Fallen World: The Complete Trilogy

by Tom Jones

  Finally ready to take his shot, the agent took a few deep breaths until he was able to get his breathing pattern under control. There was no wind, and the human felt confident in the Trijicon AccuPower he had mounted on the top of his rifle. Though the shot in theory would be easy to take, the agent did not want to become complacent and make a critical mistake. The human tightly held his rifle’s stock in his shoulder, and he carefully examined the movement of his scope as he tamed his breathing patterns. After about ten seconds of deep breaths, the agent felt his confidence building that he would be able to take a successful shot. The agent took in a deep breath, held it, and he could see that he was holding the rifle perfectly still. The agent felt satisfied with his control of the rifle, so he decided that his next deep breath would be the breath in which he pulled his trigger. After feeling that he had enough stability in his shot, the agent took a deep breath, kept his crosshair directly over the fox’s upper-left shoulder, waited for the fox to be completely still, and he pulled the trigger to take the shot.

  The fox sat watching the setting sun as he heard a quiet slap followed by something impacting his upper-left shoulder. Arcades’ initial reaction was a grunt in pain, “Agh.” The wolf immediately turned his attention to the fox’s vocalized indication of distress, “Hm? What’s wrong, Kurt?” Arcades examined his shoulder, and he placed his water bottle on the Multicam Arid mat as he felt for a wound of some sort. As he was searching with his hand, he could feel something was poking out of his arm. Arcades tugged on the protrusion, and he pulled it out of his arm to inspect it. The wolf was wondering what Arcades had retrieved from his arm, “What’s that?” Arcades inspected the custom needle, and it did not take him long to understand what he had just pulled from his arm, “Someone’s here. We need to go. Now!” The wolf did not understand what the fox was talking about, but he did move to a standing position as Arcades did himself, “What’s going on?” Arcades replied, “I’ve been shot. We need to go!”

  The fox stood up and grabbed his Multicam 5.11 Tactical backpack before tossing his half-full water bottle in the pack’s side pocket. The fox felt the adrenaline rushing through his body as he could not tell where his assailant was, and he was not quite feeling the effects of the tranquilizing agent just yet. Jason dropped his water bottle into his shorts’ pocket, and he picked up the Multicam Arid mat as the two anthros began to rush back to their vehicle. The agent had cycled the action of his rifle, and the human had already collected the shell of the round he fired to make sure that he left the least amount of traces as possible. As the two anthros moved out of the agent’s line of sight, he was unable to fire upon Jason. Not wanting to waste his remaining four shots, the agent flipped up his bipod and began to directly pursue the two anthros on foot. Though the sand was slightly slowing him down, he wore Salomon Quest 4D GTX boots, so he was able to keep up decently enough with the two barefoot anthros.

  As the fox was rushing back to his Toyota 4Runner, he was now starting to feel the effects of the tranquilizing agent, “I got shot by a dart. It had some type of drug in it. You’re going to have to… Get me out of here.” Arcades was beginning to have trouble speaking his thoughts as he felt himself becoming more and more tired. The fox’s legs began to feel weak, but he knew that stopping was not an option. The wolf noticed that Arcades was now lagging behind his earlier pace, “Kurt? Are you alright?” Arcades replied as he tried as hard as he could to keep himself going, “Jason… Y-you’ve gotta…” The wolf began to slow himself down as the fox’s stride almost began to break down. Arcades’ head began to move off around as he found himself unable to keep it looking straight ahead. Jason stopped as Arcades tripped and fell into a small mound of sand, “Kurt!” The fox pulled all of his remaining strength together in order to say, “Someone’s after us… Get us out of here… Take the truck keys… R-right cargo pocket…”

