Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  The guard busted through the door with the XMP-1 raised, but he did not see that Arcades was aiming directly at the guard’s Improved Outer Tactical Vest. The fox fired two rounds. Both of which landed directly in the center of the guard’s vest. The guard was disoriented by the impact of the rounds, but it did not phase him for long. The vest was rated to take rounds that were larger than 9x19mm, so this rendered the weapon ineffective at severely injuring the guard. Arcades shoved the disoriented guard aside, and he continued running away. He heard the guard was behind him, but the fox was able to gain more ground. The guard stopped, and he fired a beanbag round from the XMP-1’s 20 mm launcher. The round impacted the fox on the back, and this impact caused Arcades to fall on his face.

  Arcades quickly rolled himself over while ignoring the pain from the impact. Since Arcades was not wearing plates in the carrier, he felt how the round impacted directly on his back. With adrenaline still pumping, the fox aimed the handgun at the guard again, and he pulled the trigger three times. Arcades watched as the guard collapsed to the ground, and he hoped that he did not kill him. Arcades’ fears were diverted as he saw the guard sit up to launch another beanbag round. The fox was able to roll to the side in order to avoid the round. Arcades and the guard both struggled to get on their feet. The fox knew that it would only be a matter of time before more guards would show up to attempt to capture him. He had to keep moving.

  Since the fox was the first one to stand up, he was the first one to run away. Even though his back was still hurting from the beanbag round, he had to push past the pain in order to escape the complex. He heard the guard report his location via radio requesting for reinforcements. Arcades scanned the keycard at the door that he originally was trying to enter, and he ran inside before the guard was able to arrive at the door. This action would only buy the fox a few seconds. Arcades entered a divided hallway, and he decided to to down the left path. He hoped that the guard that was pursuing him would not hear him as he ran down the path. Thankfully, the fox had already entered another door before the guard could find him.

  The fox was starting to wonder if the facility had been designed in such a way to make escape attempts confusing. As far as Arcades knew, he was the only one that had attempted to escape the facility considering how few and far between the guards were. Just as Arcades was preparing to open another keycard door, he heard a sound behind him. The fox turned around to see two anthros staring at him. These anthros were both wearing the standard latex suits, but they were wearing what appeared to be an M50 gas mask in place of the muzzle and blindfold. Arcades did not want to take his chances trying to talk to the two anthros considering how emotionless they stood as they stared at him. Arcades opened the door with the keycard, and he quickly sidestepped into the next area. Just as the door was closing, the two anthros rushed the fox; However, they were stopped by the door that closed in front of them.

  “All anthros and humans are hostile… Gosh, I’m in for a freaking long haul today,” Arcades said to himself quietly as he progressed. The fox turned around to see another blank hallway. He could not understand why Omega would build these long and featureless hallways. Arcades considered that maybe it was part of the program that they were putting the other anthros through. For all he knew, he could be a fox trapped in a maze. Arcades opened another door to reveal yet another hallway. This time, the hallway had several doors on the right and left. The fox quickly opened all of the doors by quickly passing them after swiping his keycard. While most of them led to more hallways, one of them had a ladder inside. The fox stepped in the doorway with the ladder, and he looked up the ladder. The fox considered the ladder to be an upgrade from the maze that he was going through, so Arcades began climbing up the ladder.

  After climbing upwards for a good moment, Arcades reached the top of the ladder. There was only a single keycard door in front of the fox now. Arcades scanned the card, and he was immediately hit by sunlight. Since the facility was so dark, it was hard for the fox to adjust his eyes to the change in lighting. Arcades knew that he could not stay still for too long, as he could hear several Omega guards shouting orders at each other. Once the fox’s eyes adjusted, he took a look at his surroundings. The fox was now in the outside area of the complex. He still needed to get through the final gate before he would be able to truly flee from the facility.

