by Tom Jones
Arcades took a deep breath as he tried to figure out the best way to word his thoughts, “Well… The thing is… I was one of those anthros.” Jason’s face lit up in a weird expression which was a combination of amazement, surprise, and even a noticeable bit of guilt, “You… Kurt, you got busted by the coppers?” Arcades did not know how to respond to the wolf next. The fox’s sunglasses hid half of his facial expression, but Jason could still tell that Arcades was now beginning to become visibly upset, “Kurt, what’s the matter, mate? Hey, it’s not that big of a deal. Getting caught with a beer in your hands while you’re too young is nothing compared to what I tried to do to you. You always tell me to not feel guilty about doing that, so what’s the issue?” Arcades shook his head as he still tried to keep his composure while driving, “Jason… It’s not that. What happened to me was…” Arcades trailed off again. The wolf waited a few moments, and he even turned down the volume of the radio, “Mate, I don’t see why you’re getting all worked up. There are plenty of things you could’ve done which are far worse than that. I’ve done worse, and you tell me that I don’t need to feel guilty anymore now that I’ve repented and trust in the Lord.”
Arcades took a deep breath and tried to prevent himself from choking up. Once the fox was confident he would be able to speak coherently, he did so, “It’s not that I did something that made me feel bad. The problem is that I went through a quite traumatic experience. It’s something that deeply embarrasses me, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to truly get over it.” When the fox spoke, Jason was beginning to get an image in his head that he remembered seeing on more than one occasion. The wolf’s face distorted and seemed to almost begin to fill with guilt despite his mind trying to work around what in an attempt to rationalize what he was remembering. The more the wolf tried to rationalize the thoughts away, he continued to look at the fox driving the car, and he could not help but notice something very similar between Arcades and a particular set of images he had in mind. In fact, some of the images the wolf remembered were images he had even gotten a bit intimate with at one point. Jason staved his thought away, but he did speak to the fox again, “We’ve been through a lot of embarrassing things together, mate. What makes this one so bad compared to those?”
The fox’s mouth opened, but no words initially came out. Arcades closed his mouth again, and he opened it once more as if he was going to finally say something. However, still nothing exited his mouth. Arcades closed his mouth again, and he waited for about half a minute. All the while, the Mustang’s radio was playing at a very low volume, and Jason was not sure what to do at the moment. Part of the wolf wanted to try and speak to the fox again, another part of him wanted to raise the volume of the radio, and the third part of him wanted to tell the fox something that could potentially make the situation worse. Before Jason could decide what he wanted to do, Arcades opened his mouth for the third time and finally spoke, “Jason, how would you feel if someone took a video of us going to the Foundation and put it online for the world to see?” The wolf was almost certain his memory was matching properly, but in the worst way possible. Jason’s eyes began to widen, but he tried to hide his emotion away from the fox. As the wolf focused on what he was thinking, he realized that he forgot to answer Arcades’ question, “Oh, uh. Yeah mate, I don’t think I’d quite like that at all.” The fox took a deep breath and said, “Now Jason, how would you feel if you went to the Foundation for absolutely no good reason?” The wolf’s train of thought was interrupted by the fox’s second question. Jason knew that he would have to answer it as quickly as possible so that Arcades would not be able to notice patterns in the wolf’s behavior that would point to his guiltiness of a secret sin he had just remembered. Jason replied rather cheekily in order to attempt to lighten the mood for both of the anthros, “I mean, we kinda went to the Foundation for no reason, ourselves. Right?”
The more Jason looked at the fox, the more he was starting to see a striking resemblance to a silver fox he specifically remembered viewing in a set of images he grew a bit too attached to. The wolf wanted to believe that the fox he was remembering was not the same as Arcades, but they simply looked too similar to be different. After all, they had the same fur pattern, the same bushy tail, the same lanky build, and most importantly to Jason, they both had the same feet. The wolf’s thoughts were interrupted by Arcades once again, “You know what Jason? I think it would be better for me if I told you about what had happened from start to finish.” The wolf did not want to feel as if he was pressuring Arcades to do anything, “Kurt, mate. Come on, you said this is very embarrassing to you. If you don’t want to talk about it, we can just forget it, and I won’t bring it up.” Arcades was not really planning on backing down, “What good is it to back this up to the corner of my mind? It’s bothered me for too long. You’re right, Jason. We have been through many embarrassing situations together. Heck, we even got taken to the Foundation together. I need to get this off of my chest.”
