Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  Arcades did not answer the Miranda warning since he was now unable to speak coherently whatsoever. As Fulgrim continued to spill the rest of the alcoholic beverages out on the ground, he waited for a few more seconds to see if Arcades would respond to his Miranda warning. After Fulgrim concluded that Arcades was unable to answer, he turned to Nicholson and said, “I think he understands, Corporal.” Nicholson nodded and replied back to Fulgrim, “Biggest bout of beer tears I’ve seen, and they’re all coming from a fox. What a sly fox we have here, trying to cry his way out of this situation.” Sergeant Fulgrim was the head of spring break operations within the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, so he was familiar with the reactions of hundreds of underage drinkers on the beaches of Okaloosa County, “This fox is just being a bitch hoping to get some sympathy from us.” Though Fulgrim’s comment was initially directed at Nicholson, he turned his face towards the sobbing fox and said, “You get no sympathy from us, fox. You know very well that this isn’t allowed on our beaches.”

  Arcades’ emotional outcry was unrelenting as the situation began to truly take hold in his mind. The fox had never been arrested or even detained before, and he was completely alone with nobody to turn to. The human officers were making it very clear that they did not have any interest in what may be best for Arcades. After completely emptying out the total contents of the cooler, Fulgrim looked down at Arcades’ bare ankles and asked Nicholson a question, “Can you go and get some leg shackles for this anthro?” Nicholson quickly replied to his superior, “Yeah, you want to watch him?” Fulgrim nodded and developed a slight smirk as he studied just how lightly-built Arcades was, “I don’t think this fox is capable of doing anything even if he tried with all his might.” Nicholson released his grip from the hinge connecting the aluminum handcuffs, and he proceeded to walk back to the Ford Explorer parked on the side of the road.

  Not long after Nicholson left, Arcades controlled his speech coherently enough to ask a question, “W-why do I… W-why are you -- going -- to cuff my ankles?” Sergeant Fulgrim placed one hand on the fox’s shoulder and pushed him down to his knees, “On your knees, fox. Don’t act like you deserve full-usage of your wrists and ankles. You should’ve thought about that before bringing alcohol to our beach.” Fulgrim’s comments only made Arcades return to his previous state of rather intensive sobbing. Since Arcades’ head was canted down towards the ground and his eyes were closed while he wept, Fulgrim was less aware about keeping his sadistic smile hidden. The human officer spoke to the fox again while he watched Arcades’ white-tipped tail drag itself on the ground from side to side, the only appendage which the officers would not plan on restraining, “You better shut your bitch mouth up or we’ll muzzle you. It’s as simple as that. Stop acting like you don’t deserve any of this. You know what you have done, and now you’re going to pay for it, you fox.”

  The Sergeants’ words were not making the situation any more palatable to the fox than they were prior, but Fulgrim knew what he was trying to do. Though the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office mandated handcuffs and leg shackles to be worn by all anthros in police custody, muzzles were not mandatory like they were in some other counties. Nevertheless, Fulgrim was looking forward to seeing Arcades sporting a muzzle while still appearing completely frightened. One part of the allure to making an anthro wear a muzzle was that officers would have more of an excuse to put the anthro in a restraint chain. By chaining the anthro’s wrists to their waist, the anthro would be unable to remove the muzzle regardless of if the anthro was cuffed behind the back or in front of the torso. There was something about the black and white fox in particular that Fulgrim found particularly intriguing, and he was eager to take a couple of photos of the fox that would be making their way on the Internet. Officially, the photos were for use by news outlets to write articles on spring break arrests by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, but Fulgrim knew that there were other websites which would upload the photos for intimate use by the sadistically inclined. After all, why would the news outlets collect so many images showcasing the shackled bare feet of detained spring breakers?

