by Tom Jones
Arcades sat the RS8 on the table first, and he began to slide the subsonic rounds out of the magazine before he saw that the rifle was only loaded with five live rounds. The fox looked at the empty magazine which he now held, and he placed it on the table as well. Arcades thought to himself as he looked at the RS8, ‘Is there a round in the chamber?’ The fox picked the rifle up, disabled the safety, and he pulled the bolt back to see if he would find another live round in the chamber. Arcades found the round that he was expecting to find in the chamber, but he was surprised to see that the round he found was nothing like a standard 7.62x51mm rifle round. Arcades looked at the unique round which landed on the table after being ejected from the rifle’s chamber, and he carefully picked it up to examine it. Unlike the other rounds, which had brass casings, this round had a silver-colored shell casing. At the top of the round was what almost looked like a sort of hypodermic needle, and Arcades found something about the round to be familiar. The fox had never seen a round of this type before, and he was dumbfounded as he found the rifle sitting on the wall with such a weird round in the chamber ready to fire.
Arcades picked up the custom round again, and he brought one of the regular .308 rounds to stand up next to the unique round to see just how different the two rounds were. Both rounds had the same case dimensions, but the fox could not stop looking at how different the projectiles themselves were. The custom round stood at exactly the same height as the standard round, but the shape of the projectiles were just simply too different when directly compared against one another. Arcades sat the ammunition aside; he was going to ask Jason if he knew where the unique round came from when the wolf woke up. For the meantime, the fox closed the bolt of the RS8, pointed the rifle in safe direction, pulled the trigger to release the hammer, enabled the rifle’s safety, and he reinserted the emptied magazine back into the receiver. Arcades brought the rifle back to the rack where he had taken it down from, and he hung it back up. The fox took a slow look around the rest of his store to see if he noticed anything else he did not remember he had, but he did not see anything else that was out of the ordinary. While most of the rifles on the racks had price tags attached to them, Arcades did not notice a price tag hanging off of the RS8.
The fox shook his head; he reminded himself that he would ask Jason about the rifle. Arcades, not knowing what else to do early in the morning, decided to turn on the television which was in his store. After moving back behind the counter, the fox grabbed the remote underneath his desk, and he turned on the television. As the television started up, Arcades made sure to turn the volume down so he would not wake up the wolf. When the television started, the fox saw that it defaulted to the local news channel. Arcades read the headline, and his eyes perked up with interest. The headline read, ‘BCSO Deputy Murdered With Knife During Traffic Stop Outside of Foley,’ and Arcades was rather surprised to hear such news come out of his own small town. After all, Foley only had a population of about 30,000 people, and he did not even live in the city limits. Arcades turned up the volume slightly as he approached the television to listen to the reporter speak. The fox listened to the human reporter, “Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a murder of one of its deputies which occurred last night not too far from Foley. Authorities say that an unidentified man had called the emergency line to report a kidnapping of a silver fox, and he even reported a vehicle, a gray Toyota 4Runner.”
The fox chuckled to himself as he listened to the reporter and started to draw a few parallels, “Hah, silver fox? I don’t think there are too many of those around here. Sounds like I should be driving the Mustang for the time being, as well.” Arcades refocused his attention to the newscaster once more, “Suddenly, the officer, thirty-nine year old Freddy MacDavit was violently ambushed by a human wielding a knife after he pulled over the 4Runner. The man with the knife has not been able to be identified as of right now, but the Sheriff’s Department recovered a Ford Taurus parked about twenty yards away from MacDevit’s patrol car. Police found a radio scanner as well as weapons inside of the car. Police believe that the human assailant may have reported the 4Runner on purpose in order to stage the ambush. Dashcam footage recovered from MacDavit’s patrol car shows the officer detaining an unidentified gray wolf, but it does not show the moment when the knife-wielding man attacked the officer. The man with the knife was shot three times with the officer’s handgun, and the previously-detained wolf was later seen completely free and entering the 4Runner before fleeing the scene.” The fox looked at the grainy image of the gray wolf, but he did not recognize him as Jason thanks to a combination of both poor camera quality as well as poor lighting. Arcades listened to the reporter again, “The Sheriff’s Office is currently on the lookout for the 4Runner seen in the video and the gray wolf who was driving it. Anybody who spots a gray Toyota 4Runner bearing the vanity plate FOXARM1 is advised to contact the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office immediately.”
