Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  Jason remembered the statistics that Arcades was talking about. He knew several anthros with STDs that were part of his former organization that he worked with when Jack was still alive. Arcades stared right at the restraints that he was holding, “And it sure doesn’t help when movies and TV shows that come on just promote this kind of stuff. It’s like they’re trying to teach the younger generations that it is OK to do whatever feels good. However, that’s entirely against the Bible. And the amount of anthros who do believe in Jesus is just declining like it has been for humans. I don’t see how people don’t believe when all they need to do is just look around. The Bible speaks about people who live for pleasure rather than living for God. And the Bible says that they’re damned to hell if they don’t repent and trust in Jesus.”

  Arcades tossed the restraints into the bag, and they landed inside of it. The fox was not done speaking, “I remember when I was a senior in high school, and I was starting this internet campaign that brought people to Jesus. I paid this one human a fair chunk of change to draw me some artwork of this character that I made up for this movement. However, he never did what he was paid to do. I was so disappointed. I thought that he would support what I did because he knew about the stuff that I was advocating against. Well, I guess he wasn’t really on my side. I guess that is what happens when you try and trust people. At least I ended up getting my money back. Then there was this other human who said that he would draw it, but we agreed that I would give him the money after he drew it for me. He never drew it. You just can’t trust people.”

  Jason couldn’t help feel bad from hearing what Arcades was speaking of. The wolf turned to the fox with tears welling up in his eyes, “K-Kurt… I’m so sorry! I betrayed you!” The wolf began to cry, and Arcades realized what he had been saying. The fox embraced the wolf again, and he gently patted him on the back. Arcades felt that he was only making things worse, but he had no one to complain to. After all, why would anyone trust a fox? Being a fox was part of the reason why Fox Security only had around forty members. Arcades decided that it would be best to quiet down for a little bit in order to calm Jason down again. Arcades felt bad in a way because he realized that he was making Jason feel bad again even after telling him that he forgave him.

  Arcades was not sure what to do. He knew that it was wrong to sugarcoat things, but he did not want to keep Jason feeling bad for something that he already forgave him for doing. Arcades knew that he should just tell the truth, but he felt that it would be too hard for Jason to currently digest. The fox decided that he would calm down Jason and wait before he would continue. He was not finished speaking, though. He also had to pick up the rest of the restraints that were on the floor. He decided that he would pick up the rest of the restraints after he calmed down Jason, but he was not sure when he would continue speaking. A part of him wanted to pick it up later, but he was not sure if that was the right thing to do.

  After Jason seemed to have calmed down again, Arcades spoke, “Alright. I hope you get what I’ve been trying to say, but it’s really hard to explain sometimes.” The wolf looked up at the fox, but he did not have anything to say to Arcades. Arcades asked a question instead of making a statement, “Are we good here? Are you gonna be alright?” Jason nodded silently. Arcades then said, “Alright. Here, I need to go put the rest of these away. We still need to see what Bobby has come up with. Maybe he’ll finally take my word for once.” Jason acknowledged the fox, “Okay Kurt.”

  Arcades stood up, and he gathered the rest of the restraints that had not been picked up. He placed them all in the bag, and then he zipped the bag back up once he was done. Arcades picked up the bag, and he moved it to the place in his room where he kept the bag previously. The fox returned to Jason when he was done. The fox spoke to Jason, “I’m going to go and meet with Bobby. You can come if you want, but I understand if you need a minute to yourself. I won’t kick you out of my room, though. You can stay here if you so desire, but I probably won’t be back for a little bit.” Jason silently nodded again, but he did not give the fox an answer. Arcades spoke after he gave the wolf time to make up his mind, “That’s fine if you want to stay here. I’ll be on my way now. I can’t guarantee when I’ll be back, though.”

  Arcades exited the room, and he quietly closed his door behind him. Though the last fifteen minutes flashed before his eyes again, Arcades brushed it out of his mind. He did not need the recent memories slowing him down, for he knew that he could be on the verge of a major breakthrough. The fox remembered what he needed to do, so he started walking towards Bocchino’s room. As he was walking, Arcades felt his pockets. He had his keyring in his back pocket like he always did. The fox then looked at his wrists, and he was seeing if the restraints had left any marks on his wrists. He knew that marks would appear if he struggled too much, but he did not see any. Arcades did not know if he did have any marks on his wrists previously, as he did not look when he first released himself, but he knew that marks normally took some time to disappear.

