by Tom Jones
The two anthros walked slowly through the smoke, and Arcades was discovering more bodies of fallen NSS soldiers. Most of them were armed with either StG 77s or MG 74s much like the NSS soldiers that Arcades had already encountered; However, a few were holding rifles from the Steyr SSG series. While some of the soldiers carried different equipment, they all wore the same LWH helmets with UCP helmet covers. Arcades bent down to examine one of the helmets, and he noticed the insignia that was on the helmet, “They’ve put the NSS emblem on the left side of the helmet much like the Waffen-SS did back during World War II. That’s interesting.” Jason did not have an additional comment, so Arcades stood back up and continued walking forwards towards the city. He then saw the Leopard tank drive over the hill, and it was making its way to Potsdam with the MRAP units trailing closely behind. Several Bundeswehr units were already set up on the hill as it provided a decent vantage point over the outskirts of Potsdam. However, the two anthros decided to move into the city as Berlin was their goal. Arcades reached the other side of the hill, and he started to travel downwards with Jason right behind him. There was not too much of a need to run now, and many of the other units were now walking to the city. There was no intel on the state of the city, but they would soon find out.
Several other Fox Security members grouped up with Arcades and Jason to form a squad of five. The collective squad was three anthros and two humans. The third anthro in the squad was a tabby colored cat whose last name was Bocchino. He asked Arcades a question, “Hey Kurt, what’s it lookin’ like for when we get into the town, eh?” The fox looked back up at the city that they were approaching, “We should be in Berlin tomorrow. We’ll take Potsdam today, and we’ll stay there until tomorrow morning. Then, we’ll gather everyone we can and get going.” The cat nodded, “A’ight. Oh and by the way, we ain’t been losing too many of our allies today. All the ones that didn’t make it were the Germans.” Arcades shook his head, “We shouldn’t have lost anybody at all.” Bocchino patted the fox on the back, “Ay, don’t be too hard on yourself, man. We’re winning right now. Otherwise, we wouldn’t a been able to take this hill, you know what I’m saying?” Bocchino continued after the fox was silent, “Hey, it’s been the first time we’ve faced such a formidable threat like that. Those guys are well organized, you know what I’m sayin’?” The fox finally nodded to acknowledge the cat. However, he was still thinking about the people that were lost. He prayed that they weren’t unsaved.
As the small squad moved closer into the town, distant gunfire was now becoming increasingly closer and closer. The Bundeswehr was moving in from a different front. Arcades stopped at a supply crate that had been dropped by an allied helicopter, and he resupplied the two magazines that he had spent. He loaded 30 rounds of 5.56mm into the magazines, and he even replenished the magazine that was currently in his rifle. He set the rifle to safe, but he kept a round chambered this time. The fox opened up his dump pouch all the way, and he checked all of his gear to make sure that he was not missing anything. He waited for his battle buddy to finish restocking his ammunition as well. Jason nodded to the fox when he finished, and Arcades began moving further into the city with the wolf. While they were still on the outskirts, a makeshift triage center had been hastily put together to treat the soldiers that were wounded in the initial assault. The gunner squads had also moved down from the hill, and they were planning on setting up elsewhere in the city. Arcades had not seen any more hostile forces ever since the initial assault, so the fox felt that the Bundeswehr had plenty of time to set up for now. The fox then saw the Leopard tank pull into a shop that had been repurposed as a maintenance station. Several German soldiers were attempting to repair the damage that had been done by the landmine.
More Bundeswehr reinforcements were moving into Potsdam from the path that they had taken to enter the city initially, and Arcades watched as they drove by. Radio traffic had not been too frequent ever since the allied forces entered the city. The sun had also been going down, and Arcades knew that it would soon be night. The fox removed his Oakley glasses, and he placed them in a glasses case that he was holding in his pants pocket. Arcades watched as several Bundeswehr vehicles passed, and they began moving deeper into the city. “I guess we should back them up. What do you think?” Arcades asked Jason. Jason responded, “The more progress we make, the better. I say we follow them.” The fox nodded, and he led his battle buddy down the road the vehicles were going. Arcades had already separated from Bocchino, so the cat would not be joining them.
