by Tom Jones
Bocchino began to run forwards in pursuit, but he found that he seemed to be gaining no ground despite the fact all of the operatives were seemingly standing completely still. All of the humans were aiming their weapons at the cat, but they did not even begin to fire. Bocchino continued moving further, but he was still at a standstill. The cat then heard a voice that did not seem to have a source, “Join us. Do the world a favor. Kill Kurt.” Bocchino shouted as he began to open fire with his ineffective handgun, “Fuck you!” Though the weapon created a large muzzle flash followed by the slide cycling from firing, nothing exited the barrel of the handgun. After realizing that he was not getting anywhere, Bocchino slowed to a stop. The cat looked down at his weapon again, and it had somehow changed into a Glock 18C. However, the Glock was fitted with an EOTech sight that was not even compatible with the handgun. The Glock’s barrel began to grow outwards, and a Magpul MVG MOE foregrip extended from where the handgun’s serial number would normally be.
The cat gripped the elongated handgun by the foregrip, and he looked down at the weapon again to see that it now featured a BCM stock that was attached to a buffer tube that was seemingly fitted to the rear plate of the Glock’s side. Bocchino did not even care that his weapon could not possibly function in reality, but he shouldered the weapon and began to fire at the humans from a standing position. This time, several of the humans collapsed and appeared to shatter from the fired handgun rounds. The rest of the humans began to return fire, but they seemed to be unable to shoot the cat. Bocchino was standing completely still, and all of the humans that were trying to attack him were missing entirely. The cat looked at his weapon again, and this time it had morphed into Arcades’ Salient Arms GRY with the fire selector set to safe.
Bocchino looked down at the EXPS3 attached to the rifle, and he began to fire at the humans with the weapon still set to safe. The humans that he fired at collapsed and shattered into shards of glass. The weapons that they were carrying dematerialized as well, and the glass they transformed into quickly began to ascend upwards into the void. Now that nobody was around, Bocchino began to run forwards again as he tried to catch up with Arcades. As the cat continued to run forwards, he heard his own voice as a child again, “You fucking foxes really are all just thieves!” Bocchino shook his head as he continued to run forwards. As he continued to proceed, the cat could see a few CDI and ISG members were running against him. The humans began to fire at the cat again, and Bocchino had no place to move to cover. As the cat raised his weapon to return fire, it had now changed into a Beretta ARX-160. The weapon was fitted with an inverted USFA ZiP .22 on the top rail, and this additional handgun completely prevented Bocchino from aiming down the sights of the weapon. When the cat pulled the trigger of the ARX-160, both the ZiP .22 and the main rifle fired simultaneously. The humans appeared to fall down from the incoming fire, but they all began to stand up. Bocchino fired at the humans as they were trying to stand up, but they now seemed to be invulnerable to the cat’s firearms. Bocchino then watched as the STANAG in his ARX-160 fell to the ground, but the weapon continued to fire even without any ammunition. Bocchino looked up at the humans that he was firing from the hip at, and all of them except for one ISG member shattered into glass.
Bocchino’s weapon finally stopped firing, and he looked down at it again to find that it had now changed into an IWI Carmel. The Israeli weapon lacked a stock and sights. The weapon also lacked a magazine. Bocchino raised the weapon to shoot the remaining ISG operative, but the weapon did not fire. The cat continued to pull the trigger harder, but nothing was exiting the barrel of the weapon. The ISG member that was standing in front of the cat was not even aiming his XMP-1 at the cat. The human began to calmly walk towards the cat that was actively in the process of trying to kill him. When the human reached the cat, Bocchino swung his weapon to strike the human, but the human brushed off the attack as if nothing hit him. The human, now standing directly in front of the cat, began to speak, “You said it yourself. You know that they don’t deserve any better. Why continue to keep fighting? Kill him already.” Bocchino swung his weapon again, and the human’s head shattered into glass. His entire body and his weapon followed suit, and the glass was now littered on the blank floor. Bocchino looked down at the glass, and he was prepared to step over it, but the glass seemed to disappear leaving no trace behind as to where it had gone to. Bocchino checked his weapon once more, and it was now a Remington ACR with a strangely elongated barrel and an oversized drum magazine. The cat proceeded forwards again, and he found that the environment was beginning to shift again. As Bocchino continued, he looked at the sky, which was now forming, and he looked as the ground started changing as well. When the cat blinked, the entire surroundings were now different. Bocchino was in Berlin again. The cat looked around at the deserted buildings and streets, and he raised his weapon again. Bocchino was now holding an Ingram MAC-11 that was morphed inside of a Heckler & Koch G41 receiver.