  Arcades looked to the sky, and he could already see one of Omega’s MH-60X Stealth Hawks taking off from a landing pad that the fox had not seen earlier. When the fox was parachuting down, he knew that the complex was large, but he didn’t know that it was so large that it housed aircraft. Arcades began running some more, and he was looking for one last keycard door that would lead him outside of the walls and gates of the facility. After some time of evading Omega units and searching the sides of the walls, Arcades finally found what looked to be a keycard security door that would lead him to freedom. However, there was a guard armed with an XMP-1 that was standing next to it. Arcades peeked from his covered position, and he decided that would be his best option to push through the door and the guard.

  The fox hopped the railing, and he began sprinting towards the guard. The guard immediately noticed the fox, and he raised his XMP-1 to a firing position. The guard toggled the weapon to fire the 20 mm rounds, and he began firing at the fox. Arcades was anticipating this, so he started running in a random zigzag pattern when he anticipated the guard to shoot. Arcades was now close to the guard, so the guard immediately attempted to whack the fox with the buttstock of the weapon. Arcades anticipated this as well, and he dodged the attack. The fox pushed his left leg out in front of the guard, and he shoved the guard with his arms in order to make him trip over the fox’s legs. Arcades plan was not successful.

  The guard caught his balance, and he aimed the rifle right at Arcades’ head. However, the fox knew that the guard would not be able to kill him right then and there, for the fox knew that he was worth more to them alive than dead. Arcades knew that Omega would be the last he would surrender to, for it was not worth surrendering to be turned into a mindless slave. Arcades gave the guard one last shove, and the guard actually fell down on his back. While the guard was standing back up, the fox had already let himself out of the facility. He began sprinting as fast as he could to get away from the place. He was faster than the guards that had begun chasing him on foot due to the fact he was less equipped, but he would not be faster than the guards that were already taking off on the MH-60X.

  Arcades ran past several trees that he was using to break visual contact with the Omega guards, and he was not looking back at the facility. He could hear some guards yelling from behind him, but he was not paying attention to listen to exactly what they were doing. Arcades knew that he had to reach the exfil point, but it was in the nearest town. He knew that he would have to evade Omega all the way to the town. Arcades doubted that Omega would follow him into the town as they would be taking too much of a risk to be seen operating in the public view. Someone would surely obtain more evidence of the Stealth Hawks that they flew. However, all that evidence would pale in comparison to the evidence that Arcades’ camera contained. Arcades could also hear some ground vehicles that were driving from behind him, but he was hoping that they had not seen which direction he went. Arcades was not even sure which direction the town was.

  Arcades decided that he should put as much distance between him and the Omega complex. The further he got, the less likely they would travel, as they would most likely not risk being seen in a town or city. Arcades knew that the town he was going to was supposed to be north of the complex, but he was not entirely sure which direction he was facing. The fox looked up to the sun. Since it was still morning, the sun was rising from the east. Arcades located east, and he was able to find north from there. The fox waited until he could hear some noise die down before he began moving. He also wished that he brought his compass with him.

  The fox began walking to the north, and he was keeping his eyes and ears open
for Omega’s vehicles. He already could see the MH-60X that was looking for him from the sky, but he figured that they did not know exactly where the fox had gone. Since Arcades traveled for half a kilometer away from the facility before stopping to turn, he hoped that the patrols would still try to follow his last vector. Arcades could hear an engine noise, so he went prone in order to wait for a vehicle to pass. Arcades watched as he saw two Oshkosh L-ATVs drive by. They were both painted black, and he could see several Omega troopers wearing UCP riding in the bed of the truck while holding their XMP-1s.

  Arcades wished that he had worn a camouflage pattern that was suited for the environment that he was in. He was not expecting to be fleeing the complex in such a manner. Since he was wearing all black, his camouflage was hardly effective in his current environment, and it would be far more suitable for inside of the complex that he was just in. Arcades looked down to make sure that he was not missing any of his belongings. He still had his G17, and he even had the access card that he got from the conference room in the facility. Arcades did not know whether to keep the access card or not, for he was not sure if they were traceable by Omega. If they were, then it would not be long until they had a fix on his location.

