Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  Jason stepped away from the fox. He became curious and decided to ask a question, “How long have you been doing this?” Arcades decided to get down on his knees before answering the question. The fox said, “Well, it certainly had been a while. I do not remember when I started doing all of this. But, I do find it enjoyable.” Jason only silently studied the fox. He was not quite sure what to say next. After a period of silence, the wolf said, “I’m surprised that you let me do this to you.” Arcades faintly smiled before replying, “Well, that’s completely understandable, but I have no problem letting you do this to me.” The wolf did not say anything in response. Arcades then asked, “So, what do you think about all of this?”

  “It’s different,” the wolf replied. Arcades was becoming uncomfortable from kneeling, so he shifted his position around. After he finished getting comfortable again, he spoke to the wolf, “Yeah. That’s understandable.” Jason blinked before looking at the fox once again. He did not know what to do next, so he decided to ask, “So… What now?” Arcades shrugged, “I dunno. I mean, I can’t really do anything myself like this.” Jason remembered that Arcades still had a set of keys on him, so he asked, “What would happen if I were to take your keyring away from you?”

  The fox raised his eyebrows slightly before replying, “Well, then I would be completely reliant upon you to let me out. I prefer to keep a set of keys with me.” Jason frowned slightly before asking, “You don’t trust me?” The fox quickly shook his head, “No, no, no. What I’m saying is that if something were to happen to you, then I would not be able to release myself that easily.” The wolf looked at the fox, “What would happen to me?” Arcades replied, “I don’t know, and that’s the problem… Look, I’d just rather keep my own set of keys.” Jason pointed to the fox’s bound hands, “You wouldn’t be able to get your keys out like that.” Arcades looked at his bound hands and said, “Well, it would take me a long while to get out. But, I’d eventually get it. I’ve gotten out of this position before.”

  Jason turned back to the pistol bag. There were several restraints hanging out of it, and there were even more of them still inside of the bag. Jason asked Arcades, “So, what else in there can I use on you?” Arcades looked at the bag and then back to Jason, “Anything in there that you can find. Feel free to keep looking in there.” Jason walked back towards the bag, and he said, “Alright, I’ll take a look. You stay there, alright?” The fox chuckled, “Heh… It’s not like I have a choice; not like this.” Jason returned a chuckle back to the fox before digging through the bag. The fox was watching from where he was still kneeling. Jason removed several more restraints from the bag, but then he found something that he had not seen before. The wolf pulled out a device with black straps on it. Jason did not recognize the device immediately, so he had to examine it. Arcades knew what it was, but did not say anything.

  After a brief moment of silence, Jason finally asked, “Is this a fox muzzle?” Arcades was silent, but he began speaking in an uneasy tone, “I deserve it…” This caused Jason to look at Arcades, “What did you just say?” The fox was frowning, and he was looking down at his bound hands. The wolf continued to look at the fox, and he asked, “Kurt, what are you talking about?” Arcades did not reply. After becoming impatient while waiting for Arcades to reply, Jason asked again, “What are you trying to tell me, mate?” Jason stood quiet while waiting for Arcades to reply. He could finally hear the fox speak quietly, “You know, they always see us foxes as being so untrustworthy. People always look at me weird. A-as if I’ve done something wrong. But, I never did anything to them.”

  Jason noticed a single tear drop on the reinforced polymer that was covering the metal construction of the rigid handcuffs. The wolf was confused, “Kurt, mate. I never said anything like that to you.” Arcades did not look up at the wolf. He decided to continue speaking, “It’s not you. It’s everyone. Especially humans. They always suspect the foxes, and they never let us speak to defend ourselves. They shut us up any way they can.” Jason wanted to say something else, but Arcades started speaking again before he could pitch in. “The fox is always guilty no matter what happens. Nobody wants to hear what a fox has to say.” Jason slowly shook his head while he started to speak, “Look, Kurt. I -” The wolf was cut off by Arcades. The fox sounded audibly distressed as he looked straight up at Jason with tears in his eyes, “Hurry up and shut me up already!”