Suddenly, multiple Omega ISG members emerged from out of nowhere, and they began to fire upon the cat. Bocchino returned fire once more as he instinctively ran for cover. The cat slid to cover, and he began firing at the ISG members who all seemed to slowly walk forwards. Though the cat was sitting behind one area, none of the humans were still able to kill him. The cat heard a loud noise, and he looked upwards to view the source of the sound. A CDI Mil Mi-28NM was flying overhead, and the helicopter was firing its autocannon at the ISG members. After a few of the ISG members exploded into shards of glass, the helicopter immediately began a sharp nosedive towards the ground. Before the helicopter could hit the ground, a Kamov KA-52 bearing a CDI livery collided directly into the Havoc. Both helicopters crumbled up into a fiery explosion, and all of the helicopter pieces passed through the ground before the ground collapsed into darkness.
The rest of the ISG operatives who were not killed during the crash were sucked into the void, and Bocchino left his morphing weapon behind as he began sprinting in the opposite direction. The ground collapsed again, and Bocchino looked upward to witness the sky becoming black again. Bocchino blinked again, and he was laying on the ground. As the cat worked to get to his feet, he noticed that he was completely unarmed. However, he was still wearing his ranger green combat uniform which he wore earlier. The cat turned around after he stood up, and he could see Arcades standing on the trapdoor again. This time, there were no signs of people surrounding the platform. Bocchino looked up at the fox, but Arcades was not looking back at the cat. Bocchino began to ascend the wooden steps that led up to the platform, and he was keeping his eyes on Arcades the entire time. When the cat approached the top of the platform, he looked directly at Arcades. The fox spoke with the rope still around his neck, “It’s too late. It was already too late when you abandoned me. There’s nothing you can do for me. It’s time for you to let me die already. It’s what foxes like me deserve. You’ve said it yourself.”
Bocchino began to breathe faster, “No, Kurt. I can still get you out of here. It’s not too late!” The cat went to reach for the noose, but the trapdoor suddenly opened. Arcades fell right through the platform, and he was suddenly decapitated. The fox’s lifeless body fell to the ground, but his head was still attached to the rope directly in view in front of the cat. Bocchino shouted when he realized that Arcades had died, “KURT! FUCK!” The cat looked at the fox’s head, still gushing blood from out the bottom of his neck, and he looked down through the trapdoor to see the headless corpse of Arcades. Bocchino looked back up at the head, and the platform began to crumble. The cat leaped from the collapsing platform, and he easily landed on his feet without any trouble. When Bocchino looked up, he was met with numerous ISG members all silently holding their XMP-1s at Bocchino. The humans collectively spoke aloud, “He deserved no better. Neither do you.” Bocchino took one step back, and he heard a loud hail of gunfire that erupted from the numerous XMP-1s that were aimed directly at him.
Bocchino gasped as he awoke. The cat looked around the helicopter
, and he could see that the other two occupants of the vehicle were still asleep. The cat shook his head violently to make sure that he was actually awake this time. Bocchino sighed in relief as he realized that what happened was merely a dream. The cat reviewed the events in his mind before he started to forget too much of his dream, and he could not get what Arcades told him out of his head. Bocchino reviewed the fox’s phrase again, “It’s too late. It was already too late when you abandoned me. There’s nothing you can do for me. It’s time for you to let me die already. It’s what foxes like me deserve. You said it yourself.” The cat shook his head again as he started to expel the thoughts from his head. Bocchino looked down at his clothing, and he was still wearing a ranger green combat uniform. Though he thought that he was still dreaming at first, Bocchino remembered that he brought the clothes with him when he got to Africa. He then looked at the cabin of the helicopter, and he could see that all of Arcades’ equipment was still where he had left it. The cat focused on the Salient Arms GRY that was on top of the pile, and he blinked to make sure that the rifle did not change into something else. The rifle remained exactly the same when Bocchino opened his eyes again.
