The Wonderground

18 - Land of the Noviwolves

They barely had any time to search the goods compartment for somewhere to sit before they felt the sensation of the train beginning to slow as they entered a station.

The doors hissed open and the stench hit them immediately. Rotting meat. With an aftertaste of excrement and urine. Elliot felt his gag reflex spasming. He held his breath and pinched his nose.

"Eugh," squealed Rose and Isla as they recoiled and stepped back from the train doors.

"Wilson is this your dorm room?" smirked Charlie as he lifted his arm to try and breathe through the material of his sleeve.

Jack smiled sarcastically. He was about to throw a witty response back at Charlie when he was interrupted by the high-pitched howl of a large animal. He gulped and strained to listen as three more creatures howled in reply.

"Oh dear," Eeleye muttered to himself, reaching for a thick pair of gloves from his desk and hurriedly sliding his hands inside.

"Oh dear?" stammered Elliot despairingly. "What do you mean 'oh dear'?"

"I appear to have miscalculated," responded Eeleye in mild panic.

"Meaning what exactly?" asked Rose pointedly.

"No full moon tonight," confessed Eeleye as he dropped his head. "Sorry."

The public address system crackled to life and Tog Twigpepper's familiar drone wafted through the compartment.

"Land of the Noviwolves your next station stop. Change here for the Naughty Line. Please ensure you have warmed up and tied your shoelaces before exiting the train. As you leave, take extra care and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

The howls echoed through the station and then stopped abruptly. Silence filled the deathly blackness of the platform.

It was Elliot, surprisingly, who was the first to poke his head through the compartment doors. "They've gone," he sighed with relief.

"But for how long?" added Isla, as she ventured tentatively onto the platform with one foot. The floor was bare earth and soft underfoot. The only light came from two wall torches, burning with naked flames, that cast creepy dancing shadows across the damp black rock walls of the station.

"I would not wait to find out," advised Eeleye who began shepherding them down the steps.

Jack was the last to step down. As soon as his trainer touched the dirt of the platform, Eeleye reached for a tassel pull cord that was dangling by the open doors. He yanked it twice. The brass steps retracted loudly.

"Run, you fools!" croaked Eeleye just before the carriage doors snapped shut. He pointed vigorously through the murky glass in the direction of a wide opening in the rock.

A desolate howl pierced the silence.

"Run!" screamed Amelia.

Survival instinct kicked in and the six leapt into life. They scrambled half-blindly in the direction of a weakly lit sign that was flickering intermittently. 'Northbound Naughty Line' was barely readable in faded black letters.

"Women and children first!" shrieked Rose at full sprint as she bounded into the lead. Her pulse was racing and she felt the blood pounding in her ears. Up above her she could see the warm glow of a trail of yellow lights stretching away from them. Another platform was suspended above their heads by a complicated structure of steelwork and scaffolding. Three wrought iron ladders sprouted from the earth in front of them that led to a grilled walkway that was hanging from the high ceiling by thick metal ropes. Rose reached the nearest ladder first and began scaling upwards, two rungs at a time. The ladder was freezing cold and slippery-wet. Rose hoped it was just condensation.