Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  Jackie realized that Arcades had given her clearance to shoot at the target. The vixen placed the red dot directly over the bullseye, and she slowly brought her right index finger into the trigger guard. Remembering what she was taught, Jackie positioned the tip of her finger directly in the middle of the trigger. The vixen was not sure why the trigger of the Glock seemed to be split into two. Needless to say, Jackie was not familiar with the Safe Action trigger. The vixen slowly pulled the trigger, and she eventually made it to a point where she pulled the trigger far enough for the handgun to fire. As the bullet fired and left the barrel, the slide cycled backwards to chamber a new round as well as to eject the spent shell casing. Jackie could not help herself but flinch when she fired the handgun, but this reaction was completely normal for a novice shooter. Flinching was also somewhat common even for experienced shooters as well. After Jackie kept the weapon under control in her hands, she lifted her finger off of the trigger and found that it had reset by itself this time. The fox looked to see where the round had landed, “Everybody’s still alive, and you hit the target. That’s excellent. You hit upwards and to the left from the center, but the important thing is that you scored a hit. You’ll get better the more you shoot it. You did pretty good, especially for your first try.”

  Jackie liked hearing the positive reinforcement from Arcades; it was better than the sort of feedback the vixen got while she was in the Foundation. Arcades stood by, and he looked the vixen over to make sure that she was still maintaining a firm shooting stance. When the fox saw that Jackie did appear to be balanced enough while standing, he gave her more instruction, “Now, I want you to finish the rest of the magazine. You’re cleared to engage. Fire when ready.” The vixen aimed her sight back at the target, and she spent less time hesitating before she took another shot. The second shot seemed easier than the first one. Jackie fired another shot, and then another shot. She was spending less and less time between each shot, and Arcades found himself quite impressed with how comfortable the vixen seemed to be getting with shooting. After all, this was her first time ever shooting a gun at all. It took about forty seconds until Jackie depleted all of the ammunition that was in the magazine. The vixen realized that she had run out of ammunition when the handgun’s slide remained open and pulling the trigger did not make the weapon fire. Arcades spoke once he saw the slide lock backwards, “You’ve reached the end of your magazine. Press the little button on the left side of the handgun with your thumb. The magazine will fall out.” Jackie looked at the handgun, and it did not take her but a few seconds to find the button which Arcades was talking about. The vixen depressed the button, and she watched as the empty magazine dropped freely from the handgun and landed on the table.

  With the empty magazine now lying on the table, Arcades held out his hand offering the vixen an opportunity to take the second magazine. The fox spoke, “You hit about ten of those shots from what I’ve counted. That’s not too shabby. That’s decent for your first time ever firing a gun. Take this magazine, and try it again. You look like you’re getting the hang of it.” Jackie grabbed the next magazine, and she inserted it into her handgun. With the next magazine in the weapon, Jackie saw that the slide remained open. The vixen looked at the handgun in confusion, and Arcades spoke again, “There are two ways you can proceed from here, but I’ll tell you the way that you’re the most familiar with so far. All you need to do to chamber a round is just pull the slide back like you’ve done so before.” Jackie grabbed the slide by the rear, and she pulled it backwards until it could not go any further. Since the slide was already locked backwards, the vixen did not have to pull it back that far until she let it go. The handgun now had a round chambered again, and Jackie heard the fox speak once again, “You’re ready to go again. Fire when ready.”

  Jackie spent even less time hesitating before she fired each round. The vixen also was already getting better at learning how to keep her weapon on target. It took Jackie about thirty-five seconds to deplete all of the ammunition in her second magazine. When the vixen saw that the slide locked backwards, she lowered the weapon slightly in order for her to see how she did in terms of accuracy. The target was peppered with bullets, and there was not really a discernible grouping pattern whatsoever since bullet holes seemed to be placed randomly around the target. Arcades spoke once the second magazine was empty, “You’re doing pretty good, Jackie. I counted twelve rounds on target. Your rounds are kind of scattered all around the target, but what counts for right now is that you hit the target. Shooting only gets easier the more you shoot.” The vixen displayed a small smile since she was feeling accomplished. Arcades was still holding another magazine for Jackie, “Do you want to do something fun, now?” Jackie was not sure what Arcades was talking about, “What do you mean?” Arcades shook the magazine to get the vixen’s attention, “Load this magazine into your handgun, but do not fire yet. I’ll show you what I mean.” Jackie took the magazine, inserted it into the Glock, and racked the slide back to chamber a round into the handgun. The vixen moved into a ready position, but she awaited Arcades’ instruction.

