We were on the road to who knows where, but I trusted my little fellow travelers, whom I had just met. We were all together: Stu, Bonnie, Judy, Jack, Hazel, Luna, and, of course, I, Cheribim.

Lengthwise, the roadway was quite a long stretch, going on forever, but the width was no greater than that of a large sidewalk found back home. The span was expected for the bunnies and felt more like a road to them than it did for me. Sometimes, I felt like I was growing bigger or the world around me was growing smaller.

As we approached the vast hills, the area appeared to amplify in beauty while the road remained consistent. On both sides, it was like an ocean of grass, and every blade was illuminated in a golden-green color by the splendid sun, which was about to set in the next 70 minutes.

As we pressed towards the sunset, I continued pushing the Hopps' Family truck, which felt like pushing a little tike car with small passengers inside. Even though the truck was much heavier and had more heavy-duty wheels, it seemed to roll just as easily as a toy car. The only tricky part was having to crouch down a bit to properly position my hands and avoid crushing the cabin window. It got a bit uncomfortable at times, especially after recently crash-landing from space, but being with good company made all the discomfort completely negligible.

I looked down into the truck cabin and saw Stu relaxing with paws behind his head and his green carrot hat resting on the steering wheel. The sound of light country-sounding music emanated from the cabin, and Bonnie was reading a carrot-themed children's book with Jack and Luna on her lap. Once in a while, Jack or Luna would shoot a glance at me until Bonnie refocused their attention on the book.

Outside, in the back of the truck, next to me, of course, were Hazel and Judy. Both appeared to be enjoying the scenic ride and relaxing atmosphere atop the crates.

Hazel was like most modern teens I've read about: zoned out and fixated on her phone. But it wasn't a big deal because that's how many teens are. Even so, she would at least look around once in a while, sometimes at me, sometimes at Judy, most other times out in the distance, and try to notice things here and there. She was wearing small white headphones on the edges of her giant bunny ears connected to her small electronic device. If I had to guess, she was probably listening to Hip-Hop.

With her handy notebook and fancy carrot pen, Judy appeared to be doing a mini inventory check and counting the number of items remaining in some of the crates. With such a small truck, there was no way she'd get to all the crates beneath her, for there was no room to move them. Regardless, she at least got a head start. After closing one of the crate lids, she sat down, jotted some final notes, closed the notebook, and wedged it between two crates. She removed her straw hat, placed it on the wooden tool frame, and looked up at me. I looked away, trying to stay focused on the road, but then I looked back at her because she was still observing me with a small , curious smile. Realizing I was still wearing my helmet, I used one hand to keep pushing the truck while I used the other to remove the helmet.

The air felt so refreshing - despite being in a vulnerable state.

Carefully gripping the edge of the helmet, I lightly placed it inside the truck bed between Judy and Hazel and noticed just how big it was compared to them. The helmet was about the same size as their torsos, and, despite its sheer size, at least the bunnies had bigger eyes than I or the helmet did. Judy surveyed the helmet, turned the front to face her, and admired the detailed exterior.

"Sweet cheese and crackers, that thing sure looks intimidating..." Judy remarked.

"Maybe for you, it is." I replied.

"But is it really necessary?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, something like that would certainly draw fear from someone."

"I think you're confusing fear with respect," I stated candidly.

A brief moment of silence passed between us.

"Besides," I continued. "It doesn't seem to phase you anymore."

The bunny laughed half-heartedly. "Oh, believe me, I didn't know what to think at first. But if there's one thing my career has taught me, it's to never judge a book by its cover. Sometimes, things aren't always as they seem."

"Indeed." I agreed.

Judy continued to examine the helmet and did a side-by-side comparison between my face and the helmet's face. While doing this, Hazel didn't notice my helmet removed until Judy moved it in closer. Hazel then turned her head, looked at my helmet, looked back at her phone, and then rapidly stared back at the helmet in amazement.

"Woah," she gasped at my alien-looking face and turned towards Judy in shock. "Is that really...his face?!"

Hazel steadily lifted her phone and positioned it to take a picture, but Judy quickly stopped her by placing a paw on her cell phone and gently setting it down. While I continued to push the car, Judy cupped her paws around Hazel's ears and started whispering to her.

It looked like Judy was doing her best to explain everything, and Hazel just nodded in agreement. What a good sister! Helping another sibling to make sure she doesn't look at a stranger the wrong way. It's unknown what Judy said to her, but it seemed to help keep Hazel steady and not freak out anymore. The young teenage bunny would still give me strange looks, but at least she wouldn't barrage me with questions.

As things mellowed out, we came to a smooth corner of the road and turned left, away from the sun, toward a large group of hills packed together. From here, they were like green waves crashing into each other, extending beyond the horizon while the road seemed to weave its way between them.

"You're doing great Cherry!" Stu called from the driver's seat. "Just keep pushing and I'll tell you when to turn,"

"Understood." I acknowledged.

Stu rolled his window back up, and I once again continued to push the farm truck down the road. The route wasn't straight anymore, for we were coming into a series of hills that made the road weave around a little bit. If I had to guess, we were probably halfway there, and I was curious about what the destination would be like. Hopefully, it was not just some giant rabbit hole/cave in the dirt.

