Audrey's POV

I watched as Gooch used his crane inside Junk-N-Stuff. Henry grabbed a plant and started to move to the other side of the room.

"No, no. Move all those things to the side." Gooch told Henry.

"All right, all right." Henry sighed and started moving the rolling desk to the side.

Charlotte came inside the store. "Hey, you guys."

"Hey." I grinned.

"You're late for work." Gooch noted.

"It's not my fault." Charlotte objected. "There was a line at The Corn Doggery."

"You got us corn dogs?" I jumped off of the counter and moved to Charlotte.

"Yeah, dude." Charlotte nodded.

"This is not a corn dog time." Gooch rolled his eyes. "Okay, give me a corn dog."

Charlotte handed Gooch a corn dog. I took a corn dog and bit into it while Henry grabbed a corn dog.

"Mmm, this is so good." I sat back onto the counter.

"I know." Henry agreed.

Charlotte looked around. "So, what is all of this?"

"That is a big rock." Henry pointed to the rock in the crane.

"From outer space." I added.

"No, I mean what's this crane for." Charlotte corrected.

"To move the rock." Henry took a bite out of his corn dog. "It weighs over 7,000 pounds."

"Wow." Charlotte said. "Can I borrow this crane to move my big Uncle Rosco? Because he's been on our cough since Christmas."

Gooch turned back to the crane controls and made the crane move. "Darn it, which one of these controls make the—" The rock fell from the crane and went down the floor.

Crashing could be heard and every crash we heard we all winced.

"You dropped the rock!" Henry pointed out.

"Wow, that thing is gonna fall all the way down the Man Cave." Charlotte sighed.

"Wait— my dad!" I got off of the counter and started to call my dad with my phone.

"Hey, I can't talk. I'm hula-sizing with Laylani." My dad told me.

"Dad, these a 7,000-pound space rock on its way down there!" I yelled.

"There's a what on its way down here?" My dad questioned.

The next thing I heard was a big crash and screaming.

"Dad!" I panicked.

"Ray? You there?" Henry chimed in.

"What happened?" Charlotte asked.

"I don't know." I responded. "Dad, a very heavy rock is about to crash through your ceiling!"

"Yeah, thanks for the heads up." My dad groaned.

I sighed and ended the call, taking another bite out of my corn dog.

- - - - - - - -

The next day I was standing on the couch looking around the Man Cave.

"Ray, what's wrong?" Henry asked as he and Charlotte walked in.

"Shh!" I shushed Henry.

"Shh!" Gooch shushed Henry.

"Shh!" My dad shushed Henry.

"How come you guys are—" Charlotte began.

"Shh!" Henry shushed Charlotte.

"Why are you shushing me?" Charlotte looked at Henry.

"I don't know. They started it." Henry pointed to My dad, Gooch, and I.

"Will you two be quiet?" I glared a them.

"We have a situation." Gooch informed Henry and Charlotte.

"What's going on?" Henry stood on the couch with me.

My dad puts down the memory wiper and started doing hand movements.

"Okay, you're gonna have to use your words." Charlotte pointed out.

"Look at the space rock!" My dad whispered and pointed to the space rock.

"What the Jack happened?" Charlotte looked at the space rock.

"It hatched!" Gooch said.

"What do you mean it hatched?" Henry panicked. "It's a rock! Rocks don't hatch!" Henry turned to me. "Do rocks hatch?"

"No. Eggs hatch." I rolled my eyes.

"So, the space rock was really a space egg?" Henry asked.

"Yeah." My dad assured. "And last night it hatched and something crawled out of it.

I looked down at the purple slime coming out of the space rock.

"Well, where'd it go?" Henry questioned.

"We don't know." Gooch shook his head.

"But it left that purple slime trail." I observed.

"So, you're saying that some creature from outer space crawled out of that egg rock and now it's somewhere around here, but you guys don't know where it is?" Charlotte questioned.

"That's right." Gooch panicked.

"Okay then." Charlotte grabbed her bag and went to the tube slots and pressed the button on the remote. "Up the tube." Charlotte flew up.

"So, she's gone." I sighed. I heard squeaking.

"I hear it!" My dad exclaimed. "Gooch, turn off all non-essential equipment."

"Right." Gooch turned off the power, and the only lights in the room was the monitor lights.

I felt something squeezing me. "Something's touching me!"

