Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  The elevator made two dings again, and the doors began to open. As the doors were opening, Johnny grabbed Arcades’ cuffs and forced him forwards. The captive fox compliantly moved forwards, but was still being purposely treated as if he was resisting. The fox noticed several other members of the crime syndicate. Arcades recognized many of the weapons the henchmen were carrying as being small 9mm automatic weapons. Most of them were carrying MAC-10s, SUB-2000s, and TEC-9s. When the group saw Johnny walking in with Arcades, they approached. Once they got close, the captor forced his captive to stop walking. When Arcades stopped walking, he got down on his knees. The henchman carrying the SUB-2000 spoke first, “Johnny, where have you been? The Foundation is going to be here in an hour or two to pick up the anthro they’re gonna pay for.” Before Johnny could answer, the henchman noticed Arcades, who was still kneeling in front of Johnny, “Hey, is that another red fox? This one is black! How much do you think the Foundation would pay for him? You know that they’re paying a lot for anthro red foxes.” Johnny went along with the plan, “Uhh… Do you think that they would pay more to get this one and the one we already got?” The henchman wielding a Beretta M12 spoke, “Can’t hurt to try. We could sell him off later if they don’t buy him… Put him in the cage with the other one.” Johnny heard what he needed to hear, “Sure. I’ll go and do that now.” Johnny pulled Arcades by the hinges on the handcuffs again and forced him to stand up.

  Johnny opened the door to a small room, and in the middle of the room stood a cage which a bound and gagged female anthro fox was laying in. When she heard the door opening, she directed her attention to the dark gray fox that was being forcefully moved into the room that stood the cage. Johnny closed the door behind him once he entered the room, and he dropped off the duffel bag beside the cage. Johnny then pushed Arcades down on his knees while he unlocked the cage’s padlock. After the cage was unlocked, Johnny discreetly placed one of his keys inside of Arcades’ pocket which held his keychain. Johnny then forced Arcades inside of the cage and locked it shut with the padlock. Johnny exited the small room. The room had no windows, and this would prove to be convenient for Arcades to escape.

  Arcades sat on his knees next to the female fox, and he wasted no time as he shuffled through his back pocket in search of his keychain. He grabbed the key and inserted it into the hole. He turned the key backwards to disengage the double-lock first, and then he turned the key in the other direction to undo the regular lock. Arcades repeated the same process with his other wrist and went to remove the fox muzzle from his face. After he removed the muzzle, he softly spoke in a gentle tone to the female fox, “Hey, I’m with Fox Security. I’m here to get you out. I’m not going to let them sell you.” Arcades noticed that the vixen displayed a relieved expression with her eyes, as a ballgag had been shoved in her mouth to prevent her from speaking. Arcades found this oddity very strange, as he was silenced with a fox muzzle instead. After he finished removing the shackles he was wearing, he began to remove the restraints from the vixen. The vixen had her wrists cuffed with a pair of rigid ASP handcuffs. Her wrists were also crossed to further limit her mobility, and Arcades recognized this as the ‘stack’ position.

  Once Arcades freed the vixen’s arms, he worked on freeing her legs. The vixen had also been kept barefoot, but Arcades did not know if she was forced to be or chose to be. After the metal restraints had been removed from the vixen, Arcades removed the gag that was in her mouth. When she was freed, she immediately went to embrace Arcades out of thankfulness. Arcades wondered what they were doing to her. The vixen did not want to let go of the fox who rescued her, but Arcades said, “Look, you can thank me later. How about we get out first?” As Arcades was looking for the key to the padlock, he heard the vixen speak, “Please get me out of here.” Her voice was very shaky and was filled with uneasiness. Arcades attempted to calm her down, “You got a name? You can call me Arcades.” The vixen did not respond, but Arcades still continued to work on escaping the cage. The fox grabbed the padlock through the bars of the cage and placed the key inside. The cage door opened, and Arcades stood up in order to step out. The vixen was still inside the cage, and Arcades asked, “Can you walk?” The vixen nodded, and Arcades went to the duffel bag which was inside the room.

