The resolution has been carried out!

got someone somewhere.

A wife and daughter.

If not here, but at least somewhere.

Unlike me...

Put the bag down.

Easy!

You do your side, I do mine.

Where do you get it from?

From afar.

A letter to Greedy Kolia, put it aside.

Who writes to him?

No idea.

Serhiich, can you tango?

Why?

Can you? Anyway, dance or sing?

Remember Piston-postman, a

fool, rest in peace his soul, of course.

How did he used to say?

An important letter, dance.

Dance again. But this time dance pretty.

Again?

longer live with this new fridge,

I want to return to my old

So dance.

Give it to me.

Remembers you.

A letter for Makar.

Where to, to the cemetery?

Seems to be sorted out, go get the box.

Gonna have some rest.

I still got a lot of work to do.

Why in the dark?

We gotta get out of here, now.

Then go.

You have to go too.

They could be here tomorrow.

Do you understand me?

I understand you, son, I do...

Not the way I wanted, but I have...

It was common here:

go with the flow not to disturb anyone.

Lived quietly, left quietly.

No choice.

Ask yourself...

...who are you?

What have you done?

Did you stop the mine...

...for safety violations when you had to?

But I could.

But actually I could.

Fine, as you wish.

Wanted to warn you.