by Tom Jones
When the wolf realized how expensive the weapon was, he held out his hand to return it to the fox, but the fox seemed to refuse, “I don’t need it back right now.” The wolf was mildly surprised, “Really? This thing is that expensive, though.” Arcades nodded in agreement, “I know, and I trust that you won’t mistreat it.” Jason dropped the magazine from the handgun, and he examined it in his hand, “This is such a weird design for a pistol. It looks like a Glock that you’d find in a fever dream.” The fox looked at the weapon’s slide and replied, “Put the magazine back in and pull back the slide. It gets weirder.” As the wolf hearkened to the fox’s suggestion, Jason inserted the empty magazine back into the handgun and pulled back the split slide until the slide catch locked the slide in place. Jason’s face was that of surprise as he examined the strange weapon in his hands, “Wow. This thing really is like a fever dream Glock.” The fox smiled and retorted, “Yeah, and that’s why they call it the Alien. The only thing is that I don’t expect the Alien to become the new Glock replacement anytime soon. After all, you could buy just about ten Glock 17s for the price of just one of those.”
The wolf dropped the slide before non-verbally insisting that Arcades should take the handgun back, “What do you plan to do with that gun, Kurt?” After retrieving the handgun again, the fox briefly dropped the magazine, pointed the weapon in a safe direction, pulled the trigger, and reinserted the magazine once more in order to drop the hammer. After the fox finished clearing the weapon for the second time, he held it at an angle so that the barrel would still not point at the wolf. While maintaining trigger discipline as well, the fox replied to the wolf, “I’m going to sell it eventually. This weapon is more of a novelty, but it’s a darn expensive novelty. I think it’s best to stick with SIG, HK, Smith & Wesson, or Glock for doing anything that’s actually worthwhile with a handgun. This one’s more or less for show or a competition. It’s not something you’d be wise to take out into the field.” The wolf let out a slight sigh since he knew that it would take a very extended period of time for somebody to purchase the handgun. Jason did not know too many people who would not hesitate to spend $5,000 on a pistol. The fox then had a question for the wolf, “Say, what did you need me for?” Jason remembered that he did come out to meet the fox for a reason, “Right. I came out here to ask you whether or not you’d like to go somewhere out to eat this evening.”
The fox misinterpreted Jason’s question, “It’s the Sabbath today. I don’t really want to go out and make somebody work to prepare a meal for us.” The wolf shook his head, “Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that. I was instead thinking that we should go and eat somewhere outside.” The fox was beginning to understand what the wolf was proposing, “You mean bring our food outside to eat?” Jason nodded, “Yeah, except we go somewhere for that. You know, like somewhere that has nice scenery so we can enjoy a nice evening outside. We had a pretty busy week.” The fox did not see anything wrong with what the wolf was asking for, and it had been a little while since Arcades did something that was not work-related, “Yeah, I think that might be a nice change of pace, a little break from work. Sure thing.” The wolf displayed a smile on his face, “Nice. Sounds like a plan.” Arcades returned a smile to Jason as well, “Of course. We can get going in a few hours. Do you have a place in mind?” The wolf nodded, “Yeah. How about a beach that ain’t too far from here? One that’s a bit less populated. You know?” The fox knew that being just south of the town of Foley, he was pretty close to the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Mobile Bay. Arcades replied with a place he had in mind, “I think I know just the place.”
After several hours had passed, it was now the evening. Arcades came into a room where Jason was listening to music on a set of speakers, “You about ready to get going, Jason?” The wolf turned to face the fox and paused the song he was playing. Since Jason was not expecting the fox to come in at that exact moment, he did not hear what Arcades had asked, “What did you say, Kurt?” Arcades repeated his question, “Are you ready to go?” Jason looked back and powered off his computer which he was using to play music, “Yeah, sure.” Arcades nodded and began to exit the room, “I’ll be waiting for you in the 4Runner.” The fox went through a couple doors and entered his garage. Inside of his garage were two vehicles, a gray 2023 Toyota 4Runner and a gray 2020 Ford Mustang 5.0 GT. The fox had already grabbed the keys to the 4Runner before he came to speak with Jason, and he carried a backpack carrying everything he wanted to bring with him as well. Since the fox left their two vehicles unlocked in the garage, Arcades simply climbed aboard the 4Runner and into the driver seat. The fox inserted the key into the 4Runner, a key which car companies were phasing out in favor of keyless ignition, and he waited for Jason to make his way into the garage and enter the vehicle.
