ALEX CHARLOTTE CREEM DESAI DOOLEY DUTCH EICHHORST EPH FET FRANCIS_THE_MASTER GUS JENN MARCUS MASTER NARRATOR OFFICER_1 OFFICER_2 OFFICER_3 OSCAR QUINLAN RAUL ROMAN SETRAKIAN STRIGOI THE_MASTER NARRATOR Previously on The Strain DUTCH Professor! EICHHORST How touching. FRANCIS THE MASTER Perhaps you hoped to hear about your son. EPH Zack's alive? FRANCIS THE MASTER Yes. He is an apt student. EPH This is the Master's Final Solution. We're not the farmers; we're the livestock. QUINLAN You're certain we'll be able to get a plane? ROMAN Certain-ish. You keep staring at me like that, I ain't coming to New York. DOOLEY She's all yours. FET You wanna come? To New York? CHARLOTTE Hell, no. EICHHORST Scheisse! FET Roman, you're one lean mean flying machine, man. All we gotta do now is find a truck, load this firecracker into Manhattan. Boom. QUINLAN It just went down the priority list. ROMAN Oh, okay. You guys already got 'em all. Oh, I had to shut down the systems. FET Well, here's our truck. Can't wait to see the Professor's face when we bring him our present. Whoa! Feliz Navidad. STRIGOI QUINLAN Yes, we're here. And now we're coming for you. THE MASTER You have them? EICHHORST Not yet, my Lord. We are searching every road between here and the airport. I will find them. THE MASTER Like you found Goodweather? And Velders? And the pawnbroker? EICHHORST He was in my grasp. THE MASTER Where is he? Where is the Born? Where is the rat catcher? EICHHORST I apologize, my Master. THE MASTER I have no use for your apology! EICHHORST You have lost faith in me, Master. I do not deserve your mercy, nor will I ask for it. I only ask that you take my life. THE MASTER Is that your desire, Thomas? EICHHORST Yes, my Lord. THE MASTER Well, then. This is a proud day for Abraham Setrakian. This is Standartenführer Thomas Eichhorst defeated by a Jew. My most trusted acolyte, an officer of the Reich, bested by a pawnbroker. You will go down in the history of our species as an abject defeatist who lost his stomach for the fight! Is that what you really desire, Thomas? To hand victory to Setrakian? EICHHORST No! THE MASTER Then find him! Find the Born and the others. Above all, do not let that warhead cross the river! EICHHORST You have my word. DUTCH Right where you left it. The hat. The cane. You're almost back to your old self. SETRAKIAN Very old self. There's an age, Miss Velders, where you meet an enemy you cannot run from time. When you reach it, you will experience your body's betrayal-from within. Now, the Lumen. DUTCH Up here. SETRAKIAN DUTCH Maybe you should stay down here. Keep a lookout. I'll be back in two shakes. Professor? Professor? SETRAKIAN Is it safe? DUTCH It hasn't been touched. Are you all right? SETRAKIAN We'd best be sure. DUTCH I'm worried about you, are you okay? SETRAKIAN I'm fine! Open the case! You did well. DUTCH We should find somewhere new to hole up. ALEX Do you really think the Master has Zack? EPH I don't know. Maybe he's using Zack as bait. It doesn't change our plan. ALEX No? If it were my son EPH Well, luckily, you don't need to make that decision. ALEX That was a dick move even for you. EPH I didn't mean it that way. Look, I'm just doing the only thing I know to do. If we can find Setrakian, if we kill the Master, then all of this ends--the depravation, the feed lots, the blood harvesting, all of it. ALEX And this Setrakian will have a plan? EPH Setrakian always has a plan. Whether it'll work is another question. DUTCH Well, I hope you like maple- What the hell are you doing? Professor. SETRAKIAN I saw this in a dream. The ouroboros. The Egyptians thought it represented the never-ending cycle of creation and destruction-birth and death. Eternity! DUTCH Right. But why are you ripping out the pages? After all we went through. SETRAKIAN I have to see the parts and their sum all at once. There are patterns here. Connections. Things I've overlooked. DUTCH I thought you had this figured out. The "Face of God," the nuclear explosion. SETRAKIAN I was wrong. DUTCH Wrong? SETRAKIAN Slightly. I missed the significance of these images. DUTCH All right. Okay, hold on, hold on. SETRAKIAN I can't hold on! There's too much to do! DUTCH Just take a minute. SETRAKIAN i'm