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"They do that to everyone. Really, they don't have much of a reason to be sad. They just wind eachother up and get sadder and sadder as time goes on. It gets so bad that they don't want to calm down. They just want pity. It's a shame."
Another howl of anguish. Laura spun and saw the baggy-skinned monster. It was crying again. Laura reached over her shoulder and unscrewed the bottle- a stream of clear liquid. Of course it started to evaporate immediately, but enough of the nitrogen hit the Squonk that it couldn't liquefy and escape. Laura kept the hose trained on the creature. After a moment, she snatched it up with her tongs and threw the ice into one of the plexiglass cages. She put away the hose and sealed the trap.
"It'll melt soon," she commented. "And then start crying again."

A shiver tingled up Laura's spine, but she ignored it.
Laura rattled the cage and the Squonk reformed and gave her a slightly angrier look as it bawled on.
"Hey," Laura said. She tapped the glass. "Hey, tell me what's going on."
It stopped crying enough to say, "P-p-p-people."
Laura hadn't expected any sort of response this quickly. While it hadn't said much, at least she was getting somewhere.

"Elaborate," Laura said. She rapped on the glass with her knuckles.
The Squonk proved stoic, but it continued to leak silent tears. Laura put the cage on the ground and told Izzy, "I think we should be asking questions. Our only clue is the word 'people'... or something phonetically identical, but I really doubt it. Let's go do some interviews."
She headed into town and gestured for her comrade to follow.

(Mo, post soon I wanna see where this is going. Considering you started this plot, I figure you should make the call on the big plot behind the disappearances... until then I'll keep it vague for Laura. I can't wait to find out what you pick! blaugh

The first building on the left was a bar. To the right was a general store. She said to Izzy, "Considering that they'll boot you out of the bar, I'll ask questions there, and you can investigate at the general store if you like. See you in a bit."
She didn't wait for a response. Laura opened the door and went inside. The walls were wooden and polished. At one time this place may have been a log cabin, but it seemed that the original logs had been covered up. The ground was simple concrete, and the place was poorly lit with old tungsten lightbulbs that gave everything a yellow glow. There was only one window, and it was too small to light much of the one-room bar.
As for the patrons, most had the look of lumberjacks. She figured most of their ancestors had been. Now this place was dying, but there were still jobs for those willing to break their backs every day.
She wasn't noticed at first, but the moment she was, a shudder of suspicion flooded the building.
She would ask the bartender first, she decided.

Laura leaned on the bar and asked, "Have you had any luck catching those Squonks?"
The bartender was quiet for a moment as he sized Laura up, then he responded, "No. They always melt away. Why, didja try to catch one?"
The agent responded with truth, "I did catch one."
He was skeptical, "How the Hell did you manage that?"
"Froze it first with some liquid nitrogen."
Many of the people in the bar had been listening in since the first mention of Squonks, and now one asked, "What's nitrogen?"
Laura's mouth whipped out, "Didn't you go to elementary school?" Immediately after speaking however, she regretted her sharp tongue.
The insultee got up and walked over to her, fuming. "I don't care if you is a lady, I think I should hit you."
"You could try," she goaded, realizing that the bridge had already been burnt.
He did try, but Laura was already sliding across the floor as an amorphous blob. She slipped her way to the window and pulled herself up the wall and out the tiny hole to safety.

Laura slithered on the dirt road. As a liquid, she was generally regarded as a puddle. Most people didn't step on her (though it would not have mattered if they had).
She figured that she'd better see how Izzy was doing. He's probably doing better than me, Laura thought in a flair of irony.
She made it across the street to the general store, and slipped around behind the store and went through the service entrance as a human.
Laura entered just in time to hear Izzy finish a sentence with the word 'cookies'. It took her less than a second after that to see the gun. Izzy was alive and shielded, (thank god) but Laura drew her own weapon and loaded two bullets into it before the woman saw her. She cocked her revolver and readied to fire.
Although Laura was generally amiable and jolly, she had a deep and profound ability to scare the living Hell out of people when she was angry.
"Hey!" She bellowed to the woman. She managed to hold herself still despite the fight-flight adrenaline rush. "Drop. The. Weapon."

Laura did not lower her weapon. While not aimed, a loaded shotgun was still dangerous. In her normal voice, Laura said, "We're not Squonks, if that's what you mean. Now, unload your firearm and give me the shells."
The woman did, but slowly and with little grace. Laura snatched them up and pocketed the two shells, then unloaded her own weapon and put it away.
"What do you know about the Squonks?"

As the tree fell towards Mo, he tried to dive out of the way, avoiding the large truck, but managing to get one of his legs caught under a branch. As he struggled to break free, he caught something in the corner of his eye. "Argh! What the...." He did a double take, and the thing was gone. "Oh, it's gonna be like that, huh? Figures." He freed himself from the fallen limbs that pinned him down, and began to look who or what caught his eye. It seemed to be something of considerable size, much larger than the reported squonks that were running around.

Almost as the thought of a squonk crossed his mind, one of the sad creatures came dripping up to him. "Well hey little feller....what's with all the commotion goin' round here? You little buggers stealin' townsfolk?" The squonk slowly lifted an arm and pointed towards the area where Mo J had seen something he couldn't make out, earlier. "....bbbbeeeehhhhiiiinnnndddd....." the creature slurred.

"Yeah, I saw somethin' behind there earlier....what's goin' on here?" He repeated.

".......hhhhhiiiiiiiddddddeeee......" the squonk seemed to warn him.

"Hide? HA! I don't hide from nothin' or no one! You just take me to..." Mo started to say before being cut off.

"......bbbbbeeeeehhhhhiiiiinnnnddddd......" the creature repeated, in a sad, flat, tone. With that, the squonk dissolved into a puddle and the earth beneath it seemed to absorb the liquid that was left in it's place.

"Hmmm. Better check in with Laura and the kid." as he reached for his radio. "Laura, you there? We got some activity here in the woods."