Arcades had not even been waiting for a minute before he heard the passenger door open and saw the wolf climb in his SUV. As Jason put on his seatbelt, the wolf looked over to the fox and asked, “Did you bring something to eat?” The fox nodded and turned the key in the ignition slot, “Yeah, it’s in the backpack in the back seat.” Jason looked to his left, and he could spot the Multicam 5.11 Tactical Rush 24 backpack sitting in the back seat which was otherwise completely empty. Jason turned around once he heard the garage door open and the vehicle begin to move. The fox slowly pulled out of the garage before looking both ways and turning the steering wheel to the right in order to anticipate his right turn. Arcades’ business was not on the most lively street in town, so he did not have to give way to any cars already traveling on the road. With the road clear and safe for travel, the fox pulled out onto the road and began to drive, and he also made sure to press the button to close the garage door before he drove too far away for the radio-activated door to have any effect.
The agent watched from his vantage point as the gray 4Runner passed him by. He could see both Arcades and Jason as being the only occupants of the vehicle, so he knew that the fox was definitely on the move. The agent figured that the building was otherwise unoccupied, so he considered setting some kind of trap. However, he also considered the idea that Arcades may have some kind of equipment set up to alert him of an intrusion. The agent turned around again to see the 4Runner drive away, and he was becoming increasingly curious as to where the two anthros may be going. After all, there was a chance that both Arcades and Jason would be isolated enough from witnesses to make the shot. Seeing as the 4Runner did not quite exit the agent’s field of view yet, he quickly hopped into his Ford Taurus and began to loosely follow the fox’s vehicle.
As the fox drove towards his destination, he was rather oblivious to notice the Ford Taurus continue to follow his vehicle. Since the agent maintained a quite lengthy following distance from the car he was following, he did not expect for Arcades to become suspicious. The agent was planning on following Arcades until the fox finally stopped at his destination. From there, the agent would decide to either find a new place to hide and wait for the fox to drive away, or he would park someplace else and follow the fox before taking his shot. The agent would act depending on how many other people would be in the general vicinity of the fox. If there were too many witnesses, he would not make a move. Otherwise, he would greatly consider carrying out his mission objectives despite already confirming that Jason was accompanying the fox. The agent felt that a single gray wolf should not pose too much of a threat.
After about a thirty minute drive, the fox finally pulled into an empty parking lot that was adjacent to the beach he planned on going to with Jason. Before the fox could disembark from his vehicle and see the Ford Taurus drive behind him, the agent had already taken a mental note of the fox’s position. The agent planned on parking elsewhere; he did not want the fox to know that he was being followed the entire time. Since the agent got a good glimpse of the parking lot, he knew that he would be able to commence his mission since it was vacant minus the fox and the wolf. After driving for about a quarter of a mile past the parking lot, the agent found a place on t
he side of the road to park. He did not see any other cars drive by on the road he was traveling on, so he figured that his car should be discreet enough to leave alone for the time being. The agent parked his vehicle and retrieved the Haenel Defence RS8 Subsonic from the case behind the driver’s seat. After disabling the rifle’s safety and checking the chamber to make sure that a tranquilizer round was ready to fire, the agent enabled the safety again before slinging the rifle over his shoulder with the attached FDE sling. The agent moved into some trees. He wanted to flank Arcades and shoot him from an indirect angle.
