The Forest Brothers
-
They were increasingly aware of the terror that the Reitzmic soldiers were inflicting on the nation. Some, many, even, of them were capitalists; yes; but none of them believed in such atrocities. Certainly, none of them believed in the wild free-marketism of the Reitzmic government either, instead preferring an indicative and heavily regulated economy based upon trade unionism and small business.
But the atrocities, at the moment, were more important. Mass surveillance, non-proportionality; all of these were awful. There were also terrifying rumors that, some day, they would all be deported to Reitzmag and forced to integrate into the population.
Something would soon have to be done if they wished to survive as a nation. There were none that could ruin what they were planning; the cultists here were gone, killed by Areai some time ago and stuffed into holes dug into the ground.
Everything; the entire base, would go up into flames. They would flee into the forest as quickly as possible, to avoid detection, although the Reitzmic surveillance state would surely find and kill them, even if they scattered themselves throughout the entire country, even if they chopped their bodies into bits and had one person throw the pieces into the sea before themself jumping in.
They gathered, using matches to light the temporary housing on fire. With the floor of the forest covered in leaves, it did not take very long for the fire to spread.
As the smoke became unbearable, choking everything in a blanket of grey, in an unbearable and awful smoke that burned eyes and throats they all ran into the forest, scattering themselves, but still running, as though their very lives were dependent on it, which was entirely true.
-
"They have mutinied, your Majesty."
"Execute him!"
A pair of her personal guards grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him away, toward the door. Screaming could be heard; then a chop; and then nothing. A head was brought back inside, and was placed in her lap; she smiled, and tossed it away.
The room stayed quiet. She ate from a tasteful platter of cheese and fruit that had been brought to her.
Outside, there slowly built up a growing cacophony. She ignored it. Things like that often happened between her guards; they would be executed, of course, when they calmed down.
But soon, there was a great explosion of noise, screaming. A red plume rose into the sky, and she was terrified. She began to back up into her seat; she could not flee, for they were before her.
Before she knew it, they had broken in.
"Citizen Areai," said one, dressed in the clothing of a soldier, a red band on his arm. "You have been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Assembly."
She screamed as she was dragged away quite literally, her body dragged against the ground, her knees and shins scraping against the ground, causing her to be in agonizing pain.
She soon entered the street, and there, she saw; there there were many people, far more than there should have been. These had been the loyal workers of the nation! What reason did they have to come here?
They spat at her, throwing pebbles and other such things at her. Some had phones, and were recording the incident, even live streaming it.
Areai continued to scream, trying to grab and bite those dragging her, trying to slow them down.
As her unceremonious procession through the streets began to slow, apparently of their own volition, she began to think she was saved. And then she saw the public plaza, its masses of jeering crowds, and, most terrifyingly of all, a cross, laid across the square.
She began to scream again, more loudly than before. She was forced to stand up; she could barely do so.
"Help me! Someone, anyone, help me! Why are these brutes doing this to me!" she shouted, eyes jumping from one person to another.
They continued to spit and scream at her.
She came to the cross, and was made to turn around. She was lashed with a cane one hundred times; then she was pushed onto the cross. She was tied to it; and then, most horrifyingly of all, it was risen.
Immediately, she felt a horrible pain, worse than anything else she had ever felt, course throughout her body. She tried to scream, but could barely do so. It was becoming difficult to breathe.
Through the pain, she dimly registered one of the men who had dragged her there shouting.
"Comrades! We have all been liberated through our own effort. This woman dared oppress us; we have risen up. Our workers' councils, our soldiers' councils, elected and accountable to us and us alone, have led the way toward a new and decentralized system! This woman and her ilk shall never be seen here again! We thus declare that the People's State, the democratic People's State formed by the first revolution in the north; it has come here, to us all! Eastern Haane has been liberated forever!"
Things continued to be thrown at her; some people continued to record or live stream the execution.
She did not know how long she would be there; she could barely even think about it, instead focusing on trying to breathe.
-
(IC SECRET, AS EVERYTHING ELSE) FLENSBURG - PUBLIC LIBRARY
The Speaker of the Forest Brothers"Well, you've called me here for what?" said the Speaker. "You have saved us all; but what else is there for me to say, for me to do? They are there; they will remain there forever. They will kill you all, without a gram of mercy, if you dare oppose them."
"Rest assured, they will go. The international community will soon remove them; and, if they do not, then we will take matters into our own hands."
"That would be suicide. I so wished that I could die for my nation; but, you see, that has no importance here. If I; if any of my compatriots died; it would be for their victory. They are truly everywhere, knowing and seeing everything. And I tell you, they will kill you. They know that we are here, talking about this, and it is very likely that they have already sent someone, or something - perhaps an improvised nuclear bomb, I wouldn't put that past them - to kill us."
"Unfortunately, I doubt that any of this will come to pass. A no fly zone has been established - "
"I know. They will oppose it, and at the very least, it will lead to death everywhere. Blood will rain down on our cities, mangled bodies falling from the skies. Our people will die, our country purged with fire. And then...they will establish their horrid capitalism."