Gooch turned on the power. "And Henry's gone!"

"I'm right here!" Henry said.

Henry was on my back and I pushed him off.

"Jerk!" I rolled my eyes.

"What? I was scared!" Henry protested.

"All right, this is stupid! We don't need to be afraid." My dad scoffed.

"Easy for you to say." Gooch scoffed.

"Yeah, you're indestructible." I crossed my arms.

"No creature is going to hurt you." Henry added.

"Oh yeah? What if it crawls up my leg? I don't need some alien thing all up in there." My dad objected.

"So, what do we do?" Henry asked.

"I think if we just calmly search the Man Cave—" My dad got interrupted by squeaking.

We all screamed and went our separate ways. I ran in the elevator with Henry and tried to open it, but it didn't budge.

We tried to get in the rooms but the doors wouldn't budge. Henry, my dad, and I ran to the tubes. I hugged Henry's waist as my dad and Henry tapped their belt buckle.

"Up the tube!" We all yelled.

- - - - - - -

I was at Henry's house at the very same day. Charlotte and I were sitting at the kitchen table while Henry was on the phone.

"Yeah.. yeah. They're here at my house." Henry put his phone away from his ear. "Ray wants to know why you aren't home and why Charlotte isn't at work."

Charlotte turned to Henry. "I'm not going back there until somebody catches that creature and gets rid of it."

"Don't you want to see it?" Henry questioned.

"Yeah, I want to see it." I chimed in. "I want to see it dead."

Henry gave us a weird look then put his phone back up to his ear. "Audrey wants to see the creature dead, and Charlotte says she's not coming to work until we catch the—" Henry looked at Piper on the couch. "You know what." Henry paused for a second. "Yeah. Women do be crazy."

"We heard that." Charlotte typed on her laptop.

"Hey, I left my backpack down in the—" Henry paused for a second. "Oh, you did?" Henry put his down. "Hey, Piper!"

"What?!" Piper shouted.

"A guy I work with says he dropped my backpack off here." Henry explained.

"Yeah, mom has it. Stop bothering me!"
Piper demanded.

"Yeah, I got it." Henry put his phone back up to his ear. "Okay, later."

Henry ended the call and sat next to me. "So, did you—" Henry leaned in closer and whispered, "Did you find anything about the space rock or egg or whatever?"

"Yeah, and I'm worried." I nodded.

"About?" Henry looked at me.

"What if that was just the first alien space rock egg?" Charlotte whispered. "What if more come and then the aliens take over the Earth and use us humans as food?"

"That will never happen." Henry laughed.

"Why not?" I scoffed.

"Because.. if they're aliens, who traveled here, that means they'd have to be highly intelligent. And highly intelligent creatures wouldn't eat other living creatures." Henry took a bite out of his chicken leg.

"Wouldn't they?" I looked at Henry.

"Oh my God." Henry threw the chicken leg on the floor.

Jasper barged inside the house. "Oh yeah, oh yeah! I am the golden boy— wait who are you?" Jasper turned to me.

"I'm Audrey, Henry's friend." I told Jasper.

"We work together." Henry added.

"Showtime." Piper grinned.

"What are you all pumped up about?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah, Jasper, what's up?" Piper said, with a sweet voice.

"You guys know my latest bucket podcast?" Jasper questioned.

"Yeah?" Henry said.

"No." I replied.

"I do bucket podcasts." Jasper grinned. "I got 100,007 downloads."

"Woah!" I walked to Jasper.

"No!" Piper said in amazement.

"That many people downloaded your new podcast?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, ma'am!" Jasper smiled.

"And what's the most you've ever gotten?" I continued.

"Seven!" Jasper responded.

"Oh." I frowned.

"Wow, that's really great." Piper stood up. "I bet this success makes you feel so much better about yourself as a person."

"It does!" Jasper exclaimed. "Later, I'm going to my Grandma's house and I'm going to say, 'Hey, Grandma, who's useless now?'."

"Good for you, Jasp." Henry congratulated.

"Thanks." Jasper replied. "Hey, can I go up to your room and record a special thank you message for my fans?"

"Sure." Henry agreed.

"Thanks!" Jasper ran up the stairs.

"Way to go Jasper, you're a rockstar!" Piper shouted.

"That's how I feel!" Jasper smiled.

"Ha!" Piper laughed when Jasper went upstairs.