  After what felt like forever for Arcades, the fox looked up and watched as Nicholson was on approach. The fox watched as the Smith & Wesson M-1900 leg irons dangled by the fourteen inch chain separating the two shackles, and he knew very well they would be locked around his bare ankles for the time being. The fox could not voice his concerns, for he was still extremely emotional and unable to speak. Fulgrim looked at Nicholson and formed a slight smirk on his face before remembering that he was supposed to be intimidating the fox. Fulgrim looked down at Arcades and ordered him to sit up on his knees, “Sit up, fox. Do it now!” Arcades did comply with Fulgrim’s demands in a timely manner, but the fox’s sobbing was still quite audible by the two deputies. When Arcades sat up on his knees, he could feel Nicholson lift up the fox’s left ankle and cycling the shackle’s mechanism. Arcades tried to turn around to watch his bare ankles get shackled, but Fulgrim grabbed the fox’s face and forcibly pulled it forwards, “Eyes forward!” Arcades, still overwhelmed by the situation, only continued to uncontrollably weep.

  Despite the fox’s upsetedness, Nicholson was able to lock the shackles around Arcades’ ankles with absolutely no resistance given. The human had even double-locked the shackles not only to prevent them from tightening, but to also prevent the fox from having a sporting chance of shimming them open if he knew how to. Though the fox’s ankles were extremely skinny, the Corporal had locked the shackles a bit loose around Arcades’ ankles. Arcades would of course be unable to slip out of the leg irons, but they were loose enough that they would collide with his ankle bones and cause him more discomfort than he was already feeling. With Arcades now bound and on his knees, Fulgrim pushed down on the fox’s shoulders to make him sit flat on his knees. When Arcades sat back down on his knees, he could feel his fluffy tail start to brush up against the soles of his feet again. The fox’s wrists were already locked behind his back, but he did try and use his hands to move his tail in such a way that his tail would cover up his bare feet. Arcades normally went barefoot and did not feel too shy about doing so, but he was now feeling a special kind of vulnerability he had never felt before. Arcades did not want anybody to see his feet locked in the leg irons, so he was willing to do what little he could to at least make himself feel just a bit better.

  “Good thing you weren’t wearing shoes; we would’ve taken them from ya’ anyways,” Fulgrim spoke again to the fox. Arcades was still consistently a sobbing mess while on the ground, and Fulgrim was not even sure if the fox was even still listening to what he had to say. Nicholson looked up at his Sergeant, “Sarge, shouldn’t we move this along now?” Fulgrim looked down at Arcades and felt that he probably could not get a better reaction out of the fox at this point. The Sergeant held the PTT button on his Motorola speaker microphone, “This is Sergeant Fulgrim. We have one male fox detained for underage drinking. Can we get the van here? Also, make sure you’ve got transport restraints, a fox muzzle, and belly chain. This fox is going to need it.” The dispatcher replied to Fulgrim, “10-4, Fulgrim. I’ll dispatch it to your last reported location. ETA fifteen minutes.” Arcades heard bits and pieces of the short conversation, but he simply could not stop thinking about his vulnerable state. The fox also could not fathom why Fulgrim said he needed to wear a muzzle and a restraint chain. Arcades had been nothing but cooperative with the officers, and they knew very well that he was definitely not a threat, especially given his size.

  The next fifteen minutes crept by at a very slow pace. Arcades was still in hysterics, and Fulgrim continued to watch the defeated fox as he formed his hands into fists and tried to pull against the forged aluminum handcuffs. Fulgrim smirked as he watched the fox’s futile attempts to break out of the restraints, and he found it cute in a way. After all, this fox was so scrawny that the cuffs had to be applied just about as tight as they would go, and they still looked a bit loose on him. Fulgrim knew there was abso
lutely nothing Arcades could do to get out of the restraints, and he knew that the fox was well-aware that his actions were in vain. Though they were definitely in vain, that was all Arcades felt he could do. He was not allowed to stand up, and he was not even allowed to look upwards. Whenever the fox would try and do so, he was only met with Fulgrim barking orders at him, “Look at the ground, fox!” Fulgrim saw that everytime this would occur, it would only intensify the fox’s hysterical state. The Sergeant was not quite sure what it was about this specific fox that intrigued him, but he was astounded by how little resistance Arcades put up against him. Fulgrim was glad that he was able to display so much power against someone capable of putting up so little resistance. He was genuinely enjoying this moment.