"Their supply line will be cut off, and then we - if the Four Assembled Powers do not attack first as a result of the countless violations of the zone that will certainly happen, or if they try an occupation - we will attack. I am asking you how to go about this."
"That is very simple. Don't. You will die horribly, and you will have the blood of hundreds, perhaps even thousands, on your hands. You will live every waking moment of your life, from that point, in misery."
"They had a supply line then, they will not now. In addition, our military is more prepared, to say the least."
"Fine then. Focus on the airport. Do not attempt to slow down or completely obstruct their remaining supply lines; they are armed quite heavily. Do not take it by road either. Your operation should instead begin on the plain."
"Yes, yes, continue, please."
"Your own head be on it. Begin on the plain, but do not attack. Wait for twilight. Any signal given must be in some impenetrable code - use Haanean as well, to be safe. The language is entirely unknown outside of our country, and in any case is very dependent on metaphor. At twilight, do not attack. You should have a force in the city proper as well. Do this from the south, and have them as close to the center of the city as possible. Have them enter through the public park. They will enter the apartment buildings. Keep them as concentrated but as close to the sea as possible; but at the same time, keep them close to the Reitzmic camps. At twilight, give the signal you have decided upon. It should not be gibberish. Make it make sense - anything else would be suspicious. Perhaps make it seem like a cutoff news broadcast."
"Yes, yes."
"Once the signal is given, the forces in the city should begin shooting down upon the city. Make sure that they have enough ammunition to last an hour, and make sure that they are below the window and on the highest level possible. Kiel's architecture generally places this at the 30th floor. However, these people have an army of drones which can be deployed in a matter of seconds. The windows, as such, should be closed as far as possible, the curtains drawn entirely. They should fire intermittently for an hour; rotate the people and the firing around every ten minutes or so, but keep it toward the sea. It is at the forty minute mark that the airport should be taken. This should be done in four major waves, each of which much focus on every part of the airport equally. Each of the waves must be within ten minutes of each other. Let the Reitzmic soldiers call for help. A counter offensive will be launched with all their effort; instruct those within the city to occupy it, moving the deportees into the city as quickly as possible, with forces to protect them. Finally, you should have originally placed forces between the airport and the road. When they are sure that all the forces have gone, or at least most; or, if not, when the deportees arrive and there is no one on the road; these forces should set up a kilometer long block on the road to the airport, a block that in some way should stop their artillery. Those there, however, should not fire upon the soldiers; instead, make the blocks unremovable. They will attempt to return to their bases; while they are gone, burn them, or at least some of their outbuildings. Be sure to target those buildings related to weapons-storage, if you can identify them. This will leave them scattered and with little defence; you will be able to defeat them with little more strategy afterwards."
"Good, good. I will present this to the district Coordination Council; hopefully, we can have commune discussion on the subject by tomorrow morning."
-
IC SECRET
"Another force has yet again occupied the airport."
The Speaker sighed. "Not the Reitzmics again?"
"No. They have met our conditions."
"Then who? And for that matter, when did their occupation begin?"
"As far as we can tell, they are from the United Duchies and are virulently, even more than Reitzmag, anti-communist. As for when they arrived, it was yesterday."
The Speaker groaned. "When will these idiotic people learn? Have they looked at our elections? Do they not know that 88% of our population supports communism, with 97% at the very least being fine with it? We do not want to go back to the camps, we do not want to be eating a spoon of porridge a day, we do not want to be deprived of sleep for weeks on end, we do not want our children taken away, we do not want to be without healthcare, we do not want to be without clean water, we do not want to have only ratty clothes, we do not want to have and we do not want to have to pay inordinate amounts of money for these so called 'privileges' and 'freedoms!'"
"Erm, yes, but-"
"We do not want to be robbed of the right to be married, we do not want to be mated like animals! We do not want to be placed in stables, we do not want to be slaves! They planned to make us stupid, stupid beyond stupid; make us animals, only working for them, working for them and fucking!"
"Erm-"
"They planned to turn us into stupid animals, working for little and fucking like crazy, so that they could benefit, becoming so rich, rich beyond rich! Well, we will not have that! We will torture them all, and then kill them before they can do that! They shall wallow in their own shit, and then we shall take their entrails out, slowly, and then fling them against the wall. We shall flush them out like the pieces of shit they are, for they are shit!"
"Well, I mean, what should we do?"
The Speaker began to calm down, the redness receding from his face. "I've already told you. Follow those instructions, but I would advise you to...approach them first, just to see exactly what they plan."
"How do you mean?"
"We do not know their strategy. We need to know what they plan to do to us. We must learn at least something about it."
"We cannot trust these people, in any case. They may have come here with the excuse of humanitarian aid, but they will certainly try to install their horrid capitalism."
The Speaker sighed. "We cannot trust them. However, I must add that you must also consider non-violent ways of acting. We must get rid of them, for they will turn us into animals if we do not; but we may be able to do it without any loss of life on our side."