Arcades immediately winced once he heard the newscaster report the vanity plate of his own 4Runner. The fox shook his head and spoke aloud, “What?” Just as the fox finished expressing his confusion, he heard Jason speak, “Kurt.” The fox turned around to see the gray wolf looking at him, and he relayed to him what he had just heard on the news, “Jason, they mentioned our 4Runner on the news.” The wolf was not surprised to hear the fox, “Listen, Kurt. I need to tell you about what happened last night.” The fox wanted to hear what Jason had to say, “What happened? I don’t remember a single thing.” The wolf took a deep breath before speaking with a sense of urgency in his voice, “Kurt, you were attacked last night. A human using a rifle loaded with tranquilizer rounds shot you. He tried to take you away, but I got you out of there. I got detained by the coppers after they stopped me, and that human came back. He stabbed the poor bloke in the throat and was about to make off with you. I took the copper’s gun and shot him three times before pulling you in the four-by-four and taking you home.” Seeing that Jason was obviously stressed out, the fox tried to calm him down first, “Phew, calm down, Jason. I believe you and all, but how did I end up back in bed?”
The wolf provided the fox with only the essential details, “I put you to bed.” Arcades looked past the wolf, and he could see the Haenel Defence RS8 mounted on the wall, “Jason, did you recover that rifle from the human?” The wolf nodded, “Yeah, I did. I had to clean up the 4Runner last night, too. The human bled on you, and you got the blood all over the front seat.” Arcades looked at his arms, but he could not see any blood, “What blood? I don’t see any blood.” Jason replied, “I cleaned you up too, mate. I was exhausted by the time I was done fixing up everything. Lots of bloody yakka getting that blood off of the seat and everything.” Arcades sighed, “You know what this means?” Jason looked at the fox, but he did not know what Arcades was thinking. The wolf asked the fox to elaborate, “What’s that, mate?” Arcades replied, “I think I figured it out. It was that man who came in last week to buy a Trijicon scope. He asked me for my height and weight, and I think he used that information to make tranquilizer darts. Those darts aren’t one-size-fits-all. You need to have the right dosage based a lot on a subject’s weight to avoid an overdose or ineffective dosage.” The wolf had not seen the man purchase the AccuPower sight as the fox described, but he noticed that the fox did not even answer the question, “What does this all mean, Kurt? Why is there someone after you?” The fox realized that he was going off on a bit of a tangent, “I think that guy may be from the Foundation or something. He even asked me about the XMP-1… Oh my gosh…” Arcades suddenly realized what was happening.
Jason said what Arcades was preparing to say, “This place isn’t safe, mate. We can’t stay here. That bloke came into our store and tracked us down. Who knows how many other people the Foundation might send our way?” Arcades shook his head as he walked back over to his desk to set the television remote down, “How is that even possible? We destroyed the Foundation!” The wolf agreed with the fox, “Yes, we did. Howeve
r, don’t you think they would have at least some people still out there? That’s probably why they came to track you down.” The fox sighed as he did not have any options in mind as to what to do, “Where can we even go? We didn’t even live here in Alabama when we were fighting the Foundation. They found us all the way out here.” Jason scratched his chin, “I don’t really know, mate. We’re going to have to think about this.” Arcades shook his head in a mix of frustration and helplessness, “And now the cops are looking for us? They’ll likely be showing up to our place sooner or later. We won’t be able to even stay here. When they run the plate, it’ll direct them back to this very place.”
