Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  Chapter 3

  Lay Low

  Jason fortunately experienced an uninteresting ride back to Fox Armaments, LLC. As the wolf took a sigh of relief once he reached the building, he pressed the button on the 4Runner’s ceiling control panel to open the garage door. The wolf did see quite a few police vehicles as well as EMS units driving towards the scene, but he was glad that none of them bothered to stop the vehicle fleeing the scene. Perhaps not all of them were notified about the reason for the initial stop. Jason backed the vehicle into the garage, and he was now able to see the fox better since light from the garage was much greater than any of the streetlamps he had passed by on the way back home. The wolf closed the garage door, and he enabled the SUV’s interior lights once the garage door separated him from the outside world. With the interior light enabled as well as the lights from the garage itself, the wolf was able to see the blood that had accumulated on the passenger’s seat. Fearing for the worst, the wolf quickly stepped out of the vehicle and moved to the passenger door to remove Arcades from the SUV.

  The wolf opened the passenger door, and he saw that Arcades was lying exactly how he placed him in the vehicle: The fox was kneeling on the floor mat of the SUV, and his muzzled face was sitting on the seat itself. Arcades’ bound wrists had shifted around due to Jason making turns while driving, but the fox was still ultimately restrained. The wolf grabbed the fox by his upper arms, and he dragged Arcades out of the passenger seat before gently setting him down on his stomach next to the 4Runner. Jason knew that he would not be able to check the fox out while he was still restrained, so he would have to retrieve the handcuff keys from the backpack in order to free the fox. Before even returning to the 4Runner to find the bag and keys, the wolf removed the muzzle from the fox’s head, and he placed an ear on the fox’s back to see if he was still breathing. Jason felt a bit of relief in him as he could surely hear Arcades properly breathing. The wolf even began to speak to the fox as if he was conscious enough to hear him, “Kurt? Come on Kurt!” However, Arcades did not give a response; he was still unconscious.

  The wolf opened the rear door of the 4Runner, and he could see the keyring which he flung was lying on the back seat of the SUV. The keys had not been returned to the backpack. Jason retrieved the keyring, and he moved back to the fox to release him from restraints. The wolf started by removing the Smith & Wesson M-100-1 handcuffs from the fox’s wrists before moving to remove the Smith & Wesson M-1900-1 leg irons from the fox’s bare ankles. When the wolf did finish freeing the fox from the restraints, he tossed both of the restraints along with the key forwards to clear up some space on the ground. Flipping the fox to his back while avoiding squishing the fox’s tail, Jason saw blood on the fox’s polo shirt, but he did not know where the fox was bleeding from. The wolf removed the fox’s shirt, undid the fox’s belt, and removed Arcades’ khaki shorts. With the fox now stripped to only his underwear, the wolf felt the fox’s furry body over to see where the blood was coming from. After searching Arcades’ body all over and in its entirety, the wolf could still not confirm that the blood on the fox’s fur and clothes came from one of his wounds.

  The wolf’s breathing began to become more composed as he was now rationalizing that the blood on the fox originated from the two humans who died. After checking underneath the fox’s underwear to confirm that he was not bleeding from any lacerations which he may have overlooked, the wolf took a sigh of relief and looked at his own hands: The wolf now could see that he had blood on his own hands as well. Jason felt his own body for wounds, but he could not locate any as well. He was not sure whose blood he had on his own fur and clothes, but he knew that he would have to clean up the 4Runner’s interior. After all, he did not want anybody’s blood to stain the leather seats. Before proceeding any further, the wolf felt that it would be best for him to put the fox to bed. It would not make too much sense for him to just leave the unconscious fox sprawled out on the garage floor wearing only blood-stained underwear. Jason did not really want Arcades waking up and panicking due to finding himself in his underwear surrounded by blood, discarded clothes, and restraints. Arcades was still breathing, and he did have a lively pulse as well. The fox was far from dead, but he was rendered unconscious for the time being since he was still affected by the drug he had been injected with.