Arcades carried his backpack on his back as he walked out on the sand with Jason. While looking for a good spot to stop and eat, both anthros looked out at the setting sun. The wolf made a comment as he saw the sunset starting, “Sounds like we showed up at the right time to see the sun set.” Arcades nodded and replied while also looking at the setting sun, “Looks about right.” The fox looked at a rather level spot of sand next to some tall grass, “How about here? Does this look like a good spot to you?” The wolf looked down at the sandy ground and considered it satisfactory, “Yeah, this place’ll do.” Arcades took the backpack off of his back and unzipped it to remove a mat large enough for both anthros to sit on it. Jason helped Arcades lay the mat on the ground. After both anthros had laid out the mat, Arcades placed his bag on one of the corners, and he began to remove the foodstuffs which he packed for both him and the wolf to eat. Jason sat down on the mat, and he watched Arcades dig through his backpack.
The agent finally finished moving through the trees, and he checked his surroundings yet again to ensure that nobody was looking at him. Though the open carry of a firearm was completely legal in Alabama, the agent still did not want anybody to witness him since he was ultimately preparing to shoot Arcades. Besides, a witness seeing a rifle could lead to an investigation, and that investigation did not need to occur. Even though the human would not be prosecuted for doing what he was planning on doing, an investigation would still be a minor annoyance that would be better if avoided. As the agent walked out on the sand, he tried to locate the fox, but he was not sure which direction Arcades and Jason had walked in. After the human used a thermal scope to view the east direction and did not see anything of importance, he checked the west direction. While scanning the west direction, the agent spotted two anthros sitting on a mat. Since the lighting conditions were pretty low, the human was unable to confirm whether one of the anthros was indeed Arcades. He did not want to waste his specialized ammunition if he was not even shooting at the correct target.
With the Multicam Arid mat laid out on the white sand, Arcades handed one of the hot dogs he brought to Jason. The wolf took the hot dog and replied with, “Thanks mate.” Though Arcades had handed Jason a hot dog, the wolf did not start eating yet. The fox removed a hot dog for himself out of the plastic bin he had put in his backpack, and he looked over to the wolf, “How about I say blessing tonight?” The wolf nodded, “Sure. Go ahead.” As the fox began to close his eyes and bow his head, Jason did the same. After about a second of silence, the fox began to pray aloud, “Dear God, we want to thank You for this blessed Sabbath You’ve given us, and we want to pray for Your continued guidance and wisdom. We pray that You will bless this meal we are about to eat, and we pray that You will watch over us and enrich us with Your plentiful graces and mercies. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: Amen.”
Once the fox completed his prayer, he opened his eyes and looked back up. Arcades turned his head to the right, and he watched as Jason did the same as well. The fox looked at the wolf’s feet, and he somehow just now noticed that Jason was not wearing any shoes, “Where did your shoes go?” The wolf looked down at his own feet for a moment before replying, “I left them in the four-by-four. I didn’t want my shoes to get all sandy.” As Jason took the first bite out of his hot dog, Arcades looked at Jason’s outstretched legs, and he could see that there was not too much sand that had accumulated on the soles of the wolf’s feet. The fox turned around to view his own bare feet, and they weren’t covered in much sand, either. Arcades noticed that Jason did not have anything else to say, so he took a bit from his own hot dog.
The agent, now sure that he was viewing Arcades and Jason, hid in some light brush as he deployed the bipod of his rifle. The agent was in clear view of both anthros, and he was glad that neither of them had noticed him yet. The human knew that once the fox was struck with the tranquilizer dart, it would take about three to five minutes for Arcades to finally succumb to the effects of the drug. During the time that he would expect for the fox to be frantically trying to evade capture, the human knew that he would have to deal with Jason. He planned on shooting the wolf twice or even three times to ensure that he would administer a lethal dosage, but at that point, the human would still have to wait at least five minutes as well for the wolf to begin to keel over due to an overdose. He would dispose of Jason in the water after removing all of his clothing, and he would probably never hear anything about the gray wolf ever again.
