I Kill For The Trees!

[Sans]

The yellow bird perched itself on top of a tiny branch connected to one of the many, many forest trees they were walking through. It glanced around, absentmindedly rubbing its beady, black eyes with the base of its wings. After a few moments, it chirped before it flew off of the branch and towards their destination.

The group had been walking for upwards of thirty minutes with nary an interruption after the carnivorous plant. The occasional rustling of leaves and the small glimpses of shadows roaming within the forest put the travelers on edge, but Guu reassured them at every point. Despite that, Sans made sure he always held the rear of the group, if only to be able to check behind them without the others noticing.

They continued following the bird. The blackness of night soon took over the sky. The moon casted a silver luminescence onto the travelers below. A small, cold breeze blew through the forest, whistling a scratchy, dissonant tone that echoed all around the group. Aside from the wind, it was quiet, as if the forest itself had died with the light.

The Princess was as monotone and deadpan as she had been when she and Sans first met, and he couldn’t wrap his head around why. At least Ice Bear and Undyne took their environment with a degree of caution, judging from how tightly they held their weapons and their tendency to scan the darkness behind the trees. Guu, on the other hand, marched on with an uncaring grace to her step, as if there really was nothing to worry about. Was she confident in her ability to handle any threat that came their way, or was she simply stupid, spoiled even? Then again, leading a whole city required some level of intelligence, didn’t it?

He reminded himself of Desco. She was Guu’s best friend. Strange minds must have thought alike. Perhaps Guu just wasn’t human or a monster or anything he could reliably classify as something he could understand. He didn’t want to say she was a god, but the more he thought about her, the more he was beginning to draw that conclusion.

Regardless, she held the key to finding Papyrus. It was best if he stopped thinking about Guu and started to think about not screwing up. The last thing he wanted was for the Princess to grow suspicious of him and start speaking into his head some more.

“Looking at your capabilities, yeah, let’s avoid that.”

For the first time in his life, he couldn’t tell what someone meant when they spoke.

As he pondered, he didn’t notice that the group had stopped until he had bumped right into Undyne’s back.

“why did we stop?” he said, trying his best to sound jovial.

“We’ve got a problem.” Undyne replied, pushing to the front of the group. Sans followed suit.

A few feet away, underneath a wooden sign detailing the road they were on--it said Wall Street,-- sat a grey-colored wolf. A long gash cut along its stomach, small lines of blood dripping onto the dirt road. It looked emaciated, its skin outlining its bones and ribcage. It sat in silence, staring at the group, like a statue.

“Guys, it’s just a wolf.” Guu said, taking a step forward.

The wolf sprang to its feet, the action stopping Guu in her tracks. It bared its teeth, growling. Its eyes filled with ravenous, desperate hunger, it barked louder and louder, breaking the silence the forest once had.

“that thing’s just wolfin’ out over there.” Sans said, allowing the pun to sink in before realizing no one was going to react to it and deciding to keep going. “it’s like an old man yellin’ at us to get off its lawn.”

“Looks pretty old too. Doesn’t look like we’re the first to come by this way, either.” Undyne said, pointing at the wolf’s wounds.

Guu shrugged. “It’s just an old dog. We got a bunch of those here in the Greens.”

Sans snickered. “hey, undyne? ya think this one could win a muzzle-nuzzling contest?”

Undyne rolled her eyes, suppressing a giggle.

“Ice Bear is wondering why it’s alone. Wolves come in packs.”

The group stopped laughing.

The skeleton turned around. His eyes widened for a brief moment.

A large pack of similarly thin but doubly rabid and ravenous wolves circled them. Their eyes glowed in the darkness; their growls pervaded the air; their showed off their massive, sharp canines, drooling from the overwhelming scent of a potential meal. As they drew closer, it became more than clear that no amount of reasoning or firepower would hold them back from their singular purpose: the need to eat.

“uh…” Sans said, “anyone wanna throw us a bone or somethin'? that doesn’t involve me hopefully i mean?”

“No, but we do have a kickass battle pose!” Undyne said as she summoned her spear. She pointed it at the group’s left, readying herself to fight.

Ice Bear lifted his axe and faced the group’s right. Sans sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he stared down, smiling the whole while, at the wolves lining the rear. All the while, he glanced over to Undyne every few moments to ensure she was alright. Despite the danger to him, he was certain he could avoid getting eaten long enough for the whole pack to be killed off. He wasn’t certain he could say the same thing for Undyne.

He heard the small whirring of what sounded like a gatling gun. He looked behind him for a brief moment to see that the source was Guu, who had her left arm popped open and pointed at the still barking grey wolf.

He didn’t get much chance to comment on how ridiculous she looked doing that before the gun fired, bullets slamming into the old wolf and toppling it to the ground. The rest of the pack took that as the cue to attack.