  Nicholson watched Arcades from behind, and the Corporal was starting to feel as if his Sergeant had gone a little too far with this detainment. While he had seen Fulgrim give other anthros this sort of treatment on numerous occasions, he had not seen the Sergeant treat such a cooperative individual with this magnitude of intimidation before. Of course, human police officers were always taught to control the situation, but Nicholson knew that one simple pair of handcuffs was more than plenty to restrain this petite fox. Though the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office did require leg irons to be used on anthros as well, Nicholson did not have it in his mind that Arcades planned on trying to evade, even if the leg restraints were just used as a precautionary measure. He was watching the fox pull against the handcuffs in vain, but he did not see this action like Fulgrim did. Nicholson knew that Arcades was simply defeated and was resorting to doing anything he could to give his mind some type of psychological break from the situation. However, the deputies were not allowed to give this detained anthro any such remedy, and Nicholson knew this. The Corporal looked up at Fulgrim again, and he was not sure how the Sergeant was able to bear listening to the fox’s continued crying. Though Nicholson did not want to believe his own Sergeant was a sadist, he was starting to have his doubts.

  After about seventeen minutes following Fulgrim’s request for a transport van, an unmarked Ford E-350 began to approach from up the street. The white van drove past the fox before stopping on the side of the road about five or so meters from Arcades’ location. A single uniformed human officer exited the van and approached Sergeant Fulgrim, “Is this the one?” Fulgrim nodded and replied, “Sure is. You’ve got everything I asked for?” The officer nodded, “Yessir, I’ll go and get it.” Fulgrim stayed with Arcades as he continued to view the upset fox. Nicholson, on the other hand, used this moment as an opportunity to withdraw from the situation. The Corporal followed the third officer back to the van and said, “Walker. Do you think Fulgrim is taking this a bit too far today with this fox?” The third officer had just arrived at the scene, so he was rather uninformed as to the context of the situation, “Hm? What are you saying?” Nicholson replied, “What did dispatch tell you about the situation?” Deputy Walker replied, “The usual for a case like this: I just need to bring the standard transport chains, but I need a muzzle and restraint chain as well. Has this fox been getting belligerent or something?” Nicholson stood beside the unmarked van and spoke while Walker opened the passenger door to retrieve what was asked of him, “No, not at all, and that’s the thing. Fulgrim is taking it too far this time. He’s been terrorizing the living shit out of him, and the fox didn’t even do anything to warrant it.”

  Deputy Walker disembarked from the van once he had the items he needed, and he was rather estranged that the Corporal was doubting his superior, “Were you there from the start? How did this happen to begin with?” Nicholson quickly replied, trying to fill in the details, “Yeah! Fulgrim and I approached the fox once we saw these two humans take off running. He had a cooler with some beer, and he’s underage, so that’s why we arrested him. I don’t believe he even knew what he was carrying; Otherwise, he would’ve taken off with those two humans. He’s been completely clueless this entire time, and he’s extremely upset. Fulgrim has just been terrorizing him this entire time.” Walker sighed, “Just listen to Fulgrim and get this over with. You know he outranks the both of us. There’s nothing we can do. Here, think of it this way: That fox probably is guilty and is just trying to buy some sympathy from you. The street ain’t a courtroom; the fox will have to go through the courts to get this sorted out if he’s innocent. Odds are he’s probably guilty, and this is a fox you’re dealing with, so don’t forget to keep that in mind. We both know that foxes are some of the most common liars you’ll encounter… Anyways, it’s just not our decision to make out here. What Fulgrim says, goes.” Though Nicholson did not get the response he was hoping for, he did indeed know that Fulgrim outranked him. Nicholson did not want to lose his job over this encounter, so he knew that he would have to suck it up and hope that Arcades would be able to suck it up as well. Walker handed the restraints to Nicholson, “Here, I’ve got to move the van to the other side of the road so the fox can get inside. I don’t want to try and make him cross the street and get hit by a car. Otherwise, that’ll cost our department a significant amount of cash, and I know that Sheriff Asher won’t be happy if that was the case.”