"She did something." I pointed out.

"Piper." Henry began.

"Yeah?" Piper smiled.

"What did you do?" Henry sighed.

"Okay. Okay." Piper stopped to laugh. "I went on a website and for 10 bucks, I bought Jasper 100,000 fake downloads."

"Well, why would you do that?" Henry questioned.

"To get him all happy and excited so later I can crush him." Piper explained.

"Okay, that's a really mean thing to—" Henry began but got cut off with someone's screams.

"Mom?" Henry questioned.

"Where's the bug spray?!" Mrs. Hart shouted and ran into the kitchen. "I need the bug spray and a baseball bat!"

"Mom. Mom. Mom, what's wrong?" Henry ran to Mrs. Hart.

"I— I was down in the basement washing your backpack because it was all sticky inside— oh, hi Charlotte. And you are?" Mrs. Hart turned to me.

"That's Audrey." Henry began. "I work with her."

"Hi, Audrey." Mrs. Hart began. "There was this big bug or maybe it was a rat, whatever it was, it jumped o me and landed on my shoulder."

Mrs. Hart started to look through the counter cabinets. Henry touched the purple slime on Mrs. Hart shoulder, which looked exactly like the slime down in the Man Cave.

"Uh-oh." Charlotte said.

"I got to go next door and borrow some bug spray!" Mrs. Hart started to leave the house. "And maybe a shot gun!"

"My backpack." Henry turned to Charlotte and I as we walked to Henry. "The creature must've crawled in my backpack at work."

"And now it's here." I sighed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Piper questioned.

"Nothing." Henry rolled his eyes.

"You're nothing!" Piper shot back.

Henry rolled his eyes. "We've got to find that creature. Come down to the basement with me."

"I got a better idea!" Charlotte whispered.

"What?" I looked at Charlotte.

Charlotte ran to the front door and left.

"So, she's gone." I looked at the front door.

- - - - - - -

"Oh, honey, would you get down from there?" Mr. Hart rolled his eyes as Mrs. Hart was standing on the couch.

"I'll come down after you show me its dead lifeless body!" Mrs. Hart objected.

"Why are you so scared of a bug?" Mr. Hart asked.

"It's not just a bug." Mrs. Hart protested. "It's a huge icky creature thing!"

"Ladies be crazy." Mr. Hart turned to Henry.

I cleared my throat. "I'm right here." I said while coughing.

"Sometimes ladies be making some sense." Henry shrugged.

"Just go kill it!" Mrs. Hart demanded.

"All right, I'm going!" Mr. Hart started to walk away. "Two X chromosomes."

Henry ran down to the island in the kitchen, bending over. I followed him and sat down.

Henry flipped his whiz watch open. "Ray. Ray."

"Hey, Henry, I can't talk." My dad began. "Gooch and I still looking for the
creature— and Audrey you better get home soon!"

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I don't think you're going to find it."

"Why not?" My dad asked.

"Because it's in my house." Henry scoffed.

"What?" My dad blinked.

"Gooch dropped my backpack off here and I guess it was inside." Henry predicted.

"Did you guys see the creature?" My dad questioned.

"No, but it jumped on Henry's mom." I remarked.

"Oh, man, is your mom okay?" Ray looked at Henry.

"Yeah, she's all right." Henry assured.

"Because she is one fine-looking lady." My dad smiled.

"Gross!" I gagged. "Will you just stop—"

I heard Mr. Hart screaming, running back into the living room.

"What? What happened? Did you see the bug?" Mrs. Hart cried.

"Yep!" Mr. Hart climbed onto the couch with Mrs. Hart.

"Well, did you kill it?" Mrs. Hart asked.

"Nope." Mr. Hart shook his head.

"You better get over here." I looked back at my dad.

Henry closed his whiz watch as we got up.

- - - - - - -

We were now all up on the couch. I held a bat while Henry held a broom.

"Where's the exterminator?" Mrs. Hart shouted.

"I don't know." Mr. Hart answered. "Henry, just go down to the basement and kill that thing!"

"Oh, you're going to send me down there?" Henry scoffed.

"Are you crazy?" Mrs. Hart turned to Mr. Hart. "We are not sending our son to do battle with some dangerous, freaky rat-bug."

"You're right." Mr. Hart sighed. "Audrey, you go do it."

"No way!" I objected.

The door bell rung.

