The Strain

[a click of a gun stops them in their tracks. Vasiliy Fet steps out of the shadows, aiming at Eph]

Vasiliy Fet:
Say something so I know you're not one of them.

Jim Kent:
You can put the gun down. We tried the door. Nobody answered. This is a legitimate medical emergency. We broke in to requisition supplies.

Vasiliy Fet:
Requisition, huh? You look like a bunch of looters to me.

Dr. Ephraim Goodweather:
We're from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Who are you?

Vasiliy Fet:
I'm a looter.

Vasiliy Fet:
I need the rules. What kills these things, apart from direct sunlight?

Abraham Setrakian:
The brainstem must be destroyed or severed from the spinal cord.

Vasiliy Fet:
So beheading, or rebar bashing. What about guns?

Abraham Setrakian:
Lead rounds can maim them if they strike bone. Flesh wounds heal without pain. Only... silver truly... hurts them. They fear it.

Vasiliy Fet:
Silver sword and silver bullet. And that nail gun that you have there? Aside from silver nails, uh... what? standard issue?

Abraham Setrakian:
From Home Depot.

[Setrakian walks past]

Vasiliy Fet:
Vasiliy Fet.

[Setrakian stops, they turn around to face each other again]

Vasiliy Fet:
[extends hand] It's good to know you.

Abraham Setrakian:
[moves sword to left hand] Abraham Setrakian.

[Setrakian grasps Vasiliy's hand]

Abraham Setrakian:
Pleasure.

Thomas Eichorst:
I have a special project for you. Lots of detail work. That shound't be dificult for you. You're excuse from regular duties. This will be your sole focus.

Jim Kent:
What is that smell?

Nora Martinez:
Ammonia discharge. Like guano.

Ephraim Goodweather:
Ammonia discharge. Like guano.

Nora Martinez:
And Bishop's body.

Jim Kent:
That's enough. This is disgusting. Just call it in. God damn it, just call it in. This thing just shot a six foot python out of its mouth, its dick is gone, and it just squirted a sh*t-load of sh*t all over the table! You got your hands everywhere - what the hell is going on?

Ephraim Goodweather:
It's a parasitic mechanism. This is rewriting human biology.

Jim Kent:
Why? Why is it doing that?

Ephraim Goodweather:
So it can reproduce... and consume its host.

Abraham Setrakian:
Love, you see, is the one force that cannot be explained, that cannot be broken down to a chemical process. It is the beacon that guides us back home when no one is there, and the light that illuminates our loss. Its absence robs us all pleasure of our capacity for joy. It makes our nights darker and days gloomier. But when we find love no matter how wrong, how sad, or how terrible we cling to it, it gives us our strength, it holds us upright. It feeds on us and we feed on it. Love is our grace. Love is our downfall.

Abraham Setrakian:
Listen very carefully, son! I know your little friend has a gun and the hammer is cocked, but I don't care. I can control your entire body weight from this pressure point and this knife is pointing straight at your radial artery. By the time he clears his coat pocket, your artery will be punctured and sliced wide open from top to bottom. You fall down bleeding, I go under the counter and your friend starts shooting at an empty space. I can guarantee you this, you will bleed out before the 911 operator answers the phone. That is option one. Option two is you release the bills, your friend gives me the gun - he can keep the bullets, I don't care - and you leave this store. Now, son... you have a choice.

Abraham Setrakian:
He's back. I... I don't know if I have the strength to do it all over again. This time, I cannot fail.

[the heart in Setrakian's jar twitches]

Abraham Setrakian:
Feeling hungry?

[He opens the jar, pricks his finger, and drips blood into the serum. Half a dozen blood worms emerge from the heart to feed]

Abraham Setrakian:
Enjoy, dear.

Gary Arnot:
[in French] How are you feeling?

Emma Arnot:
[in French] Hungry.