  The fox decided to hold onto the card for now in order to use it as potential evidence. Arcades finally disabled his camera since he was out of the facility. He did get the L-ATVs in the frame and proof that the Omega personnel were operating it since they were also using the XMP-1 rifles. Since Arcades’ adrenaline now died down, he was beginning to feel the pain from the beanbag round that impacted on his back. Arcades knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop walking as he still needed to get the evidence back. He did have until the evening to get to the rendezvous point before his crew decided to leave with or without the fox.

  Arcades was currently trying to not be seen by Omega. He also did not want to leave any tracks that would leave them to him, despite the fact that he was traveling the woods with no footwear on. He was hoping that they would not find his footprints anytime soon. The fox continued walking north. He was trying to remember how far the town was that he was trying to reach. He thought that it was around three miles north of the place, but he was not entirely sure. All Arcades could do now was just continue moving forwards. He was seeing less of the Omega patrols, so he assumed that they were trying to not be seen by civilians. The fox remembered that they did not know that he was recording the entire time. However, he would have to relocate, as he feared that Omega would try and attack Fox Security directly. Arcades was in a race against time.

  After trekking around three miles in a little over the span of an hour since his initial escape, Arcades was now in view of the town where his vehicle was waiting. He turned back around, and he was scanning the air in order to make sure that the Stealth Hawk had lost track of him. The fox was surprised that he was able to escape the complex with minimal personnel that were able to follow him. He considered that it would be hard gathering enough humans that would be willing to participate in trafficking anthros. However, Arcades learned that there were at least thirty three other Omega Foundation facilities, and he did not know how many humans they had compared to Facility Five. Facility Eleven had minimal human involvement, as Arcades saw for himself that it was entirely occupied by anthros. Arcades was not even sure if the anthros in Facility Eleven even knew what Omega wanted to do to them.

  Arcades felt that later would be a better time to think of this. The fox unbuckled his FAST helmet, and he removed it from his head. He looked to make sure that he did not lose the camera, and the fox noticed that it was still attached to the helmet mount. Arcades felt relieved upon confirming that his camera was intact. All he needed to do now was get to his car and then proceed to the rendezvous point that he was going to meet Bocchino at. Arcades began walking into the town, but he removed the magazine pouches that were on his plate carrier and put them into his dump pouch first. He also put his holstered G17 into the pouch as well. He did not want to be seen as an anthro with a handgun in public. After all, he could be seen by some humans that were not too fond of anthro foxes, much like most humans were.

  Bocchino had arranged for Arcades’ Mustang to be in a place that was pretty close to the edge of town. Arcades was now at the edge of town. They had mapped out the path that Arcades was supposed to take, and the fox managed to be able to navigate it fairly proficiently. Arcades was looking for an abandoned garage that was propped about a quarter of the way open. He would be able to open the door and drive the car to the RV point. The fox was now walking the streets, and he was keeping his eyes open while looking for that one garage door. As the fox continued, he looked down at his clothes. He noticed that most of the dust had been brushed off his clothes since he spent a good while crawling through the woods while evading the Omega Foundation.

  Arcades stopped to look at his feet. He noticed that they were getting dirty, but he was not leaving any footprints on the pavement. The fox shrugged and continued moving down the street. He did not see too many people on his way to the garage. He had only seen a few humans and a couple anthros. They all seemed to not mind the fox was wearing a Crye Precision JPC 2.0 and carrying a FAST helmet with him. Either they did not know, or they did not care that he was wearing a plate carrier and carrying a tactical helmet. His stuff was not even colored Multicam, so it almost blended into his black combat attire. Arcades’ clothes basically blended in with his main fur colors, as well. Being a black and white fox, Arcades did not have too much of a hard time finding clothes that matched his fur colors.