  Jason stood up and examined the fox who was lying on the floor while still on his back. The wolf knew that he would have to clean the blood off the fox’s fur and put him into clean clothes before putting him to bed. Jason did not know the time, but he assumed that it probably was not too late in the night. He would likely be able to get the SUV all cleaned up before dawn. First, the wolf had to take care of Arcades. Jason managed to pick up the fox, and he hoisted him over his back as he carried Arcades into the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, the wolf carefully placed Arcades into the bathtub before removing the fox’s slightly bloody undergarments. Arcades may have been completely naked, but this was not the first time that Jason had seen the fox in such a bare state. The wolf turned on the water, but he remembered that it would take a few moments for the water to heat up. Though the wolf knew that the cold water would be rather unpleasant for the fox if he was awake, Jason felt that the most important thing he had to do at the moment was clean the fox up. As the cold water started flowing into the tub, the wolf made sure that he immediately started rinsing both his own fur as well as the fox’s fur.

  Thankfully for both of the anthros, the blood was able to rinse out of the fox’s fur fairly easily. The water did start warming up, but the wolf was unsure whether warm or cold water was the best for the fox in his current state. Jason decided he would take his chances with the warm water, but it did not take the wolf long for his own clothes to become wet due to water splashing from the tub and landing on his clothes. Since Jason’s clothes were already bloody, he decided that he should remove them as well. The wolf ended up stripping all of his clothes, and he was now as naked as the fox was. This was also not the first time where Jason and Arcades were naked together. The wolf stepped into the tub for himself, and he pulled the toggle upwards to enable the shower head. As water sprayed on the wolf’s back, he laid his eyes on the naked fox lying in front of himself. The wolf was glad that he was a Born Again Christian, for he knew that he would have otherwise had less wholesome thoughts going through his head had he not been. Jason decided to focus on the current task at hand: He needed to clean both himself as well as Arcades. As the wolf moved to grab a bar of soap, his back moved out of the way of the showerhead. When Jason turned back, he could see that water was spraying the fox in the face. Not wanting to take any chances that Arcades would inhale the water and potentially drown, he moved back in front of the showerhead to block the flow from landing in the fox’s face.

  Since Jason was having difficulty standing in the position he was in, the wolf got down on his knees, and he began to wash his own fur as well as Arcades’ fur. Jason was well-aware how the position he was in would look from an outsider’s perspective, but he knew that he was not doing anything wrong. After all, he was in the tub with Arcades to get the both of them clean, and his intentions were not malevolent or sinful whatsoever. As blood diluted with water ran down the tub’s drain, the wolf kept looking at the fox’s face to make sure that water did not start spraying in his face again. Jason could not stop looking at the blank expression on the fox’s face, and he was mainly just hoping that Arcades would not wake from his state of unconsciousness while the wolf was kneeling over the fox while completely naked while in a bathtub. Though the wolf knew that Arcades would understand his intentions and fully believe his reason for having both of them in naked in the bathtub, he did not want to go through the embarrassing situation in the first place.

  After about fifteen more minutes of cleaning, the wolf was satisfied that he had cleaned both himself and the fox sufficiently. Jason did have to manipulate the fox’s body multiple times to clean his entire body, but he was able to do so. The wolf was glad he w
as saved, for he knew that he was not always a heterosexual. Jason’s reproductive organs did even make contact with a few areas of the fox’s body on more than one occasion, and it was at those moments where the wolf could only thank the Lord Jesus Christ for giving him a new heart with new desires. Jason did not want to bother himself with what-ifs and thinking about his past self, so he decided that it would be best just to end this shower session. The wolf turned off the water, and he turned around to see the fox lying on his back with his tail lying directly next to his left leg. He did have to turn the fox over to his stomach a few times, but he was able to clean Arcades’ entire body while keeping the fox’s nose and mouth away from the water in the tub. Jason stepped out of the tub after he made sure that the fox was still breathing, and he realized that he did not have a towel prepared for him to use. The wolf also did not have a clean set of clothes for him to change into, so Jason left the fox in the tub as he exited the bathroom to collect the items he needed.

