Told you guys it wouldn't take long for me to get another chapter up. This ladies and gentlemen, is THE episode, THE episode that actually gave me nightmares as a kid. I honestly had a hard time even watching the show again after I saw it for the first time. I was always afraid that it would be THIS specific episode. But as the show went on, there was another episode that actually scared me more. But we'll get to THAT episode when the time is right.
It was late one evening as Avery was lying in bed, trying her hardest to fall asleep. Her aunt had gone to bed earlier that evening, but she could still hear the sound of the TV playing downstairs. Meaning that her uncle Eustace was either still watching TV or had fallen asleep watching it again. But that wasn't what was keeping her up right now.
Instead it was the bracelet, which she could feel was pulsating in a steady manner this evening. Like it sensed that something was coming their way. Something dangerous.
It had acted crazy back at the motel with the psychotic cat and his spiders and when that insane duck had come knocking on their door. She had had enough of Nowhere's strangeness and didn't want to deal with it. But no matter how much she tried to ignore it, it was just going to keep bothering her about it and keep her from falling asleep.
Right as she turned over in bed though, she heard a sound. It sounded shrill, but just as soon as it had come, it just stopped. This was followed by a loud rumbling that seemed to buzz right over the house and was soon silent.
Almost like a helicopter had just flown over the house. It was at this point that the bracelet had stopped pulsating.
The rumbling is what made her sit up in bed. She quickly got up and ran over to the attic window. She peered out and saw nothing unusual in the yard or on the road in front of it. But she was able to catch a light in the sky that was shining down on the road and was now disappearing into the distance.
'So there WAS a helicopter flying over,' she thought.
She slipped out of her room and down the attic stairs, creeping over to her aunt's bedroom door and peeking in. Her aunt was still in bed, sound asleep. At least the sound of the helicopter flying over didn't wake her up. Leaving her aunt's door, she crept down the main stairs and could see Eustace sitting in his arm chair, fast asleep as well with the TV still running.
'Never knew my family had such heavy sleepers,' Avery thought.
She also saw that Courage standing at the window and looking out of it. She went over to him and gently placed a hand on top of his head. He flinched at her touch, but calmed down when he saw it was just her.
"It's just me boy. Helicopter bother you as well?" she asked.
Courage nodded and looked out the window again.
"I wonder what was going out there," she said. "Why would a helicopter fly so close to the house in the middle of the night? Maybe we should ask about it in the morning."
She got up to go back upstairs, but stopped when she felt Courage tug at the skirt of her nightgown. She looked down to see him pointing out the window and he started babbling something. She looked out the window to see that he was pointing in the direction of the water pump.
"Something by the water pump boy?" she asked to which he nodded.
Avery thought of what she could do right now. She thought that she could run out and find out what it was that was bothering him about the pump. But at the same time, it was just after midnight and since he wasn't in full panic mode, she figured it was something that could wait a bit.
With a yawn, she looked back down at Courage and said, "It's pretty late right now buddy. Can this wait until morning?"
Courage shrugged and said something that sounded like he was saying, "I guess."
She patted the top of his head and said, "Alright. Let's get to bed and deal with this tomorrow."
She smiled and scooped him up in her arms. Even if he wasn't panicking, she still wanted to make sure he didn't get anymore worked up than he was right now. Maybe if he stayed the night with her, he'd be more comfortable.
"Why don't you stay with me tonight boy? This way you don't have to worry about anything else tonight," she said as she stroked the top of his bed.
Courage nodded and let Avery carry him back up to the attic with her.
The very next morning, Avery and Courage walked out to the water pump. Since nothing unusual was visible around the well, but Courage was still worrying about it, she had grabbed a small hand shovel before they wandered out to it, thinking that something could have been buried near it. Sure enough upon reaching the pump, she spotted a mound of fresh earth right next to it. The dirt couldn't have been more than a few hours old.
As the bracelet began to pulsate, Avery got down on her knees and she took the shovel to begin scooping out the fresh dirt while Courage dug right next to her. It didn't take them long to find something in the dirt, something as hard as stone.
