Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  The video was shot from the point of view of a cell phone. It started with the camera facing in the direction of an audible sound of gunfire. The camera followed the Toyota 4Runner as it drove by. Arcades was seen standing out of the sunroof, and he was firing his suppressed KRISS Vector at the windscreen to prevent the vehicle crew from seeing out of their window. The two vehicles passed the cameraman, and the video ended once they were past the range of the camera. Omega 1 rewound the video and paused when the 4Runner was in the middle of the frame. He then zoomed in on Arcades. He said, “Look at him. He looks like the same anthro.” Setting the two screens side by side, he examined them. Alpha 1 said, “I dunno man. Both of these videos are pretty dark. You can tell they’re both anthros, but you can’t confirm it’s the same black red fox.” Omega 1 made a compromise, “Alright, but just keep your eyes open for anthros like him. You got that?” Alpha 1 nodded, but he decided that they’ve seen enough, “I think we should get going now.” Omega 1 turned off the monitors and he agreed, “Yeah. Get the prototype. I have the diamond.” The operators collected their equipment and ill-gotten gains, and they stepped over the body of the former camera operator on their way out of the CCTV room.

  Jason stood next to Arcades, “You sure you don’t need help getting out of those, mate?” Arcades answered, “I’ve been like this many times before. I’ll release myself when I’m ready.” Jason became curious, “How do you release yourself when your arms are on top of one another like that?” The fox looked up at the wolf, “When you lock somebody in hinged handcuffs like this, one hand is always in the same direction of the keyhole. All I have to do is just pick up the key with that hand, and I can release myself.” Jason asked, “That takes practice?” Arcades shrugged, “Eh, probably does. I’ve done it quite a bit, so it’s easy for me.” After some silence, the fox decided he was ready to go. Arcades said, “Well, I guess I’ll release myself now. We should get going. We’re going to melt the cane when we get back to base.” The fox used the hand closest to his zipper pocket to open it, and he removed his keyring. He was free in under half a minute. He got up from his knees, and he examined the restraints before pocketing them. He also placed the keyring back into his zipper pocket. Arcades then picked up the items that Johnny had tossed to the ground before walking off. Jason had another question, “How does he think he’s going to get back to the United States?” Arcades stood back up, “Well, we are at an airport. I bet he’s going to use whatever money he has on him for a one way flight back to the States.” The fox paused for a moment, “Don’t pay him any mind. He’s made his decision.”

  Arcades then walked over to the open trunk, and he started bringing his equipment to the C-130. He held his plate carrier, and he dropped it next to his seat in the aircraft. Arcades knew that this flight would be a long one back to the US. Jason helped him move some of his stuff into the plane, “It’s going to be a long flight back, right?” The fox nodded, “Yeah. I’m glad that I don’t have to fly part of it.” Jason became curious when the fox spoke about flying aircraft, “Hey, what if you could fly one of these?” Arcades shrugged, “That’d be interesting. Wait, I don’t know if you know this or not, but I am a pilot. I only fly helicopters, though.” Jason was surprised, “Dang, that’s really cool, mate.” The fox forced a smile, “Thanks…” Jason could tell that Arcades was still upset, “You did complete the mission. You got the cane before those other guys could, and you even saved another life in the process.” Jason then added, “You said not to give him any mind. Why don’t you do that?” The fox did not have an answer. The whole ordeal was enough for him.

  As the two anthros were returning back to the vehicle to make sure it was empty, Arcades spotted the MH-60X fly away from the building he entered at the start of the mission. The fox pointed, “Look at that! Those are the guys who killed the guards! They’re leaving.” Jason squinted as he tried to identify markings on the helicopter, “Mate, I don’t see any marking on it.” Arcades replied, “It’s an unmarked stealth helicopter. It looks like the one that SOCOM used in 2011 when they killed Osama Bin Laden.” The fox paused before questioning, “How did those guys get that helicopter?” Arcades made a mental note for himself to watch out for Stealth Hawks. Arcades watched the direction they were heading. He then said, “Hmm, they’re heading over the water. I wonder where they’re getting at.” Jason tried to make the situation a little more lively, “They ain’t coming around here. Good thing they don’t know that we have the cane, mate!” Arcades nodded, “Yeah… Come on, let’s get the car in the plane.”