  The fox stopped in the middle of the hall, and he looked down at his bare legs. He did not see any marks on his ankles, but he could see a few faint marks on his big toes. Arcades knew that the marks were caused by the serrations on the thumbcuffs that Jason had locked him in. Arcades figured that not too many people would be looking for that small detail, so he decided to ignore it. Before Arcades continued moving, he lifted up his foot with his hand, and he looked at his sole to make sure that it had not been cut by anything in the train. He checked his other foot, and he assured himself that his soles were fine. Arcades finally brushed off his bushy tail before he continued moving.

  Arcades arrived at Bocchino’s room; he knocked on the door and announced his arrival, “Hey, Bobby. Are you busy right now?” The cat replied, “You can come in here.” The fox opened the door, and he could see that Bocchino was standing by the two anthros that were recovered. Arcades noticed that both of the anthros were now wearing Crye G3 Combat Uniforms instead of the latex suits that they came with. The jackal was wearing Multicam Arid, but the lynx was wearing plain Multicam. The uniforms seemed to not fit the anthros that well. Arcades spoke, “Did you get them changed or something?” Bocchino nodded, “Yep. I really did not like those black suits that we found them in, so I made them change. The lynx doesn’t fit that well in that uniform at all. Those uniforms were some of my old ones. You know, that lynx would probably fit your uniforms a bit better.”

  Arcades was a good six inches taller than the lynx, “Just because I’m skinny doesn’t mean that my uniform would fit her.” Bocchino shrugged, “Ay, it’s just a suggestion, man. Anyways, where did you go? Took you longer than I thought it would for you to change out of your kit.” Arcades once again remembered the events that took place, but he did not want to tell Bocchino all about it. Arcades gave an answer, “Jason stopped by my room for a little bit.” The cat decided to accept the answer, “Yeah, sure. Whatever.” The fox decided to ask about the anthros, “Did you change them, or did they change themselves?” The cat snickered before replying, “Pfft. I wouldn’t do that. I told them to change, and they listened. I dug out those old uniforms, and I ordered them to do it. They did so without hesitation.”

  Arcades looked at the lynx, and she was staring right back at the fox. Arcades spoke to Bocchino while looking at her, “So, have they said anything to you, Bobby?” The cat shook his head, “Nope. They have not said anything at all.” Arcades remembered that the anthros had obeyed what they were ordered to do, “Hey, did you ever tell them to talk to you?” Bocchino stood silent for a moment before speaking, “Oh, no. I don’t think so, actually.” Arcades looked to the jackal first and said, “Tell me who you are.” The jackal spoke, “Slave does not have a name. Slave is whatever master wants the slave to be.”

  Arcades’ face contorted due to the response by the jackal, but Bocchino was the first to comment, “The fuck? Did I hear that shit correctly?” Arcades nodded while still looking at the jackal, “Yeah, you
heard that correctly. Do you believe me now when I say that Omega is up to something bad?” The cat only looked back at Arcades. The fox decided to ask the jackal another question, “Alright, so answer me this. What organization took you?” The jackal promptly replied, “The Foundation owns this slave. This slave is meant to serve master at the Foundation.” Arcades turned towards Bocchino, “The Foundation. That’s gotta be Omega. They were the ones who brought these two out of that hotel in the first place. I don’t see who else it could be.”

  Bocchino shook his head in disbelief, “Fuck me…” Arcades did not comment on the cat’s vulgar choice of words. The fox spoke again to the jackal, “You don’t have to be like this. Here, tell me what your name was before Omega took you.” The jackal replied, “Slave’s former name is irrelevant. It has been forgotten.” Arcades decided that he should come up with something to replace ‘slave’. He turned towards the cat again, “Alright, so what do you want to call this guy here? Because it looks like we’ll be starting from scratch.” Bocchino contemplated on giving the jackal a name. The cat spoke, “Hmm.. I’m not quite sure. I’ll leave this one for you Kurt.”