  The fox grabbed the assembled chest rig and battle belt system, and he threw the gear over his chest. He placed the earpiece over his right ear, and he switched on the transceiver. Arcades then removed the Ruger handgun from his holster, and he chambered a round. He also went ahead and enabled the red dot sight. Once he finished, he stood up and moved close to the door. Arcades turned to the vixen who had already exited the cage, “Stay close to me and keep quiet. My guy should be distracting the other guards.” Arcades slowly opened the door and stepped outside of the room. As he looked around the underground chamber, there were no people in sight. Arcades motioned for the vixen to follow him, and he cautiously peeked around a corner. The fox noticed a security camera. He drew the handgun from his holster and prepared to take aim at the camera. He was trying to figure out the best way to disable the camera without the operator seeing him. Arcades shifted his body to face the wall, and he lined his right eye up with the red dot sight of the handgun. He brought the handgun closer to his body and leaned to the right while trying to expose the least amount of his body as possible. After lining up the camera with the red dot, he squeezed the trigger. Sparks flew off of the camera and the lens shattered. Though the handgun was fitted with a suppressor and was chambered in .22 Long Rifle, it was still audibly heard. Arcades holstered his handgun before saying, “They probably heard that. We better hurry up.”

  “Did you guys hear that? That sounded like gunfire.” One of the henchmen said as he raised his TEC-9 to a ready position. Johnny grabbed an H&K MP5 from a weapons case and checked the chamber to assure a round was loaded. He knew what was going on, so he excused himself, “I’ll go check it out.” Before any of the other henchmen could say anything else, Johnny was already out the door. Johnny made his way into the main room and saw the door to the holding room had been opened. He looked around, but did not see Arcades. After a few seconds, Arcades emerged from cover. Once Johnny recognized him, he lowered his MP5. The fox approached Johnny and asked, “You ready to get out of here?” Johnny nodded, and Arcades spoke on the radio, “Alpha One-Actual, this is Arcades. We have the HVI and are awaiting exfil. What is your ETA? Over.” After a few seconds, he heard the response, “Copy Arcades. We are approximately two minutes out. Be ready when we get there. Out.” Johnny could not hear the output from Arcades’ headset, so the fox relayed the information to him.

  After he did this, the fox asked, “So, what’s the best way out of here?” Johnny said, “Follow me. I can get you to the surface.” When Johnny began to proceed, Arcades checked behind him in order to make sure that the vixen was still following. Johnny moved to a door which was on the opposite side of the large chamber. Behind the door was a staircase, which led up to a hidden side exit of the hotel-casino. After they exited the hotel-casino, the group stayed hidden while waiting for the vehicle to return. Arcades spoke, “I don’t have a watch, so I’m waiting for them to radio in to us.” Almost immediately after he made his statement, Arcades heard a voice in his headset, “This is Alpha One-Actual, we are approaching the rendezvous point. Over.” When Arcades heard this, he replied, “Copy. If you can, move in front of the alleyway. That’s where we’re at. Over.” The vehicle driver then said, “Roger. We’ll be there in about fifteen seconds. Out.” After Arcades finished his short conversation, Johnny said, “We gotta get going. I can hear them coming up the stairwell.” After searching for something to barricade the door with, Arcades said, “We have nothing to block the door with. Let’s move closer to the street. They should be there any second now.” Johnny concealed his MP5 under his jacket, and as they were moving to the street, a gray Toyota 4Runner pulled up. Arcades smiled, “That’s our ride. Let’s get in!” Arcades opened the door, and he allowed the
vixen to enter first. Johnny soon followed after the vixen entered. After confirming that everybody was aboard, Arcades entered and closed the door.

  The driver let off of the brake and hastily accelerated back into traffic. The passenger turned around and noticed Johnny, “Who’s this, Arcades?” Arcades knew he was talking about Johnny, “That’s a new ally. He joined our side.” The passenger gave Johnny a handshake and said, “Welcome to Fox Security.” The passenger turned back around, but the driver noticed something in the rear view mirror. “Those guys in the car are aiming at us. Get down.” Arcades grabbed the vixen’s head and pushed her down before placing his elbow on her back to prevent her from rising back up. Arcades announced, “We’ve got company!” before the pursuing vehicle began to fire at the SUV. Shots ricocheted off of the road and the hidden armor under the SUV caught some more rounds. Johnny grabbed the MP5 from underneath his jacket and flicked the safety off before looking for a place to return fire from. Johnny rolled down the side window and leaned out of the window while still holding his MP5. Once he was able to obtain a sightline, Johnny began to return fire at the car. After emptying a magazine into the hood of the car, Johnny pulled himself back in, and he proceeded to reload the MP5. “They’ve got armored plating on their car! We’re gonna have to try and lose them,” Arcades spoke after he saw the impact points on the vehicle’s hood.