Judy stood up from her spot and sat closer to the back of the truck while Hazel continued to play on her phone. Judy leaned back slightly, enjoying the light, gentle breeze, and closed her eyes to meditate. The truck was still moving, and I began walking faster down the roadway to see if I could get us moving quicker to reach our destination before dark. After a quick but uncomfortable short burst of speed, I slowed down a bit but kept the vehicle moving consistently and steadily. Judy was still sitting on the truck bed door, still holding on, leaning back, and enjoying the moment. Indeed, the entire area was relatively peaceful, and hardly any other cars passed by us.

I nodded in satisfaction. "This place...It's beautiful,"

"It really is," the bunny smiled warmly. "Even though I was born and raised here, I actually don't get to come out here much. At least, not as often as I used to."

"Why so?" I wondered.

"Well, I work in the city now, but I was lucky enough to get the weekend off. In two days, it's back to work for me," Judy sighed tiredly, yet maintained a grateful smile. "So I'm trying to absorb as much time with the family as I can."

A new question came to my mind. "So you're an officer, correct?

"Yep! The first bunny officer too!" Judy answered proudly. "My partner and I both work in Precinct one of downtown Zootopia."

"Zootopia?" I asked, unsure if I heard that right.

"Yes! Surely you've heard of it! It's just two-hundred and eleven miles away."

I shook my head. "Never heard of it."

"What?" Judy nearly gasped. "You're telling me you've never heard of Zootopia? It's the greatest city in the world! You really haven't been there?"

"Negative." I answered, becoming more intriqued. "What's it like? Is it anything like New York or Hong Kong?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "Um... maybe? I don't know those places you just named. They sound really... foreign to me."

"That makes two of us." I affirmed.

"Ha, I suppose so. But still... Zootopia is one of the most talked-about places in the world. It sounds like you really do come from a place far from here."

I reflected for a moment. "Further than I thought..."

Suddenly, for some reason, I felt the truck becoming harder and harder to push. It was as if it got heavier, or maybe I was just getting weaker. It got to a point where the truck's wheels wouldn't roll at all, and I was worried that they were locking up for good. Great. Now, it'll take forever to get these bunnies home. Judy looked around, peeked her head over the truck's edge, and looked at the locked-up tires. She went to the other side of the truck, did the same thing, and then she went over to the back cabin window and started to tap on the glass lightly.

"Dad! You're stepping on the brakes again!" Judy reminded.

"Huh, what?" Stu frantically woke himself up from a nap.

Judy sighed. "Take your foot off the pedal."

Stu rolled down the driver's window and popped his head out, giving himself a facepalm. "Whoops, my bad! Sorry, Cherry!"

"It's fine, Stu," I exhaled tiredly, thankful there weren't any locked axles.

Finally, we got the car moving again, and then I could hear another vehicle approaching from the distance in front of us. Without hesitation, I gestured to Judy to slide the helmet towards me, and I placed it on my head before the car came into view. I also pulled the brown hood over my helmet as an extra precaution. I figured that for whoever was in the other vehicle, it'd be better for them to see me covered up instead of seeing my human face.

Thinking it would be more bunnies, the large car came into view and was much bigger than I had anticipated. The car's make was unfamiliar but similar in style to a large SUV. The driver was...a moose? Of course, another one with cupholder hands. The other three passengers were a razorback, a white wolf, and a white...fox. I turned my head to avoid eye contact, and one of them rolled their window down as they were driving past us.

"Hey, freak! Go back to Tundra Town and get yourself a real job!"

"Yeah, your mother called! She wants her brown scarf back!"

As they blurted out those so-called insults, the razorback chucked a big orange straight at my chest, splattering it all over. They floored it away, and we could hear them laughing their heads/tails off. I couldn't tell who said what, but it didn't matter, for they were long gone and out of our sight. An orange?

Judy then came over to me to make sure I was okay. Since she was standing in the back of the truck, her height was now just below my chest level. She reached for a cloth and started wiping away the shattered pieces of orange. I stopped pushing the truck for a moment so that she could clear the mess.

"Cherry, I'm so sorry! Forget about those guys. They don't know what they're doing,"

I shrugged indifferently. "They have my pity."

This was my first time encountering impertinent creatures on this planet. Everyone else seemed sweet, innocent, and polite until those three came along. Either way, It would've happened sooner or later, so it's best to face reality now. Those bullies reminded me of the ones from my world who had nothing else to do except pick on others and make them feel less worthy. I didn't let it bother me, and Judy's presence made things better. Judy's parents even checked on us to ensure we were okay, but we gave them a thumbs up. Then, I once again resumed pushing the car.

"You know, what?" Judy began. "I think you look better without your mask on."

"I feel better with it on." I said.

"Why so?" she asked.

"It makes a good disguise. Feels natural."

"Well, if you're planning to visit Zootopia, then your helmet could definitely use some modifications to blend in better," Judy suggested.

"Modifications?"

"Just a few small ones. My brothers and sisters are pretty good at costume making. I'm sure they could help us modify your 'work uniform' to blend in better. That way, you don't have to worry about feeling out of place. You can be a polar bear or whichever animal floats your tail."

"Hmm..." I thought out loud. "I might consider it... even if I don't have much of a choice."

Another moment of silence passed between us. Judy studied me while I continued pushing the truck.

I tried switching to a different topic. "So... you said you had more brothers and sisters at home?"

This suddenly brought a warm smile to her face. "Yes! In fact, there's a lot more of us.! We're a big family!"