  After the fox spoke his last phrase, his eyes rolled upwards, and he became unresponsive. Jason was about to try in vain to wake Arcades, but he knew that it would probably be wiser for him to do what the fox said. The wolf opened up the fox’s right cargo pocket, and he quickly found the keys to the 4Runner which Arcades was referring to. When the wolf deposited the keys into his own pocket, he remembered that he did not take his driver’s license with him, so he hoped that no policemen would stop him on his way back to Arcades’ home. It would be very hard for the wolf to explain to the cops the situation while having an unconscious fox in the passenger seat. Jason took the fox’s Multicam backpack off of his back, and the wolf placed it on his own back as he picked up the fox to place him on his shoulders. Before the wolf could get moving, he heard a suppressed shot come from behind. The wolf turned around, and he could see a single human standing about twenty meters away wielding a long rifle. The human opened the rifle’s bolt to remove the empty casing from the chamber before pushing the bolt forwards to load his next round. Luckily for Jason and Arcades, neither of them were shot by the human; the shot had missed completely.

  Since Jason saw that he was definitely being chased by a man with a rifle, he decided to break left and run into some bush to avoid being pursued as easily. The wolf ran past some trees as he still held the fox over his shoulders, and he was not sure how far away the human was from his current location. The wolf heard one more shot, and he also heard the impact of a projectile land a couple trees away from him. Though Jason was not sure if the projectile was a standard bullet or another dart, he was still not willing to take his chances and find out. He needed to get both him and Arcades away from their current location as soon as possible. Since the wolf was still holding the Multicam Arid mat in his hands, he felt that it could potentially be used as a form of basic camouflage to evade their assailant. The wolf knew that the both of them were in a mildly wooded area with plenty of sand nearby, so he felt that Multicam Arid would be better than no camouflage at all.

  As the wolf prepared to use the Multicam Arid mat, he developed an idea. Since the human had used a tranquilizer round on Arcades, the wolf considered that their assailant would be looking to take the fox alive. Jason knew that he would be unable to retreat to the 4Runner, for the human or another assailant might be waiting there to ambush them, so he knew that he would have to deal with their attacker first and foremost. Arcades did not have a handgun in his backpack, but he did have a Kimber Rapide 1911 chambered in .45 ACP which he kept in the center console of the 4Runner. The wolf figured that if he would be able to defeat the attacking human, then he would be able to grab his rifle and deal with any other attackers before withdrawing from the area. After all, being unarmed was only a greater disadvantage for both himself and Arcades. The wolf was not sure how far the human was from his current location, so he decided to employ a very risky strategy to lure the human towards his position.

  Jason spoke quietly to the unconscious fox, “I’m really sorry about this, mate.” When the wolf saw that his vicinity was clear enough, he dropped the fox on the ground outside of the treeline as gently as possible. Arcades was getting pretty heavy for Jason to carry along with his backpack, but he was mainly trying to bait the human to come for the fox. If the human wanted to kill the fox, then he would have done so already, so Jason felt that Arcades should not be in too much immediate danger to be left in the open. After all, Jason planned on hiding underneath the Multicam Arid mat in order to camouflage himself before moving in for the attack. Jason was decently proficient in fighting, so he felt that he would be able to take on the attacker. He just needed the attacker to move in closer and let his guard down for Jason to make a move. With Arcades sprawled out on the sand while lying on his back, Jason moved back into the wooded area before dropping the backpack on the ground and deploying the mat. After hiding underneath the mat, the wolf tried his best to make sure that he would have a decent view of Arcades. He did not want for the human to swoop in and take the fox away.

  The human pointed his rifle forwards, and he began walking around to try and find out where Arcades and
Jason went. Though the agent did see the two anthros rush into the woods, he did not exactly see where they went since he still had to make sure that he did not leave any shell casings behind on the ground. He had fired three tranquilizer rounds already, so he only had two more left to use before his rifle only had live ammunition chambered. As the agent moved forwards with his bolt action rifle, he could see what appeared to be an anthro lying on the ground. The human aimed his rifle at the figure as he moved forwards. The lack of sufficient lighting made it difficult for the human to judge what it was he was looking at. After approaching the figure, the agent bent down, and he could see that he was indeed looking at an unconscious fox. The agent looked around to see if Jason was nearby, but he completely missed the wolf hiding underneath the Multicam Arid mat just a few meters away from his current position. The human felt that he was safe enough to take the fox with him, so he stowed the rifle away by draping it over his shoulder with the help of the rifle’s sling. Right when the human slung the rifle over his shoulder, he realized that he would have to have the fox on his shoulders in order for him to carry Arcades back to his vehicle. The agent placed the rifle on the ground, and he began to try and pick up the fox.