  Jason frowned, “Mate, I can’t do that to you.” Arcades struggled in the restraints while tears rolled down his cheeks, “It’s what I deserve!” The wolf watched Arcades shuffle about in the restraints, but the fox was unable to make them budge. The fox’s speech was now becoming less coherent, “Come on! Silence the fox!” Jason dropped the muzzle on the bag, and this caused Arcades to stand up. The fox took a step before tripping over his own chain. Jason caught Arcades by his shoulders and laid him gently on the ground. Since Arcades’ hands were locked up in front of him, Jason knew that he was uncomfortable. The wolf rolled the distressed fox over to his back, and he took out the keyring to release Arcades. Jason started by unlocking Arcades’ thumbs first, and then he worked on getting his wrists free. Arcades did not resist Jason as he worked on freeing him. Jason unlocked the chain that kept the handcuffs attached to the fox’s waist, and then removed the leg shackles. The wolf placed the restraints out of the way, and he turned back around to see how Arcades was doing.

  “Why did you free me?” Arcades questioned, but he kept his eyes shut. Jason stood over the fox while looking down at Arcades. He answered the question, “Mate, I couldn’t just leave you like that. Remember what you did for me back in Alaska?” Arcades disregarded the reminder that he was the one who freed Jason during his time of need, “Foxes deserve to be locked up and shut up. You know? That’s what humans always want to do, and so do other anthros, too.” The wolf grabbed Arcades by the shoulders, and he lifted him up onto the bed which Arcades had in his room. The event was still reminding Jason of Alaska, and that Arcades had done the exact same thing for him.

  “Kurt… What they think about you doesn’t matter.” Jason spoke, but the fox remained silent. The wolf thought of something else to say, “I know many people don’t trust foxes, but I do trust you, mate.” The fox slowly opened his eyes, “Hmm?” Jason nodded with a comforting smile, “To tell you the truth, I never thought much about God before I met you. I listened to what you always had to say -- and to tell you the truth, I believe it now.” The fox smiled, and he was now looking at Jason. Arcades wiped the tears away from his eyes, and he finally remembered how similar this was to what happened in Alaska. “Do unto others as you want done unto yourself,” Arcades said to Jason.

  “That was something Jesus said. Right?” Jason asked. The fox nodded, “Sure is. Part of the Sermon on the Mount.” Jason nodded, “You know what all of that reminds me of? Wait -- I have a question for you. Why do the humans say that us anthros can’t receive salvation?” Arcades was now calming down, and he was wiping the rest of the tears off of his face. He answered the question, “Well, I’d like to say because they don’t see us as being made in the Lord’s image. Many humans think that anthros do not have souls, and that means we cannot receive salvation. However, you need to remember that the image of God that the Bible talks about is not a physical image. God is essentially a spirit -- well, THE Holy Spirit. The image of God that the Bible talks about is regarding the fact that God is able to make moral judgements and choices. There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s kinda the jist of it. We are not like the ferals. They are always instinct driven. Though we anthros do resemble ferals, we are completely different from them. Ah, speaking of ferals, evolutionists always like to pull that one out on us. They like to say that anthros are descendants of ferals. I don’t see that as being true, as anthros can breed across different races. That is why we have those anthros that are half wolf and half fox, and so on. Back to what I was saying, many humans like to point out the fact that Jesus walked this Earth in the body of a
human. While that is true, Jesus never said that anthros were exempt from salvation or anything such as that. The humans were the ones who killed Him, after all. He even said to preach the Word to all creatures. He didn’t say just human beings. Anthros have free will just like humans do, and we can make moral judgements just like them. Everyone is accountable. We have broken the Law of God as much as the humans have… Agh…”