  Arcades noticed an abandoned garage that was propped a quarter of the way open. He felt that he was at the right place. Arcades crossed the street, and he approached the garage. The fox knelt down, and he looked underneath the bottom. Letting his eyes adjust, Arcades focused on the contents of the garage. He almost immediately recognized his stealth gray Ford Mustang 5.0 GT as it was the same car that he took to Hong Kong. Arcades pulled the manual lever on the garage door after ducking to enter the garage, and he opened the garage door wide open by manually pulling the lever. The fox removed his keys from his pants pocket, and he unlocked the driver’s side door. The fox entered the vehicle after stowing away all of his stuff in the back seat, and he pressed the start button. Arcades was not too fond of the key fobs that modern cars included. He remembered his first vehicle that he owned utilized a conventional key rather than an electronic proximity based key fob device. Arcades shoved the key fob back into his pocket, and he closed the top of the pocket with the Velcro lip. The fox shifted into drive, and he left the garage.

  The cat heard Arcades pulling up with the Ford Mustang. Bocchino spoke under his breath, “I don’t fuckin’ believe it.” Bocchino approached the car as it stopped. Arcades stepped out of the vehicle, and Bocchino looked at the fox. The cat spoke, “You did it? You’re a fucking damn madman.” Arcades nodded, “I sure did. I have plenty of groundbreaking evidence as well. You really need to see it for yourself.” Bocchino was in denial, “A part of me doesn’t believe that you broke into that place and made it out successfully. Nobody saw you?” The fox shook his head, “Well, I was seen on my way out. They went looking for me in the woods, but they lost track of me. I’m not sure if you could see their helicopter from here.” The cat looked up at the clear sky, “I saw a couple of choppers, and I did recognize one as being that Stealth Hawk, though they bugged off after a little while. You sure stirred up the damn hive.” Arcades nodded, “Yeah, well at least be glad that I made it out. If they caught me… Gosh…”

  Bocchino raised an eyebrow, “What did you see in there?” Arcades looked down at the ground, “I have it all on video. I’ll let you watch it when we get back home.” Bocchino was curious, but he wasn’t sure if Arcades was willing to tell him then and there, “Was it bad?” Arcades looked up at the cat, but he avoided answering the question, “They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This footage is worth more than one million words.” The cat now knew that Arcades
was not currently willing to discuss what he saw, “Shit… Well, I guess I’ll be seeing that later, then.” The cat remembered another thing, “You sure this will be enough to convince CDI to help us? You think they’ll be willing to take down Omega?”

  Arcades looked at the cat and he reviewed the mission over in his head. The fox spoke, “Truly I tell you, this will surely be enough. If this isn't good enough, then I don’t know what is.” Bocchino was not entirely satisfied, “How can you be so sure about that?” The fox did not break eye contact with the cat, “What if I told you that my footage holds confirmation that the NSS was a front by Omega?” Bocchino raised his eyebrows, “Damn. Is that all, though?” Arcades did not shake his head, but he answered firmly, “No.”

  Bocchino was about done with trying to get Arcades to talk. If he wanted to see the footage, he just had to proceed with the exfiltration. It was clear that Arcades was not currently in a talking mood. Bocchino decided to proceed, “Alright… Okay… I guess we should get home now.” Arcades nodded, “Thank you. We should get out of here before Omega smartens up and realizes that we’ll be flying out with the C-17 that we flew in here with. We need to take a different flight path on the way back. Omega might be able to confirm us if we fly too close to their complex on the way back.”

  Arcades got back into the vehicle, and he began to drive it towards the parked C-17’s cargo bay doors. Bocchino walked alongside the car, “What does Omega know?” Arcades decided to respond, “They know that we were in Hong Kong and Germany. They also know that I was the one to break into the hotel, and they know that we took those two anthros from their train.” The cat shook his head in disbelief, “The fuck? How would they know all that?” Arcades gave a reply that did not soothe Bocchino’s curiosity, “It’s all on the video, Bobby. You’ll understand when you see it. They’re looking for me specifically. Even if they never saw me. I’m still a hunted fox.”