  As the agent placed both of his hands on the fox, Jason saw an opportunity for attack begin to present itself. The wolf stared directly at the human as he started to pick Arcades up. Seeing that the human would be off-balance from picking up the one hundred and thirty pound fox, Jason knew that it would now be best for him to attack. The wolf quickly stood up, ran from underneath the mat, and he moved in to tackle the human. Though the agent was still holding Arcades, he dropped the fox as he saw the wolf charge him. The human was unprepared for Jason’s sudden attack, and he was put off-balance from the wolf’s shove. The human tried to regain his balance, but Jason delivered a clean kick to the human’s face with his bare foot. The human fell on the ground, and he rolled to avoid another attack from Jason. As the human knew that he was under attack by the wolf, he tried to dive forwards and grab the RS8 which was lying on the ground. Jason saw the human attempt to grab the rifle, and he tried to run out and impede the human from retrieving the weapon. The wolf was halfway successful with his attempt, as the agent had one hand on the rifle. The agent pulled the trigger by accident, and a tranquilizer dart fired into the woods, striking a tree.

  Since Jason knew that the action needed to be manually cycled, he felt that he did not have to worry about the rifle for the time being. The wolf was about to deliver a punch to the back of the human’s head, but the human rolled again in order to avoid the incoming attack. Jason yelled at the agent as he kicked him in the chest, “Fuck off, shit cunt!” The human was struck by the wolf’s foot again, and he exhaled pretty quickly as he felt the wind suddenly escape his chest. The human knew that he was at a disadvantage, and he would likely be unable to fight off Jason while on the ground. Though the mission was not going how he intended, the agent still felt that he could still salvage the mission. The human launched himself away from the wolf, and he quickly picked himself up before running in the opposite direction and abandoning his weapon. As the agent fled the scene, the wolf began to shout at the fleeing human, “That’s right! Get the fuck out of here, you stupid cunt! Fucking dumb cunt!” With the human retreating into the woods, Jason picked up the Haenel Defence RS8 Subsonic, and he cycled the action to load the final tranquilizer round from the RS8’s magazine into the rifle. The wolf was not as cautious as the human was in terms of leaving shell casings on the ground, so he simply let the casing drop into the sand. The wolf aimed down the sights of the rifle, but he was unable to see where the agent moved to. Now with a weapon to protect both himself and Arcades with, the wolf slung the rifle over his shoulder and moved back to collect both Arcades as well as the fox’s stuff.

  Jason moved back into the woods to quickly stuff his own water bottle and the Multicam Arid mat into the backpack before placing it on his back. With the backpack on his back, Jason moved the RS8 to his hands, and he carried the backpack and rifle out of the woods before setting the rifle down again to pick up the fox. As the wolf performed the fireman’s carry to pick up Arcades, he spoke to the fox, despite the fact that the fox was completely oblivious to the situation, “I’ve got you, mate. We’re gonna get outta here.” After placing both the backpack and the fox on his back, Jason picked up the RS8 and proceeded to egress from the beach. The wolf could not shoulder the rifle while carrying both Arcades and the backpack, but he would at least be able to use the rifle if it came down to the wire. The wolf knew that the human had merely retreated, but he was hoping that he would not come back to recollect his rifle. In any case, the wolf would shoot any people surrounding the 4Runner after warning them to disperse. He did not know how many people he was dealing with, so he was not going to take any chances.

