It was now NT 67, or 2097 for Erik. The life he had built in the Wildlands continued to expand upwards and outwards. He and Kelsey now lived on their own small farm on the outskirts of Goldenmere, growing crops to feed their ever-growing family. They kept busy at all times, and ended up having five children before Kelsey finally said 'no more'. She gave birth to two anthro daughters, Kelly and Kathy, and incredibly, three human sons, Richard, Hector and Walter. The mix of the two seemingly different species confused everyone who met them, but there was no doubt about it: those kids were just like Erik and Kelsey. Between the two of them, the children learned how to tend the farm, camp and cook, hunt and scavenge, and even retained some trivial music knowledge.

Jenny and Colton had ended up getting married as well, her suiting was done without Colton needing to compete with anyone this time. Nobody wanted to risk fighting him after seeing the chaos that was his bout against Erik. They, too ended up happily having a handful of children, and living in Bensonville together, where he would return with things, and she would figure out how they worked... sort of.

The lumbermill had been producing well with only minor reparations needed after the winter. Together with Erik and others from Goldenmere, Darkhill's Creekhouse had been showering the region with planks of a decent quality. Both locations had been well refurbished with new wood, and many new homes - such as the farm Erik and Kelsey were living in - had been built. Along with it, windmills, docks, boats and more had all been under construction, in various quantities of success. The area was well underway to being one of the most well-built towns anyone could name, and it was famous in the area for all it had accomplished with Erik's help.

Erik's family had always wanted to know what the human cities looked like, and while it was a danger to actually go to one, it could be possible to see one from afar. So, one day, Erik and Kelsey brought the family with them towards the outskirts of City 24932.

“Father, are you sure it's out here?” Kelly asked, her lyrical voice chirped out the question. She was only thirteen, but she kept pace with all of them in the bush without a problem.

Erik chuckled as he led the way. “Heh, it has been a while. But, yes, it's over here. We'll need to keep our heads down, we can't afford to be spotted. But I'll show you all, city-”

“24932!” Walter cheered, interrupting him. Only eleven, the boy was always a handful of energy.

“Shh, keep your voice down, Walter.” Kelsey scolded him. “The city is dangerous.”

“I'll take 'em on!” The boy clenched two fists. “Like that sparrow kid! And that goat kid!”

Erik pointed at him. “And stop getting in trouble, or you'll fight me next.”

“Y-yes father...”

“Ugh, sounds like I'm going to have to apologize to McTaggart again. That is going to be one grumpy goat...”

“Erik...” Kelsey interjected. “Do you smell that?”

He sniffed the air, along with everyone else. “Yeah. Weird smoke?”

She looked to the sky. “It looks dark over there, past the hill, look.”

“Hm, yeah it does. Let's move, up.” He started to hurry his pace up the hill, followed by the rest of the family. By the time they got to the hill, several loud whooshing noises came from vehicles flying overhead, flying towards the darkness.

“What was that?!”

“Vehicles. Something's going on.” He stopped at the top of the hill, surrounded by the trees and dense undergrowth, looking out into a large open area of land.

“Oh wow...” Kelly remarked. “Is that the city, father?”

“That... was it. Keep your head down.”

In the clearing, the large, sprawling city with its bright blue walls stretched out for what seemed like forever. But what overtook it was more than just its glowing blue aura. Numerous large pillars of black smoke billowed from it, choking out the sky in the area. Sirens wailed in the distance, vehicles buzzed about, the blue laser fire occasionally moved between the ground and the air.

“What's going on?”

“Looks like civil war.” Erik squinted at it, chuckling. “Guess they don't care if they lose social credit, huh? Heh heh.”

They watched with rapt attention as the city continued being engulfed in combat. One of the vehicles drifted around the edge of the city, rapidly bombarding it with gunfire from the sky. As shot after shot pounded into the buildings, a few shots rang out from the city, focused on the craft. On impact, the craft burst into flame, and swept from the sky, thundering into the blue light fence with a massive crash, disabling that section of it.

“No way! That thing got taken out of the sky!” Richard gawked at the fireball in earnest.

Another two craft flew overhead with a woosh, as another intercepted them from a different direction. One was shot, before the interloper was shot down in another ball of fire, plowing into the field unceremoniously. Another thundered from the sky, crashing into a large, central building. The walls of the city flickered before shutting down, and the area ceased being blue, but rather, glowed with orange fire, reflected in the pillars of smoke.

Erik frowned. “That's unreal... we'd better get out of here before things get uglier.”

Kelsey looked to him, his expression marred with concern. “Are you sure? What if we can get something out of this? This could be our chance to get some of their tools-”

He shook his head. “Not a chance! I don't want to know who's going to come out of that city, especially with the fences down, or have a plane crash into us. All I know is, we should prepare Goldenmere, in case something comes to us.” He turned and waved to them. “Let's go.”

“Something coming to us, Erik?” Kelsey asked.

“Other humans... either soldiers, or rebels.”

“You really think they'll come for us?”

“Hey, I did.” He chuckled as they wandered back through the brush, family in tow. “We just don't know who will show up. Freezer guys? Agents? Could be anything.”

Kelly looked to him, chasing along with him quietly in the grasses. “Do we need to be worried about other humans, father?”

“Possibly. They're an unknown part of the equation. I think, inevitably, another will show up in town. We just need to be prepared for any situation.”