  “Right. I think we should give him a callsign first, and then we should let him choose a name for himself later. Uhh… How does the callsign ‘Cipher’ sound?” The cat shrugged, “Meh. I’d suppose that’d work for now.” Arcades nodded, “Yeah, I’d say it’s fitting because we’re going to have to decipher what this guy’s past was.” Bocchino shook his head when he realized that Arcades had made a pun. The fox looked at the jackal and spoke, “Alright. From this day forwards, your name is Cipher. Refer to yourself with first person pronouns, as well.” The jackal spoke, “Understood. Cipher is my name now. Thank you, master.” Arcades frowned after hearing the last part, “No, no, no. I am no master. If anything, I am a servant. Don’t refer to me as that. You can call me by my name, Kurt Hofmeier.”

  “Understood, Kurt Hofmeier” the jackal said in response. Arcades chuckled, “Heh, the first name is plenty. If you so please, you can call me Arcades. That is my callsign. However, I leave that choice up to you.” Cipher spoke, “Understood. However, I do not make choices. You do, Arcades.” Arcades shook his head, “God gave us all free will for a reason. You are your own person. You make your own choices. Also, lighten up a bit, please. Don’t treat me as a superior or anything like that. We’re all one big family here. You know what I’m saying?” Cipher responded, “Yes, I understand, Kurt.” Arcades was impressed with the progress that he was making, so he patted the jackal on the shoulder, “Heh, there you go. You’ll be free in no time!”

  Bocchino shook his head, “What the fuck did they do to these two?” Arcades turned to the cat to reply to him, “If you were to ask me. I would say this looks like trauma based mind control; However, I’ve never seen someone so broken to the point they act like this. We’re basically starting from zero at this point. Hmm, zero… That reminds me of something.” The cat then interrupted Arcades’ thought process, “Well, the thing is. These are actual fucking anthros. They’re not damn robots!” The fox nodded, “I know, Bobby. Whatever Omega did, they really did a number on them psychologically. I wonder what else happened to them.”

  “Well, that jackal had something on his dick when he was changing. The thing looked like some sort of plastic box.” Arcades raised an eyebrow, “Really, is that true?” Bocchino’s impatience was showing, “Do I look like the kind of cat that would fucking make shit like that up? His dick was fucking boxed up in plastic!” Arcades turned towards Cipher and asked, “Is there a plastic box on your penis?” Cipher responded, “Yes. The Foundation does not allow us to cum.” Bocchino coughed and then let out a remark, “Holy shit. What the actual fuck...” Arcades knew what the jackal was talking about. The fox asked, “Can you remove it?” Cipher replied, “No. Only the Foundation is able to remove it. It is designed to be permanently attached.” Bocchino asked Arcades, “Why would they do that, anyways?”

  “Well… I’m not quite sure the best way to explain it. If I had to take a guess, the Omega Foundation did that in order to further their mind control program,” Arcades tried to explain to the cat. Bocchino replied, “That’s fucked up, man.” Arcades nodded, “I know it is. Here, we can deal with that in a bit. Right now, we better give this lynx a name.” Bocchino looked to the lynx which had still not spoken. The cat then spoke again to the fox, “I’ll let you name her. I don’t think I can come up with anything.” Arcades had an idea, “How about the name Pixy? Do you think we could call her that?” Bocchino shrugged, “That could work. The decision is yours on that.”

  Arcades turned towards the lynx and spoke to her, “From now on, you are Pixy. Please refer to yourself in the first person. Call me by my first name Kurt, or by my callsign Arcades. Don’t talk to me as if I am a superior, and use your own free will.” The lynx finally spoke, “I understand, Kurt.” Arcades nodded, “Not bad for a first try. We’ll get better as we move on.” Arcades now addressed both Cipher and Pixy, “Also, this applies to both of you. Feel free to speak whenever you want to. You can say anything you want. You don’t have to wait for me to give you permission for that. You can speak without being spoken to. I do not mind what you say.”

