Episode 26

## Day 9

*Flashback with Scoop McCutchen:*

*She was kidnapped by the Humbugs. Scoop revealed that she was a journalist, and learned the ways of the Humbugs for 1-2 days. They protected her from the Wizard, and they led her back to her hotel room through an otherworldly portal. She receives a decorative Humbug armband (assumed to be an exoskeleton).*

*She reads The Daily Beagle, finding out that two local farmers are suffering from a severe stomach virus of some kind.*

Scoop travels to the hospital mentioned in the article.

Robin, seeing Papa Gimble’s back explode into tentacles, screams. The tentacles begin to drag Papa Gimble’s body toward Robin. He sprints back into the building with Jarble beside him.

Scoop approaches from behind, snaps a photo of the tentacled monstrosity, and attempts to circumvent around to the back of the building. She notices everyone in the lobby of the office.

Inside, Remy pulls out her bat and pushes PT away from the door. Robin and Conrad barricade the door.

Scoop reaches the back door of the building, and enters through the back door, looking around for anything to use as a weapon. She notices Blood attending to a young woman (Jorf). The rest of the Outlaws enter the back office hallway, greeting Scoop and explaining the situation.

Conrad bursts into the in-patient suite. Blood locks him in the suite. All the beds are empty and PT’s is missing, except for Jorf’s hospital bed. She is not waking up to his shouts. Inside the chest at the foot of her bed, Conrad finds a yo-yo, her farm clothes, a pair of shoes, and one dollar. Conrad snags the yo-yo. Jorf’s bed occasionally convulses. Hearing that Blood will not let him out of the hospital room, he snakes the yo-yo around her neck, straddling her convulsing body and attempting to garrote her. Conrad quietly says a prayer as he finishes strangling her. PT finishes writing his last will and testament.

Remy lets Conrad out of the room and Blood runs back into the room. He pours blood onto Jorf’s tentacled body, angering the tentacles. They let him out of the room, and he tells them he will explain what he has done but that they need to follow Remy’s advice and burn the place to the ground. They all exit the building carrying various strange instruments. Remy grabs a molotov cocktail from PT, lights it, and throws it into the building, slamming the door behind her.

Robin asks Blood if there is a place they can lay low, but he explains that they have to make sure the tentacle monster is dead and then they have to cut this off at the source: Cuppy Gimble. He pulls out various instruments from his labcoat, attempting to create (?) a weapon.

Blood attempts to shoot Conrad with the tranq, but misses. He mentions that he has tests to give them.

Both Robin and Remy sip the blood that Blood passes him, and both pass the test (feel nothing strange upon drinking the blood). Remy yells at Broccoli to sip the blood, and when he insults her, Conrad tackles him to the ground. Remy slices open her hand and drips some of the blood into Broccoli’s mouth, and he begins to squirm around as his tummy grumbles. He projectile vomits blood into Conrad’s face. Remy and Scoop share an intimate moment as she gives Scoop her blood. Scoop and PT are fine, though Conrad admits to feeling a small tinge.

The Outlaws head to Jarble’s car. They find his shotgun and toss it to PT. Conrad hops in the bed while the others pack into the seats of the truck, Remy at the wheel.

Remy follows Blood’s scrawled instructions to the Gimble farm. They arrive at the property line, noting a light on on the second floor of the house. Remy pulls the car up to the house and keeps it running. Conrad hops out of the bed, rips off his gown to avoid the noise of it flapping in the wind, and enters the house stealthily. Conrad thinks to himself, “I am the waxing of the moon. I am the darkness that sidles in.”

Conrad heads upstairs to the second floor where they noticed the light on. He slowly opens the door. On the bed lies Cuppy Gimble, wide-eyed and staring out into the hallway. Conrad introduces himself and explains why he is there. Cuppy acknowledges that his father is dead. “I felt it.”

Scoop begins notetaking on the story, as Remy hovers near the front door, baseball bat drawn. Robin looks around the grounds for a ladder. PT sits on the hood of the car, shotgun drawn.

Cuppy says that he feels “better than ever.” Conrad moves to the doorway, buck ass naked. He walks into the room and sits on the end of the bed, crossing his legs. Cuppy offers Conrad a coat in the closet. He goes to root around the closet.

Robin notices a barn on the property and finds various farm equipment items. He grabs the metal hook and a bale of hay.

As Conrad is rooting around in the closet, Cuppy stands up from the bed, tentacles already wiggling from his chest. Conrad grabs the brown trenchcoat and slips it on, turning around to notice the tentacled Cuppy. Conrad attempts to drop to the ground to avoid Cuppy’s incoming tentacle, but it manages to knock him against the wall.

Cuppy approaches Conrad, lifting his hands as his tentacles flow outward toward Conrad. Conrad puts his hands around Cuppy’s neck, intending to choke him out.