The wolf tried one last time to let Arcades know that he would be fine with not discussing the event, “Kurt, I don’t know what the problem is, but I’m not going to hold anything against you if you’d rather not tell me what’s wrong. What happened twelve years ago doesn’t matter anymore. We’re both saved, so we have nothing to worry about -- we have no guilt for anything wrong that we may have done.” Ironically, the wolf was still feeling a rather strong sense of guilt as he all but confirmed that he was indeed riding in the same car with the very fox which he pleasured himself to images of on multiple occasions. However, Jason was not quite ready to jump to conclusions just yet. Even if what he was thinking was indeed true, Jason was sure that Arcades would forgive him for what he had done. At the same time, the wolf thought the situation at large was extremely weird to think about. If what he was thinking was true, then Jason would have first seen Kurt Hofmeier back in 2018 when he first viewed the images of the fox detained by members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. To the wolf’s surprise, the fox was still willing to speak, “Yeah… I still think it’s better that I just get this off my chest. It’ll probably make me feel better to tell this to someone. Listen up, Jason. I’m about to tell you a little story.”
Chapter 4
Spring Broken
A white 2009 Saturn Vue drove down the highway as it was approaching its destination. The driver, a moderately overweight human, turned to the average-sized human in the passenger seat and told a potentially offensive joke, “Hey Ray, you better watch your back around foxes. You don’t want one of them so snatch your wallet right out of your pocket.” Ray began to laugh, and Arcades joined them in from the back seat. Ray replied to the driver, “Why don’t you check, Rick? Maybe yours is already gone.” Arcades chuckled and replied in a way which showed he was not offended by the joke, “Hah, maybe Ray is right, Rick. You better check.” As Rick stopped the vehicle next to a stop sign, he reached into his pocket slowly as he reached for something hidden in his pants. When he took his hand out of his pocket, he brandished an MTech folding knife and pointed it at the fox while feigning a serious expression, “You try anything, and I’ll cut that little throat of yours, Kurt.”
The fox looked at the human holding him at knifepoint inside of the SUV, and he did feel genuinely threatened for a split second. Before Arcades could react, the human’s serious expression quickly morphed into a less serious one, “Aha, I got you good there, didn’t I?” Arcades knew that he had been spooked, but he tried to laugh it off, “Hah… Yeah.” Rick slipped the knife back into his pants as he laughed as well, though the human’s laughter sounded miles more genuine compared to the fox’s, “Heh-hah! I’m just fucking with you.” Ray smiled as he looked at the human directly to his left, “Kurt was scared shitless. He had it on his face.” Rick chuckled as he looked both ways and proceeded to drive past the next intersection, “Damn straight. Those foxes need to know that they can’t always get away with their shit.” Arcades was having trouble differentiating between s
atire and seriousness at this point, but he still tried to play along, “Heh… You said it.”
Rick still did not stop, “Kurt’s one of those foxes we can keep under control. He can’t do shit to us.” The fox was not entirely sure Rick was even being facetious at all anymore, but he did want to divert the subject, “You guys ready to spend the day at the beach?” Ray replied with enthusiasm in his voice, “Hell yeah, I am. How ‘bout you, Rick?” Rick nodded, “I’ve been fucking dying waiting for a break. Work sucks like shit; bitchass coworkers are fucking getting on my damn nerves lately.” Before anybody could say anything else, Rick continued with a comment seemingly directed towards Arcades, “It gets even fucking worse having to deal with these bum-ass anthros all day long. Those bitches are all fucking dumbfucks.” Arcades knew that Rick had a tendency to say things which would be considered offensive, but he tried to brush it off as tasteless humor once more, “Y-yeah. I can imagine.”