running out of time! DUTCH Professor? You okay? Professor! Professor! Professor! Professor! DESAI You see we did our third induction this week. Another two probably by the end of the month. That suggestion you had about harvesting early it's really paying off. EICHHORST That is because you made it pay off, Mr. Desai. I'm very impressed by the turnaround. DESAI Well, coming from you, sir, that means a lot. EICHHORST In fact, you have done so well, I have decided to promote you. Please. DESAI Really? Whatever you need me to do. EICHHORST There is a group at large here in New York. It's of the utmost importance they be apprehended as soon as possible. You are familiar with two of them, Abraham Setrakian and Dutch Velders. DESAI It would give me great pleasure to bring them to justice. EICHHORST These other two--Ephraim Goodweather and Vasiliy Fet-are working with them. There is also a half-strigoi, half-human, who goes by the name of Quinlan. DESAI Why are they so important? EICHHORST They intend to smuggle a nuclear bomb into Manhattan. DUTCH Come on, Professor. Please don't do this. DUTCH Stop right there! EPH Dutch? DUTCH Eph? EPH Oh, thank God! Thank God. EPH His heartbeat's changing rapidly. I think he's in A-fib. DUTCH What does that mean? He's had a heart attack? EPH Or maybe a stroke. DUTCH Jesus. EPH Or hopefully he's just dehydrated. How'd he get so run down? DUTCH We were captured. He was put in a Partnership research facility. ALEX What kind of research? DUTCH All I know is that they're running experiments. EPH Experiments? DUTCH He's B-positive. They were doing studies, pumping him full of drugs. EPH Hold on, start from the beginning. DUTCH I told you, we were caught. We were separated. EPH For how long? DUTCH I don't know. Three months, maybe. EPH You didn't see him for three months! DUTCH I don't understand your tone here. Are you blaming me? EPH I'm not blaming you! DUTCH Because at least I was here! It was just me and him! We made it on our own for months-off the grid! And, by the way, I was locked up, too, if that's of any concern. And when I was, he was all I thought about. And meanwhile, what were you doing in Philadelphia? ALEX Look, I don't think that this is getting us anywhere. The question is, what do we do now? EPH We need to get him hydrated. And we should probably get him some blood thinners. God knows where we'll find that. DUTCH Well, I know a place. But I don't want to leave him alone. ALEX I'll stay. RAUL We gotta check this place out. It's an old marine warehouse in Sheepshead Bay. Jorge says it's gotta be 10,000 square feet. The Partnership's growing strawberries, tomatoes, spinach, all kinds of shit there. MARCUS What do you think, Gus? CREEM I think we should hit it tonight. It's the best deal. GUS Hold on. Didn't we learn anything from the way we took this place? OSCAR Gus, this woman claims to be a friend of yours. GUS Duchess! You're alive. I was worried. It's been a while. How's the pawnbroker? DUTCH Not so good. GUS Anything I can do to help? EPH We hope so. DUTCH Eph's a doctor. EPH We need some medical supplies. GUS Yeah, step into my pharmacy. This is it. EPH You've been busy. CREEM One-stop shopping, Doc. Whatever you need-food, booze-we got it. GUS Yeah, help yourself. EPH You don't happen to have IV saline? GUS You mean these? EPH Where'd you get all this stuff? CREEM That's on a need-to-know basis. What I need to know is what do you guys have to trade for all of this? GUS What about silver? I know the old man had a lot of that. DUTCH We lost all of it. We were captured. CREEM He still got that cane? GUS Forget about it. It's on the house. CREEM What? What type of bullshit is that? GUS They're friends. CREEM They're your friends. That don't got shit to do with me. GUS I said it's on the house. CREEM Go on. Okay, it's fine, man. I was just messing with you. GUS Sorry about that. Take whatever you need. EPH How long have they been away? DUTCH Over nine months. For all I know, they're not coming back. GUS I wouldn't count Quinlan out. EPH Or Fet. DESAI Members of this terrorist cell are armed and dangerous. DUTCH Uh, Eph? DESAI I repeat, Members of this terrorist cell are armed and extremely dangerous. GUS I think we might