Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  Arcades’ look out the window was interrupted by the wolf tugging on his left arm. The fox turned back around to look at the maned wolf. The wolf leaned in closer to the fox and began to softly speak, “It’s going to be alright.” Arcades, still with the muzzle over his mouth, could not reply, but he only began to cry more. The wolf began to run his cuffed hands down the fox’s thin upper arm as he continued to whisper. Both Arcades and the maned wolf were far enough away from the officer driving the bus that they would not be heard, “You have a look of innocence in your eyes. I have a feeling that you don’t deserve to be here with the rest of us.” The wolf’s words did not help the fox calm down; they only made him cry harder. Arcades began to bend forwards, and the wolf started rubbing the fox’s back to the best of his abilities with his hands locked together. The wolf spoke more, “I don’t care what they say about foxes. You don’t deserve this kind of treatment.” Arcades listened to what the wolf had to say, but he knew that he would not believe his words. Even if what the wolf was saying was genuine, Arcades hardly believed that he was undeserving of this sort of treatment. As the fox continued to weep into the muzzle, he could not stop thinking about all of the stereotypes involving red foxes. He had no reason to believe that he was any sort of exception. Arcades believed that he was supposed to be locked up and shut up, just as any red fox should be.

  Chapter 5

  Familiar Faces

  “Is that really what happened to you, Kurt?” Jason asked Arcades as the fox wrapped up his story. Arcades’ story was a very accurate retelling of the actual events, but the fox could only give his side of the story since he did not know what the officers discussed amongst themselves. The wolf was also rather surprised that the fox was able to recite him the story in the span of fifteen minutes. Arcades did not hear most of the conversations amongst the deputies during his detainment, so he did not tell the wolf too much about what he had heard the deputies talking about. Arcades also neglected to tell the wolf of his excitement he experienced as he was in the back of the transport van, feeling embarrassed by the thought. The fox replied to the wolf after a few seconds, “Yeah. I don’t really think I need to tell you about all that happened after that in as much detail.” The wolf was confused as to what Arcades was saying, “What’s that? Arcades gave an even more brief summary to Jason of the events directly following his ride on the bus, “We got to the station, they stripsearched all of us, and we each had to pay bail to get out of jail. I stayed the night and about half of the next day in jail. My parents had to come all the way from Ozark to pick me up. It sucked.”

  The wolf shook his head, “All because somebody handed you a cooler, right?” The fox slowly nodded as he remembered the events in his head. Though the incident occurred almost twelve whole years ago, Arcades knew that he would likely never forget what had happened to him. Jason had another question for the fox, “How much did they make you pay to get out of jail?” Arcades continued to watch the road as he spoke, “They made us pay one hundred dollars to get out. The fine they presented each of us with was about one thousand dollars. I had no intention of paying it.” Jason’s eyes widened when he heard the fox say how much the fine was, “One thousand dollars? What?! For this?” Arcades nodded, “Yeah… It’s kinda excessive.” The wolf remembered that the fox did say he did not intend to pay the fine, “Well did you pay the fine or what? What did you do?” Arcades shook his head, “No, I didn’t pay the fine. I fought it in court. I went without a lawyer; I represented myself. Believe it or not, but I ended up winning. However, they didn’t give us back that hundred dollars. The state got to keep that. Also, they chained me up for the court appearance, and they did it practically in the same manner as to when I was detained. The only difference was that they had the muzzle loose enough for me to talk. Eugh… It’s pretty unnecessary. They don’t need to do that to anthros, but they still do it anyways. Welp, at least on the bright side, they wiped that arrest from my record, and they also expunged my mugshot after a good while.”