The family hastily returned home, and spread word. It was unclear to most what this would mean for them, but they prepared regardless. Over a few days, reports from the Courier Coyote came in, and numerous humans had been found wandering the Wildlands, some aggressive to the sight of anthros, others, simply lost and scared. Some anthros were killed in a fight with an Agent to the west, but they were able to swarm him and stop his rampage.

One day, a lanky man washed up into town, laying flat in a canoe, under a blanket. He was starving and barely able to keep himself together. He was easily held captive in town where Erik once was until he was able to recover with some fresh food and water.

“A-and there's more of you? A whole town? Animal people?” The man asked weakly to the guard outside of his cage, a golden retriever man.

“A whole world, we hear. Of anthros.” The shaggy dog replied.

“Anthros? Huh. So much world... outside of the walls. So... I don't know. Free.” He looked around, as the town bustled about, going about its business. “We were told nothing lived in the Wildlands.”

“Lots did. My mother did. She was made a monster by your ancestors...”

“I... didn't know about that, either. So many lies, they told us.”

“Hm. You'll have more time to explain with Jarvis, the Duke. I'm just making sure you're alive.”

Just up the road, the great antlers of Jarvis made themselves clear, as he approached with Tom, Terry, and finally, Erik.

The man lit up, seeing Erik, a healthy and happy human, walking peacefully with these creatures. “You! A human! A-are you Jarvis?”

Jarvis voice came in before Erik could even speak. “No. I'm Jarvis Barnett, Duke of Goldenmere. That is Erik Barnes, our human friend, to which we owe much.”

Erik took over the conversation finally. “Show me your chip.”

“W-what?”

“Show me your chip, man.” He insisted.

The man turned his arm over. No scars were there. “The chips are toast, Mister Barnes.”

“Toast? How'd you get here?”

“Don't you know? The chips, the rebellion?”

“No. I've been living here for almost seventeen years now. The chips were alive and well when I got here, and so were the Agents.”

“Seventeen years?! Alone?”

“No, been here in town. Got a local wife and kids, the whole nine yards.”

The man was amazed. “That's incredible... a local girl? One of these anthros?” He realized he maybe shouldn't pry too much. “Oh, uh, the chips aren't popular anymore, that's for sure. Rebels broke them, reprogrammed them, scrambled them, started an insurrection. The Emperors have been trying to hold it off, but... it's everywhere, I hear. World Civil War.”

“And you're a fighter in it?”

“Yes... No.” He shook his head. “We are all rebels, but, I am too weak to fight... I saw a chance when the wall came down and escaped. I... I don't want to die. Not for the Emperors, but not for the cities either. I thought, maybe, I'd die in the Wildlands instead, but...” He stopped and looked around. It was an alien scene, humans and anthros working together, and creating a world worth living in. “N-now I don't want to die. I see you, this place, and I wonder if I was wrong. If I could be better off here. This place is full of life, wonder... civilization.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty three, sir.”

“Born and raised 24932?”

“Uh, well raised. I do not know where I was born... I doubt anyone does. Assigned and raised, you could say.”

Erik shook his head. “That's disgusting...”

“Wh- you know where you were born?”

“Of course. And where I came into the human nightmare world, at Cryonexus 5.”

“Cryonexus?!” The man's eyes shot open and he clung to the cage. “Y-you're an old stock human?! And you escaped the city? That's incredible! Oh, they always said you oldies were crafty!”

Erik could only shrug. He didn't really know what else to say. “I guess...”

He clasped his hands as hard as he could. “Please, Duke Barnett, Mister Barnes, I-I'll do anything. Teach me to live here!”

Erik and Jarvis looked at each other. “What's your name, son?”

The man stopped for a moment, as if he were just asked a hard question. “Employee numb- well... I don't want to go by that name anymore. Just call me... Jim.”

The golden retriever barked. “What? That's my name! I'm Jim!”

Erik looked back to him. “Sorry Jim... but we can have two Jims. Right?” He looked back to the lanky man. “Jim, uh, Human Jim. Right... And what are you good at, Human Jim?”

“Uh, well... I don't think there's any food processing facilities here. I uh, hmm.” Talents, it seemed, were limited in the cities. “I like to run, when I have energy. Maybe I can use that?”

“You like to run? He likes to run.” Jarvis commented, incredulous, and held his large snout. He turned to look at Erik. “Were they always this bad?”

“Kind of.” Erik took a moment. “Why don't we give him a few days to recover, we've got lots of food, and then we'll see how he stacks up against someone else who likes to run?”

“You don't think... I'm pretty sure that the Coyote Courier is a family business, Erik.”

He shrugged. “Hey, it's worth a shot. Maybe he can just deliver stuff in town.”

“Yeah! Yeah, I can do that, be a courier! Delivery boy, whatever. Once I'm rested up, just show me where to run!”

Erik returned home that night to Kelsey and the five kids, and talked about the day over dinner. It was a pretty big occurrence.

“Erik, that's amazing. You really think you can turn that bag of bones into a Courier?”

“I'm hoping so. I was given a chance, might as well extend that to someone else.”

She grinned. “Think he'll make it?”

“Well, you never know how things will turn out.” He looked around to the family all around him, his happy wife, still as scruffy as the day he met her. He couldn't help but smile, knowing where things had gone, and to look forward to the future. “After all, things just happen in the Wildlands.”