As I kept pushing the truck, I initially thought that all of Judy's family was here, but I was wrong. Apparently, there are a couple more at home. Fine. While I didn't want to get involved with meeting too many animals, I already knew Judy well enough that getting to know a few more shouldn't hurt.

"Hold on," I said. "I thought you only had three siblings? Hazel, Jack... and Luna."

The bunny chuckled. "Ha-ha-ho... No. Actually, I have a lot more."

"How many?"

Judy tittered. "Take a guess."

"Fifteen?" I guessed high.

She shook her head, smiling. "Nope."

"Twenty-seven?"

"Nope!" she grinned.

"Forty?"

"Keep guessing," she gestured.

I sighed. "...Fifty?"

"Nope. Not even close."

I cocked my head to the side a bit. "...Seventy?"

Judy simply sat there, shook her little head, and kept smiling while trying to control her laughter.

"You're joking..." I assumed.

"I'm not joking," Judy assured, crossing her arms. "I'll give you one more guess."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. In my former world, hardly anyone would ever go beyond 12 kids unless artificial birth pods were used. Nevertheless, I had a hunch that such technology didn't exist here and that she wasn't putting up an act.

"Okay, then. How many?" I asked, finally giving up.

Hazel smiled. "Try 275!"

"What?" I was utterly dumbstruck. "275?"

"Yep!" the bunnies laughed.

"How the hell do you have 275 brothers and sisters?"

"What do you expect?" Hazel asked in a silly manner. "We are bunnies, after all."

"As I said before, we're a big family," Judy reminded me.

"Damn..." I stopped pushing the truck for a moment, trying to process that many bunnies. "That is a lot of bunnies."

"...And that's nothing compared to Uncle Abbott's family," Hazel interpolated. "I mean, last month, he surpassed over 300 bunnies... and still going!"

"Yep!" Judy laughed. "Welcome to Bunnyburrows!"

I discreetly shook my head in disbelief as I kept pushing the truck down the paved thoroughfare. Imagine how big the grocery bill is for a family of bunnies.

"...Holy shit," I muttered.

One of Hazel's ears lifted. "Holy what?"

"Nevermind," I said.

We came to a gradual turn and the road continued to wind beyond the hills. On all sides, we surrounded by large patches of farm fields that were well ordered and well maintained. There were a few bunnies here and there that were spread out among the fields while some were heading home for the day. As I propelled the car further, the driver's window started rolling down, Stu stuck his head out the window and looked back at us.

"You'll turn left, right about here Cherry!" Stu pointed left.

I stopped the vehicle and looked to my left. Sure enough, there was a well-paved dirt road that led further into the hills with a variety of scattered oak trees. In the distance, there appeared to be residential homes but it was hard to tell from here since many were slightly tucked in behind the hillocks. The truck was repositioned, we exited the paved road and began moving down it. The ground was much softer than before and it also felt like walking along on a soft carpet without any dust clouds forming.

"Five more minutes! We're almost home."

"Oh, finally!" Hazel sighed, leaning back against the wall of the truck bed. "Jack and Luna really wore me out today"

Recalling how large and spacious the carrot field was, I could imagine how tired Hazel must've felt. She probably ran throughout the entire area multiple times, making sure her little siblings didn't wander too far. Likewise, I roamed a vast carrot field except I didn't have water. Thankfully, the Hopp's family had some for me.

"So Cheribim," Judy called for my attention. "What do you do for a living?"

"Well...," I reflected. "I used to be... a soldier."

Her ear sprang up. "A soldier?

"Yes."

"What's that?"

I tilted my head to the side"...you don't know what a soldier is?"

Judy shook her head. "I can't say I do. But please tell me about it."

For a bit, I hesitated, trying to think of how to explain it in Layman's terms without confusing her. Did the animals in this world really not have soldiers in their ranks? How would they defend themselves from intergalactic threats? Or perhaps they didn't have any...

"Well..." I continued. "By definition, a soldier is someone who serves an armed forces organization equipped for fighting."

"Fighting?" Judy's nose twitched. "So you're a fighter?"

"I am, yes," I nodded slowly, staring down at my armored uniform. "Or, at least, I was."

"Who did you fight exactly?" the bunny asked. "This sounds very interesting."

I chose not to go into too much detail. "Domestic threats. Or anyone who threatened our way of life."

"Can you go into more detail on that?"

I shook my head, staring at the ground. "I'd prefer not to."

Judy was quiet for a moment, "I understand," before gazing out onto the horizon. "It sounds like you were a crime fighter of some sort. Almost like a police officer."

I shook my head again. "A soldier and a police officer are not the same thing, Judy."

"Got it," she noted, seemingly curious about the 'soldier' topic but willing to drop it for now. "So what else do you like to do in your spare time?"

I gazed onto the horizon. "Part time, I'm a data scientist. A mathematician, if you will."

"Oh, wow, really? That's... that's really cool, actually! I'd like to hear more about it."

"Sure." I agreed. "My role was to gather incoming solar data, dissect it, extract it, and analyze the galactic phenomena within the data. Then, our team's goal was to quantify the 'Big Picture' of what was occurring beyond the boundaries of Earth - ultimately preparing for any developing threats..."

"Threats? Like what kind of threats?"

"World ending threats." I clarified. "Stuff like that. But to name a few, we detected multiple high-intensity solar flares, rouge chaos energy from the Pillars of Creation, incoming asteroids with roughly the same volume as Mt. Everest, and..."