The cat sat back and tried to relax. He knew that the events which took place did not actually occur. However, he still did not know the current status of Arcades and Jason. The cat knew that he would have no way of finding the two, but he regretted leaving them back in the Congo. Bocchino shook his head again, but this time he shook his head in regret. He knew that he would have been able to easily take down the four mercenaries that ended up taking Jason and Arcades away. He also knew that it would be a lot harder for him to complete the mission now that there were only two people remaining in the group. Though he knew that he would be returning to find the two anthros that he had helped rescue from the train, he was not sure if they would be able to provide decent enough help. After all, Omega had numerous facilities combined with a budget that was great enough to support all of these facilities. The cat was not sure what to think anymore.
Arcades’ ears perked up as he heard the door open behind him. Since Jason was standing up, he was able to watch as the door opened. Koh-Koh briefly peeked inside before he tossed the MRE on the ground right next to the two captives. The cat then closed the door, left the room, and returned to the rest of his allies. Jason looked down at the MRE, but he did not say anything. Arcades shuffled to his right to view what Koh-Koh had dropped off. The fox spoke when he realized what he was looking at, “Hmm… I guess they do plan on feeding us. Except…” Arcades looked down at the restraints that he was wearing before continuing, “Though with our hands chained to our waists, I guess we won’t be able to feed ourselves.” Arcades had a good idea of what the mercenaries wanted to happen, but he knew that Jason would be the difference preventing their plan’s expected outcome.
The fox looked up at the wolf, “Jason, how about we feed each other? I’m pretty sure there is enough in there for the both of us. It looks like it’s large enough.” The wolf remained silent for a moment, but he finally spoke after a while, “Alright Kurt.” Arcades could tell that Jason was also hesitant, “Hey, how about I feed you first? I’ve been the one kneeling this entire time while you’ve been standing. How about you get as comfortable as you can, and I’ll give you what they’re giving us?” Arcades stood up with relative ease, and he watched as Jason sat down on the floor a couple feet away from the wall and tried to find a comfortable position to sit in. The fox approached the wall, and he looked at it, “Hey Jason, you could use the wall to prop yourself up. Maybe you’d be more comfortable like that?” The wolf looked at the wall that Arcades was mentioning, and he scooted himself backwards until his back came into contact with the wall. When he sat against the wall, his gray tail was inclined to move to the side so that it would still have a place to go.
“There we go. How’s that?” Arcades asked the wolf. Jason replied, “I’ll be alright…” Arcades nodded as he got down on his knees next to the bag on the ground. The fox said, “I’ll see what they’ve got in here. Just relax, alright?” Though Arcades’ wrists and thumbs were bound together with devices composed of carbon steel, the fox did not have too much difficulty handling the task of opening the bag. Jason watched as the fox performed this action, “You make it look easy Kurt.” Arcades was not sure what Jason was speaking about, “Hmm? I make what look easy?” Jason tried to point at Arcades’ hands, but he was unable to extend his arms outward enough to properly point. The wolf grunted briefly, “You can still use your thumbs even though they’re locked together.” Arcades looked down at his restrained hands, “Oh, yeah. I mean — I guess that’s what happens when you’re in these things as often as I have been. They really don’t hinder me that much. Not anymore, at least.” Jason watched as Arcades was now able to open the bag and examine its enclosed contents. The wolf had another question for the fox, “Kurt. Are they wrong for keeping us like this?” Arcades paused for a moment and looked up at the wolf, “Well, here’s the thing. If they told us that they required payment before the mission, and we still used their services anyways, knowing that we can’t afford it, then they’d have every right to keep us like this.” Jason frowned, “Really? Naked and everything?” Arcades sat back on his knees before replying, “Well, yeah. There’s technically nothing wrong with them keeping us like that. The thing is that it’s obviously very humiliating. Most people respect their captives enough to not force them to stay completely naked. I don’t think they really respect us.”