"Seriously? This shallow in the ground?" Avery said as the shovel clanged against it.
She took the shovel and began removing the dirt from around the stone and Courage kept digging downward to pull more dirt away from it. It didn't take long for her to get the stone loose and pulled it out of the earth. But one look at the thing and she began to wish that she had just left it as the bracelet began to pulsate faster.
Four different images had been carved into the large stone slab. The first being what looked like some waves and just underneath it was a gramophone and just under that was the image of a locust. But the one that unnerved her the most was the largest image. That of a skeletal figure, wearing shrouded clothing and three thin tufts of hair coming out of a skull like head. Just staring at it for a few seconds was enough for Avery to lose her cool and she looked away from it.
Courage took it from her hands and took a look at it as well. Even he began to whine as he looked at it.
"Giving you a sense of dread too?" she asked him.
Courage nodded and Avery took another glance around. This thing had to have just been buried her and she wondered if the people who had left it here were still around. She decided that if they were, she'd rather that she and Courage not be caught out in the open with it if these people came back for it. Dusting off her jeans, Avery helped Courage fill the dirt back into the hole and they dashed back to the house to avoid any detection.
Back inside, Eustace and Muriel were sitting and relaxing in the living room as usual. Muriel rocking in her chair and Esutace sitting in his armchair and reading the morning newspaper. As they sat, Avery came walking back into the house with Courage following behind her, carrying the slab in his mouth.
"Why what's this now?" Muriel asked as she took the slab from the dog's mouth. "Oh my, this looks very old."
"We found it buried by the water pump outside," Avery said as she set the hand shovel in the closet.
Muriel frowned and said, "Now what was it doing out there?"
Avery shrugged and said, "Beats me. The dirt was fresh though, so someone must have just hidden it there. Don't know why though."
"Sounds like they wanted to get rid of it. Well if they didn't want it," Muriel said and then looked at Eustace. "Eustace, come look at what Courage and Avery found."
Eustace grumbled as Muriel brought the slab over to him. He yanked it out of her hands and took a good look at the artifact.
"Well judging by the markings and the obvious age of the relic, I'd have to say it would be, GARBAGE!" Eustace said as he threw the slab out the window.
Muriel scowled at Eustace as the slab hit the ground outside. Avery went to the window and looked down at it.
"Eusatce!" Muriel chastised him.
Eustace merely picked up the TV remote and continued his rant by saying, "Garbage! King Garbage from the Garbage Dynasty."
"Uncle Eustace, an artifact like that could be worth money. Some museums would pay for stuff like this," she said.
Eustace waved her off and said, "Who'd pay money to go to a building and see garbage? You can just step right outside and stare at your garbage cans for free. It's the same thing. Stupid dog, always bringing garbage into the house."
He turned on the TV and switched to the news, ignoring the angry glares that the rest of the family was giving him.
"And that little dog chased his tail all night long. But the big story today! Million dollar slab stolen from the tomb of King Ramses'," said the newscaster as the news displayed a picture of the slab.
The very slab that Avery and Courage had just found a little bit earlier. Even Eustace went wide eyed at the picture as the rest of the family watched on.
"A million dollars?" Eustace said in excitement.
"A million dollars?" Avery repeated just as excitedly.
Eustace ran over to the window and plucked the slab right out of the ground spouting, "I'm rich!"
He set the slab on the night stand and went to the phone.
"A million dollars?" Avery repeated to herself as the idea of sudden riches filled her mind with excitement. With that money, any financial situation would be a thing of the past and have plenty of money left over.
"But the man said it was stolen Eustace. We must return it to it's rightful place," Muriel reminded Eustace.
And with that, all thoughts of fame and fortune were erased from Avery's mind. That was true, it was a stolen artifact. Given that it had rightful owners and they weren't it, they had to give it back back to who it truly belonged to. And demanding money for it in order to return it could land them in prison. And she was not about to go to jail for extortion.
