ME: A/N: Just so you guys know, there's mention of blackmailing for sex/rape. It won't be explicit and the story won't have to go to an M-rating, but if you're uncomfortable reading about this kind of subject, skip this chapter.
Oh, and credit for the Four Treasons/Virtues goes to my good friend and fellow author ForFutureReference, Check out his story "Somebody's Problem", it's a rather hilarious tale of a scientist from District Three and a Peacekeeper/Career-type from District Two going to college together in the Capitol as roommates and the resulting shenanigans. It's canon-compliant and takes place after the Rebellion.
Gale and Enobaria were now back in District Eleven, where two families were having dinner together.
The first thing Gale noticed was the difference in skin-color. While the first family had dark brown skin common to the local population, the second had a much lighter and paler complexion (although they had each gotten a tan from years of living in Eleven). Then he noticed that the second family had worn-down accents indicating that they were from District Thirteen.
Gale flinched, remembering the fallout from when Katniss shot and killed President Alma Coin instead of Snow (although he either choked to death on his own blood or was crushed by the crowd). Soon, the crimes of District Thirteen's government came to light, and with it much of the higher-ups and their cronies found themselves facing a lifetime of hard labor at best, assuming the courts didn't give them a death sentence. Soon afterwards, many of the common people left Thirteen in a diaspora and settled in the twelve continental Districts or the Capitol, with only those who could not or would not leave their prison of a home staying.
"They weren't that bad," Gale said, still not terribly found of Thirteen. "They didn't bomb Twelve or cart off your sister to the Hunger Games, Enobaria."
"Yet they still committed crimes," the deceased Peacekeeper replied, although the distaste in her voice was not so much directed at Gale as it was at Thirteen's leadership. "How is a man who beats and rapes his wife different than a father who molests his daughter? Not to mention they watched as the Capitol punished the twelve other Districts via the Games and did nothing to stop it."
They soon came across four murals aligned in a cardinal direction like a compass in Thirteen, quite ornate compared to the rest of the underground District. It was the Four Virtues; Loyalty, a soldier and an official. Productivity depicted a farmer and a factory worker clutching a sickle and a hammer respectively, something that originated from the now defunct Soviet Union of pre-Panem times. Purity was a government-approved teacher instructing a class. The final one, Sustainability, was the most creepy in that the mural was a mother surrounded by her children.
"Did you ever hear of the Four Treasons, Butcher?" The Lieutenant asked.
"What?" He replied, genuinely confused by her question.
"State, Community, Mind and Humanity," she answered. "Each of those was a capital offense in Thirteen-fortunately they were smart enough to cover it up when you arrived."
She then grabbed his wrist, and now they were in an execution chamber. A man was restrained to a guillotine, and his eyes were filled with nothing but terror.
"Citizens of District Thirteen!" A slightly-pudgy Floor Garrison Commander announced in a booming voice, for the execution was now being broadcasted on every state-approved television and radio by order of President Coin. "This man, Marian Wałęsa, was once a noble foreman and leader amongst his fellow workers."
"No longer! Demanding Imperialist and hedonistic comforts that no one off his floor would receive, Wałęsa and the metalworkers in his crew participated in a week-long strike."
"Comrades!" The overweight Commander announced. "Because of this strike, for seven days no more work was done on hovercrafts for the glorious Panem Liberation Army! Had we been attacked by the greedy consumerist Capitolites-more accurately, their so-called Peacekeeper class traitor dogs-the officers and soldiers responsible for defending District Thirteen would be more vulnerable and thus die in greater numbers than would be necessary to defend the most advanced civilization in all the world! For this, Wałęsa is found guilty of the crime of Treason of the State and thus is sentenced to death!"
The foreman pleaded from behind a gag, but it proved useless for the soldier serving as executioner gleefully released the blade at his superior's order, severing Wałęsa's head from his body.
"Comrades, fellow citizens of glorious District Thirteen!" The Commander went on, holding the decapitated head in front of the camera. "Know this-all those who endanger the common good shall be ruthlessly executed! What Wałęsa got was too good for a class traitor! Long live the ways of the Party, all hail our glorious and benevolent leader President Alma Coin, savior of the peasants and industrial workers!"