  The fox spoke, “You see that little thing sticking out from the back of the gun? There is a pin poking out of the left. All you need to do is push it until you see it come out of the right. You’ll hear a click once it locks into position.” Jackie located the pin, and she pushed it the right with her left hand until it clicked into place. The vixen was not sure what she had toggled, but Arcades spoke, “That Glock will now fire fully-automatic. Make sure you hold on tight! You’re cleared to fire when you’re ready.” The vixen held the weapon tightly, and she did keep the fox’s warning in her mind. As she tried to tighten her grip on the weapon even more, she aimed a bit lower than the bullseye in order to compensate for some of the anticipated recoil she was expecting. Jackie had never fired a fully-automatic weapon before, but she did know that the muzzle did tend to climb a bit whenever she fired a shot. As the vixen prepared to fire, she braced herself and leaned forwards a bit to try and control the handgun better. Jackie pulled the trigger, and she both heard and felt the Glock fire in its fully-automatic setting. Within less than three seconds, the magazine had been entirely depleted. Seventeen rounds had never gone away so quickly for the vixen. When the slide locked backwards due to the magazine being empty, Jackie looked down at the handgun and removed the magazine from the pistol. Arcades came forth with a smile on his face, “How did you like that? Pretty fun, huh?” Jackie displayed a small smirk on her face and replied, “It was fun. How did I do?”

  Arcades looked at the target, but he had not really been counting whether or not the vixen was scoring any hits on the target, “I wasn’t paying attention to the target. I was more focused on watching you to make sure that you still had control of the weapon.” Jackie laid the empty weapon on the table and turned to the fox, “How well did I do keeping it under control?” The fox gave a nod, “You did pretty well. I don’t really recommend fully-automatic fire for anybody with those types of weapons since they’re kind of hard to use like that. Automatic fire is more fitting for a larger weapon such an emplacement. Those weapons tend to be more commonly mounted on bipods or even tripods, and you’re not really supposed to use them while standing up.” Jackie looked back at the empty Glock on the table, “Is that all for that gun?” The fox nodded, “Yeah, but we still have three other guns for you to use. Are you ready for the next one?” The vixen found that she did have quite a bit of fun using the Glock, so she decided that she was ready for the next gun, “Sure thing, Kurt. I’m ready.” Arcades smiled as he went to retrieve the Springfield 1911 from the range bag.

  Arcades, Jackie, and Jason finally returned inside after the fox let the vixen have a chance at firing all of the weapons. Needless to say, Jackie learned a decent amount about firearms in the hour and a half that Arcades spent teaching her about the operation of the weapons. Jason sat the used weapons on the counter, and Arcades placed the bag he brought on the counter as well. The bag did f
eel a tad bit lighter without the ammunition loaded into the magazines, but it did not make too much of a noticeable difference. The fox asked the vixen about her experience, “Well, how did you like it? Which gun was your favorite?” Jackie replied, “That was really fun, thanks for showing me about it, Kurt. I liked that one long gun with the gold on it.” The fox knew that only one weapon he brought out there fit the description, “You mean my Salient GRY? Yeah, that one’s really nice to shoot. It’s also the most expensive weapon out of those four. Before the modifications I did to it, it cost me five hundred dollars shy of four grand.” The vixen raised her eyebrows, “I didn’t know those cost that much.” Arcades smiled and rested up against the counter next to Jason, “Yeah. Some of them do get that expensive. Believe it or not, some of these guns even cost more than that.”

