In the quiet town of Saco, nothing ever seemed to happen—until The Great Cootie Outbreak. 
It started on an ordinary Tuesday during a hike along the Goosefare Trail when Karl ran screaming along the trail. “She touched me! I’ve got cooties!” Karl hollered, flailing his arms as if invisible bugs were crawling all over him.
The culprit? Pam, the local FTF hound and known hug enthusiast. Pam had merely tapped Karl on the shoulder to ask for a pen to sign a cache log. But that innocent gesture sparked a chain reaction that would grip the entire hiking group in chaos. Soon, the word spread like wildfire: Pam had cooties.
Geocachers scrambled to form "Cootie-Free Zones" along the trail. Some armed themselves with invisible "cootie spray" made from a garden hose found along the trail. Others huddled together, creating elaborate strategies to outwit the self-proclaimed “Cootie Defense Patrol.”
The outbreak soon escalated and mass hysteria erupted along the trail. Sticky “Cootie Badges” made of duct tape and cache logs were slapped onto anyone suspected of contact with Pam.
Then along came Petr, the local puzzle king and inventor extraordinaire. Petr declared he could cure cooties once and for all.
With the help of a few cardboard boxes, a slinky, and some old electrical wires, Petr unveiled his greatest creation: the Anti-Cootie Extractor 3000. It was a sight to behold—a giant contraption made of cereal boxes, milk cartons, and an old bike pump he found discarded along the trail. Geocachers lined up to try it, eager to be declared cootie-free.
Petr stood proudly in his blaze orange coat, waving a pen and clipboard. “It’s foolproof!” Petr exclaimed. “But I need Pam to test it first.” Pam, meanwhile, had grown tired of her unfair label. She agreed to step into the machine, but only if Petr agreed to let her get the FTF on the next cache hide. With dramatic flair, Petr flipped the lever. The machine whirred, clanked, and made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a belch.
When Pam emerged, Petr declared her cootie-free. To prove it, he shook her hand in front of the entire group. The Great Cootie outbreak was over or was it? Solve the puzzle to find out for yourself and watch out for cooties!
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