  Nicholson hesitated, but he did take the restraints. Walker could tell that the Corporal was still experiencing cognitive dissonance, “You can’t feel sorry for these anthros. You know they don’t like us humans. That’s just a fox putting on a show trying to buy sympathy from you. Once he realizes that he ain’t getting anywhere with this act, he’ll give it up and quiet down. Fulgrim has been doing these operations since last year, so he’s seen plenty of cases, I bet. They wouldn’t promote him to the rank of Sergeant if he was inexperienced.” Nicholson reflected on his rank, but at the very least, he knew that he did outrank Deputy Walker. Nicholson felt that there was no point in trying to plead for the fox’s release, for he would just be wasting even more time. It was not like he could unarrest the fox, so it would be better to just get the ordeal over with. Unfortunately, Nicholson did know that the fox would be locked up for the next several hours. After all, it was not common for these arrested spring breakers to sit in chains for six to eight hours at a time. Nicholson would believe that such an amount of time was mildly excessive and that it would cross the line of what the restraint manufacturers would consider to be temporary. Nevertheless, these manufacturer suggestions were made primarily for liability reasons. After all, Smith & Wesson definitely did not want a lawsuit coming their way due to misuse of their line of transport restraints, and Nicholson would shortly be applying those very products to the extraordinarily upset fox.

  As Walker went back to the driver seat of the van, Nicholson realized that it was now time for him to get to work and do his job. The human looked both ways before crossing the street, and he returned to see Fulgrim treating the fox no better than he was before. Fulgrim saw the restraints which Nicholson was carrying, and he immediately gave him an order, “Get him ready for transport, Corporal.” The Corporal looked down at the terrified fox and sighed, “Yes sir.” Nicholson planned on doing simply what was required of him, and he was not going to do anything more than that. The human stood in front of the fox and saw that Arcades was still looking down at the ground while a few sobs escaped him intermittently as he shook in fear. Nicholson gave the fox an order, “Stand up.” Arcades could not say anything for himself, but he was able to bring himself to stand up. Unfortunately for the fox, he was unable to use his tail to cover up his shackled feet, so he immediately felt extremely vulnerable yet again. The fox looked upwards at Nicholson, and the Corporal felt as if it was the first time Arcades had looked directly into his eyes. All the human could see was a genuine look of fear in the fox’s eyes; Nicholson knew that Arcades’ emotions were definitely not being faked.

  The human placed the transport chains as well as the restraint chain on the ground since he was going to muzzle the fox first. Nicholson held the fox muzzle out, and Arcades’ eyes widened as he looked at the strange device. Arcades had seen the de
vice used on other anthros before, but he had never worn a muzzle for himself. The fox’s bout of hysterics only intensified as the muzzle approached his mouth. With his arms locked behind his back, unable to do anything to stop the officer, Arcades simply had no choice but to comply. As Nicholson placed the muzzle over the fox’s mouth, he looked down to see Arcades’ legs trembling in terror. As the Corporal looked back at Arcades’ face, he did not know anthros were capable of appearing more terrified than what he had already seen. When Nicholson tightened the muzzle to prevent Arcades’ from opening his mouth, the fox’s crying was significantly muffled. At this point, Arcades could no longer open his mouth to sob, but he still let out plenty of frightened whimpers. Nicholson adjusted the muzzle and made sure that it would not loosen by itself; he was not ready to be held liable if Arcades was able to somehow get the muzzle off of his face.

  Fulgrim voiced his approval of the Corporal’s actions, “Good job Corporal. Now, you gotta get the rest of that on him.” Nicholson looked down and to his left to see the small pile of restraints which he still had to apply to the fox. The Corporal instructed the fox to get down on his knees again, and he made sure to give his instruction rather bluntly to prevent Fulgrim from taking the hint that he did not want to be the one to do this to Arcades, “Kneel down on the ground, fox. Do it now.” Arcades complied with about a second of hesitation, and the first thing he attempted was to cover the bare soles of his feet with his tail once again. Nicholson knew that the fox would have to wear the transport restraints in front of his body while he would be taken to Okaloosa County Jail in Crestview for booking, so he would have to temporarily release Arcades’ wrists from the handcuffs he was currently wearing. After all, the Smith & Wesson M-1850 Transport Restraint already included a pair of Smith & Wesson M-1 handcuffs attached with a thirty inch chain to a pair of Smith & Wesson M-1900 leg irons.