"Wait," Judy cut in. "Did you say 'Everest?'"

"Right, the tallest mountain on Earth."

"Never heard of it." she shook her head. "That doesn't sound... familiar."

"Interesting..." I placed a fist to my chin.

"...But that's okay. Keep going." Judy insisted, shaking away her thoughts.

"Right, so we'd study these and other events occurring beyond the perimeter of Earth, build models, make hypotheses, and ensure that none of them would threaten our home. If something peculiar showed up, we'd be the first to take action. Thus, you could say we were like a planetary police force... in a way. We worked the private sector,  which is why I think you and your bunnies don't know much about us..."

Judy giggled and then jokingly looked up at me.

"...Thus, we'd keep our eyes on the sky and make sure that nothing or no one would enter our planetary system." 

"Wait, did you say no one?" Judy asked.

"Never mind. I must've misspoke." I quickly corrected with a lie, trying to change the subject. "I majored in math, not public speaking."

"That's okay," Judy giggled, shaking away her thoughts of suspicion. "I like math too, though I'm probably nowhere near as good as you. I mean,  I am just a dumb bunny. But hey, we are good at multiplying."

I awkwardly shifted my gaze to the side, realizing what was being implied. "Yes, well... my species was particularly good at dividing and subtracting."

Judy gave me a confused look, he laughter slowing to a halt. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. Forget it." 

Judy stroked her chin as she pondered for a moment"...But still, some things just don't add up." she continued. "I mean, it's crazy that I've never seen or heard of your species 'human' before; And then, all of a sudden, I'm meeting someone like you for the first time. In addition, I've never even heard of your workgroup before. Maybe I'm just a hare out of line? No bunny knows. Also, about that 'armor' you're wearing. Could you tell me what it's for?"

"You could say it's a... work uniform. The experiments that we did were quite... well... hazardous and precarious. We worked with acidic chemicals, liquid nitrogen, and other lab hazards that required a protective suit. They were necessary to build, test, and run our models" I partially lied. "Thus, in a pragmatic sense, it's a multipurpose piece of hardware for the lab, but... even useful for outside of the job."

Judy didn't seem convinced by my answer, giving me a steady gaze.

"...But as a police officer, such as yourself..." I added. "Doesn't your department require a uniform of some sort? A multipurpose uniform? Surely everyone keeps extra gear on them in case a specific situation arises. "

She thought for a moment and came to a slight realization.  "True, I suppose you're right. After all, it is Zootopia and we never know what species we'll run into! But still... your 'armor' seems to be beyond police grade. I did feel the surface earlier..."

"Well, it's definitely military grade."

She gave a confused look.  "Mili-what?"

Here we go again. "Nevermind."

Judy stood up next to me and lifted one of her paws. "May I?"

"Go ahead." I directed while pushing the car over a wooden bridge.

Judy rubbed her small bunny paw across the armor surface and noticed the mini patterns that formed around the forearm. She would soon realize how smooth nanoparticles form shapes, how hard of a surface they form while still allowing the user free movement from within the armor. I knew the 'military-grade' factor wouldn't make sense in a lab but I couldn't just tell her about all the wars that my former world was plagued with. It was not the right time so I decided to answer her questions as carefully as I could.

"Interesting..." She commented with amazement. "I've never seen any material like this. What kind is it and... did... did you make it?"

"Yes, and it took years to achieve such surface integrity. The list of materials is quite... well... comprehensive. Lots of alloys. It's reasonably comfortable too which is why... I often wear it outside of work."

"Oh, I see. That's... That's really cool."

She sat back in the truck and kept pondering while I pushed the vehicle up a steep incline. When she seemed to have another question in mind, she stopped herself and decided to not ask further. Honestly, I didn't mind her questions for she had every right to be curious and they were good questions. I felt bad because there was so much I could say but how could I say it? This could change everything in her life and everyone else's life if the full truth got out.

Preferably, it's best to keep things gradual. Since I'm stuck here on this world, I'll have to confess at some point and hopefully, that won't happen for a while. All my life I've lived in constant fear of the near future and our civilization has learned to embrace and overcome it while maintaining a clean track record. However, our methods didn't last forever for we inevitably overstepped our time

bounds and met our ultimate demise. For the sake of this world, it would be best to keep within the bounds but I had a feeling that it couldn't be done alone.

Finally reaching the hill's summit, we came to a grand view that was unlike any other. "Ah, home at last! This never gets old." Judy cheered while doing a rainbow stretch. "I know, right?" Hazel commented.

The valley before us was vast, hilly, full of family-sized crop fields, speckled with thick oak trees, had a calming stream, and dotted with many wooden homes. My first impression was that we were entering Hobbitville or the Shire because all the houses were tucked into the hills; However, one big difference here is that a portion of the home was built inside the hill while another large portion was built outside the hill and both portions appeared to be connected. This I knew because the hills themselves had small individual window sills scattered throughout.

My, if those houses extended within the hills, imagine how large the interior could be. With over 270 brothers and sisters, it would have to be massive. This area wasn't just some giant rabbit hole in the dirt; Rather, it was a well-organized modern family network.