  Both of the anthros acknowledged Arcades. Arcades then placed one hand on Pixy’s shoulder and one hand on Cipher’s shoulder, “That’s good. Now, we can make some progress. How does that sound?” Pixy was the first to speak, “That sounds very good.” Arcades nodded after hearing the lynx’s response, “I’ll take that. Oh, you’ll get the hang of it, so I don’t need you to worry.” Bocchino spoke to Arcades, “Alright. I guess these two are now going to be with us?” Arcades nodded, “Of course. It’s not like we can just dump these two out on the streets. That wouldn’t be right. We need to teach them how to use free will. It seems the mind control that they’ve been under took all that away from them.”

  “The Foundation did do a lot of things to us,” Cipher spoke. Arcades was impressed with how the jackal spoke without being spoken to, “Nice. I think you’re really starting to get the hang of this. How about you tell us what they do to you?” Cipher spoke, “Every day, they would feed us food laced with cum, and then they would --” Bocchino interrupted the jackal, “HOLD THE FUCK UP. What the fuck?!” Arcades’ face was contorted again, “Well, dang. That escalated quickly. Here, how about we deal with that later?” Bocchino took a few quick breaths, “Shit, son… How the fuck did all of this fucking shit go unnoticed? Damn!” Arcades looked at the cat and spoke, “Sounds to me like they’re good at covering up for themselves. I think we may be on the verge of a major breakthrough. If we can obtain evidence of them doing this stuff, then we could potentially rally for some support to take Omega down.”

  Bocchino was not too optimistic about the idea, “Yeah, who would work with us to take them down? We’re only forty people. We’re one of the few PMC groups that consists of anthros and humans. We’re also far from sizable. We don’t have shit to deal with Omega. Hell, we only have one HH-60. That is the only aircraft that we actually own. Omega has that fucking MH-60X that you told me about.” Arcades thought about what he could do, “You know, we could be able to convince CDI to come and help us?” Bocchino was not on board with the fox’s idea, “CDI? Castle fucking Defense Industries? The entire reason why they were founded in the first place was because those anthro terrorists took over that Malbork Castle in Poland as part of a political statement back in the year 2000. Kurt, you can’t be serious, now. They would never want to work with us anthros.”

  Arcades scratched his neck, “Well, you never know. If we get enough evidence on Omega, they might consider helping us. Especially if we can prove that the NSS is just an entity that the Omega Foundation created. Remember, it was the NSS that attacked CDI back in Syria. We might have a chance if we can tie it all together and convince them.” Bocchino stood silent. Arcades continued, “Hey, you know what. What if we can still track and see where Omega’s train went. We might be able
to find that ‘Facility Five’ that they had mentioned during the hotel mission.”

  The cat felt his whiskers, “Hmm. That could work. You didn’t remove the tracking device?” The fox shook his head, “I did not.” Bocchino got on the computer, and he loaded up the software that tracked the device that he placed on the crate in the first place. While Bocchino was trying to locate the tracker, Arcades looked at the two latex suits that were lying on the floor. The suits were the same, but each was sized for the two anthros respectively. They featured zippers that would give access to the chest area as well as the crotch area. Arcades inspected the suits for logos that would tie them to the Omega Foundation. However, they did not feature any insignia at all.

  Arcades then looked to Cipher, “Want to try and get that cage off of your penis?” Cipher replied, “If that’s what you want to do, you can do it.” Arcades did not want to bother with the crotch region of another person, but he figured that he might have to. He decided to wait for now. Arcades did not even have any surgical gloves with him. They were in the IFAK pouch that was on his JPC 2.0. He would have to go back and get it. Right now, Arcades was more interested in seeing where the train went. He looked at Bocchino’s computer, and he saw that the cat had the location.

  “This is the last pinged location. Outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Looks like the train did not have too terribly far to travel before it reached its destination. I guess we’re lucky we left when we did, otherwise we could have missed the train,” Bocchino said. Arcades looked at the digital map, “Why don’t you zoom in closer and see if it’s in a building or not?” Bocchino zoomed in. However, the map was empty. There was absolutely nothing on the map. Arcades shook his head, “Don’t tell me that they just dropped what was left of the crate in the middle of nowhere.” Bocchino turned on satellite view, and Arcades looked closely at the image. According to the satellite, the tracker was sitting in the middle of a wooded area. However, the fox was able to notice some discrepancies in the image.