  The wolf spoke with a quiet voice, thinking the fox would not be able to hear him, “Sounds like they couldn’t expunge all of those photos…” Jason was surprised when he realized that Arcades did hear his last comment, “Jason?” The wolf’s eyes widened again, but he tried to hide his guilt, “Yeah?” Arcades replied, “I know about the pictures. I’ve seen them.” Jason looked directly at the fox, and Arcades was looking directly back at him. Arcades could tell that the wolf’s face indicated that he had done something he was not proud of, “You’ve seen them too, haven’t you?” The wolf did not want to lie to the fox, but at the same time, he did not want to admit looking at the images of Arcades with lust, “Uh… Erm…” The fox tried to watch the road and look at Jason at the same time, “I’m not mad; I promise you. Whatever you’ve done with those images, I’m not going to be mad. I’ll guarantee you that.” The wolf knew that he would have to tell Arcades the truth someday, so he figured that he might as well just get it over with, “Do you want to know, Kurt?”

  The fox was not going to force the wolf to confirm his suspicions, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Jason decided to give his confession anyways, “Kurt… I saw images of a black-furred red fox twelve years ago when they first were put on the Internet. I’ve… I-I’ve jacked off to them -- many times…” The fox was still driving the car, but he was not necessarily surprised by the wolf’s revelation. If anything, it only made more sense to Arcades why Jason attempted to sexually assault him almost two years ago. The most surprising bit Arcades could think of would be the mere fact that Jason had laid his eyes upon the fox almost ten whole years before they had even met in person. The fox looked over, and he could see that Jason was already trying to hide his face in shame, “Jason. I’ve already forgiven you for this, and I know that the Lord has forgiven you as well. The past doesn’t matter. You don’t need to feel ashamed.” Arcades decided to level the playing field by giving the wolf a revelation of his own, “If it makes you feel any better, after that whole ordeal was done and over with, I bought the same restraints they used on me from the Internet. The first thing I did when I got them was that I stripped myself completely naked, locked myself up exactly the way they did, and I furiously masturbated. I’m really not too different from you, Jason.”

  The wolf sat in silence as he reflected on what the fox had just told him, “Wha-? Kurt, you’ve done that before?” The fox gave an unusually confident nod, “Yeah. Though what I’ve done specifically may not have been directly sinful, it’s still something that I’m not too proud of. Nevertheless, I don’t really dwell on it.” Jason was confused, “That’s not a sin? What?” Arcades shook his head, “No, it’s not because I wasn’t lusting after anyone in particular. Spilling the seed of copulation is something that’s just unclean. It’s not a sin. Sin doesn’t expire with time, but uncleanliness does.” Jason was still confused, “I thought masturbating was always a sin.” Arcades took the moment to explain the topic to the wolf, “The thing with that is that it becomes sinful under most situations because people tend to lust about somebody while they do it. That’s why it’s better to avoid it so that you don’t fall into a pit of sin. It’s not a sin itself to jack off, but it is when you’re thinking about someone or looking at someone with those thoughts in mind while you do it. Few are able to masturbate with a blank mind, but I am not really one of those people. That’s why I just avoid doing it. In that particular instance I described, I wasn’t thinking about anybody, so that specific action was not sinful. That was a pretty rare occurrence for me.”

  The wolf sat in the vehicle’s passenger seat, and he was still trying to understand everything Arcades was telling him. Jason said, “So what I did was sinful because I was lusting after you?” The fox nodded, “Yeah, but you’ve already repented of that, so I can’t hold it against you. The Lord won’t either. Lord knows that my sexual tastes have not always been that pure either.” Jason was not exactly sure what the fox was telling him, “
What? What does that mean?” Arcades replied, “Like I said, I was more like you than you think.” The wolf paused for a moment as he was now getting an idea in his head of what the fox was implying, “Kurt, were you a homosexual?” The fox took a moment to think of the best way to reply. When he was ready, Arcades said, “I’ll admit, I did used to have homosexual thoughts during my teenage years, but I never acted on them beyond masturbation. When I did that with those thoughts in mind, I was being sinful. When I decided to repent of my sins and trust in Christ, those desires eventually left after some time. Now I don’t have those feelings anymore. What you don’t use, you lose, I guess.” The wolf was rather surprised to hear this revelation as well, “Kurt -- wow. I wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