We descended down the hill and I carefully gripped the cabin to ensure the truck wouldn't roll with gravity. The homes were finally coming to a clearer view and many were well lit as the sun shone its brilliant light upon them while preparing to set for the day. We were a couple of yards away, about 77 yards, away from the nearest house. Most of the frontal homesteads were similar in design with a few variations between them. All houses had plenty of windows, pink wood all over, small pieces of stained redwood, frontal white arches lined with inner white arches, spacious front porches, well-kept gardens, and rounded maple wooden front doors. However, there were a few dwellings that differed from others such as having bunny ears attached to the roof, lightning rods, bright red shingles, interwoven metallic railings with a bunny head design, and even carrot lights. Why not, I figured.

The overall setting was quite nice but it did feel like being on set for a kid's movie, or a PG-rated movie. Everything seemed so family-friendly, well-kept, original, tight-knitted, and family-oriented. This was quite a contrast to my universe when compared to all the homes found on my former planet. In our time, everybody lived on their own, and the more space you had between each other, the better it was considered. Even the wealthy didn't settle for a big home and preferred to go extreme by purchasing their own planet, often artificial, and allow no one to trespass there.

I remembered 27 months before the dimensional collapse, the planet Mars was on the market for quite some time until a retired private military contractor purchased it with an astronomical amount of 37 quintillion units with Phobos and Deimos included. Receiving an invitation to visit someone's home was rare to never since most people preferred to be left alone and completely undisturbed. I thought 6 feet was bad enough but many seemed to mandate a 6-kilometer social distance with severe repression awaiting those who wouldn't comply. Thus, finding someone to trust was hard, life was a cold reality, and no one really cared. Once in a while, we would come together, especially for urgent work matters, but only when it was absolutely necessary.

Going from a simulated Earth life, filled with love, joy, and close family, and then abruptly waking up in a cold, dark future was extremely punishing on my soul. It all felt so backward. The nightmare was supposed to be a bad dream, as any mother would say, but I was awake the whole time. I tried learning to embrace it, mold myself into it, be the best data scientist I could, but I was barely holding on. The great collapse, as frightening as it was, became the only one-way ticket out. In other words, being back at home in my previous world felt like being on set for a rated-R movie.

Thus, here I am now, on this new Earth, hoping and praying that none of it was a dream. Being with a family of talking bunnies was much crazier than I had ever anticipated. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

I inched the truck closer to the first home and we were about 7 yards from the white picket fence. All the doors were miniature, even the windows, but they were well fit for the average bunny. While each specific house feature was small, the overall house itself was not small. It was still quite big and the height was greater than my own. Arching my neck and slowly walking the truck to get a better angle, the house was almost three times my height, about two stories, which would equate to maybe seven stories or less for a bunny.

After a quick glance, I couldn't help but notice the ornate designs spreading along with the outside door frames and window sills. They were all hand/paw crafted and helped give this residence a warm welcoming appearance that I hadn't seen in years.

I stopped pushing the car and looked to Judy. "Is this your house?"

"Not quite! This is uncle Abbot's house but our house is right down there." "Sooo close!" Hazel added.

Judy pointed further down the dirt road with her paw and she must've been referring to the house that was situated upon the middle hill of the valley. It looked just as splendid as the one here next to us except that her house had giant bunny ears on top with each ear appearing to be about the size as a large surfboard. In addition, there was a medium-sized garage adjacent to the house on the right side with an architecture patterned after the house itself, along with a few extra oak trees whose branches were lightly resting on part of the roof's edges. Towards the back of the hill, was an impressive and massive looking tree that was about a third the size of the hill itself. I must say, it was probably the largest oak tree I've seen on this planet so far.

With caution and getting tired, I steadily pushed the truck over the last wooden bridge in the road and we finally made it to the front of the house. My goodness, the house was truly magnificent. It was simple and yet seemed like a lovely place to raise a large family of bunnies. I was going to head for the garage but instead, Stu gestured me to park the truck in an open dirt road patch across the front door.

Finally coming to a complete stop, everyone immediately hopped out of the truck with gladness in their hearts. Hazel, Jack, and Luna skipped excitedly around the area, Bonnie and Stu were doing small upper body stretches of relief, and Judy happily exhaled upon the sight of being back home. It was nice to see the bunny family all content so I just leaned on the roof of the truck cabin to relax, not saying a word, and just listened.

"We're home at last!"

 "Yay!"

"We made it!" 

"Can't wait to rest!"

 "Me too."

"Anyone starving?" "I sure am!"

"Race you inside!"

"Last one there is a baby sloth!"

 "Oh, you're on!'

The three young bunnies hurriedly ran towards the front door and I could see other little bunnies open the door for them on the inside. Looks like there are indeed more of them. I scanned around the hill where the house was and could see young little bunnies scattered throughout and most were playing games, doing art crafts, or rolling down the hill. Just then, I felt a little paw tap my forearm and sure enough, it was Judy with her familiar bright smile.

"Cheribim, thank you so much! You are awesome!"

Judy puts her paw into a fist and gestures me into doing a fist bump by which I gladly return, albeit, with prudence. She still marveled at how large my fist was and one thing I noticed is that I had five fingers while she only had four. She then hopped out of the truck and ran towards her siblings and embraced them with a wide, tight hug that lifted them from the ground. There was another bunny, smaller than the rest that had a cream-colored fur with large green eyes. Her outfit consisted of a pink dress with a blue bodice sporting a pink star and a pink skirt. She happily approached Judy with arms flung open and Judy swiftly embraced her in one movement, picked her up off the ground, and tightly held her close to her face in an affectionate way.