"Uncle Eustace, Aunt Muriel is right. We can't demand money for something that was stolen," Avery started, but was cut off when Eustace spoke up again.
"Where's your love of money gone Avery? He said a million dollar slab, that means we get a million dollars! And you know what a million dollars means?" Eustace said excitedly.
'We all go to jail for twenty years?' Avery asked in her head.
But she was pulled out of her thoughts as a sudden force from the bracelet shot through her arm and Courage let out a howl. He tugged on Avery's arm and pointed down at the slab. She took a look at it and it still looked normal to her, except for one thing. It still had the three smaller carvings of the waves, gramophone and locust. But the larger, skeletal looking carving was gone. Replaced by nothing but smooth stone.
'Aw crap! What is it this time?' she asked herself as her eyes grew larger.
"That's right. New lawn chairs!" Eustace finished.
As he finished, Courage got between them and began babbling again. Morphing into a mummy and making moaning sounds similar to the undead. Eustace didn't pay attention however as he picked up the phone and dialed the number for the Nowhere News.
"Nowhere News?" Eustace said as they answered on the other end. "I want to put an ad in the paper."
Courage continued to shiver as Muriel began to dust around the room. Avery threw up her arms in annoyance and crossed her arms as she sat down in her aunt's rocking chair and just glared at her uncle once more.
They heard some chatter on the other end which was followed by Eustace saying, "Yes sir. Start running that ad right away."
About an hour or two later, there came a knocking at the door. Despite being a small town, news always seemed to travel outside of Nowhere very quickly so it came as no surprise to Avery that someone had heard about their discovery so soon. So neither she or her aunt were surprised to see a short portly man standing before their front door. The man had a large red mustache and was dressed like he was about ready to go exploring. He looked like a smart enough individual, with a taste for excitement.
Eustace pushed past Muriel, looked at the man and asked, "What's your offer?"
"I am Professor Frith of the Institute of the Pharaoh," the man introduced himself politely. "I've come to retrieve the slab you lot found."
"You see Eustace? I told you it was stolen," Muriel chastised the old farmer.
Avery nodded and said, "It belongs to the Institute and needs to be returned."
"No no young lady," the Professor stated. "It still belongs to the late King Ramses. We had it on traveling display and have plans to return it to it's rightful resting place once it's tour concluded. Once returned to us, we plan to put it back in the tomb from we had gotten it from to keep it from being stolen once more."
Avery smirked and said, "Sounds reasonable."
"Probably for the best," added Muriel.
Courage however began his panic mode once more by pointing, babbling incoherently and morphing into a vanishing explorer and a sinking ship for some odd reason. Everyone, even Avery started at Courage in confusion. For Avery it wasn't because she didn't understand what was scaring him, but because she couldn't help but wonder what the sinking ship was about.
Eustace was clearly not amused as he just made a sarcastic laugh as he glared down at the dog before turning back to the professor.
"What's your offer?" he demanded.
"Sir the Institute of the Pharaoh is member supported. But for every million dollar donation, you'll receive this sporty tote bag with our thanks," he said as he pulled out a gaudy looking tote bag out from behind him.
Eustace however did NOT look amused as he frowned even harder.
'Well that's cheap,' Avery said in her head.
Eusatce didn't give an answer as he merely slammed the door in the Professor's face and went back to his armchair. Muriel began to lecture Eustace about his behavior as Courage began to panic. Deciding that she didn't want to be involved in this drama, Avery stepped outside as the Professor began to walk away from the farmhouse.
"Excuse me? Professor?" Avery called out.
The Professor looked back at her and said, "Yes? What is it young lady?"
She took a breath as she tried to articulate herself. She was kind of insulted by the Professor's cheap offer of just a tote bag, but at the same time since it wasn't their slab they had no business asking for anything for the slab's safe return. The fact they were offering anything at all was decent enough.
"Listen, I'm sorry about my uncle's anger. He was expecting something more than just a tote bag," she said.
The professor chuckled and said, "He loves money doesn't he?"