  The fox drove his vehicle into the aircraft, and he got out to secure it inside of the cargo bay. He looked at the passenger seat and did not see blood on it. He did a good enough job patching up the guard, and he didn’t bleed on the seat. The pilot of the C-130 entered, and he asked, “Hofmeier, are you ready to go?” Arcades nodded, “Yeah… It’s been a long night. We got what we came here for. Let’s go.” The pilot exited the cargo bay, and he went to the cockpit of the plane. The rest of the Fox Security operatives made their way into the plane, and they took their seats. Jason sat next to Arcades, and he watched as the fox took out his Bible. The wolf watched as Arcades bowed his head and closed his eyes to pray to God. Jason watched Arcades pray, and he could tell that he was still distressed. When the fox finished, Jason said reassuringly, “Don’t take it personal, mate.” Arcades displayed a half smile on his face, and he was having trouble saying thanks. Jason remembered how the fox treated him in Alaska, and he wanted to return the favor. After all, Arcades had told Jason the Golden Rule before, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

  Jason remembered what Arcades did for him, so he placed his hand upon the fox’s shoulder. The fox closed his eyes, and a couple tears dropped on his black combat shirt. The plane now started to move, and it taxied down the runway. Arcades sat back in his seat. He just wanted to forget what happened, but he knew he would not be able to do so. The plane lifted off the runway, and Jason was still holding onto the fox. The fox held onto his Bible, but he did not read it. Jason however, did not know what else he could do for Arcades. He would occasionally hear the fox sniffle, but it stopped around half an hour. Jason looked at Arcades again, and he saw that the fox had released his grip from his Bible. The fox’s head was tilted downwards, and it looked as if he had fallen asleep. Arcades was not one to sleep on flights, but Jason let him sleep as he slowly grabbed the fox’s Bible from him. The wolf looked at the bland cover, but flipped to where Arcades had left a bookmaker. Jason opened the Bible to the Book of John, and he began to read.

  Chapter 4

  Siege of Berlin

  “It’s time. Do we have everything ready?” A man wearing UCP spoke to the other humans inside of the warehouse. He checked the chamber of his Steyr StG 77 again, and he made sure the magazine was properly seated. He did not want his weapon to fail right at the start. The other men were wielding similar weapons, and they all spoke in German. They wore full UCP kits, but they had LWH helmets with UCP covers on their helmets due to the resemblance to the World War II German steel helmet. They all wore a black patch that read ‘NSS’, but it was written in white nordic runes. The result looked more like an XSS, but the humans knew what their emblems were supposed to represent. Another member held his Steyr MG 74, and he was getting eager to fire it. He was becoming increasingly impatient, “Hans, when are we starting? You said it was time fifteen minutes ago.” Hans replied, “Fritz, I told you. We have to wait for the rest of the NSS to get into position before we can begin. Besides, I have to remind you that our commander has ordered us to take all anthros alive for some reason. I know you want to kill them, but that’s supposed to happen when they get to the camps. Yeah, I don’t get it either. It makes more sense just to kill them here.”

  Hans let the rifle sling catch his StG 77, and he looked at his Glock G17 to make sure that it was ready to fire as well. Hans then asked another soldier
, “You have the flag, right?” The soldier that was holding a Steyr SSG 08-A1 held up a flag. The flag was black, and it had a white circle in the middle of it. The white circle contained the NSS emblem inscribed in black in the same nordic runes. Hans said, “Good. As soon as we get the go-ahead from command, we’re starting.” The rest of the men rechecked their weapons as well. Their UCP uniforms had been provided to them by a group of people they were told they did not need to know. However, they had more things to think about than who provided them with their equipment. “They’ve been planning this for months. And today, we’re finally going to be able to secure a future for the white race. Anthros, blacks, and jews will be no more! Make sure that you kill anybody who is a subhuman. The only ones we need to take alive are the anthros, but if they fire back at us, don’t worry if you kill them all. The Bundeswehr probably won’t be too late to the party, so shoot them on sight; anybody wearing flecktarn is an enemy,” Hans reminded the squad of what they already knew. Hans finally heard the voice he wanted to hear over the radio. The operation was to be commenced. He announced this to his squad, and they quickly sprang into action. As the squad ran out of the warehouse guns blazing, they could hear distant gunfire from other NSS units. An evil smile formed on Hans’ face as he pulled the trigger on his StG 77 on his first victim.