"Ohhh Cotton! How I've missed you! How's my favorite niece doing?"

I couldn't hear what that little bunny named Cotton was saying but she appeared to be whispering something into Judy's ear. The other kids were all so happy to see Judy and she was pretty good at giving them all equal amounts of attention. She was quite the popular older sister in the Hopp's family and it was evident that the amount of love they had for her was remarkable. I tried to count how many bunnies were outside around her but lost count when I got into the thirties range and beyond.

Some of the bunny siblings started to take notice of me but I kept my helmet on and was already positioned on the side of the truck away from the house so that it'd be harder to see me. I tried to be as casual as possible and even gave a little short wave to hopefully appear friendly. Luckily, Judy did well to keep them distracted and occupied before they got too curious and she started to lead some of them back towards the hill and into the house. It's almost like she was herding sheep while doing an exceptional job at it.

To the side, I could see Bonnie and Stu unloading the crates and storing them in a shed close to the garage. I tried to help a little by pushing crates to the edge of the truckbed and grabbing the ones that were tucked in the hard to reach corners near the cabin. As they were coming back for the last couple of crates, a group of about 10 small bunnies rushed in to welcome their parents home.

My, they were pretty cute. Then, 5 or 7 more came in from behind them. Where do Bonnie and Stu keep all these bunnies? I wondered. Each of the tiny bunnies had a wide range of unique colors from Gray to Gold to Brown to Cream to Pale yellow to Black to White and to Lavender. Each one grabbed Bonnie and Stu's legs while they were trying to walk and some of them even attempted to climb on top of their heads.

Notwithstanding, Bonnie and Stu continued to unload all the crates and I admired how much backup energy they had remaining to carry on. They seemed to be getting quite old for this but their faces were still lit with joy and they were sure glad to see their children.

With a handful of bunnies cupped into their arms while one or two were climbing around their heads, Bonnie and Stu made their way towards me.

"Cheribim, once again, we can't thank you enough for pushing our truck all the way back home!"

"Yeah, you really saved us a ton of time. The whole evening in fact! If it weren't for your polar bear strength, we'd still be back at the farm patch."

"Oh, yes, that's right, Stu. It tires me to even think about it."

I looked at both Bonnie and Stu and gave them both a happy nod. "Glad I could help."

At that moment, I felt my brown cloak get caught on something from behind but couldn't tell what it was. I checked to make sure I wasn't accidentally stepping on my cloak and tried to find where on the truck my cloak was getting stuck on. The cloak started to tug once more but there was no telling where on the truck it was getting caught on. After a few seconds of confusion, I felt something climb up my back and, of course, it was one of the little bunnies. He was about a toddler, had big wide brown eyes with a green T-shirt and shorts, and climbed up to my shoulder and stared into the blue eyes of my helmet.

Surprisingly, he didn't seem at all scared and was perhaps too young to know what I was. He continuously climbed around my back and looked around for anything of interest. To make sure he didn't fall I cupped my hands around his little body and carefully grabbed him around the waist, trying my best to do so softly. I gently lifted him up and slowly brought him down to lower chest height.

"Oh Charles, you know better than that..." as Bonnie raised her arms up to receive him.

"Charles" I reaffirmed, looking into his brown bunny eyes before bending down to hand him back to Bonnie.

"Yeah, he's quite the climber, always climbing where he shouldn't be," Stu chuckled. "It's too bad carrots don't grow on trees, otherwise, he'd make a great carrot farmer."

"Mm-hm, maybe one day." Bonnie smiled while pulling Jack into a loving embrace.

Stu came closer to Bonnie and helped take a few bunnies off her legs. While doing so, he intently studied the truck. "We'll get this rustic tin can all fixed up and running by tomorrow morning, first thing. But for now, I'm starving!"

"Oh, Yes! That's right! The kids must be getting pretty hungry. Tonight I'm fixing everyone's favorite!"

"See? That's what I'm talking about!" Stu cheered. "There's nothing wrong with having the best! Oh, look! Here they come!"

He turned around and another group of bunnies came running out the front door and fastly approached both Bonnie and Stu. Some of them jumped, others slid, while the rest ran into their parents at full speed and tightly clutched onto their legs. There were so many bunnies that I almost couldn't see Bonnie and Stu. My, they were sure wild. Bonnie and Stu were still happy as can be to

see them and gave them all much-desired love and undivided attention. I could tell Judy was raised well by her parents.

Bonnie and Stu were trying to make their way towards the front door of the house and were laughing at how much trouble they were having while walking. At least for Stu, he had two bunnies anchored on each leg, a few on his arms, one on his head, and a couple more trying to climb aboard. As for Bonnie, she was barely visible and I smiled at how much those bunnies loved their parents.

My smile though was unlike any smile I've had before in a long while. It was a legit, natural smile and it was something that I hadn't expressed since my simulated life. It felt both natural and unnatural for me to smile the way I did but the amount of joy at this scene was above and beyond. This was a really good family.

"Hazel, Thomas, Bella?" Bonnie called out. "We sure could use some help over here!" "Oh yeah!" Stu agreed while chuckling. "You might have to come and rescue us!" "We're coming!" an unknown voice responded.

"Ha! We'll meet you halfway!" Bonnie laughed.