Avery laughed as well and said, "Yeah he does and I do too. But he doesn't understand reason. Listen, he's a deep sleeper and I know a million places where I can hide the thing around the farm. I'm sure I can get it from him while he sleeps tonight and I can stash it somewhere around the farm. If you come back tomorrow, I can hand it off to you without him noticing. He's not a bad man, well not entirely, just very misguided and stubborn. Plus I don't want authorities getting involved with this since the thing was stolen."
The professor smiled and said, "If that's the way you wish to play it young lady. I'll return sometime around noon tomorrow. Give me the slab and we'll call it an even trade."
Avery smiled as well and said, "Good. Oh and you can keep the tote bag as well. I don't need it."
'Plus it's ugly,' she said in her head so as not to offend the professor.
He smiled and said, "If you insist young lady. See you tomorrow then."
She nodded as she turned back to the house as the professor left the farm.
Night time rolled around and a heavy fog began to settle in and around the farm. For the rest of the day, Avery had looked through a couple of encyclopedias and even consulted the computer about King Ramses.
All that she could find was some entries saying that he was one of the most mysterious pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Not much was known about his personal life or his politics as he often isolated himself away from his family, subjects, slaves and servants and that he was also said to be rather deformed and that his appearance became more and more hideous as time went on. He never married and never had any children, leaving him without an heir. No one was even sure how old he was when he died or how it even happened. All that was said that in his final days, he had consulted mystics to create a special stone slab for him that he had requested to be part of his crypt. The legend goes that his remains were to be left undisturbed and that anyone who stole his precious stone slab with no intentions of returning it would be cursed to face horrors that no mortal man could possibly conceive, each horror worse than the ones faced previously.
A few months ago, Avery would have laughed and waved this off. But her short time living in Nowhere was enough to tell her that horrors like this were real and something to for her to be afraid of. But from the sound of things, this was something worse than any other horror that they had encountered before hand.
Well, maybe not as bad as being partially cocooned and drooled on by a hungry mutant spider, but pretty close to it.
Chills ran down her spine as she closed the book and set it back down on the floor beside her. Eustace was in his armchair, clutching and cradling the slab, muttering about becoming rich and the things he'd buy with all that money. All the while, Muriel rocked in her rocking chair with Courage in her lap. Avery kept taking a look out the window to see just how thick the fog was getting. Almost like it was unnatural, which wouldn't surprise her in the slightest at this point.
They were all jarred from their thoughts when there came a rattling sound from the farmhouse's front door, like something was desperately trying to get in. Avery gulped and Courage howled as the rattling became louder and angrier as whatever was on the other side was getting less patient.
Eustace grumbled as he got up out of his chair and said, "Probably that guldurn professor again. I'll give him a piece of my mind this time. Lousy tote bags."
He went to the door and Courage ran to the window. Avery stepped up behind behind her uncle in order to prevent him from opening the door, but was too late as he threw it open. Her heart leapt into her throat and a cold sweat broke out as she saw what was standing out in the middle of the yard.
"Return the slab!" said a thin shrouded individual.
The sight of his bony mouth moving with his words and the skull like face that the mouth belonged to, was enough to terrify anyone. But for Avery, the sight of his wisps of hair and the flailing and contorting arms were enough for some tears of terror to come to her eyes.
The legends were true. The slab had to be cursed and now she and her family were the next victims for it. Unless they could comply with with the ancient spirit's demands.
"Return the slab! Or suffer my curse!" the figure repeated in a haunting manner.
Avery's hopes that her uncle would see reason for once in his life were dashed as he once again stated, "What's your offer?"
The skeletal king gave Eustace no kind of offer and instead issued him a dire warning. A warning Avery pleaded in her mind that he would heed.
"This night, you will be visited by three plagues! Each worse than the last! Return the slab!" it warned as it continued it's inhuman movements and tone.
Eustace however did not heed the warning as he let out a sarcastic laugh and said, "Nice try the professor!"
He slammed the door shut and turned away, holding tight to the slab as he turned back to the family.
"Who's he kidding?" Eustace said angrily. "I can see the zipper on that cheap dime store costume."