  When the wolf entered the bathroom again, he was carrying two towels as well as two changes of clothes. Jason did not want to put on any clothes until he made sure that the both of them were completely dry. After all, the wolf did not want to get his clothes wet once again after already drying himself. Jason sat the clothes aside, and he began to dry himself by wrapping himself up in the towel and moving it around his body. As he dried himself, he continued to look at the fox to see if he was about to wake up or not, but the fox’s face suggested that he would not be waking up anytime soon. After drying himself for a few minutes, the wolf laid the towel on the ground and went about removing the naked fox from the tub and gently placing him on the wet towel. After successfully laying the fox down on the towel, the wolf grabbed the dry towel and started drying Arcades’ entire body. While the wolf found himself naked on his knees while drying off an equally naked fox, all Jason could think about was possible comments Bobby Bocchino might come up with if he was present to be a witness to this event.

  After drying the fox’s fur in its entirety, the wolf felt that he was satisfied enough that he would be able to clothe the fox. Jason moved the fox from the wet towel first, and he carried him just outside of the bathroom. After setting the naked fox down on the ground, the naked wolf went into the bathroom once more to grab both sets of clothes. For himself, Jason picked out a shirt and shorts which he did not mind getting dirty. After all, he would have to be the one to clean up the 4Runner and everything else in the garage. For the fox, Jason picked out Arcades’ standard nightwear: The fox commonly wore a plain white t-shirt covering both the white fur on his chest as well as the black fur on his back, and Jason even brought the fox’s pair of pyjama pants which Arcades had cut into a pair of ultra high-cut shorts to keep himself cool at night. After clothing himself, the wolf proceeded to clothe the fox. With both of the anthros now wearing clothes, Jason picked up the still-unconscious fox once more to put him to bed.

  After a rather short walk from the bathroom, the wolf arrived at their bedroom. Though Arcades and Jason had shared the same bed before, both of them had their own separate bed to sleep in. The wolf sat Arcades on top of the fox’s bed, and he rested Arcades’ head against the pillow. With the fox’s head on the pillow, the wolf pulled the covers downwards before pulling them over the fox’s entirely exposed legs, as well as his arms. The wolf tucked the fox into bed leaving only his neck and head exposed. Since both anthros had exited the shower not too long ago, their fur was beginning to fluff up. The fur on Arcades’ face was now very fluffy, and the wolf did feel the fluffiness of the fox’s cheeks as he brushed the fox’s fur with his hands. Foxes always had pretty fluffy cheeks, regardless of if they had just gotten out of the shower or not. After Jason felt the fox’s cheeks, he went to feel the fox’s forehead to see if it felt normal. The wolf took a sigh of relief and slowly nodded to himself in approval as he found that Arcades’ forehead felt to be a normal temperature. Seeing that he did not have anything else he needed to do for Arcades at the moment, Jason spoke softly to the unconscious fox, “You’re safe now… We made it out, and you’re gonna be OK. You’re going to be alright, Kurt.”

  After giving the unconscious fox a small hug, the wolf stood up from Arcades’ bedside, and he gave a brief prayer to God, “Lord Jesus Christ, thank You so much for letting us get out of there. Lord, I pray that Kurt will be alright, and I pray that You will continue to take care and watch over both of us. Lord, I want to thank You once again for giving me my new heart with new desires. Otherwise… Erm… I-it doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m saved, and that’s what matters. Lord, I pray that You will continue to guide us and give us Your eternal wisdom. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.” When the wolf finished his prayer, he looked down at himself, and he could see that he was still not wearing any shoes. Though anthros did not really need to wear shoes, Jason was not normally one who chose to be barefoot like Arcades did. Jason knew that he left his boots in the SUV, but he was unsure of their condition. After all, there was a decent amount of blood in the 4Runner which Jason had to clean. The wolf shook his head, but he knew that procrastinating the cleanup would be pointless. It would be best for him to just get to work. After all, being barefoot had not presented him with much of a problem thus far. Maybe anthros really were meant to go without shoes. Jason shook his head again; he needed to focus. It was time for him to get to work.