  Arcades spoke, “I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s a sin that’s just like the other sexual sins people get involved with. It doesn’t make me any more or less deserving of salvation. We’ve all fallen short of God’s glory, and nobody can achieve salvation by being more worthy than anybody else. What we need to remember is that we all still need the Savior no matter what we’ve done. Christ died on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to.” Jason replied, “You’ve stopped having those desires, Kurt?” Arcades nodded, “Yeah, that all went completely away about the time when I got into my early twenties. I didn’t have any problems since.” The wolf had another question for the fox, “What’s the timeframe like for that? Like, when did you first start feeling that way, and when did you decide to stop?” The fox thought for a brief moment before replying, “I first started about the time when I turned fifteen, and I repented when I was seventeen. It still took me a bit to get over it all the way, but it happened.” The wolf took in the information, but he did not have any more immediate questions for the fox at the moment.

  A little under ten minutes later, Arcades announced that they had both arrived at their destination, “Looks like we’ve just about made it.” Jason looked around at the surroundings, and he knew a question he wanted to ask the fox, “Kurt. Why would you want to come back out here, mate? You just spent a decent bit of time telling me about this whole traumatic episode. Why would you take me here with you?” Arcades replied as he took a deep breath, “Perhaps we can say that I came out here specifically because I really wanted to tell you this story.” The wolf was confused, “Why drive all the way out here? You could’ve told me this earlier.” Arcades tried to address Jason’s questions, “I guess I thought it would be a bit more fitting to tell you while going back to the place.” The wolf shook his head, “Mate, you didn’t need to come back. Especially since bad memories are all you’ve got of this place.” The fox spoke again, “Yeah, I know… Part of me just wants to see what has come of this place. After all, it was the sheriff at the time, Sheriff Asher, who I believe came up with that little protocol for dealing with that type of detainment. His successor, the next sheriff after him, didn’t take office until 2021. Well, there’s a chance Asher’s successor is not the sheriff anymore; it’s been just about two election cycles since he took office.”

  Arcades spotted a vacant parking space, but he decided that he would be parking closer to where the beach actually was. He didn’t see the need to park away from the beach like Rick and Ray did all those years ago. The fox pulled into the parking space, and he stopped the vehicle. Jason looked to his left, and he was reviewing the entire conversation in his head. The wolf found it surreal in a way, but he did know for himself that the Holy Spirit did deliver him from his own immoral desires. It just so happens to be that Arcades was in a similar situation when he was younger. Jason said nothing, but Arcades undid his seatbelt and asked, “Are you ready to go?” The wolf looked to his left when he heard the fox speak, but his mind was not focused on what the fox had asked. Rather, Jason was still thinking about the previous conversation. When Arcades saw that the wolf was not really paying attention, he tried to get Jason’s attention, “Jason?” At this point, the wolf realized that the fox was trying to talk to him, “Hm, Kurt?” Arcades saw that the wolf was now giving him his attention, so he spoke, “We’re here. Are you ready to get out?” The wolf realized that he was still wearing his seatbelt, and he finally noticed that the Mustang’s open door alert was sounding, “Oh, yeah. Right.” Jason undid his seatbelt, and he opened his own door to exit the vehicle. As he did so, Arcades stepped out of the car as well.

  Arcades waited for Jason to close the door before locking the car doors. The fox looked at the wolf, and he moved over to the front of the vehicle to meet Jason. The wolf looked at the fox’s clothes, and he could tell that the fox was not dressed to go into the water, “You don’t plan on swimming, do you?” Arcades shook his head, “Nah. We’re just here to walk around for a lil’ while. We’ve got some time to kill.” Jason looked down at his own clothes, and he also saw that he was not dressed to go swimming. The wolf then turned his attention to his boots, “I should take these off. I don’t want sand getting in them.” The fox still was not wearing any footwear, but he was not going to vote in the matter, “I’ll unlock the door for you if you want to do that.” Jason nodded, “Yeah, mate. Go ahead.” The fox retrieved the key fob from his shorts pocket, and he pressed the unlock button twice to unlock the passenger door. When the wolf heard the doors unlock, he opened the passenger door, and he placed his right boot on the side skirt as he untied it. Jason repeated the process on his left boot before sitting on the passenger seat and removing his boots and socks. After removing his footwear and placing it on the floor in front of the passenger seat, Jason slowly placed his bare feet on the pavement. The pavement was a bit warm, but it was not too hot for the wolf since it was March, after all. Arcades waited for the wolf to close the door behind him before he locked the car’s doors again. Arcades also looked to make sure that Jason would not accidentally get his tail stuck in the door as it closed. The fox asked the wolf, “Are you ready to go now?” Jason replied as he looked back up at Arcades, “For sure. Let’s have a go.”