"Uncle Eustace I don't think that was the professor out there. The professor was short and chubby. The guy outside is tall and thin and moving about in ways that a person can't," Avery said.
"Bah! A cheap actor he hired then. They want this slab from me, they gotta take it from me," Eustace said bitterly.
It was then that Courage suddenly let out another howl. Eustace turned to look at the dog and Avery got a good look at the slab itself. The waves that she had previously seen carved on the slab were now gone. Her sense of foreboding was quickly followed by her feeling some water drop onto the top of her head. Followed by another and then another.
'Oh damn. Here we go,' she thought.
Soon they were all looking up and it looked like there was rain coming down inside the house. It came down at such a fast pace that it quickly began to pool at their feet.
Muriel held out her hands to feel the water come down and asked, "Courage, did you leave the tub running?"
"I don't think that's from the tub Aunt Muriel," Avery responded.
Pretty soon the water wasn't just dripping from the ceiling, it was also running down the walls and soon a small part of the wall burst open and water began pouring out of it. It even began pouring out of a moose head that Eustace had recently just put up over the fireplace and even out of the grandfather clock and then began gushing down the stairs. The house began filling up with water at an alarming rate. In a horrifying matter of seconds, the water level was already up to Avery's waist and was still rising quickly.
Wasting no time, the family ran for the stairs and climbed up to the second level, but that too quickly filled up with water. They ran for the attic, but this did no good either. As soon as they reached the attic door, the water pressure behind it caused the door to explode inward and fill the room quickly. In no time at all, their heads were just inches below the ceiling. They each had to kick their feet, just to stay above the water. Just a few more inches, and there'd be nowhere else to go. Even the windows weren't breaking to the pressure.
Avery looked around, but saw it was just her, her aunt and Courage who were keeping above the water, but there was no sign of Eustace. She took a breath and dived underwater... only to see him with a snorkel and mask on, still clutching the slab.
'You cowardly excuse for a man,' Avery thought angrily in her head.
The bracelet began to pulsate, but Avery was in no mood to deal with it right now.
'Leave me alone, this is not the right time,' she screamed in her mind.
She noticed something swim right past her and swim out the attic door. Judging by the size and shape, it had to be Courage.
'What's that little dog up to now?' she thought.
She went back up to the surface of the water and emerged to find that her face was practically pressed against the ceiling of the attic and she could feel the water creeping up the sides of her head.
She tried to speak to her aunt, but every time she tried, she'd end up taking some water into her mouth. As far she could tell, she only had seconds left before they'd all begin to drown.
Then, all at once, the water stopped flowing and actually began to recede. Slow at first, but it quickly picked up and within a few seconds, all the water had drained out of the room, though it still dripped from the ceiling to no accumulation. Avery and her aunt took several deep breaths as they spit excess water out of their mouths.
"That dog is something else," Avery said to her aunt between gasps of breath.
Muriel nodded as Avery began wringing out her shirt and said, "That's why he's such a good dog."
"Return the slab!" the familiar undead voice boomed from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Eustace looked out the window at the figure of King Ramses and once again repeated, "What's your offer?"
"UNCLE EUSTACE PLEASE!" Avery shouted, but the damage was already done.
Ramses raised his arms and this time Avery got a good look as the gramophone carving disappeared off of the slab.
"Oh no! Not another!" Avery cried out.
Muriel turned to Avery in an attempt to comfort her, but whatever she was going to say was suddenly cut off as the music began to blare. It started off as a piano playing, but then the horrible singing voices began.
"The man in gauze! The man in gauze!
The man in gauze! The man in gauze!
King Ramses!"
And the singing would just repeat like that. It wasn't just the horrific singing that was painful, it's the fact that it felt like it was blaring in their ears. They all covered their ears and began to scream from the pain of it. Except for Eustace who took the cowardly route once more and stuffed some cotton between his ears to block out the sound. Courage even came running back into the room, clutching his ears tightly.