"Dear God!" Gale screamed. "They executed a man for striking?!"
"That's not all," Enobaria replied. "His wife disappeared, having officially run away. Unofficially, she was used as a human test subject for nerve gas experimentation. His daughter was adopted by a henchman of Coin and molested until she killed him with a knife before committing suicide."
Gale was horrified. "This is what went on in Thirteen, Enobaria?"
The woman nodded. "And this is just one of the Four Treasons. Here's a Traitor of the Community," she said, grabbing his wrist.
A Floor Garrison Commander had finished his paperwork and was now enjoying dinner in his apartment. A squad leader under his command walked in.
"Comrade Floor Commander," said the soldier, "one of my men noticed a boy attempt to take his leftovers from the communal dining hall for his grandmother. What should we do?"
"SOP, Soldier," the Commander replied without looking up from his meal. "Food hoarding a flogging offense, you know that."
Gale couldn't tell what was more mortifying-the fact a child was being flogged for trying to take food to his grandmother or that he couldn't do anything to stop it.
Now they were in a compartment. A man and his wife (who, unbeknownst to anyone in Thirteen, was pregnant with twins) were reading Bibles and about to pray when a group of soldiers kicked down the door. Gale was horrified as the Garrison troops ended four human lives without hesitation.
Then they were looking upon two female soldiers in gray uniforms. One had black hair, olive skin (though unhealthily pale compared to those who lived in the Seam) and gray eyes, while the other would've looked at home in the Merchant section of Twelve with her blonde hair and blue eyes.
Nearby were seven men, their squadmates. One of them, the squad leader, smiled like Gale remembered Cray did at the underage girls forced to prostitute themselves for a day's food.
"You know what the penalty for being a NonCon is, ladies," he said leeringly.
"Yes, Comrade Squad Leader," they replied.
He smiled, groping each of the two women by one of their breasts. "But me and the boys can be merciful. We won't turn you in for being Traitors of Humanity-for a price."
The other six licked their lips in anticipation. "Now strip, and if you perform well none of us will rat you Borgeoise whores out."
"Good God!" Gale screamed, convinced he would vomit in horror if he could.
"Those two were the lucky ones," Enobaria said. "All seven of their squadmates were killed in action, while they survived the whole Rebellion. Now they're married and don't live in their hellhole of a homeland anymore. But that's not all."
Now the Peacekeeper and the Rebel were in the meeting room for the Politburo of the Communist Party of District Thirteen. Onscreen was an intelligence operative reporting from nearby District Twelve.
"Comrade President," he began, "judging by the intelligence I have received, it appears that Snow may be preparing to destroy District Twelve."
"Elaborate, Operative," Coin replied.
"Reports have emerged of his personal covert operations group, the Praetorian Enforcers, have been readied to destroy Twelve if need be. Additionally, it appears Peacekeeper troops are being transferred to the rest of continental Panem judging by the increased amount of train and hovercraft use."
Boggs, Minister of Defense, spoke up. "Comrade President, if this is true than we must prepare our hovercrafts to defend District Twelve. The death of eight-thousand people-."
"-will have no negative effects on the war effort strategically," Coin cut him off.
At this, Boggs paled. "Pardon me, Comrade President?"
"Prior to the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games, look at what was allowed to happen under Cray. Everdeen didn't get her skills overnight, and prior to her and Mellark winning the local Peacekeeper garrison had grown quite lax in light of the fact coal is no longer that valuable and thus they no longer had any reason to keep up appearances." She smiled. "Snow may think he's snuffing out a spark, but in reality he's pouring more fuel onto a fire. With the deaths of thousands of unarmed people at once, we can convince the masses of the remaining-and more important-continental Districts to rebel against Capitol rule."
"They watched as my neighbors died and did literally nothing?" Gale said, horrified beyond belief at Coin's callousness.
"The fact you survived and invented snare-bombs was a bonus in her mind, Butcher," Enobaria remarked.
ME: A/N: Communism does not work. For further reference, check out North Korea if you're a hipster/hippie moron who can't accept facts.
The factory foreman's name is a reference to Lech Wałęsa, founder of the Polish anti-communist trade Union Solidarity, and his successor, Marian Krzaklewski.