Rick heard the DJ on the radio station speak, “This next song just came out not even a week ago: Feed the Wolf by Breaking Benjamin.” As the opening riff of the song began to play, Arcades tried to focus on the song, for he was very fond of hard rock as well as the band Breaking Benjamin. Before the song could play any further past the intro, Rick glanced down at the radio and said, “Ray, turn this shit off.” Ray listened to the driver, and he changed the radio station to a different one, one that played hip-hop. Arcades was disappointed that he did not get to listen to the song he wanted, “Hey! I liked that last band.” Rick only snickered and replied with, “Heh, looks like someone’s being a fox who didn’t get over the emo phase.” The fox knew that the humans would not turn the radio to the previous station, so he only remained quiet on the way to Destin Beach.
After about twenty more minutes of an uneventful car ride filled with some minor banter here and there, the Saturn Vue pulled into a small parking lot that was a decent ways away from the beach itself. Arcades questioned the human’s decision as to why he parked so far away, “Rick, why are we over here? We could’ve made it closer to the beach.” Though the human did have a reason he parked in a less populated area, he did not want to tell the fox the whole truth, so he just made up an excuse on the spot, “Less crowded. Come on, Kurt. It’s not that far of a walk. I’m a fatass, so I need the extra exercise. You’re a skinny little bitch; you can make it.” Arcades tried to write off Rick’s comment as being another one of his sarcastic remarks again by feigning another laugh, “Hah-hah.” Rick scanned the surroundings for any police officers on standby before he disembarked from the vehicle. The human took another look around before he started making his way to the other side of the vehicle. Ray exited the vehicle as well, and Rick spoke to the fox, “Kurt, how about you go and get the towels out of the trunk?” Arcades nodded and exited the vehicle from the left side. When Rick saw that the fox was moving out of view, he took Ray aside and spoke quietly, “Remember, if they see us with the cooler, give it to Kurt. He’s an anthro, so they’ll get him and not us. If that happens, we wait about ten minutes before going back to move the truck. They won’t remember who we were. Got it?” Ray nodded in agreement, “Yep.”
Arcades opened the trunk door of the SUV, and he looked at the contents haphazardly scattered in the rather dirty trunk. The fox picked up a few towels and shook some dirt off of them before Rick approached him with his hand out, “I’ll take those.” Arcades handed the towels to Rick while Ray grabbed a drawstring bag from the trunk and threw it over his back. The only item left in the SUV was a white and blue cooler made from polymer. Before Arcades could grab the cooler, Rick spoke up, not wanting the fox to get a glimpse at the contents, “I’ll get that.” The human extended his rather fat arm before taking the cooler out of the vehicle, leaving Arcades empty handed. Arcades watched as Ray closed the SUV’s trunk and asked, “What? You don’t need me to carry anything?” Rick shook his head as he locked the SUV’s doors with the key fob, “No, no. We’ve got it all.” The fox looked down at his gray Under Armour moisture wicking shirt and his equally gray swim shorts, and he could see that he really did not have anything on his person to carry. Rick looked towards the direction of the beach, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”
The group of three began walking in the direction of Destin Beach, but it was not long before a white Ford Explorer pulled to the side of the road. Rick read the lettering on the side of the vehicle, and he could see that it was indeed a patrol car from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. The human slowed down and allowed for the fox to walk ahead before speaking to Ray, “Let Kurt go ahead. If they come up to us, run the other way and I’ll give the shit to him.” Two deputies exited the Ford Explorer, and they were already looking at the group of three. They could see that at least one of the humans had a rather suspicious look on his face, and the two officers began to walk in the direction of the group. Arcades saw the policemen up ahead, but he did not know where they were supposed to be going. Before the fox could go any further, Rick got the fox’s attention, “Hey Kurt, can you hold this for me real quick?” Arcades stopped, and he turned around to see Rick holding out his hand to give the fox the polymer cooler. The fox thought nothing of the event, so he held out his hand to receive the cooler. Once Arcades took hold of the cooler, he saw that Ray was already heading back in the direction in which they came. Rick smiled and spoke with a nod before fleeing, “Thanks. Just stay here for a minute; we need to go and get something we left in the truck.” Arcades was confused, but he saw both Rick and Ray now advance to a sprinting speed as they ran away. The fox questioned the humans’ unusual urgency, “Hey, why are you guys running? What are you doing?”