“You know, Jason,” the fox spoke. The wolf had just finished his first hot dog, “What’s that, mate?” Arcades continued, “It’s been almost two years since we took down the Foundation and all, but do you think at least someone from there would try and look for us? After all, they tried to look for me in the first place.” The wolf was not sure why the fox brought up the Foundation again, “What’s the deal with the Foundation? They’ve been dealt with.” Arcades finished chewing his food before speaking again, “Yeah, but… That definitely can’t be the end of the New World Order at the very least. We didn’t avert anything. If anything, we only managed to delay it from occurring for just a little while longer.” The wolf got on his knees and reached behind the fox to see if there was another hot dog in the fox’s backpack. As the fox realized what the wolf was doing, he turned himself around and pushed the bag towards the wolf to make it easier for him to search through it. Jason noticed that the fox was trying to make his life just a bit easier, “Thanks.” Once the wolf retrieved the hot dog, he shifted himself back around, and he made sure that he did not accidentally swipe Arcades with his tail. Even though he knew that Arcades would not be offended by a tail swipe, Jason still did not want to be rude to the fox.
After both anthros sat with their legs outstretched yet again, Jason finally replied to Arcades’ statement, “I think we should be fine. We’re coming up on a full two years now, and I think they would’ve made their move if they planned on doing something by now.” Arcades moved his hand back into his backpack to grab the last of the four hot dogs, “I guess you’re right.” The fox, with a new hot dog in his hand, added to his statement, “How would they even find me?” Jason finished chewing his food before speaking, “I don’t think they would. They did take us to the Foundation, yes, but they didn’t really do anything too special to identify us. After all, we technically became their property at that point.” The fox shook his head and took a bit out of his food. After he finished chewing, he spoke, “It’s a real shame, isn’t it? They don’t see us any better than objects.” After Jason finished his second hot dog, he replied, “Yeah. It sucks that many humans see us as lesser beings.” The fox was prepared to take another bite, but he paused to speak before he took his bite, “It’s not just something limited to humans. It’s because they don’t see sapient beings as being special. We are made in God’s image just as they were, and we are also eligible for salvation just as much as humans are. We’re just as equal as anybody else is, and I don’t care who you’re talking about. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, and there’s no reason why one may be more deserving than another. We’re all undeserving.”
“I’m sorry, Kurt,” the wolf apologized. Arcades shook his head, “I wasn’t rebuking you, Jason. I’m just trying to say that this isn’t an issue about race; it never was. I just want you to remember that this is a problem with sin and not a problem with human versus anthrokind.” The fox took another
bite of his hot dog, and he watched as the wolf looked back at him. After Arcades finished eating the rest of his hot dog, he had an offer for the wolf, “You want some water?” The wolf nodded in response, “Sure, I’ll have one.” Arcades got on his knees and rummaged through his backpack once again while he searched for a bottle of water to give the wolf. As the fox continued to look through his backpack, Jason scanned the horizon, and he could see that there was very minimal light left by the sun. It would be completely dark within the next ten or twenty minutes. While there was still some daylight left, Arcades’ hand emerged from his backpack holding two bottles of water. The fox extended his left hand to offer one of the bottles to Jason, and he let the wolf grab a bottle from his hand. The wolf opened the bottle and began to drink from it. Arcades did the same as he zipped his backpack back up. He did not expect to need to put anything back into his backpack for the time being.
The agent trained his sights directly on the upper-left shoulder of Arcades, and he was just waiting for the perfect moment to take his shot. Though he was definitely in a position to shoot the fox, he wanted to line up Arcades nice and clean before taking the shot. He knew that missing could mean Arcades escaping or even potentially dying from a dosage administered in a wrong location. Another possibility was that the agent’s shot would not make good contact with the fox’s body and would not administer enough of a dosage at all to cause sedation. The agent felt the air, and he was content enough with the lack of wind. He did not want any adverse weather conditions to potentially mess his shot up. After all, he had a limited number of shots he could take, and he still did not want to hit the fox in the wrong location, either. After waiting for just a bit longer for the fox to finally sit still on the mat and view the setting sun with the wolf, the agent disabled the safety on his RS8 rifle. The subsonic load combined with the integral suppressor and fifty meter’s distance from the target should mask his shot enough to avoid detection, but the human still did not want to rely too heavily on theoretical assumptions. The agent adjusted the windage and elevation on his scope accordingly to take his shot. Though fifty meters was less than one hundred meters, the agent still felt that he would be able to accurately shoot the fox at the distance he was sitting at. His bipod was lying on the bark of a dead tree, and he was keeping the stock steady by pushing it into his shoulder.