  “Something wrong, Kurt?” Jason asked as Arcades stopped speaking. The fox’s face was grimaced, and he was looking as if he had remembered something very unpleasant. Arcades shook his head and continued, “No, no. I just remembered something not too great. Ah, who am I kidding? I’ve seen a lot of bad things that both anthros and humans have both done. It all points back to the fact why Jesus came here in the first place. All sapient life has fallen into sin, and everybody has sinned against God. When God had His law for Israel to live by, nobody could follow it. Then you have the Pharisees, and they started making derivatives of the law. All in all, no matter what you do, you cannot save yourself. Nobody is capable of removing the burden of sin from themselves. Jesus died and came back to life so that we could be forgiven of sin. No matter how small, or even how big. We need salvation as much as the humans do. God created us, and God can still forgive us. Even though we’re anthros. Remember what the Bible said? When we’re saved and born again, God does not see differences such as being a Jew or Gentile. Just like with us. God doesn’t see anthro or human. Thanks to the imputed righteousness of Christ that the Holy Spirit gives to us, God sees His Son when He looks into us.”

  Jason was having a hard time taking in Arcades’ speech. “Did you memorize all of that, mate?” Arcades chuckled, “Nope. It’s another thing that the Bible taught me. Don’t worry about what to say to people because the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say at the right time. That’s kinda how I interpret the part when the Bible mentions speaking in tongues.” The wolf took a deep breath, “Ya know, mate. We have all of these humans who say that anthros have no chance of salvation. They see us as creatures that cannot be changed whatsoever. Many of them even want to kill us.” The fox nodded, “Yeah, but remember it’s not just like that for anthros. Humans are still divided amongst themselves. There are some groups that claim only Nordic Caucasians have souls and that all other humans are soulless. There are other groups that claim only Sub-Saharan Africans have souls, but everyone else is soulless. It just keeps on going.”

  The wolf nodded, “Yeah, how did that all get started?” Arcades replied, “Well, the devil’s main goal is to kill, steal, and destroy. Satan wants to prevent people from becoming baptized in the Holy Spirit. One of the ways that Satan does this is by exploiting flaws in people and anthros alike. Satan wants to keep us more focused on serving ourselves rather than serving the Kingdom of God. That’s part of the reason why we see all of this stuff that we see now in this world. It’s also one of the reasons why us anthros are looked down upon by humans. Remember how we were talking about how anthros were treated as soulless and unforgivable by humans? This philosophy can cause a kind of nihilism, almost. Anthros will give up on trying to seek God, and they will just fall into a pit of mindless self indulgence. When that happens, and the anthro dies as an unrepentant sinner, that’s pretty much a win for Satan. However, Satan will surely not win in the end. God will always triumph over Satan.”

  Jason thought about what Arcades had said. Jason had another question he wanted to ask, “Why are anthros not mentioned anywhere in the Bible? Or is that wrong? Have you read the Bible?” Arcades nodded, “Yes, I have read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Anthros are not mentioned anywhere in the Bible, but I think that was done for a reason. If anthros were mentioned, then there could be some more anti-human anthro groups that would be around.” The wolf considered Arcades’ reply. Jason looked around Arcades’ room. He noticed a Fox Security flag that was hanging on the wall. The wolf pointed to the flag and asked, “Even though we’re not a big company by a longshot, do you like that or do you dislike that?”

  Arcades looked up at the flag Jason was pointing at. The fox then looked back at the wolf before saying, “Well, things could be easier if we had more people. However, I think we’re better off having less people. I think that is because things can be more personal. I know that many people are strictly business, and they don’t like making things personal. In my opinion, I find this dehumanizing. We’re all sapient beings, and we all have feelings. Gosh, I know that kind of talk probably sounds like I really should not be working in the private security field, but... What I’m trying to say is that I can be your friend, I can be your pal, and I can be your brother. I doubt you’d hear that from anybody else, really.” Jason turned around, and he saw the restraints that were still lying on the ground. He asked another question, “Is that why you let me do that with you?” The fox shrugged, “Hmm.. Kinda, I guess. I mean you wanted to do this to me, right?” Jason did not reply.