  It had been several months since Arcades had finished the mission in Hong Kong. He had not seen Johnny since then, but he wasn’t really bothered by it as much anymore. Arcades stood in front of the small cube of gold that used to be the jade cane. The jade crystal sat on top of the gold cube, and he looked at his own reflection in the shiny metal. He did not want to sell the cube, even though he would be able to fetch at least a few thousand dollars for it. As the fox continued looking at his reflection, he remembered that night back in Hong Kong. He also wondered what Johnny was up to, but he did not wish any harm on his former colleague.

  Above the cube that was in his room was his Salient GRY hanging on the wall. He always thought that his favorite rifle made a nice set piece in his room. Jason unexpectedly walked in his room; Arcades never locked his door, and he allowed people to enter whenever they liked. The fox turned to face the wolf, “What’s up, Jason?” The wolf then asked, “Did you see what happened in Germany earlier today?” The look on Arcades’ face communicated that he was not aware of what Jason was speaking of. Jason then added, “No? Well, come and look at this.” The wolf led his boss into a different room with a TV playing, and the fox looked at the paused TV. Jason unpaused the TV when he saw that Arcades was ready to see what was on the screen.

  “And now we have breaking news out of Germany. Men dressed in full military gear are shooting civilians, police officers, and soldiers all over Berlin,” the human news anchor spoke. The camera then changed to an aerial view over Berlin. Many buildings were on fire, and multiple aircraft were descending on the city under siege. Another news anchor continued the story, “Yeah, our drones cannot get any closer to Berlin. The faction is targeting all aircraft, military and civilian. The death toll is unknown, but is estimated in the thousands so far. The amount of manpower this faction has is also unknown at the time. What we do know is that they call themselves the NSS. That stands for Neues-Schutzstaffel. They’re a group of radical white nationalists that seem to have started their own race war from what we’ve heard. They’ve been said to be targeting anybody they declare to be subhumans, and they have been rounding up anthros. The German Army has stepped in and declared martial law due to the fact that the police have been unable to stop the faction. That’s all of the information we have now. Back to you, Daniel.”

  The first news anchor then said, “Thanks Mark. Now, when did this attack start?” The second anchor replied, “Around nine-o’clock PM in America, last night this happened. They started in the morning, and they were reported coming out of warehouses wearing full military gear and wielding military grade assault weapons. They also seem to have vehicles such as armored cars with military weapons equipped on them as well.” The first anchor then asked, “Now, do we know where they got their weapons from? Military grade assault weapons are banned from civilian sale in Germany.” The second anchor responded, “Now, Daniel… We aren’t really sure at the moment. They all are using similar weapons though, and they all are Austrian made from what we heard. The Austrian Army has confirmed that they were not involved in supplying the NSS with their equipment. However, they are said to have been using American made uniforms. The uniforms are the digital pattern that the US Army used in the mid 2000s. That pattern has since been completely phased out many years ago.” The first anchor decided to conclude the story, “Well Mark, it sure is a grim day in Berlin. That’s all the time we have on this story, but we’ll keep you posted on any updates that we receive. Apparently, the German Army has been reaching out to the American private security firm Fox Security for assistance in driving away the NSS. We’ll take a commercial break, and we’ll be back in a few moments. Stay tuned.”