Before Arcades could understand what was supposed to be happening, he heard a voice speak from behind him, “Sir, stay right where you are.” The fox turned around, and he saw two human deputies from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office standing in front of him. The officer who made the initial contact, Sergeant James Fulgrim, looked at the cooler which the fox was still holding and asked, “What do you have in the cooler?” Arcades looked down at the cooler for a brief moment before looking back up at Sergeant Fulgrim, “Erm. I never got to see what’s inside.” Fulgrim snatched the cooler from the fox and placed it on the ground, preparing to open it. The second officer, Corporal Carl Nicholson, asked the fox for some information, “Do you have any identification on you?” Arcades felt his pocket, and his hand made contact with his wallet. The fox’s hand began to tremble as he removed his Alabama driver’s license from his wallet and outstretched his arm to hand the card over to Corporal Nicholson. After the deputy took the laminated card, the fox kept his wallet in his hand, but he was both frightened and confused as to why the officers made contact with him in the first place, “W-what’s this about?”
The officers did not answer Arcades, and seconds later, Fulgrim opened the top of the cooler to examine the contents inside. The Sergeant removed a Bud Lite can from the cooler and turned it to face Corporal Nicholson. When Fulgrim saw that Nicholson was looking at him, he asked the other officer, “How old is he?” The Corporal read the information from Arcades’ license aloud, “Kurt Reinhold Hofmeier from Ozark, Alabama was born on April 16, 2000.” After a quick pause for some mental math, the Corporal continued, “Just two days ago, it was his eighteenth birthday.” Fulgrim turned the Bud Lite can towards the fox and presented Arcades with a rather sadistic looking smile as he examined the fox’s extremely thin body, “Uh-oh. Looks like someone’s a minor in possession of alcohol.” As the Sergeant finished his sentence, he could see the fear on the fox’s face, and the fear only multiplied once Arcades felt his arms suddenly pinned behind his back by the Corporal. Within seconds, Nicholson applied a pair of ASP Model 550 handcuffs to the fox’s thin wrists.
Arcades stuttered as he tried to plead his case, though nothing he could say would get him out this situation, “W-what? No, no, no… I-I didn’t know that was there!” Nicholson chuckled to himself before saying, “Heh, you fox
es always come up with something to say. Too bad you can’t come up with anything we haven’t heard before.” Arcades’ eyes widened as he realized that he was being detained. It all seemed to happen so quickly that the fox did not even know how to initially react. All he was feeling was fear, and he had no idea he would be in this situation. The fox felt his wallet snatched from his restrained hand, and he also felt the Corporal digging into his pockets to see what else Arcades had brought. After a rather intrusive search, the officer only found the fox’s Samsung Galaxy S7 in the same pocket he retrieved his wallet from. Overwhelmed by the situation, it did not take too long for the fox to begin crying. Sergeant Fulgrim noticed the fox was now weeping, but it did not cause his sadistic smile to waver. If anything, it only made the Sergeant appear to be even more excited by the fox’s dismay. Fulgrim gave the fox a rather cheeky remark in response to Arcades’ inability to control his emotions, “Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you decided to show up to our county underage with alcohol.”
The fox closed his eyes and shook his head as he let out a sob. Sergeant Fulgrim pulled the tab on the Bud Lite can to open it, and he made sure that Arcades was looking at him before he poured the drink out on the ground. Some of the beverage splashed and landed on the fox’s bare feet, but when the fox looked down at his own feet, it only reminded him how vulnerable he was in his current state. After the can emptied its contents on the ground, Fulgrim grabbed the fox’s head and pointed it up at his own face, “You listen here good, fox. Sheriff Laurence Asher doesn’t take too kindly to underage drinkers here in Okaloosa County.” The officer’s words only made the fox’s already trembling legs begin to tremble more in fear as he tried to proclaim his innocence once again while sobbing, “P-please! I-I had no idea! It wasn’t -- I didn’t know what was in it!” The Corporal shook Arcades’ cuffed wrists to get his attention and quickly read the fox his Miranda warning to ensure that the fox’s words could be used to incriminate him, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during or before questioning if you choose to answer any questions. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you by the state with no cost to you. Do you understand these rights?”