Bonnie and Stu managed to make it to the porch stairs and I saw the front door open again. Already, I could see a multitude of bunny heads poking out their heads from the sides. A gray furred bunny emerged from the doorway to help Bonnie and Stu out. He appeared to be in his teens and was wearing black pants and a tan shirt. Right behind him, there was another bunny of lighter color who also helped the parents get some slack and she was likely a young teenager.

The front door remained open but most of the bunnies were inside by now. From here, I could see the room behind the doorway was well lit and the parents were busy embracing the other young bunnies, including the teens themselves who gave side hugs.

I continued standing there, watching the front of the house, and processing the variety of thoughts flowing through my head. Beneath the mask, a wide but closed smile came to my face and I kept shaking my head in disbelief. I looked down at the ground with my forehead resting on my arms. This has to be a dream, I reasoned. It's gotta be. None of this was real. It's just... too good to be true.

In my world, the simulation chambers served that very purpose: to provide a reasonable and realistic environment by which we could experience joy. Our world was filled with immeasurable stress and neverending feelings of emptiness despite our proudest achievements. We had the most advanced medicine, we've cured cancer, we've built artificial worlds, we had access to the largest knowledge database in the universe, we practically had unlimited energy, and we had access to the most striking visuals of the galaxy.

However, none of that really mattered. We were missing something. We lost focus on what mattered most. We were lost.

A small tear came to my eye but I couldn't wipe it. I tried to but my helmet was in the way. Regardless, I kept thinking. My mind was racing back and forth as if I were jumping between past, present, and future so I started to pace down the road. I walked down the road further and gazed beyond the hills to see the stars out, bright, and in full glory. It looked beautiful as I remembered it before but then my head sunk and my eyes were back towards the ground.

I felt like I was out of place, particularly with my mind. It was as if I were standing on the firm ground until a crack opened up the Earth below me until it turned into a ravine. My legs were beginning to spread and I tried to keep a boot on each side but the ravine was growing bigger and bigger until I could feel myself falling.

Of course, this was all going through my head. I placed my hands on my head, closed my eyes as tightly as I could, and tried to let the storm pass. Finally, the internal storm occurring around my mind was slowly starting to dissipate. Everything was now calm but I still felt like the wind was knocked out of me. My head began to lightly throb so I decided to walk down the dirt road and hopefully shake it off.

Each step I took was small but it seemed to gradually shake off the pain. A couple of paces later, I was further down the dirt road and about 27 feet from the truck. I looked around the valley and everything was so calm and even the crickets were chirping. The breeze was light but I could hear the grass blades waving in the air and the top of the sun had barely disappeared from view. It was getting dark but the stars were still out, twinkling, and beaming before my eyes.

The panorama was nice so I simply stood there and kept looking beyond. It was much like a 1000-yard stare or even a 1000-lightyear stare.

On the dirt road, there was a soft sound approaching that was nearly inaudible at first but was getting closer and closer. The sound became a low thumping sound and then it became a sound of soft footsteps. There was another bunny approaching from behind and the sound eventually split into two.

I turned around and could see that it was actually two familiar bunnies jogging towards me. It was Hazel and Judy. "Cheribim, Wait!" Judy called.

"Wait up!" Hazel followed from behind.

It was nice to see two familiar faces so I instinctively pulled off my helmet, since both have already seen me, and held it to my side. I smiled and gave one upward nod.

"Hey"

They both caught up and stood directly in front of me. Hazel had her arms folded and Judy leaned on one hip with a paw on the other. Looks like both have changed into more casual outfits since both were wearing black leggings while Judy wore a tank top with a t-shirt over it while Hazel was wearing a purple shirt.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Judy asked

"Yeah, we've been looking all over for you."

 "Oh, nowhere really," I answered

"But what are you doing out here?"

"Um...Just thinking. Thinking about where togo next."

"But it's getting dark. You won't have any daylight to get anywhere! Besides, we wanted to invite you to dinner with us." 

This took me by surprise "Really?"

"Of course! You helped us a ton today and we wanted to share our gratitude,"

 "Oh, no, I'm okay...really. That's very kind of you."

"Please Cheribim."

"Yeah, you can't just walk off on us like that. After all, we've been through today. Stay for dinner or else my mom might take offense to it."

"Please, please! We'd love to have you."

I pondered their offer and it seemed wise to accept it. My stomach was indeed growling for I had not eaten for the space of many days and nano-particle food never tasted good anyway so it's best that I don't use up the reserve. After all, I'm not in space anymore.

"That would be great..." I stammered. 

"Yay!" They cheered.

"See Hazel? I knew we could talk some sense into him!"

"Oh, of course, Jude-the-dude. Just another one of your 'hustles'..."

 "C'mon, let's get inside quick before they send a search party"

"Yes, let's!"

Hazel and Judy took off running but quickly stopped in their tracks and noticed that I wasn't moving or following them. The only moving thing that was moving me was their immense kindness. They both glanced at each other, ran back, each grabbed one of my giant gauntlet fingers on my left arm, and started to pull me towards the house in which I finally followed.

"C'mon slowpoke, don't be shy."

"His paws are huge!" Hazel gasped.

"They sure are! But I've seen bigger in Zootopia."

"I wonder what they look like underneath"

Judy looked back at me with a smile that quickly turned into a concerned frown for she noticed something was off. "Cherry, are.. are you okay? Your eye...I see a tear mark in it."

She pointed to the bottom of my right eye and I remembered that it was from earlier when I was in deep emotional thought and forgot to wipe it. I rarely tear up much but when I do, it's usually a single drop only.