  After a quick run back to the 4Runner, there did not appear to be any people standing nearby, but the wolf did turn around multiple times as he held the rifle out to the best of his ability to scan for potential assailants. After deeming the area to be safe enough for the time being, the wolf took his right hand off of the rifle to grab the 4Runner keys which he kept in his right pocket. The wolf unlocked the doors of the SUV, and he placed Arcades into the passenger seat of the vehicle. After buckling the fox’s seatbelt, the wolf closed the passenger door, and he moved to the door behind the one he had just opened. Jason opened the rear door, and he deposited both the RS8 as well as the backpack into the backseat of the 4Runner. The wolf closed the backseat door, and he moved around the front of the vehicle to climb aboard the driver seat. Jason quickly put his seatbelt on before starting the vehicle’s engine. The wolf shifted out of park into reverse, and he put a bit more pressure onto the accelerator than he probably should have. The vehicle’s wheels squealed as the SUV began to move in the reverse direction. Jason turned the steering wheel to the left in order to make the 4Runner make a ninety-degree turn. When the SUV was now facing sideways, the wolf shifted out of the reverse gear and into drive in order to make his getaway. The SUV sped off, and it left the agent in the dust.

  “This is the Baldwin County emergency line, what is the nature of your emergency?” The agent watched the gray 4Runner egress from its parked location. When the female dispatch operator finished asking her question, the agent put on his story, “Yes, I need the police. I was just attacked by an anthro. He kidnapped somebody and just drove away!” The dispatch asked the agent for his location, “Where are you, sir?” The agent just so happened to remember his location, and he relayed it while making sure to repeat his story, “We’re at the Skunk Bayou just outside of County Road 49 South. This gray wolf attacked me, and he kidnapped somebody!” The dispatcher asked another question, “Did you see the vehicle the wolf was driving?” The agent replied to the dispatcher, “Yes, it’s a dark gray Toyota 4Runner. The wolf is wearing a black t-shirt and khaki shorts. He’s got no shoes on. He’s about an average build.” The dispatch continued, “Officers are dispatched to your location. Are you hurt?” The agent knew that he did not want an ambulance to come for him, even though he did take a few blows to his face and chest, he decided to lie to the dispatcher, “No, I got out during the scuffle. He was trying to kidnap an anthro, and I tried to stop him. He took a silver fox with him. The guy’s unconscious! You’ve gotta hurry! He’s got a gun as well! He threatened me with a rifle, and now he’s on the run!” The dispatcher replied, “Calm down, sir. We are doing everything we can.”

  The agent began to rush towards where he parked his Taurus while in pursuit of the 4Runner, but he knew that he did not want to remain on the line with the emergency dispatcher. The agent heard the dispatcher ask, “Sir, the police are on their way to speak with you. Please confirm your current location.” The agent did not want the police to bother him, so he lied once more, “My phone’s battery is going to die any moment. I’m on --” The agent interrupted himself by ending the call and powering off his cellphone. To make sure that the police would
be unable to locate him by the use of GPS data, the human quickly undid the case of his phone and removed the battery. By the time the agent placed the phone and the battery back into his pocket, he had arrived at his parked vehicle. The human unlocked the driver’s door with his key fob, and he pressed the ignition button.

  As the human began to drive on the road, he removed a Uniden SDS100 from the vehicle’s glove box, and he screwed the antenna on the radio with one hand while he drove the vehicle with the other hand. After the antenna was on the scanner, he turned the device on and listened in to the police’s radio frequencies to see if any of them had located Arcades and Jason. Within a few seconds, the human heard the dispatch speak over the radio, “Attention all available callsign: A caller reports a kidnapping involving the use of a firearm. Caller reports the vehicle to be a gray Toyota 4Runner, and the suspect is said to be a gray wolf. Suspect last reported on County Road 49 South. Can we get any available units to start a sweep of the location?” A few seconds later, a male officer replied, “Copy, dispatch. This is Yellow Three. I’ll check it out. Standby.” The officer alerted dispatch a few moments later to request a bit of information he did not know of, “Dispatch, this is Yellow Three. Do we know the license plate number of the gray 4Runner?” The dispatch replied within the next second, “Negative, Yellow Three. All the caller reported was that the vehicle was a 4Runner and the driver was a gray wolf.” Yellow Three replied to the dispatcher, “Copy. I am on my way.” All the agent had to do now was to wait for an officer to report the location of the stopped 4Runner.