  The driver pressed harder on the gas pedal and carefully avoided the traffic on the Las Vegas Strip. Many drivers were steering out of the way from the sound of the gunfire, which left the SUV a path to drive through. Arcades looked at the KRISS Vector which was still being held in a pouch behind the driver’s seat and said, “Johnny, protect the HVI. I’m going to try and use the Vector to do what I can to disable the hostile vehicle.” Johnny saw Arcades remove the Vector from the pouch and said, “They’ve got armor. Is that going to do anything to the car?” Arcades flipped the stock of the Vector out and flipped the safety switch off, “I’m going to shoot at their windows. Though they’re probably using bullet resistant glass, the cracks should make it hard for them to see out of.” Johnny held the vixen after Arcades released her and said, “Alright. Good luck.” The fox placed a few extra magazines into the pouches on his chest rig, and he enabled the EOTech sight on the Vector. Arcades then said to the passenger, “Open up the sunroof.” The passenger had heard what Arcades was going to do, and he pressed up the button to open the sunroof.

  The fox slid the cover of the sunroof back, and he placed one foot on the center console. He then was looking for a place to set his other foot on. He looked at the passenger again, and he came up with another idea, “Hold my left ankle. Make sure I don’t fall, alright?” Arcades sat his left foot on the passenger seat, and the passenger wrapped his arm around Arcades’ ankle. Before Arcades rose up, he decided he could balance better in his position if he gripped his weapon left-handed. Arcades held the pistol grip in his left hand, and he held the foregrip with his right hand when he transitioned shoulders. Shots fired by the hostile vehicle were continuous, and the gunfire did not cease. Arcades ignored this, and he stood up. The fox used his strong left eye to look through the EOTech sight, and he quickly targeted the windshield of the pursuing vehicle even under the low-light conditions.

  Arcades squeezed the trigger, and he began firing at the windshield. Arcades forgot that the weapon was set to fully-automatic, and some rounds landed on the roof of the car. The fox let go of the trigger, and he squatted down while he flipped the fire selector switch to semi-automatic. Once he finished, he raised back up again to fire at the car. This time, Arcades placed more shots on the windshield rather than the hood. None of the rounds made it past the glass, but more cracks were being formed on the glass. Arcades completely emptied a magazine and deposited it in his dump pouch. He then squatted as he replaced the magazine and pulled the charging handle. Once Arcades finished his combat reload, the fox stood back up and proceeded to open fire again. The vehicle’s windshield was now full of cracks, but the henchmen continued to return fire back at Arcades. When the fox saw the men emerge from the vehicle, he squatted back down to avoid getting shot. He made sure that his entire head was protected by the vehicle and that his ears were not poking out of the sunroof.

  “I can’t see anything!” The driver of the pursuing vehicle exclaimed. He then heard sirens, and he could see red and blue flashing lights reflected off the damaged windshield. Knowing the dangers of incoming gunfire, the driver poked his head out of the car’s side window. However, he had accidentally pulled the steering wheel to the left. As he looked out of the car, he noticed a tan and black police SUV incoming. The passenger saw and yelled, “WOAH! You’re gonna hit it!” as he dropped the magazine of his Beretta M12. The driver yanked the steering wheel to the right, but it was already too late. The car impacted right in the nose of the police SUV. Airbags deployed on both vehicles, and they quickly came to a stop. The policeman stepped out of the car, Glock in hand, and he began to fire at the two henchmen.

  The passenger of the armored vehicle stood up, chambered a round into his M12, and squeezed the trigger. The policeman took several rounds to the chest, and he fell backwards as a result of getting shot. Just then, the passenger’s weapon jammed before he could finish the policeman off. As the passenger racked the charging handle of his weapon, he could hear the policeman call for reinforcements as he scooted away, “Shots fired on the Strip! Need support!” Suddenly, the passenger collapsed, and a distant gunshot was heard soon after. The driver had a general idea of where the shot came from, but he would not be able to return fire with his Hi-Point 995 carbine. Another police vehicle arrived, and the driver opened fire at them with his Hi-Point carbine. As soon as the police car stopped, an officer stepped out with an M4A1 and returned fire. The henchman was struck in the chest eight times and collapsed. “Both suspects down,” the officer announced as he kept his sights trained on the two bodies of the henchman.

