“The correct term for such analysis is midget robot,” the robot with the ladder stated from the back of the sleigh.

“**** both of you }:[ ,” the small robot typed in some type of speech bubble over his head.

“That’s my little brother, Roby,” Nigiel stated as he vaulted onto the sleigh with ease despite having a whole coffin on his back. “He’s also an engineer.”

“Hm, that’s good,” I said while hopping onto the sleigh with much more effort than I intended. “And who is that?”

“That’s Escalate,” Sebrisha chimed in as she laid down in  one of the seats. “He’s a recon robot that I bought to help me find things. I bought him at a scrap yard after I saw him crawling out of a burning pit.”

“Huh,” I said as I sat down on the seat beside her. “Why does he have a ladder?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged.  He won’t let it go.”

Christopher entered the sleigh and sat down in one of the front seats, with Nigiel sitting right beside him. Roby then moved up toward the front of the sleigh, and when he got there, a wheel suddenly popped out of the floor.

“All right, ladies and gentlemen :},” Roby typed as he touched the wheel. As soon as he touched it, the sleigh purred to life, along with the headlights turning on and shining on the makeshift road the dwarves use for material exports. “Are you ready?”

“This is a dirt road inside a giant cave, with stones littering the entire thing. So whatever you do, just go slowly and avoid hitting anyone.” I said quickly while buckling my seat belt.

“All right, go as fast as physically possible while hitting everyone, got it ;),” Roby said as I felt the sleigh change gears.

“WAIT, NO! THAT NOT WHAT I S-,” I tried to get out, but before I could finish my sentence, the sleigh burst forward down the tunnel, almost giving me whiplash. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw people quickly diving out of the way just to not get hit by the sleigh, when it isn’t even snowing.

“Your going to hit someone!” I yelled while trying to lean forward.

“Then they better get out of the way!” Sebrisha yelled back as she rushed to buckle her seat belt, and with that, we made it to the surface.

 

“So,” I asked as I looked up at the three moons that are currently shining in our sky. “Why are you all heading to Ghoul Town, and remind me again why we are traveling there at night?”

“Im heading there to find someone to tell me what this stone can do,” Sebrisha said while lifting up a black stone that’s giving off some weird energy.

“Im heading there for a full checkup and a DNA test,” Nigiel said as he looked off into the woods

“I’m heading there to meet back up with my boss and tell him what happened. He was supposed to be having a trip there on August 13^th, so all I have to do is wait there for 3 days.” Christopher explained.

“To look up my original model,” Roby typed as he turned his head around like an owl.

“Meth,” Escalate said behind me.

“Hm,” I replied. I then shook my head and looked back as soon as I realized what he just said. “Wait, what?”

“I am just here to work for Sebrisha,” he announced.

“That’s not what you just said,” I pointed out.

“What are you talking about? He only said one sentence.” Sebrisha said while beginning to lay down.

“He just said meth.”

“Why on earth would he say meth? He’s a robot. He can’t even consume it.”

“My body and model are unable to physically consume the matter, and the only effects it would have if I tried would be possible system clogging and/or jamming.” Escalate announced.

I snapped my finger at him. “Don’t gaslight me, I know what you said.” I was about to say something else, but a sudden howl made my blood go cold. We all looked to our left to see a group of glowing red eyes peering through the darkness, the sight of it all makes my skin crawl as I fight the urge to jump off this sleigh and run away as fast as I could.

But surprisingly, the glowing eyes didn’t advance. All they did was stare as we passed by. And as we  continue to move, the eyes slowly disappeared into the darkness from which they came.

I let out a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding and looked over at Nigiel who was still looking into the darkness. I couldn’t read his expression because his head was mostly a skull, but it did change after seeing those eyes.

I opened my mouth to ask him if something was wrong, but before I could, Christopher asked me a question.

“So, doctor, you’re going to say why you’re headed to Ghoul Town?” Christopher asked while turning around.

“Oh, yeah.” I said while leaning back against my seat. “Well, besides making sure you don’t pass out and die during your trip there, I’m going to switch medical fields into something less…. bloody.” 

"Hmmm, so what made you follow through with that choice?" Sebrisha asked while examining her gauntlet. "Did someone's stomach explode while you were operating on them."

"No, and I’m not a surgeon," I replied. “Just want to change the field to see what it's like for a couple of months, and if I don't like it, I'll change it back.” I said as I looked through the seemingly endless rows of trees that surround us. The only  thing lighting our path besides the sleigh's headlight is the eternal blue lanterns that are aligned with the road.

Funny enough, this is one of the most used roads in the daytime, so it’s usually packed. Can’t say the same about night, though. In the nighttime, the worst of the monsters comes out and attacks anything that’s stupid enough to be out here at night. The only reason why we haven’t been attacked yet is that the worst of the worst type of monsters is out here in this area, and those monsters are the Wolvers.

I look toward Nigiel, who is now staring off into the distance with his scythe in his hand and rubbing the blade. I then sighed as I mustered up the courage and finally asked him the burning question I'd been wanting to ask all day.

“Hey Nigiel, what do you know about wolvers?” I asked.

Nigiel turned his head slightly to the right, still keeping his gaze toward the tree. “What I know about them, or how I feel about them?”

“Both.”

“Well, what my grandpa told me is that Wolver’s come in two forms. The first form is when a werewolf has just turned, when there is still time to save their soul, even if it’s difficult. In this form, it is actually when they are at their weakest and most vulnerable due to their humanity and consciousness still being there.” He explained as he scratched his head. “And for how I feel, well,” he then sighed. “It’s like,” he paused for a moment. “Seeing a person you once knew who has succumbed to drug addiction so much so that they can’t even recognize you. It’s like…” He paused again. “Seeing a shell of the man who no longer exists. And has me wondering, what made them give up and choose that living as a beast is better than dying as a man?”

The sleigh fell silent for a while after that as we all continued to look forward into what seemed like an endless road lit with purple lights. But the thing that interrupted this seemingly endless silence was none other than Sebrisha.

Well, her snoring, to be exact.

Her snoring was so loud that it covered up the crickets and other bugs making noise in these woods.

“Holy hell,” Christopher laughed as he turned around in his seat. “Is that her snoring like that?”

“Yes, she snores like an earthquake,” Nigiel said while making a scary sound that might have been a laugh.

“She snores like a linebacker after winning an overtime game,” I said with a small laugh.

“On my calculations, you would be incorrect. Sebrisha currently has the average linebacker beat by a massive percentage of 50%,” Escualte corrected. We all laughed at that one, with Nigiel trying to hide his laugh by putting his hand up to his face.

And after the laughing was done, something managed to catch my eye, and when I looked forward, relief washed over me.

“What is that?” Nigiel asked as he brought his head forward.

“That would be Ghoultown, one of the rather famous landmarks in the state of Mississippi,” I said with a smile.

Nigiel then grunted as he leaned back against his chair. “Are the people nice?”

“Oh yeah, don’t worry. I heard Ghoul Town is one of the nicest places to live,” I said with a smile.