Avery kept her ears covered, but then the bracelet began to twitch again and it twitched hard. She jerked that hand away from her ears and began pointing it out the window. At first she thought it was directed at King Ramses himself, but she began moving it away from him and the bracelet began pulsating faster, but more gently this time. She pointed it in the direction of a large rock not far from the house and that is when the bracelet began a non-stop vibration, telling her that it likely had something to do with this particular plague.
"Courage! Make it stop!" Muriel pleaded with the purple dog.
"COURAGE!" Avery called over.
Courage went to her, still clutching his ears tightly. Avery pointed at the rock in the distance and said, "Try that rock over there. The bracelet is agitated by it."
Courage didn't waste any time and ran from the room. Avery remained fixated by the window and watched as Courage ran from the house, baseball bat in hand, and towards the large rock. She saw him pause for a second, before he took the bat and began using it on something that was hidden just off view from her.
It was here that the music finally stopped. Despite some slight ringing in her ears, there seemed to be no damage to her hearing.
She took a look at the bracelet and said, "I love it when you make it easy for me."
The bracelet merely let out a single pulse in response.
"You guys okay," she asked her relatives.
"I think so," Muriel answered.
Eustace didn't answer and merely took his pinkie finger and dug around in the inside of his ear with it. Avery took a look outside and saw that the horrible figure of King Ramses did NOT look amused. Two of his plagues were down and both had been failures due to Courage's intervention. But Avery shuddered when she remembered that there was still one plague left and the image of a locust for it was enough to make her shiver.
"Return the slab!" he repeated once more.
This time, Muriel just glared at Eustace, clearly fed up with this whole thing. Avery stood with her and added to the intense glares that Eustace was receiving from the ladies.
"Eusatce what are you waiting for? Til we're six feet under?" Muriel said angrily.
"If those first two plagues were that bad Uncle Eustace, imagine how bad the final one will be. GIVE! BACK! THE SLAB!" Avery said as she grit her teeth in front of him with those last words.
By now it looked like even Eustace had had enough as he went to the window and threw it open.
"Alright fine!" Eustace said, giving Avery and Muriel a small amount of relief. That is until Eustace added, "But a million is as low as I'll go!"
The momentary relief that Avery had felt was gone in an instant as she pinched the bridge of her nose and said, "OH YOU STUPID-!"
Back outside, Ramses raised his arms and the final carving vanished. Thus, the third and final plague commenced. And no doubt, the worst one yet.
From over the horizon, a buzzing sound was heard. It started out low at first, but became louder and louder in just a matter of seconds. From out of the darkness and fog, a new cloud appeared. A dark, fast moving cloud. A cloud of noise and anger. In a matter of seconds, Avery could see that this was no ordinary cloud, but a cloud of locusts, very angry locusts. She looked to the ground and could see Courage rushing back inside, bringing her SOME relief. But all of her relief vanished as she saw the locust cloud consume the water pump and bucket with it. Next was the chicken coop and even the truck were no matching for this ravenous swarm.
Then they began to encircle the house.
"Return the slab!" Ramses repeated once more.
"Okay, now I think we can panic," Avery said and as she did, her aunt ran from the room screaming at the top of her lungs.
Eustace took the time to try to make a break for it and ran straight from the room and down to the living room. But he didn't get far as Courage suddenly jumped him and began trying to tug at the cursed slab.
"YOU STUPID DOG! Let go of that!" he yelled as he began tugging back.
Avery joined in and tried to help Courage pull it away from Eustace's grasp.
"Uncle Eustace, it's not ours. We need to give it back, otherwise WE! WILL! DIE!" she screamed as she tried pulling at the slab.
A rumbling sound came from the attic that sounded like pieces of the house were coming apart. The locusts were beginning to consume the house. If they didn't resolve this quickly, they too would be consumed by the swarm.
Eustace growled as he tugged and said, "Avery do you have any idea what's at stake here? A million dollars. And end to all our problems. Including YOUR problems. We can't pass this oppurtunity up."
"What good is a million dollars if you're dead?" she retorted.