  The fox slowly awoke in his bed, and he looked up at the familiar ceiling of his bedroom. Arcades blinked a few times before he began to scan the rest of the room. Everything looked just about normal, and he could even see Jason lying in his own bed across the room. The wolf was lying on top of the sheets, and Arcades began to wonder why Jason was simply lying on top of the bed wearing clothes which he would not normally wear to bed. Arcades sat up in his bed, and he checked the digital clock on the wall. The clock read 08:19, but the fox was not too sure as to what had happened during the night. Arcades found that he was not able to remember anything about going to bed, and he also did not remember leaving the beach with Jason. The fox shook his head after he sat up, and he tried to think harder. He assumed that he was only having trouble remembering the night’s events because he had just woken up. As the fox took another look at the time, now reading 08:20, he was beginning to wonder at exactly what time he went to sleep during the last night. After doing some quick mathematical calculations in his head, the fox believed that he went to sleep at around 01:00 in the morning, but he still did not remember going to bed at all. The last thing the fox remembered was that he was eating dinner with the wolf near a small beach, but he could not remember anything past that point.

  The fox could briefly remember feeling something hit his upper left shoulder, but he had already convinced himself that he was just remembering an event from some sort of dream he had. Arcades pulled the sheets off of his body, and he turned his body to the left to get out of his bed. The fox looked down, and he could see that he was wearing his standard nightwear, a white t-shirt and his improvised pair of ultra high-cut pyjama shorts. Arcades brought his arms in front of his face, and he could see that his fur was definitely clean. The fox thought to himself, ‘I don’t remember taking a shower last night.’. The fox moved his hands outside of his vision, and he turned his attention to view Jason again. The wolf was sprawled out on his bed, and he was not even wearing what he normally would wear to bed. At the same time, Jason was not wearing the clothes which he wore while out on the beach. The fox was not sure when the wolf changed his clothes, but he did not want to wake Jason to ask him what had happened the previous night. He thought Jason should get to sleep uninterrupted.

  Arcades quietly stepped past the sleeping wolf, and he exited his bedroom. The fox initially had a difficulty remembering what day it was supposed to be, but he used the power of reason to determine that it was indeed Sunday. After all, the last thing the fox remembered was eating with Jason on a Saturday. Arcades yawned, and he looked around as he proceeded into the
storefront which was directly connected to his living quarters. Everything was just where he had left it, but the fox did see a Flat Dark Earth colored Haenel Defence RS8 Subsonic hanging on one of the racks. Arcades blinked his eyes, for he did not remember owning such a rifle. The fox walked over to the rifle, and he took a closer look at it. The rifle was outfitted with a Trijicon AccuPower sight, a Warne Skyline bipod, and it had a ten-round magazine already loaded into the receiver. The fox looked at the Trijicon AccuPower, and he thought to himself, ‘Hey, that looks just like the scope I sold to that one guy a few days ago.’ Arcades did not realize that he was looking at that same exact rifle scope he had sold. The fox took the rifle off of the wall, and he felt the weight of it in his furry hands. Arcades detached the magazine from the rifle, but he winced once he saw that the magazine was indeed loaded with 7.62x51mm rounds. Arcades shook his head and widened his eyes as he thought, ‘Woah. How did I let a loaded gun sit on the wall?!’ The fox, not having any pockets to hold the rifle rounds for him, took the magazine as well as the rifle to the front desk in order to properly unload it.