  There was a brief moment of silence, but Jason broke it by asking Jackie a question, “Full auto’s pretty fun, ain’t it?” Jackie gave a nod, “It was a bit rough on my shoulder, but I had fun with it.” Arcades chuckled, “Hah, yeah. It does take some getting used to. It gets better the more you fire, but we don't fire fully-automatic that often. We also don’t really have too many of those guns to do that with. We mainly sell your standard civilian rifles and handguns. We have some submachine weapons as well, but we can’t really sell those either. We have those for people to rent.” Jackie looked at the wall of guns, but she was not really capable of picking out the submachine gun, “Do people like to rent that submarine gun?” Arcades smiled when he realized that Jackie did not pronounce ‘submachine gun’ correctly, “It’s a submachine gun. The one that gets rented out the most is the Heckler & Koch MP5SD. It has a suppressor on it, and it fires fully-automatic. It’s had plenty of rounds go through it, and it’s still going. It’s a really fun gun to use. We can shoot it together another day if you’d like.” Jackie was entirely unfamiliar with the names of the weapons, so she did not know what the fox was even talking about. Nevertheless, she still agreed to the fox’s offer, “I think I can give it a shot.” Arcades nodded, “For sure. It’s getting a bit late to do that now, so we’d have to do that another day.”

  Jackie looked back outside, and she could see that it was practically dark outside. The vixen looked back at the fox’s range bag, and she could see the eye protection as well as some of the electronic earplugs on the table next to the bag. When Jackie looked at the bag, she could not help but remember another bag which looked oddly similar to the one she studied, “Say, Kurt?” Arcades brought his attention back to the vixen, “Yes?” When Jackie saw that the fox was listening, she spoke and pointed towards the range bag on the table, “Don’t you have another bag that looks like that?” Arcades looked at the range bag which the vixen pointed out, but he was not sure exactly what Jackie wanted to know, “Yeah, I have a few of them. They’re helpful for keeping some of your equipment in.” The vixen decided to narrow what she was actually asking for a bit more, “I remember seeing one like that when you guys got me out of the Foundation.” Arcades had a slight feeling he knew what Jackie was talking about, but he still avoided the topic, “I probably had a few of them. I still use them now for bringing gear to and from the range.”

  Jackie figured that she should just ask the fox what she wanted to ask directly, “Do you still have that one bag with all of your handcuffs in it?” Arcades had a feeling the vixen was going to ask this question, but he was doing everything he could to avoid it. Jason turned towards the fox, and the wolf was waiting to see what Arcades had to say. Though he was put on the spot, Arcades decided to answer the question truthfully, but he was not going to go any further, “Yes. I still have it.” Jackie asked the fox another question after the first answer was given, “Can I see it?” Before the fox gave his answer, he decided to ask the vixen’s reasoning since he was rather curious as to why Jackie was so curious as to what was in the bag, “What? Do you want to play with them or something?” The vixen’s response was completely unexpected, “Can I?” Arcades’ face was definitely rife with confusion, and the fox even turned to Jason as if the wolf knew what he was supposed to say. After staring at Jason for a few moments, Arcades asked the wolf, “Erm… Jason, do you want to participate?” The wolf’s response was a bit more collected, “If you’d like, Kurt. I don’t mind.” Arcades looked back at the vixen and said, “Well. I guess we can have a go. Follow me.”

  Arcades led Jackie and Jason into the room where the bag was stored, the room that the fox and wolf both shared to sleep in. When the three anthros entered the room, Arcades looked upwards to see the bag sitting on top of a drawer. The fox grabbed the bag and lowered it from the drawer. Arcades unzipped the bag, and he stepped back to let the vixen take a look, “There they are. I have a bit of a collection.” Jackie squatted down as she rummaged through many of the carbon steel restraints in the bag. The vixen asked a question, “So, Kurt. Do you put these on yourself?” Arcades spoke as he stood by Jackie, “I used to. Now, I have Jason for that.” The vixen stood up, “Quite a lot of these for just one fox to use.” Arcades scratched the back of his head, “I have a lot of those so I can try out a bunch of different combinations and everything.” Jackie became rather intrigued when the fox mentioned the word combination, “Combination? What’s your favorite combination?” Arcades replied by giving an offer, “Would you want to try it for yourself?”