have to get you two off the street. EPH I think that's a very good idea. DUTCH Setrakian? GUS This is what you guys have been eating? DUTCH Have you seen it out there? We're lucky we've got all this canned food. GUS No wonder the old man is sick. I'm gonna get you some real food, all right? SETRAKIAN Dutch, what the hell is going on? DUTCH You're awake! SETRAKIAN Ephraim, you're alive. EPH So are you, thank god. You need to stay off your feet. GUS Listen to the doc. We need you fighting the good fight. SETRAKIAN And what would you know about the good fight, Mr. Elizalde? When you had the chance to stand with us, you ran off. Throwing in with the likes of Alonso Creem. GUS Hey, I'm just trying to get by like everybody else. SETRAKIAN And that is exactly why the Master won. Because people "try to get by." First with silence, then with comfort, then with collaboration. OFFICER 1 Stop here! We need to scan you into the system. OFFICER 2 Okay. What do you guys got in the back? FET Medical supplies. OFFICER 2 All right. We're gonna need you to open up so we can take a look. FET Nah, I can't. It's radioactive. It's for cancer patients. You know how they shoot their tumors with that nuclear shit? OFFICER 2 I'm gonna need you guys to step out of the vehicle. QUINLAN Enough. This is an urgent shipment for high-level patients. If I have to step out, you will regret it. OFFICER 1 Just let 'em through, Hank. OFFICER 3 Hank! EPH All right. I want you to sit still until you finish this bag. We need to get your strength back up. SETRAKIAN I knew you'd return. Never doubted it for a moment. EPH I did. Until last week. We discovered this facility in Western Pennsylvania. It was an industrial farm. It wasn't for cattle or pigs. It's for us. The Partnership is a ruse. A way to control the populus until the cities can be emptied and ship the people to these places. SETRAKIAN I've seen this before. In the war. This is what the Master learned in the death camps as he was feeding on us. How to subjugate an entire people. And how to coerce them into obedience and organizing and administrating their own demise. He learned it from us. EPH How do we stop him? SETRAKIAN These passages hold the key, but I'm not sure I can finish the work. EPH In the meantime, this might help. It's Warfarin. It's a blood thinner. It should prevent another stroke. One a day. No more. If you take too many, it can cause internal bleeding. That's how you kill rats--they eat it and they bleed out. We took out thousands of strigoi by poisoning them. We put it in their blood tankers. You would've been proud. SETRAKIAN I appreciate this, Ephraim. But I'm going to need something much stronger. EPH What do you mean? SETRAKIAN It's a formula for extracting the restorative properties of strigoi worms. EPH Where did you get this? SETRAKIAN It was developed by alchemists in the third century. It extends the life of a human being without transmitting the strigoi virus. EPH That's impossible. I've done hundreds of tests on their blood. SETRAKIAN How old do you think I am? EPH I mean- SETRAKIAN Ninety-five. EPH What? SETRAKIAN How else do you think I've managed to stay in the fight all these years? EPH That's not possible. SETRAKIAN Goddamnit, Ephraim! Have you come all this way only to doubt me now? After everything you've seen? EPH Okay, okay, okay. Look, I know I've been unreliable. But I'm with you till the end. So, I believe you. JENN Mr. Desai. DESAI Get Eichhorst on the line. I need- JENN There's someone here to see you. Says he has some valuable information. DESAI Sanjay Desai. CREEM Alonso Creem. It's an honor. I admire what you've done on behalf of our city. DESAI Well, we've all gotta do our part, right? CREEM Which is exactly why I'm here. I might know a little something about those dangerous desperadoes you're after. DESAI Oh, really. Which ones? CREEM The pawnbroker. DESAI Abraham Setrakian? CREEM I know where he's holed up. Along with Princess Di and the chrome dome. DESAI Velders and Goodweather. Address? CREEM Hold on. I want to do my patriotic duties and all that, but I think I need to be fairly compensated. EICHHORST My Master. Mr. Desai has brought us a promising lead. DESAI I'm honored. CREEM You're