  Jason paused the TV once the commercials started, and he turned to Arcades. Arcades asked, “Is that last part true? Are they asking for our help?” Jason nodded, “Yeah, the request came in this morning. They offered a decent amount of money for our assistance. I wanted to get the go-ahead from you before we start sending help over there.” Arcades questioned the country’s decision, “Why us? CDI is based a lot closer to Germany.” Jason answered the question, “CDI has their hands full in the Middle East. Apparently the Islamic State has been popping back up in Iraq and Syria in the past few weeks. The governments and other forces over there have been requesting their help because they’re pretty close.” The fox thought about what was said by the news anchor, “So, what I’m hearing is that they have UCP uniforms and Steyr made weapons?” Jason nodded, “Well, if that’s what you know as ‘Austrian-made weapons’, then yes.”

  Arcades scratched his head, “Hmm.. I remember when the US Army phased out UCP in favor of Multicam, and some other group bought out most of it. I can’t remember who did, though.” Jason shook his head, “I dunno, mate. Can’t really confirm that those guys supplied the NSS.” Arcades then nodded, “Yeah, I know. I’ll keep my eyes open though.” The wolf reminded Arcades of the original question, “Well Kurt, are we going to send guys over there to help the Germans out?” The fox nodded, “Yeah. I’m going out there with them. I want to get to the bottom of this. What about you?” Jason was reluctant at first, “A real battle? Never been in one of those.” The fox placed his hand on the wolf’s shoulder, “Hey, I’m not gonna make you go if you don’t want to. This is your choice.” Jason thought about it for a moment before replying to the fox, “Alright. As long as you’re with me I should be fine.” The fox patted Jason’s shoulder, “Hey, we’ll all be alright. Don’t worry.” Jason nodded, “Thanks. I’ll go rally who wants to help out. We should be flying over there hopefully in a couple days.” The fox then said, “Alright. I’ll get some things straightened up. I’ll be ready when everyone else is.”

  The C-5 Galaxy landed in Brandenburg an der Havel only two days later. In only the span of two days, Berlin had been taken over by the NSS, and they extended their conquest to Potsdam. After the plane landed, Arcades disembarked the plane. He was wearing a Multicam UF PRO uniform and so was Jason. It was the dawn of another day in Germany, and the fox planned to get to the battlements as soon as possible in order to prevent the NSS from extending their reach further. Jason asked, “Are we going there today?” The fox replied, “Yeah. Berlin is less than 70 miles from where we are. That’s less than 100 kilometers for you being Australian and such. We’ll be there in about an hour or two, so make sure you’re loaded up and ready to go. The Bundeswehr will pick us up in one of their MRAPs, and our convoy will be rolling in with them. We’re expecting heavy resistance when we reach Potsdam.” Jason acknowledged, and he grabbed his Heckler & Koch G36C. Arcades picked up his Heckler & Koch 433, and he placed a magazine inside the lower receiver. However, he did not pull the charging hand
le, and the fox confirmed that the weapon was still on safe. He propped the weapon up against the fuselage of the C-5, and he began donning his tactical gear.

  The fox’s equipment was pretty simple; he was wearing a Condor Outdoor Battle Belt and H-Harness both of which were in Multicam. He checked his radio, and he hooked up the Code Red Headsets speaker PTT to the radio. The radio was the same one that he brought to his other operations; it was a Kenwood TK-F8 with an extended battery pack as well as a taller antenna to increase the range of the transceiver. Arcades finally placed a boonie hat on his head. The hat was outfitted with 3D multicam pattern camouflage on top of the already Multicam hat. This made it look more like having a ghillie hat, but Arcades did not have the rest of the ghillie suit to go along with it. He chose having a lightweight loadout over one that offered more protection, and part of the reason for this decision was due to the fact that Arcades was not sure how long he would last in the combat zone carrying a lot of weight. He didn’t know how long he would be in the AO, so he made sure that he would not drop from fatigue. To complete his loadout, the fox put on his Oakley M2 frames, and his tan Oakley SI Assault Gloves. Though the fox wore gloves, he still did not wear any shoes. While the fox let Jason choose his own loadout, the wolf followed most of what Arcades did for this operation; However, the wolf wore shoes instead.