"I got it." Henry ran to the door and opened it.

"Hi." Captain Man greeted as I ran behind Henry.

"Hey, what are you—" I began.

"Just play along." Captain Man finished and walked inside Henry's house. "Hello, citizens of Swellview."

"Oh my God, it's Captain Man." Mrs. Hart exclaimed.

"In our house." Mr. Hart took his science goggles off.

"What are you doing here?" Mrs. Hart looked at at Captain Man.

"Well, sometimes I go around to various neighborhoods in Swellview taking surveys." Captain Man lied.

"Surveys?" Mr. Hart tilted his head.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that on the news." Henry lied.

"Totally!" I rolled my eyes.

"You guys mind taking a survey?" Captain Man asked.

"Not at all." Mrs. Hart assured.

"Go ahead." Mr. Hart nodded.

"Great! Question one, how often do you participate in surveys?" Captain Man asked. "A, often, B, rarely, or C, this is my first survey."

"I think this is our first survey." Mrs. Hart blurted out.

"Okay, this is stupid." I rolled my eyes and slumped down onto the couch.

"Agreed." Henry shook his head and sat down next to me.

"Captain Man..?" I trailed off.

"Yes, girl?" Captain Man looked at me.

"Since you just happen to be here, maybe you can help us out with a problem?" Henry asked.

"Problem?" Captain Man questioned.

"Yeah." Mrs. Hart nodded. "We got a big scary bug down in our basement."

"A scary bug, huh?" Captain Man pulled out a weapon. "Well, what do you say I take this down to your basement and reach that but some manners? That sound good to you, pretty lady?"

"It does." Mrs. Hart smiled.

"Yeah, it does." Captain Man repeated.

"Gross!" Henry and I both exclaimed.

I watched as Captain Man started to walk down to the basement.

"I hope he kills the bug." Mrs. Hart said to Mr. Hart.

"Yeah." Mr. Hart agreed. "Then we can finish that survey."

"Right!" Mrs. Hart nodded.

"Eat laser, slime beast!" Captain Man yelled when there was a big crash, causing all of us to jump. "You picked the wrong planet to hatch on! I got you!"

The lasers started to come into the living room which made Henry and I jump on the couch with Mr. and Mrs. Hart.

We continued to scream and move around on the couch.

- - - - - - -

After a few minutes, Captain Man ran back into the living room with sweat all over his face.

"Hey." Captain Man greeted.

"Hi!" Mrs. Hart exclaimed.

"What happened?" Mr. Hart asked.

"Did you kill the creature thing?" I chimed in.

"Uhh, almost! Did you guys see it crawl up here?" Captain Man panted.

"Up here?" Mrs. Hart screamed.

"What!?" Henry shouted.

"You lost it?" I groaned.

"No, no." Captain Man objected. "But it crawled into your air conditioning vent. I think it might be headed up to the roof. You people wait here."

Captain Man started to run to the door.

"Captain Man?" Mrs. Hart called.

"Yes?" Captain Man turned to Mrs. Hart.

"After you kill the thing, are we going to finish the survey?" Mrs. Hart asked.

"Oh yeah." Captain Man smirked.

"Leave!" I shouted.

"Will you go kill it?!" Henry scoffed.

"Right!" Captain Man started to run outside.

- - - - - - -

"It's on my face! It's on my face! It's on my face!" Piper ran down the stairs with something on her face. Then I realized it was the creature.

Piper ran outside with Captain Man following.

"Everything's under control!" Captain Man assured. "Little girl! Stop running so I can shoot it off your face!"

"Well then." I looked at Henry's parents.

"He'll probably just shoot it off her face." Henry shrugged.

We turned to the door when we heard Piper's screams and zapping noises.

"I got you!" Captain Man hollered.

Piper and Captain Man walked inside. Piper had messy hair with smoke coming out of her hair.

"Well, the creature chewed her cheek up a little, but she's okay!" Captain Man exclaimed.

"I am not okay!" Piper protested.

"Oh, Piper, don't be a drama queen." Mrs. Hart rolled her eyes.

"Seriously." Mr. Hart agreed.

"What about the creature?" I hit Captain Man's shoulder. "Did you kill it?"

"Oh, I think so." Captain Man chuckled. "I shot him with this things nine times and it crawled under a bush to die. I don't think that creature will bother anyone ever again."

"Excellent." Henry exclaimed.