the big man. The decision maker. Alonso Creem at your service. I can lead you to the pawnbroker, the Duchess, and that bald doctor. Even the Lumen. That's four for the price of one. But if you boys get the notion to sting me to get that information without paying for it, I drop this sucker and everybody gets nothing. THE MASTER What is your price? CREEM First, I want Roosevelt Island back. No strigs, no baton carriers. My island, under my control. EICHHORST How dare you. THE MASTER Anything else? CREEM You can give me full control over the entire black market. And if you want information or want me to track down anyone else, my crew will be at your disposal. It's a win/win situation. THE MASTER CREEM So, what? Do we have a deal or what? THE MASTER No, we do not. I was merely curious as to the depth of your delusions. CREEM Okay, so, wait, wait. All right, so--I have another offer. MASTER EPH Dutch knows a place where some meth heads used to cook--before the Partnership rounded them up. She thinks we can find the necessary equipment there. We'll pick up a strigoi on our way. In the meantime, you have one job and one job only. Rest. SETRAKIAN This is the version of you I remember most. EPH Which version is that? SETRAKIAN The one who never gives up on the people he cares about. EPH I have to tell you something about why I left. Zack's alive. He's with the Master. SETRAKIAN How do you know? EPH The Master spoke to me through a strigoi. And I saw Zack. SETRAKIAN Where? EPH At Stoneheart the day we went after the Master. After you left, I was in Palmer's penthouse, stitching myself up, and Kelly and Zack walked in on me. She attacked me. I killed her. Right in front of him. He had a device--a detonator. He pressed the button. SETRAKIAN Are you saying- EPH He set off the bomb. The nuke that blew up Liberty Island. SETRAKIAN The Master took my wife. Tricked me into leaving her alone so he could turn her because he wanted me to live with that guilt. You've carried yours for nine months. I've carried mine for more than 50 years. This is what the Master does to those who defy him. This is the price we pay. But you must not allow this to weaken your resolve. You did not put that detonator in Zack's hand. The Master did. It was he who turned your wife and usedher to warp your son's mind. Not you! You must hold tight to that truth. FET The other bridges and tunnels, they run right into Midtown. It's gotta be covered in munchers. QUINLAN Lower Manhattan? FET Well, from the plane, it still looks deserted. QUINLAN Brooklyn Bridge it is, then. FET It's gonna be a reception committee. QUINLAN I wouldn't want it any other way. ROMAN Actually, I can think of a number of other ways I'd rather have it. But it is what it is, so let's do it. FET Weird. The checkpoint on this side is deserted. So's the Manhattan side. There is not a chance in hell that they're leaving the door wide open for us. QUINLAN An obvious trap. ROMAN Whatever we do, we can't keep hanging around here. Not after we bust through the road blocks. FET What do you think, Born-o? DESAI That's all the bridges and tunnels. Every contact with the outside world has been severed. There's no way they're getting that warhead into the city. THE MASTER My compliments. EICHHORST Mr. Desai planned and organized the entire operation. Not even Eldritch Palmer would have been able to execute such a feat. That was perhaps a bit of an overstatement. Palmer- THE MASTER Palmer was a quisling, a traitor to his own kind. EICHHORST Yes. Of course. Precisely. DESAI So, will there be anything else? THE MASTER Yes. Would you be so kind as to remove the silver from Mr. Creem's teeth? DESAI EICHHORST It seems to be causing him a certain discomfort. No? THE MASTER Do it quickly. We wouldn't want him to burn up before he's become useful. DESAI THE MASTER Thank you. RAUL What are you doing? GUS Something I should a done a long time ago. I did some bad shit you don't know nothing about. The professor gave me a chance to make it right. I didn't take it. Maybe it's not too late. RAUL Wherever you go, I go. We're blood, right? DUTCH Looks like they've been going off all over the city. East and West Side. The Partnership's not been keeping up the