Season 2 - Episode 72: Dumped

## Synopsis

Bjorn takes a crying Sammie back to the Fort. Miguel 'blesses' the squonk tears by performing a purification ritual on them and hands the bottle to Sammie to drink. Once she drinks the bottle, the effects of the squonk bite are reversed. They leave the Fort to pick up Henry and make a new plan to catch the squonk. Henry, at the swamp, tries to mind wipe the other hiker so that there is no trace left of their encounter. He knocks the man out and then runs into the woods to wait for Bjorn and Sammie. Together, the crew heads to a local landfill as they realize the squonk seems to like garbage. At the landfill, they corner the squonk and try to force it through a Rift portal. However, a dinosaur-like creature pushes its head through a portal and rips the head of the squonk before disappearing back inside. Afterward, Bjorn calls Holland to ask about the teenagers in the hospital. She informs them that the teenager's conditions are improving now that the squonk is dead.

## Episode Description

The last attempt at yeeting the squonk back into a Rift ended... poorly. Maybe this one will go better?

## Key Events

* Miguel performs a purification ritual on the squonk tears and after Sammie drinks them the effects of the squonk bite are reversed.
* Bjorn, Henry, and Sammie find the squonk in the local landfill. When trying to get it through a Rift portal, a creature from the other side jumps through and kills it.
* After the squonk is dead, they discover another dehydrated, dead body. However, they find out that the teenagers in the hospital have finally stopped crying and are improving.

## Summary

Bjorn is flying Sammie back to the Fort. He tries to reassure her that everything will be fine but Sammie still can't stop herself from crying. She says that she's not even sad, more irritated. Bjorn realizes that Sammie is becoming clammy and damp as her transformation into tears advances.

Bjorn and Sammie head down the courtyard entrance of the Fort and to Miguel's workshop. Miguel already has the bottle of tears ready. Once in the workshop, Miguel imbues the tears with magic. He uses a small purification ritual and the tears in the bottle begins to glow golden and filled with dots of light like glitter. Miguel holds it out for Sammie and tells her she'll have to drink the whole bottle. Sammie drinks the mixture - the texture oddly feels like its carbonated however the taste is still salty and unpleasant. As she's drinking, she realizes her skin had started to deflate as she lost all her fluid, but it starts to expand again now that she's drinking the 'blessed' squonk tears. Her body fills back with fluid and then she quickly runs out of the room to the bathroom.

Bjorn chats with Stanley and Miguel about what they've found out about the creature so far and Miguel suggests instead of trying to find it, they lure it somewhere. Bjorn realizes it was looking for trash at one point, so it may be hungry for trash or leftover food. Sammie comes back into the room, thankfully no longer crying. Bjorn tells Sammie he thinks they should go to the local dump or garbage processing facility to see if the squonk is there. Sammie agrees that sounds like a good idea and Bjorn suggests they stay together this time. They head back to Big Gator Swamp to pick up Henry.

Henry, the park ranger, and the two hikers arrive back at the ranger's station. The park ranger and the other hiker carry the unconscious hiker to a safe spot to lay down and the park ranger says they've already called ahead to EMS and they're on their way. The park ranger heads inside to get them all something to drink, leaving Henry and the other hiker alone. Henry tells the hiker everything seems fine for now and holds out his hand to shake. When the hiker grabs his hand, Henry attempts to mind wipe him through the contact. The hiker collapses immediately but Henry's hand burns with pain. Hen runs into the woods to hide and tells Bjorn and Sammie to meet him a distance away.

Bjorn has to pick his car up from the lot at the ranger station. He can see a park ranger angrily giving a statement to a police officer on scene and two unconscious men being loaded into an ambulance. Thankfully the men don't appear to be crying or deflating, so don't seem to be effected by the squonk. As Bjorn is leaving the lot, an officer flags him down and asks if he's seen anyone matching Henry and Sammie's description. Bjorn pulls out his badge and tells the officer he's working with Captain Holland and to tell her to assign this case to him when he's on duty. The officer lets him go. Bjorn picks up Henry and Sammie a distance away.

Bjorn, Henry, and Sammie meet up and head to a landfill on the southwest side of West. Sammie guides them to the location. The area is a secluded location, its fenced off and appears to be closed. Bjorn and Henry fly over the fence and Sammie crawls over. Bjorn investigates the building and looks through the window. He sees an unconscious man inside, who looks dehydrated. They can't tell if he's breathing or not. Bjorn tries to open the door but its locked. Bjorn tells them to be quiet and motions for them to keep looking for squonk.

The three spread out across the landfill. Sammie suddenly hears a familiar snuffling noise and notices a stream of fluid travelling across the ground ahead of her. She whistles to get Bjorn and Henry's attention and motions ahead of her. The snuffling noise stops at the sound of the whistle. Bjorn and Henry move over to join up with Sammie and they cautiously walk forward. The round a corner to find the squonk contently eating a wheel of moldy cheese. Bjorn gives them a signal and they all attempt to make a portal around the squonk so that it's surrounded.

Bjorn and Sammie's portals form perfectly fine, but something goes wrong with Henry's spell and it doesn't form. The squonk turns and runs away from the portals, directly toward Henry. Henry fires his gun at the squonk and it disappears into a puddle of tears. Exasperated, they try to come up with a new plan. They decide to grab the moldy wheel of cheese and head back to the nest. Just as they're about to leave, Bjorn hears the squonk nearby. Bjorn flies up into the air and spots the squonk at a different pile of garbage, eating a bag of onions.

Bjorn suggests Henry and Sammie form portals and he'll throw the cheese through to see if the squonk will chase the cheese through the portal. Bjorn gives them the signal and Henry and Sammie open their portals behind the squonk. It stops eating and watches the Rift for a few moments before going back to his onions. Bjorn throws the cheese, but it lands in front of the portals instead of going through them. The squonk turns its attention to the cheese and starts to eat it. Bjorn grabs the bag of onions and starts to throw them through the portals like he's pitching softballs, trying to get the creature to follow them into the portals. The squonk begins to follow the trail of onions into the portals before Bjorn notices something large and scaly has noticed them on the other side of the portal Sammie has created.

Bjorn tries to tell Sammie to close her portal. Sammie notices too late that Bjorn is trying to talk to her without alerting the creature on the other side. The large, scaly creature that look similar to a giant velociraptor reaches its head through the portal and bites into the squonk, ripping its head off immediately. Sammie tries to close the portal but can't now that the creature is caught in it. Bjorn levels his assault rifle at the large, dinosaur-like creature and fires a few rounds into its face. A horn flies off of the creature and back through the portal before the creature panics and disappears back inside. Both of the Rift portals blink out of existence, leaving the decapitated body of the squonk behind. As they talk, the squonk starts to melt into a puddle of strange ooze.

Bjorn, Henry, and Sammie head back to the building to check on the man they saw unconscious in the building. Henry breaks in a window and unlocks it so they can climb inside. They turn the body of the man over onto his back and see dried tears of blood running down the man's sunken in frame. Bjorn tells them he's going to call Holland and tell her about the body. He calls Holland and fills her in, then asks her to update him on the teenagers in the hospital to see if their condition is improving or not. Holland says she'll text him once she has an update. It's not long after when Holland tells him that the teenagers are fine, they've finally stopped crying.

## List of Appearances

* Bjorn Olafson
* Henry Marlowe
* Sammie Overbrook
* Miguel Rodriguez
* Stanley Marlowe
* Jolene Holland