Many of the vehicles were MRAPs, but there were also a few IFVs among them. Soon, the vehicles disappeared from their sight. Arcades could not tell if the vehicles turned down an alternate path, “Welp. They’re gone now. I’m not sure which way they went.” Jason looked ahead as the duo stopped. “Uhh… I want to say that they just kept going straight.” Arcades squinted as he looked forwards, “I think they could have made a left about a hundred meters straight forwards.” Jason shook his head, “Are you sure? They looked like they just turned to avoid debris in the road.” The fox chuckled, “Heh… Maybe we should have gone with them with a vehicle ourselves.” The wolf nodded, “Yeah, we probably should have.” The fox then noticed that night was fast approaching, “We can either head back, or sleep in one of these buildings until the morning. That’s when the next assault is supposed to be, then we could have a bit of a head start. Have any suggestions?” Jason considered the options before saying, “Well, we have a head start if we sleep around here. My vote is on us staying here, but you’re the boss.” Arcades looked at buildings as being potential candidates, “Yeah, I think we could get a head start. Let’s see what we can find here. I’m looking at these buildings, which one do you think is the best?” The wolf looked at the buildings that Arcades was pointing at, and he made a choice, “How about we start with the one directly ahead of us? They probably have a couple beds in there.” The fox nodded, “Sounds like a plan. Let’s get in there.”
Arcades opened the unlocked door, and he stepped inside. The room that he and Jason stepped in was dark, so the fox felt around for the light switch. However, he did not see the light switch, “We’re either in the dark, or the light switch is somewhere else.” Jason stepped inside and closed the door behind him; he felt around for the light switch as well. Arcades turned back around, and he was trying to get his eyes to adjust to the darkness, “Can’t find it?” The wolf said, “No, mate. I don’t see it.” The fox looked further into the building, “Well, let’s just see what we can find here in this ---” Arcades was interrupted by a rifle stock whacking him in the back of the head. He instantly collapsed and fell to the ground unconscious. The lack of a helmet meant that he did not have bump protection, and the well placed blow to the head was enough to knock Arcades out. Jason panicked, and he prepared to raise his rifle to combat whoever knocked out his battle buddy. However, he could not raise his rifle as it had been grabbed by another human. The wolf began to breathe heavily when he realized what was happening, and he saw a figure approach him. Jason could tell that the man was wearing a UCP uniform, and the wolf noticed the NSS patch on his shoulder. Jason struggled, but was overpowered by the other NSS soldier that ripped his G36C out of his hands. The man spoke in English, “That’s enough struggling out of you. Up against the wall. Now.”
The wolf was reluctant to surrender, but his decision was forced as he felt himself being pushed against the wall. His G36C had now landed on the ground, and Jason looked to the unconscious fox as if Arcades was supposed to save him. The two NSS soldiers seemed to have forgotten about Arcades, and they left him lying face down on the floor. Jason then saw one of the men approach him from the right, and he drew his Steyr AUG. The barrel was pointed right at Jason’s head, so the wolf closed his eyes in response. The other soldier was still holding the wolf, and he was pushing him against the wall. Jason figured that this was where his story ended; he thought that the two of them would be shot, and their bodies would be discovered within a fe
w days. However, Jason stood in disbelief as he heard the man speak in English, “We’ve got a wolf, and a red fox that is somehow blacker than a nigger. Remember what our commander told us? We’re supposed to take anthros alive.” The second NSS member spoke in English as well, “How are we supposed to do that? The German Army is supposed to move in to take the city in the morning. You saw that convoy that they had set up that drove past.” The first member spoke, “Well, we bag ‘em, and we take ‘em into Berlin. There’s a train that is supposed to leave tomorrow to take all of the anthros to that one facility they set up.” Jason was wondering where the two soldiers came from as their accents did not sound German at all. They sounded more American than anything, but they only wore NSS emblems.