infrastructure. Do you think it could be the gas mains? EPH It was too deliberate for that. They were going off in a controlled sequence. DUTCH Either way, I've a bad feeling. We should get back soon. EPH Just about done. DUTCH Wonder how many alchemists got this wrong before they got it right. EPH Let's just hope we got it right. DUTCH Well, I have faith in you. I overheard you telling the professor about Zack. I'm sorry for what I said about you not being here. EPH You weren't wrong. DUTCH But I was out of line. You're back. That's all that matters. And I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up. That cantankerous old man has been the only thing that's kept me going. Knowing he's believed in me right from the start, even after I told him I broke the Internet. EPH He's a shrewd judge of character. DUTCH You're only saying that because he forgave you. ALEX Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you didn't need anything? SETRAKIAN I'm fine. ALEX Souvenir? SETRAKIAN It's a Romanian prayer rope. The orthodoxy call it "the sword of the spirit." They believe prayer is a weapon that can defeat the devil. ALEX Maybe that's the problem. I stopped praying a long time ago. Didn't seem to make a difference. SETRAKIAN I have felt that myself from time to time. ALEX And you still believe? SETRAKIAN I think we focus too much on the end result, not enough on the act itself. Prayer is an act of humility--of connection. Reaching out to another and to God. If we stop praying, we sever that connection. Give ourselves over to arrogance. We isolate ourselves. Yes, of course. That's it! ALEX What did you find? EICHHORST Yes, by all means, share your epiphany with us, A230385. CREEM SETRAKIAN EICHHORST I can hear your heartbeat, Jew. Fluttering like a dying moth. It's over. We should have done this decades ago-when it would have been a fair contest. SETRAKIAN CREEM EICHHORST No! He belongs to me. The moment of truth has arrived, A230385. Now is your chance to rid the world of the great evil that stands before you. SETRAKIAN EICHHORST Go ahead, pawnbroker, pick it up. SETRAKIAN EICHHORST So, where is your God now, Jew? SETRAKIAN Watching you through me. And soon he will see you burn in hell. EICHHORST So, now you are an avenging angel, huh? An instrument of divine retribution. SETRAKIAN No, just an ordinary man. But that is all that will be required to bring your Master to his knees. EICHHORST Abraham. Look at me. Remember when we first met? In the concentration camp? I laid my gun on your work table. If you had just had the courage to grab it, all this might have never happened. Does that thought trouble you? GUS It's the German. You all right? Come on. I got you. I got you. Come on. Sit right here. Right? SETRAKIAN What're you doing here? GUS I'm throwing in with the likes of you. Stay here, all right? I'll be back. GUS Stay close to me, Raul, all right? He's fast. RAUL Yeah. GUS C'mon, c'mon. EICHHORST Augustin Elizalde. It's been a long time. GUS Waxy boy! It's been too long! It's time we settle up. EICHHORST Whatever do you mean? You were well paid for your services. GUS I owe you. I owe you for my mom. I owe you for my brother. And Angel! C'mon! C'mon! EICHHORST Your companion's blood smells like yours. Is he another relative? RAUL GUS No! No! EICHHORST And now, this one, too. GUS No! EICHHORST Augustin. Now, you. SETRAKIAN EICHHORST Admit it, A230385. You've always been curious about what's on the other side. SETRAKIAN Are you gonna stand there flapping your lips all day or finish this? EICHHORST SETRAKIAN GUS EICHHORST SETRAKIAN Like rats, you cannot vomit the blood thinner. An anatomical curiosity but very significant, too, don't you think? You are vermin. Look at me. I want your Master to see this. Can you hear me? I have something to say to you. You are the hunger--the strain that feeds on us since time immemorial--but make no mistake, you're still a parasite. And we will flush you out and burn you. It will not be me. It will not be now, but it will happen. No matter how long it takes, in another face, in other eyes, you will see me as you die. And as for you, Herr Eichhorst-my name is Abraham Setrakian, and you should know I am not a number anymore.