  A support officer stood behind the door of the vehicle and asked, “Who got the other guy?” The first officer responded, “A sniper did. I think he was from Fox Security.” The support officer then noticed that the first officer was bleeding from a gunshot wound. “Officer down! Start EMS to the Strip.” The officer moved to the downed policeman and began to examine his injuries. “I’ve been hit. The vest took most of the rounds, but I’m hit in the arm. I think they only had 9mm weapons. The officer then asked, “Who were they shooting at?” The wounded officer responded, “It was a gray 4Runner. It has gunshots all over the back of it. I think that was the SUV that Fox Security said they were going to use for their rescue mission tonight.” More police vehicles soon began to arrive at the scene.

  “Looks like you got that guy. Nice shot” the spotter said as he looked through the rangefinder. The sniper cycled the action of the rifle and ejected the spent shell casing. The sniper then asked, “Do you have eyes on Arcades’ vehicle?” The spotter looked through his scope, but he did not spot the vehicle. “Nope. I lost it. We should get going, they’re probably really close to the airport by now.” The sniper stood up, enabled the safety on his rifle and folded up the bipod before placing the trunk of their vehicle. The spotter then stood up, and he moved to their vehicle after putting his equipment up. The spotter notified Arcades via radio, “Arcades, this is Alpha Two. We’re on the move to the airport. We’ll meet you there. You’ll be without sniper support until then. Over.” As they started the vehicle, they removed their helmets and plate carriers, and they placed them into the back of the car alongside their weapons.

  “Solid copy, Alpha Two. We’ll meet you there. Out.” Arcades moved to the backseat of the SUV, and he sat down. He disabled the EOTech sight, folded the stock, and placed the suppressed weapon back into the pouch on the driver seat. Arcades informed the occupants of what happened, “The enemy vehicle is done for. The police should not be following us, and our sniper team is going to meet us at the airport. Looks like we are in the clear now.” Johnny finally releas
ed the vixen, and Arcades asked the group, “Is everyone alright?” The occupants of the vehicle began to sound off to confirm that they are uninjured. Arcades sat back in his seat, and he took a sigh of relief. He then asked the driver, “Do we have an ETA for the airport?” The human driver replied to the fox, “Yeah, we’ll be there in about five minutes.”

  Arcades turned around and saw that the SUV’s bullet resistant glass had cracks all over it. “I’m glad we had that glass. Otherwise, we’d all be dead” Johnny said. Arcades smiled at Johnny and said, “We should thank God we all made it out unharmed.” Arcades then turned to the only other anthro in the vehicle, “You’re safe now. We’ll bring you to our base, and then we’ll get you home soon. Alright?” The vixen finally spoke, “Thank you.” Arcades then said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the one who sent me.” The vixen did not say anything back to Arcades. Arcades removed the two Vector magazines from the pouches on his chest rig and placed the mags back into the sack on the driver’s seat. He then sat up in order to remove the spent magazine from the dump pouch on his belt. After doing so, he waited for their vehicle to arrive at the airport.

  Arcades felt the vehicle make a left turn, and he peeked out of the window to see that they had now arrived at the airport. When the driver stopped at the gate, he held out a badge, and the guard opened the gate for them. Driving down a small road near the tarmac, Arcades saw the HH-60 Pave Hawk parked on a helipad. The helicopter was dark gray with a Fox Security logo near the rear of the fuselage. The logo was a black, gray, and red triangle. The logo also included the name of the company, which was superimposed over the rest of the logo. The SUV parked by the helicopter, and the occupants all began to disembark from the vehicle. Arcades grabbed the bag that included the KRISS Vector on his way out. A human wearing a full Multicam kit armed with a SCAR-L opened the side doors of the helicopter and stepped out of the Pave Hawk. Arcades helped the vixen board the helicopter before Johnny entered the helicopter. Arcades removed his chest rig, battle belt, and handgun, and he placed all of those items with the Vector. Arcades then spoke to the human wearing the Multicam kit, “Our sniper spotter team should be getting here soon. Is this helicopter ready to fly?” The man responded, “Sure is, boss. We’ve got a full tank and we’ll be RTB as soon as they get here.” The fox nodded and returned to the SUV to make sure that nothing was left behind.