Jason looked down at the floor and shook his head, “Kurt… They want me to rape you. Did you hear them?” Arcades closed his eyes before replying, “Yes, Jason. It’s very unfortunate. It goes to show you that anthros can be just as bad as the people working for the Omega Foundation. We shouldn’t give them what they want.” Jason nodded, “S’trewth, you’re right. Yeah. Don’t worry Kurt, I wouldn’t do that to you.” Arcades had no choice but to trust the wolf, “I’m glad that you won’t. I wouldn’t have any way to stop you, either. Just look at me.” Jason looked up at the fox before looking around the room again. The wolf then asked, “Did situations like this ever happen in the Bible?” Arcades nodded, “Yeah, they did, actually. Isaiah 20 talks about a fairly similar event occurring.” Jason closed his eyes again, “Why did this happen back then?” Arcades answered the wolf, “Well, I believe the King of Assyria at the time wanted to shame the Egyptian and Ethiopian prisoners. Kinda a similar situation here.”
Jason then asked the fox, “Was the King of Assyria right in doing that?” Arcades paused for a moment before he replied, “I wouldn’t say so. Here’s the thing about shame: Though we might feel shame from time to time, it should be used for us to lead to a conviction. It’s kind of a similar thing to guilt. Shame and guilt should not be forced upon a person by somebody else. After all, why should that person be able to shame or guilt somebody? We all fall short of the Glory of God in some way. They have no right to force us to feel shame or guilt when they are definitely guilty of something themselves. We shall all give an account to the Lord on the Day of Judgement. If we currently have any guilt or shame, then it is up to us to work that out with the Lord while we still have grace. After all, grace is no license to sin. Grace is the time that the Lord has given us to repent and trust in Jesus for the remission and forgiveness of sin.” The wolf took in the information the fox had given him, “Okay, mate. I’ll keep all of that in mind.” Arcades smiled, “Just make sure that you have faith in the Lord. He’ll get us out of this situation. I promise you that the Lord will not allow us to be auctioned off in the middle of Africa. Have faith in the Lord and trust in Him. He will see us out of here.” Arcades then looked back at the MRE bag that was on the floor, “Here, I’ll get you some of this. You must be hungry, now aren’t you?” Jason did not give a reply; the wolf was becoming lost in his own thoughts and with the words Arcades had spoken to him. As the fox removed a piece of food from the bag, he looked over to Jason, “I’ve got a question for you,
now.” Jason seemed to have not heard the fox’s last statement. The fox stood up holding the food, “Hm? Jason?” The wolf blinked twice before looking up at Arcades, “Oh. What did you say, Kurt?” The fox decided to just ask his question, “Why did you volunteer to be taken captive with me anyways?” Jason frowned, and a couple tears began to form in his eyes. The wolf said, “Because I want to always be with you.”
Arcades smiled, “Oh, Jason. You know that you didn’t have to do this. You know what? You repent of your sins and trust in Jesus, then He’ll let you into paradise. You would be able to stay with me forever there. You would be living in a world that’s completely perfect in every way. There would be no sin, and nothing that would exist as a result of sin.” Jason then looked at the restraints that the fox was wearing, “You wouldn’t be able to take those with you. Would you?” The fox looked down to see what the wolf was referring to, and Arcades realized what Jason was talking about, “No, I wouldn’t. These exist as a result of sin. Much like many more items. I don’t need these. I’d be completely alright if they didn’t exist.” Jason sighed, “Why do people insist that foxes be locked up like that?” Arcades replied after a slight sigh, “Because some people don’t believe that salvation is available to everybody. It kinda just has to be another thing that I have to deal with, though… You know that I really don’t mind being locked up anyways.” Jason frowned, “Why let them do that to you, Kurt?” Arcades leaned forwards as he tried to let Jason eat the food that he was holding, “Here, eat this first.” The wolf opened his mouth, and he allowed the fox to feed him. As the wolf ate the food that Arcades gave him, the fox began to speak, “The question shouldn’t be if I deserve it or not. I deserve worse than to be simply restrained. In fact, practically all sapient beings deserve death for our sins. What we have to remember is that God loves us enough that He provides us with the Savior. God doesn’t want us to perish, so He allows us a legal way to be forgiven without us shedding our own blood. The imputed righteousness of Christ allows for us to be forgiven without us dying for our own sins. That only works if we’ve already repented of our sins. If we are still actively living a sinful lifestyle, then God cannot legally forgive that.”