The rumbling sounds became creaks and cracks and were swiftly getting louder as the locusts were getting closer and closer to them. Avery could already tell that the attic was gone and the locusts were now consuming the second floor.
"Return the slab!" Ramses repeated once again.
Avery suddenly lost her grip on the slab and Eustace began spinning around in circles in a desperate bid to get Courage to let go of the thing. Avery managed to recover and grabbed onto the slab once again.
"Return the slab!" Ramses repeated once more.
Then suddenly, the ceiling began to disappear and in a matter of seconds, they were completely exposed to the swarm. Avery squinted her eyes shut, expecting this to be the end.
"OKAY OKAY! You can have it!" Eustace suddenly screamed as he let go of the stone slab.
Courage quickly ran to the window and tossed the accursed slab outside, not even wasting a second open it first. Courage stood there and watched as the slab flew off into the distance. Then, all at one, complete silence.
Avery sensed the quiet around her and opened her eyes to see that most of the house had been destroyed, but the swarm of locusts was now gone. With a sigh of relief, she rolled onto her side, wrapped her arms around her knees and could feel some tears beginning to well up in her eyes. This was, to date, the closest she and the family had come to death and she couldn't help but let the emotions hit.
"It's over. Thank goodness it's over," she whispered as she began to shake.
Her uncle didn't share the same feeling as he suddenly ran from the house yelling, "NO! I can't believe I did that."
Avery merely groaned in frustration. Her uncle, once again, not learning his lesson.
Eustace ran out into the yard and grabbed the slab once more, holding it close to him. It took him only a moment for him to realize that King Ramses was standing only a few feet away from him. Clearly not amused by Eustace going back on his promise.
"That's three plagues," Eustace said as he held up three fingers. "You're out of ammo mister. He he he he. And don't think you can come around here pushing no tote bags on us neither."
Eustace was caught up in his gloating. So much so, he didn't notice that the black cloud of locusts had suddenly reappeared and were quickly closing in on him.
"What's your offer?" Eustace demanded once more.
"Return the slab!" Ramses demanded one last time.
It wasn't until the buzzing sound reached Eustace's ears that he realized it was too late. All he could do was scream one last time before the swarm overtook him.
The very next morning, Courage, Avery and Muriel were sitting in the remains of the living room. By some miracle, the TV set was still intact and it was working, despite most of the house being gone. It was a news report that they were watching as the Professor from the day before was being interviewed.
"At long last, the allegedly cursed slab of King Ramses has been returned to his crypt. Where it will remained buried in antiquity for all time," the professor stated.
Avery let out a sigh and said, "Yeah, allegedly cursed you say."
"Hopefully the lad can rest in peace now," Muriel added. "Oh, I wonder where Eustace is."
Avery shuddered and said, "He ran back into the yard after Courage threw the slab out the window. He didn't come back in after that."
She sat back in the armchair and thought to herself, 'If what they say about the curse is true, I don't think we want to know what happened to him.'
Meanwhile, in a crypt thousands of miles away, an ancient kings tomb remained undisturbed. But anyone who would have been in the tomb at the time would have been disturbed to hear the sound of an old man's scream, seemingly coming from nowhere, but everywhere at the same time.
They also would have been disturbed to see that King Ramses cursed slab had been altered very much as well. The three familiar plague markings were all still the same. But the carving of King Ramses was gone. In it's place was the carving of an old lanky man, in overalls and an old fashioned hat, screaming in absolute terror.
"What's your offer?" was the last thing heard through the tomb.
This episode was fun to revisit. Though as an adult, it was hard for me to ignore the legal ramifications that Eustace's actions COULD have gotten him into by refusing to give the slab to the professor given that what Eustace had was stolen property. I know it's cartoon logic, but sometimes I do like giving things a small dose of reality.
So I'm gonna be changing the episode order a little again, which I will do from time to time. I was going to do Hunchback of Nowhere next, but I really really want to do Queen of the Black Puddle first, so THAT will be the next chapter. Hunchback of Nowhere will be after that.
Also Courage, what was up with that sinking ship?