The soldier that was still holding the wolf to the wall began to remove Jason’s equipment. The human dropped Jason’s chest rig to the ground, and he removed the wolf’s hat. He also removed the wolf’s gloves before patting him down for anything hidden in his pockets. He removed miscellaneous equipment that was held in Jason’s pockets. After he finished, he continued to hold the wolf against the wall. The other NSS member grew impatient, “The fuck you waiting for? Cuff that bitch already.” The other member looked straight at the impatient soldier, “Give me some then if you want it done.” The first member lowered his AUG, and he shoved the other human out of the way. “Deal with that fox nigger on the floor, then.”
The soldier that had gotten shoved moved over to the fox, and he rolled Arcades over to his back. As his superior was cuffing Jason, he said, “Don’t bang around that bitch nigger too much. If he dies, then we don’t get our bonus. Foxes are worth a lot for some reason.” The soldier removed Arcades’ equipment, and he began to remove items that were contained in the fox’s thigh pockets. However, he forgot to search the fox’s back pockets since Arcades was laying on them. He then propped the unconscious fox up against the wall and watched as his superior forced Jason to kneel while facing the wall. After he finished, he stood up and said, “I’m going to get two muzzles for these shits, and some more cuffs for that fox nigger. Make sure that bitch doesn’t run away.” The NSS soldier walked past the other soldier, and he moved up the stairs.
Jason was still facing the wall, and he did not want to test his captor. He tried to see if Arcades had awoken yet, but he was still unconscious. Though he knew he wasn’t going to be killed right away, the conversation that he overheard suggested that he and Arcades would never see the light of day again. Jason did not even have a key to open the handcuffs that he was in. The wolf heard the other soldier pace around the room, and he listened as the human collected both of the anthros’ combat equipment before setting their stuff in a big pile on the other side of the room. The other NSS soldier finally re-entered the room again holding two canine muzzles and multiple chain restraints. The NSS soldier dragged Arcades, and he sat him on his stomach. He grabbed the fox’s now bare wrists, and he placed a pair of Clejuso handcuffs on them. He also began to shackle the fox’s bare ankles. He tossed one of the muzzles to the other soldier. The other soldier knew what to do, and he placed the muzzle over Jason’s mouth before tightening it in order to prevent him from speaking. The wolf whined as he did this. The soldier that was restraining Arcades now had the muzzle over the fox’s mouth, and he gave the strap a tug in order to make sure that it was securely on the fox’s mouth.
After he finished restraining the fox, he spoke out to the other soldier, “Let’s move them into that room and lock ‘em inside until we can get a truck or something to take them to the train.” The second soldier elbowed the wolf, “Stand up, bitch.” The wolf grunted and promptly stood up. As he was turned to his right, he saw Arcades restrained and muzzled. A few tears began to form in the wolf’s eyes, but he tried not to let the NSS see that. The second soldier led the wolf into the room and shoved him down to the ground. The first soldier entered the room while dragging Arcades, and he handed the second soldier a pair of shackles. He said, “Just cuff one side to the cuffs that he is in, and then cuff the other side to a stationary object. That’ll keep him.” The NSS soldier understood the poorly worded instructions, and he attached one point of the shackle around the chain of the handcuffs on Jason’s wrists. He then tethered him by locking the other point around a chair. He then stacked a bunch of objects on the chair to prevent the wolf from setting himself free.