Jason placed his hand on the fox’s shoulder to try and get him to calm down, “Kurt, listen. He was after you, and not me. As long as I can stay with you, I promise you that I won’t let anything happen to you, mate. Kurt, you’re my brother; I have your back. You’ve risked your own arse to protect me, and I promise you I will return the favor.” Arcades felt slightly comforted by the wolf’s words, “Thanks, Jason.” The wolf perked a smile to help lighten the mood, “I will do everything in my power to make sure that they won’t take you away, and I will do everything I can to help you out. Brothers look out for one another, and I’m going to make sure I watch your back. You can count on me, mate. We’ve been through too much together. You know that I love you, and that I’m willing to extend all the support I can give you.” The fox took a deep breath to calm himself down before proceeding any further. Arcades had many thoughts rushing through his head at the moment, and he did not want to wrestle with all of the what-if scenarios. He knew that he could surely trust Jason, and he knew that he had a reason to trust the wolf since it was Jason who rescued him from the human planning to take him away.
Jason held onto the fox’s shoulder as he guided him back towards their bedroom. Arcades did not resist the wolf, but Jason was not even using any force to move the fox to the bedroom. Once both anthros were back in the bedroom, the wolf positioned the fox in front of Arcades’ bed and slightly pushed down on the fox’s shoulder to suggest him to sit down on the bed. The fox sat down on the bed, and he looked up at the wolf who took a step away to speak, “Kurt, I’ve an idea. We should spend the day out. We can take the Mustang, and we can probably hide out in Florida for the day. The coppers won’t be able to get us there for the time being, and the Foundation probably won’t be able to get another guy out here for a little while. They know that their plan was unsuccessful so they’ve to rethink their strategy. They want you alive. If they wanted you dead, they would’ve done so already.” When the wolf mentioned Florida, the fox almost instantly had a place in mind, “Y’know, Jason? I think Florida is a good idea. There is this one place I’ve been meaning to take you, and I’ll explain its significance to you while we’re getting out there.”
The wolf nodded, “Yeah? Hey, by the way, you have security cams in this building, right? You’ll be able to check those on your phone to see if there were any blokes who bothered to come by today.” The fox took a deep breath once more to calm himself down; he was now thinking about the situation in a more rational manner, “I do have that on my phone.” The wolf nodded, “There you go, mate. You’ll be able to check that out. The only people I expect to turn up today would be the coppers. If they don’t show up here today, then I think we’d be in the clear for the time being. I bet you they’re thinking the copper shot the human before he completely bled out.” Arcades did not understand one thing, “If that’s so, then why would they be looking for our truck?” The wolf replied, not knowing what the human had said during his phone call to the emergency line, “They probably just want to ask us what had happened.” Arcades knew what humans thought about anthros, “I really hope you’re right about that.” The fox still had some uncertainty in his mind, “What about when we get back here? You know that we can’t stay.”
The wolf presented Arcades with a potential solution, “Well, it might be time we get outta here. We’d honestly probably be best off by selling everything we have and moving somewhere. I bet they found you because of your firearms license, too. You have the same license that you did from before you renamed the company to Fox Armament.” The fox thought about what Jason said, and he knew that the wolf was probably correct. Arcades sighed, “Man… This is ridiculous. Where would we even go, anyways?” The wolf had an idea in his mind, “How about coming to Aus’ with me? I’ve a hidden stash of cash that my brother hid before he took me to the US. He put it there to make sure we would have at least some money if we ever found a reason to come back. If we need what’s in the stash, then we can go and get it.” Arcades knew about the various regulations in Australia, “I wouldn’t be able to take hardly any of my stuff with me.” Jason knew what Arcades was referring to, and he was easy to empathize with the fox, “Kurt, I know what you’re talking about. You know, we don’t even really need that stuff anyways. Look at the bright side: The less stuff you bring with you, the harder it’ll be for them to find you. If we’re gonna leave, then we’re gonna have to cover our tracks. I promise you that I’ll be there to help you through all of it.”
