a Commie hanged by the commies
"You think he was hanged for being a commie, or by the commies?"
"Christ almighty. . ."
It was a routine patrol through the city streets. There were reports of skirmishes between communists and anti-communists near the park, and the commander of the company wasn't keen on walking his men into a three way firefight. So he ordered his men to hunker down and let it pass before moving in. Most of the insurrectionists were lightly armed. Pistols, a stolen smg or rifle here and there, but nothing too heavy. Still, it wasn't something any of the men wanted to go in at. The violence was still being broadcasted as 'political dissidents' and the protests and riots hasn't boiled over much from a few burned down businesses.
When the pot-shots and riots dispersed finally, then the men were sent out. Most of the planet-guard forces were locals to the area anyway and didn't necessarily want to be involved in shooting people, though from battalion command they were authorized to do so. Kimmel and Sully had the rough treck of patrolling the park. A well kept place, even with the violence, government services were tending to it. But there hanging from the tree was a body, followed by a tree of them. A single cardboard sign dangling from one's neck just had the communist logo on it.
The tree was a sign of the next stage of escalation. It wasn't just brawls or pot-shots in the streets anymore. They were massacring each other, and there would be no going back.
a Commie hanged by the commies
Somebody hung sumebody
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