  Jackie quickly made her decision, “Sure.” Arcades turned to Jason, and he already knew that the wolf knew what the fox’s preferred restraint combination was, “How about you put us both in it?” Jason said, “I can do that. Are you both ready now?” Arcades looked down at his current clothes, “I should probably change first.” Jason stepped aside, “Go ahead.” The fox walked past the wolf, and he opened a drawer to pull out a plain black t-shirt and a pair of high-cut Rhodesian Brushstroke shorts. The fox knew that Jackie was in the room, but like Jason, she had already seen him naked before. Arcades was not even stripping all the way down; he was just going to change his shirt and shorts. The fox spoke as he undid his belt, “If you’re looking for somebody to treat you like the Foundation did, you’re not going to get that from us. We don’t do that kind of stuff to anybody.” Arcades dropped his shorts to the ground and stepped out of them. The fox then proceeded to remove his polo shirt. After the fox discarded his shirt along with his previous pair of shorts, he spoke again, “All we are going to do is just restrain you, and we are not going to do anything more than that. You’re free to ask us to let you out whenever you’d like. We’re not going to keep you in it if you don’t want it.”

  The fox stepped into his Rhodesian Brushstroke shorts, and he pulled them up to his waist. The shorts covered the fox’s waist, but they left his legs almost entirely bare. Arcades took the black t-shirt, and he spoke as he donned it, “We’re not going to hurt you in any way. If you don’t like something or find something uncomfortable, just let us know, and we’ll let you out.” Jackie continued to watch the fox as he finished putting his shirt on. Once Arcades had put on his change of clothes, he asked the vixen one last question, “With all that in mind, do you still want to do this? We are not going to make you do this.” Jackie did not hesitate with her response, and it was indeed a quite confident response, “Yes.” Arcades considered asking her one last time, but he figured that she would just give the same answer. Since she was this eager, he did not really think she would revoke her consent just because the fox asked one too many times for her to confirm it. Arcades looked over to Jason as the fox placed his previous set of clothes on top of one of the beds, “I guess we’re ready.” The fox then turned to Jackie, “Well, do you want to go first, or does it not matter?” The vixen shrugged, “I don’t really care.” The fox turned back to the wolf and said, “Start with me first.” Jason acknowledged the fox and went to get the restraints out of the bag, “Sure thing, mate.”

  The wolf went down to grab something out of the fox’s bag, and Arcades instantly recognized what it was simply by the noise it made when Jason rem
oved it. The wolf approached Arcades from behind and held out a Smith & Wesson M-1840 restraint chain. Arcades grabbed the Martin link, and he held it in front of his body as he waited for Jason to walk around his body until he reached the front of his waist. Jason threaded one of the chain links through the Martin link, and Arcades held the chain in place to prevent it from slipping off of the link. With the excess chain left dangling from the fox’s waist, Jason went back to the bag to retrieve a small Cuff-Key padlock. Using the keyring that he also obtained from the bag, the wolf unlocked the padlock using a standard handcuff key, and he then locked the last link of the dangling chain to the link directly above the fox’s tail. Though the dangling chain was secured away, Arcades still had to hold the chain on the Martin link until Jason could thread a set of handcuffs through the link itself.

  Arcades waited, but he did not turn around to watch the wolf grab the next set of restraints. Though the fox knew that he was completely free to turn around, he decided that he would just remain completely still. Within a short period of time, Jason returned to the fox, and he was holding a set of Smith & Wesson M-1850-1 transport restraints. The wolf threaded the Model 1-1 handcuffs through the Martin link, and he opened the cuff to allow the fox to place his own wrist into the restraint himself rather than forcing him to do so. After all, Arcades was not a captive to Jason. The fox calmly placed his wrist into the restraint, and Jason closed it down until it reached the point that the wolf knew Arcades would find the most comfortable. After repeating the process with the other wrist, the wolf used the opposite end of the handcuff key to depress the double-locking pins and prevent them from further tightening. Arcades’ hands were now locked directly in front of his waist, and he relaxed his hands since he knew that he no longer had to hold the Martin link into place. A pair of Smith & Wesson M-1900-1 leg irons still dangled from the thirty inch chain connecting it to the handcuffs, and Arcades’ ankles were currently free. The fox stepped forward, and he got on his knees on the bed and left his ankles dangling for the wolf to restrain them. Jason grabbed one of the dangling shackles, and he locked it around the fox’s thin ankles, only leaving one tooth on the bow exposed since he knew that Arcades found that amount of tightness to be the most comfortable for him.