The first NSS soldier laid Arcades down on the floor on his stomach. He was out of restraints to use, so he decided to improvise. He took a padlock, and he grabbed the fox’s bare ankles. He pushed Arcades’ ankles upwards, and he brought the fox’s ankles to his wrists. He locked the padlock in a way that the shackles and the handcuffs were now linked together. Arcades was now practically hogtied. The soldier stood up, and he saw that the second soldier was already standing. The first soldier said, “That should keep them. Let’s get on the horn and see if we can’t call up a truck or something to bring them to the train in Berlin. We should get a nice bonus for these two bitch ass anthros. Come on. Let’s get outta here.” The soldiers exited the room and closed the door. Since the building was a civilian building, the doors locked from the inside. If Jason or Arcades were able to reach the door, then they would be able to walk out by themselves. Jason could not wake Arcades on his own, so he just sat thinking about how they would be able to escape in time.
Arcades slowly opened his eyes, and Jason heard the fox letting out a few muffled moans as he came to. Arcades shook in his restraints, and he soon realized that he had been hogtied. He turned his head to look at the wolf, and Jason only displayed distress on his face. The fox remembered that he could still have his keyring, so he unzipped his back pocket with his bound hands. He smiled through the muzzle as he could feel the keyring was still in his possession. He carefully clutched the keyring and removed it from his back pocket. Jason’s expression went from distress to a joyous surprise. Arcades felt around for the keyholes, and he finally found them. He unlocked his wrists using an ASP key, and then he sat up on his knees. He pulled on the handcuffs, and he noticed that they were padlocked to the shackles. Arcades shifted his position so that he could reach his ankles, and so that his bushy tail was out of the way. He unlocked the shackles around his ankles, and he held up the restraints to examine them. He immediately recognized the Clejuso handcuffs, and he noticed that they had not been double-locked either. He didn’t need to turn the key both ways in order to unlock the restraints. Arcades unstrapped the muzzle from his face, and he turned to Jason.
Arcades did not say anything as he did not know how many hostiles were in the building, so he knew that he had to be quiet. He knelt next to Jason, and he grabbed the wolf’s bound wrists. He recognized the handcuffs to be another pair of Clejuso handcuffs, and he looked at the finger-activated double locks. They were not engaged either. The fox put the ASP key in the hole to ensure key compatibility with the German-made restraints, and he turned it to unlock one of the cuffs. He did the same with the wolf’s other wrist, and then he began to undo the muzzle around the wolf’s face. Once the wolf’s muzzle was removed, Arcades grabbed one of the handcuffs, and he spoke without thinking, “You know, you can do this to me if you want some other time…” The wolf asked in confusion, “What?” Arcades paused, and he realized what he had just said, “Oop… No, uhh… Let’s just get out of here.” The fox quickly stood up and moved to the door in hopes that Jason forgot what he had said. He readied himself at the door before silently opening it and looking into the main room. His eyes had adjusted for the darkness, and he did not see any NSS soldiers. The fox turned his head back to the wolf, and he nodded for Jason to move up. Jason walked into the main room, and he found that Arcades was already rummaging through his equipment. Jason went over to the pile, and the two started to put their equipment back on.
Arcades finished first, and he stood up to walk over to the door. However, Jason grabbed the fox’s arm. “Hmm?” Arcades went as he brought his attention to the wolf. Jason whispered to the fox, “Lis
ten, I need to get rid of the two who did this to us.” The fox shook his head, “Jason, you know how I feel about revenge. It’s not right.” The wolf tugged on the fox, “Please, Kurt. Those guys are very bad people.” Arcades then said, “Everyone is a bad person, Jason. You know that. That is why we need Jesus. People should be kept alive so they can be able to choose God.” Jason still gripped the fox’s arm, “Kurt… This is my choice.” The fox closed his eyes before slowly opening them, and he shook his head before he said, “Yes… This is your choice, but you know how I feel about this.” The wolf released Arcades’ arm, and he moved over to the stairs. Jason could hear the two men upstairs, and they were talking over the radio. The wolf moved up the stairs as quiet as he could with his tan combat boots. The fox followed him up the stairs, and he made less noise due to the lack of footwear.