The fox remembered his storefront containing all of the guns he owned, and he knew that it would pain him greatly to get rid of all of his firearms. After all, militaria meant so much to the fox, and he really did not want to get rid of it. The wolf easily spotted the fox in an upset state, so he tried to cheer him up, “Hey, look at the bright side, mate. You’d be going to Australia with your Australian brother!” The wolf’s remark made the fox perk up a genuine smile. Jason replied once he saw the fox’s smile, “That’s right, mate. Also, with all of the money you make from a closeout sale, you’ll be able to easily afford the one-way trip and still have plenty of cash to settle down wherever you’d like in Aus’. Since you don’t hold any licenses or anything over there, they’d have a harder time finding you.” The fox did consider the amount of cash he would be able to make from doing an insane closeout sale, “Well, even if I marked down everything substantially, we’d still have more than enough cash to make it work.” The wolf smiled at the fox and nodded his head, “Yeah! We’ll be fine, mate. We’ll make this happen.”
Arcades sat and looked down to the floor, and Jason noticed that the fox was still visibly stressed out due to the situation. The wolf decided to offer the fox something to help him calm down, “Want me to help you cool off, Kurt?” Arcades knew what Jason was talking about, and he decided to accept the wolf’s offer, “Sure.” Jason looked upwards and spotted a black tactical range bag sitting on top of a shelf in the bedroom, “Alright mate. Just wait right here for me.” Arcades sat still as he watched Jason grab the tactical bag and bring it over and set it down on the floor. The wolf unzipped the bag, and he started to rummage through its contents. All the while, the fox listened to the rather metallic sounds generated by Jason searching through the bag. Arcades looked at himself, and he could see that he was still wearing his nightwear. While he did not typically participate in such an activity with the wolf while wearing his nightwear, Arcades decided that he would just roll with it. After all, the main difference would be that the fox would just be wearing a differently colored shirt and shorts.
After searching through the bag for what he wanted, the wolf retrieved an item and stood up to ask for the fox’s approval, “How ‘bout this?” Arcades recognized the item was a pair of Smith & Wesson M-104-1 handcuffs, “That’ll be fine.” The wolf began to approach the fox after he grabbed one of the fox’s many keyrings from a side compartment of the bag, “Stand up and turn around when you’re ready.” Arcades stood up from the bed where he was sitting, and he turned around before bending his arms backwards to offer them to Jason. The wolf confirmed with the fox before he proceeded, “Are you ready, mate?” Arcades replied, “Yeah.” After the fox gave his consent, the wolf approached the fox from behind, gently grabbed his wrists, and placed them in the restraints. Jason knew how tight the fox preferred to wear his restraints, so he tightened the
m the proper amount. He did not want the fox to feel uncomfortable, despite the fact that restraints were not really made with comfort in mind.
Arcades waited until the wolf double-locked the handcuffs before he knelt on the bed with his bare ankles hanging off the ledge. The wolf returned to the bag, and he grabbed one of the several Smith & Wesson M-1900-1 leg irons which the fox had. Arcades did not know, but the wolf even added the two M-1900s which he commandeered from the previous night’s incident to the fox’s collection. The wolf locked the shackles around the fox’s bare ankles while pushing his tail out of the way, and Jason visually admired Arcades’ bare feet as he proceeded to do so. After tightening the shackles to the fox’s preferred configuration, the wolf double-locked the leg irons and stepped away from the fox to allow him to change his position. Arcades shuffled forwards while still on his knees, and he moved to the center of his bed before turning around to face the wolf. Once Arcades was facing Jason, the fox extended his shackled feet outwards and let them hang over the side of the bed. The wolf returned back to the range bag again, and he pulled out a fox muzzle. Though Arcades did unknowingly have two additional muzzles to use thanks to Jason taking them with him, the wolf still pulled out the fox’s original muzzle which he owned since he knew that it fit the fox’s face good enough.