  Arcades continued, “Oh, and by the way. We can still continue that right now if you want to.” Jason was not sure if Arcades was ready again, “You sure, mate?” The fox answered the question, “Yeah. I’m sure. Hey, I’ll even let you muzzle me if you really want to.” Jason noticed that Arcades did not break down again upon mentioning the fox muzzle. The wolf asked, “How come you’re OK with that now?” Arcades scratched his chin, “Well, I dunno. I guess I just had to get my spill out of the way. I’m alright now.” Jason went to the pistol bag to pick out a pair of restraints. The wolf remembered something else, “Hey, Kurt, where is everybody, anyways?” The fox was watching Jason as he was digging through the bag, “It’s the Sabbath. I don’t make anybody work on the Sabbath. I like to keep it Holy. Everyone is home except for people like me and you who live here. Except I think Bobby is trying to figure out something about Omega. I guess he doesn’t want to wait.”

  Jason grabbed a pair of Yuil rigid handcuffs from the bag. Arcades recognized the restraints, “Those are Yuil handcuffs. They require the key that has two bits on the end. The rest of the keys are incompatible.” Jason used his free hand to pick up the keyring, and he studied the keys hanging off of it. He found the key with dual bits, and he held it up. The wolf asked, “Is this the right one?” The fox nodded, “Sure is. Just remember to use that one for these.” Arcades got off from the bed, and he stood up against the wall. He placed his hands on the wall, and he waited for Jason to grab them. Jason asked, “How do you want these?” The fox closed his eyes to think, “Hmm. How about you cross my arms behind my back with those. It’s called the stack position. You can’t apply thumbcuffs when I’m like that, but I believe it makes it more secure than having my wrists cuffed out in front of me with thumbcuffs.”

  The wolf grabbed the fox’s hands and he crossed them behind the fox’s back. Arcades felt the familiar sensation of metal on his furry wrists again. He felt as the cuffs were closing in on his wrists more and more until he could feel Jason’s fingers rubbing up against his wrists. Arcades inferred that Jason was checking to see if the handcuffs were locked on too tightly. After he could feel Jason double-locking the cuffs, Arcades attempted to move his arms around. He noticed how much the rigid cuffs blocked his range of motion, “I can’t even really move my arms at all like this. My arms are practically immobilized now. The British police sometimes cuff people like this, except they use the Safariland handcuffs. They might be called Hiatts again, but I’m not sure.” Jason held onto the fox’s shoulder, and the wolf turned the fox around before pushing him down to his knees. Jason retrieved the pair of Safariland rigid cuffs that had been previously used, and the fox noticed Jason, “Hmm? What are you going to do with those?”

  Jason stood in front of the kneeling fox, “Sit up on your knees.” Arcades did so, and Jason walked around behind the fox. The wolf grabbed the fox’s ankles and he raised them upwards before locking the cuffs around Arcades’ ankles. They did not fit as well as they did around the fox’s arms, but Arcades’ ankles were skinny enough to apply regu
larly sized handcuffs on. Arcades felt immensely restricted by the rigid cuffs on his ankles, “Dang, now I can’t even walk at all, or use my arms.” Jason went back to the restraint bag once more, and the fox chuckled, “Heh, I’m not quite sure what else you plan on putting on me. I’m completely immobilized. The only thing I can physically do is stand, but that won’t even get me anywhere.”

  Jason came back to the fox holding a pair of chain linked thumbcuffs. Arcades immediately remembered what he told the wolf earlier, but he remained silent. Jason walked behind Arcades, and the fox laid his feet flat on the floor for Jason to restrain. The fox could feel the cuffs being applied around his toes, and he did not speak until Jason returned to his field of vision. “Looks like you’re going to keep me kneeling for a while.” Jason asked, “Is there something wrong with that?” The fox shook his head, “No. I’m completely fine with it. I may have to adjust myself at times because I can get uncomfortable kneeling for too long.” The wolf spoke again to the fox, “I’m not quite done with you yet. Hold on.” Jason picked up the fox muzzle that was on the ground. Arcades looked at the muzzle, “If you put that on me, remember that I won’t be able to speak to you.” Jason placed the muzzle over the fox’s mouth, and he tightened the straps to fit Arcades’ mouth. Once Jason had Arcades successfully silenced, he softly said, “I know.”