  The two anthros began walking on the concrete path, and they looked around at the many small shops and restaurants along the beachside. There were a decent number of people out on the beach, and some were even in the water. Though humans made up the majority of beachgoers, there were indeed a fair number of anthros. Arcades looked down at the ground, and he looked to where the concrete ended and the sand began. The fox was not quite ready to go on the sand yet, but he decided to talk with Jason as they continued walking on the concrete path, “If nobody came to our home today while we were out, then we should be alright to return.” Jason turned to look at the fox and replied, “You think it was the Foundation who sent that one bloke after you?” The fox shrugged, “I want to say yes, but I don’t know why they would wait almost two full years for that. You’d think they’d do something in a more reasonable timeframe.” Jason sighed, “There’s really no telling who sent him, I guess.” The wolf paused for a moment to think before speaking again, “How do you know he wasn’t acting alone?” The fox replied, “I don’t take it that I’ve ever made somebody that mad before who came into the shop.”

  Jason agreed with the fox, “Yeah, I doubt someone who was just mad at you would go that far to try and get you. Somebody definitely told him to do this.” Arcades added to the wolf’s statement, “That guy had custom tranquilizer darts for that integrally suppressed rifle. He had to know my weight and height in order to make sure that I would get the proper dosage to put me down but not kill me. What do you think would’ve done to me if he got away with me?” Jason raised his eyebrows, “Well… Maybe he’d take you to the Foundation, again.” Arcades then said, “The Foundation? We got rid of the Foundation. There isn’t a Foundation for me to go to.” Jason was in silence for a moment before speaking, “We can’t really know that. Perhaps they’ve already made another facility or something in a new location. Maybe there’s still a facility we don’t know about.” Arcades considered Jason’s proposition, but he was not really convinced by it, “I’m not so sure.
It hasn’t even been two years. I know that people can build stuff pretty quickly in this day and age, but they lost a lot of their resources thanks to our efforts. They already know that we know, so I think they would be looking at doing something else to make sure they aren’t found out again.” The fox’s last sentence intrigued Jason, “Hm? Maybe by getting rid of you, that’s their way of making sure they’re not found out again.” The situation did not make complete sense to Arcades, “Why would he want to take me alive? He could’ve just killed me and that would’ve done it.”

  Jason knew what Arcades was trying to say, “Yeah, well… Somebody wants to take you alive for some reason or another.” The fox shook his head and asked a question he had asked previously, “What would they even want to do with me?” Jason did not know the answer, but he decided to just make up a tongue-in-cheek response to lighten the mood a bit, “Maybe he just wants to sit you down and play a game with you.” Arcades knew that the wolf’s response was not completely serious, so he gave a facetious response as well, “Some game he wants to play. I guess we won’t be able to play a game with him now since you put him down.” Jason did remember shooting the agent trying to apprehend Arcades, and the mood reverted back to its previous state before Jason made his tongue-in-cheek comment, “I had no other option.” Arcades could tell that his comment made the wolf a bit upset, “I’m not saying that was the wrong thing to do. If I were you, I would’ve probably done something among the lines of that.” Jason was somewhat surprised, “Isn’t it a sin to kill somebody?” The fox replied, “Again, it depends on why you killed that somebody. If somebody’s being hostile and threatening you with your life, then you’d be justified for defending yourself. It is a sin just to kill somebody with no good reason, though. It’s also not good to instigate people so that you can have an excuse to kill that person.”