"Oh, it's... it's nothing." I mumbled, "... a little something in my eye is all."

"You'll feel much better once you try my mother's special!  C'mon, let's head inside." 

"And don't forget to duck!" Hazel advised.

The two bunnies already had me ducking anyway as they pulled me towards the front of the house. I stared at the front and noticed that the main entrance was below my waist so I'd definitely have to crawl through to enter. It might look strange but they insisted anyway.

We had just reached the porch stairs and then Judy abruptly stopped in her tracks with Hazel doing the same.

"Oh, and one more thing!" Judy said turning to face me. "You might want to leave your mask on for this one, just in case. At least until my brothers and sisters get used to you."

"...Right." I nodded in agreement.

The helmet was propped under my right arm, I gripped it with both hands, looked into its eyes, and then placed it on my head with the nano-particles automatically forming a seal around the neck.

"How do I look?"

Both carefully examined my entire suit of armor.

"It could use some more work but it'll do for now! We'll have plenty of help afterward." "Oh, It'll be exciting, for sure," Hazel commented.

Hopefully, the bunnies wouldn't go too far with the crafts and disguises as I was imagining. Either way, I felt I could trust them and that I should trust them. Judy was about to open the large oak door but I gently raised a hand in front of me as a signal to wait and they stopped to turn around.

"Judy... Hazel... Thank you..."

Both looked up, smiled, and then proceeded with opening the front door. I had to get on all fours and noticed the purple welcome mat that simply said 'Welcome' in all carrot letters. Inching my way forward, I could see what looked like a lobby/foyer and carefully made my way inside.

"Don't worry, the front room should be tall enough for you to stand," Hazel commented from behind.

 "I'm not too big?"

"Positive. Almost every room is a double-decker"

I finally made it into the room and was also welcomed by a fresh scent of lavender and light pink colored walls. There was a beautifully carved table situated in the center of the circular lobby with multiple family pictures. After slowly standing up, my head accidentally tapped a glass carrot-looking chandelier by which I was fortunate enough to not break. It was about the size of Stu and would've been quite a mess to clean up had it shattered. My head nearly tapped the ceiling so I only had to adjust my knees in a slightly bent way to stand up straight. However, as I looked around, I noticed the doorways to the other rooms would require crawling, perhaps a bit lower clearance than the front door.

The house interior reminded me of something straight from Dr. Seuss's classical children's books because the walls were all mainly bright pink in color with a little dark pink trim that resembled frosting on a cake. The trim was on top of rails, ledges, frames, and even a couple of places on the floor. By and by I realized that the light pink on the walls matched the bunnies ears and some of the entryways to other rooms in the house even had delicate arches on top that were in the shape of bunny ears. If one were to apply yellow paint to the tops of those arches, you'd get a Mcdonald's looking entrance, which is the name of a restaurant that went out of business centries ago in my world.

There were about 7 other doorways connected to the front lobby, including the front door, and all other passages led to other parts of the house which I couldn't see well for I was too tall and at an awkward angle. Nevertheless, it was quite clear that this house

had a vast network of rooms that made the house at least three times larger on the inside than outside because many voices, young and old, were echoing throughout the halls. Some voices were amplified while others were muffled and the entire house felt full of unbridled energy. Overall, the feeling inside was relaxing, calming, and even stress-free from the outside worries of the world.

Judy came in from behind me, placed herself middle and center between me and the main table. She did a 180 pivot to face me and placed both paws together.

"Welcome to the Hopps family home! Please make yourself comfortable and we'll have dinner ready shortly! Would you like some water or anything?"

"No, I'm good. Thank you."

On the table behind her, there were a couple of family pictures resting atop a rounded pink table runner and I couldn't help but look at them. There were about twenty of them, all different, and seemed to fall under different categories but I couldn't tell. I browsed through them until I saw one with a familiar face, namely Judy. After taking a step towards the table, I pointed at the one I was looking at.

"Is that...you?

"Yep, sure is!" Judy proudly said. "My partner Nick always makes fun of my pose, haha." "May I?"

"Sure!"

She carefully handed me the picture-frame and I noticed more members of the Hopps family, such as Stu, Bonnie, Judy's niece, and Jack were in the portrait but couldn't tell whether Hazel and Luna were in there or not. Chances are, they were probably in one of the other pictures on the table.

"Wait, so does everyone live here or in separate houses?"

"Heavens no! Me, my mom, my dad, and all 275 of my brothers and sisters all live here under the same hill. Crazy, right? "Quite."

Carefully cradling the picture in my hand, I admired at just how sweet and happy they all were together and it gave me a warm feeling inside that I haven't felt in quite some time. I bent over to hand the picture back to Judy who gently placed it back in its original spot.

"We can't all exactly fit in the same picture. We tried that once and it was all too crazy! You might as well play hopscotch on a unicycle with a blindfold!"

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"Oh, har har!" as Judy rolled her eyes.

Near the doorways behind Judy, I could see multiple tiny bunny ears popping out until little tiny heads nervously and curiously started poking out. Even from here, they looked more adorable in real life than in the pictures which is saying much because they were quite angelic looking in the photographs. They all kept looking at me with mixed facial expressions and didn't know what to do or say.

"My, those kids sure look cute." I complimented.

Judy gave an uncomfortable look. "Oh,  um, there's probably something I should tell you..."