It was a regular afternoon on the ranch of Ken Doyle. That day, Ken decided that he would sit outside and read The Reader’s Digest. As soon as he got there, Cody, Ken’s son, pestered him,

“Dad, can you take me to practice shooting my bb gun?” He begged,
“In a bit, I want to take a nap now.” Feeling disappointed, Cody sighed,
“Oh man!” and ran off. After his nap, Ken awoke and told Cody, “Ok, we can go practice now.” After shooting awhile, Cody said,
“I want to go back dad.”
“Ok, Cody.”
As they were walking back, there was a bright light in the sky. It crashed with a loud bang just over a small hill,

“What was that?” Ken exclaimed,
“Let’s go check it out!” Cody said. When the object crashed, it made a crater in the ground. In the center was a metal pod. Cody tried to fetch it but was pulled back, “Don’t go in there, you don’t know if it’s radiation!” Ken warned. But Cody detested,
“It’s a wishing rock!”
“Let me go into the crater first.” Ken exclaimed. He stepped into the crater and touched it. When he did, it twitched. It was a pod that fell from the sky.

“Can I come yet?” Cody called.
“Yes! It’s ok here.” He ran in. “It’s a space pod?” Cody asked. “Yes, and I think it’s alive.” Ken said. “Can I take it into show and tell?” “I don’t know…” Ken said. “Please?” Cody pleaded. “Ok, yes.” “Thank you!” Cody squealed.
Ken took the pod back to the house and set it on the kitchen table where it twitched again to Cody’s shock,
“Ah, it’s alive!” he cried,
“It’s fine; it won’t harm us.” Ken said.
Afterwards, he tucked Cody into his bed and told him good night. Before he turned in, Ken checked on the pod sitting on the kitchen table. It did not twitch, so he turned out the light. They knew little of the unseen terror brewing in their own home…
In the middle of the night, the pod began to twitch with more fervor until it cracked open and a menacing presence emerged. It was had a long, thin body with a large head and black eyes. Its hands were long. The creature got up from its thin membrane and looked for a living being. In the meantime, the loudness had woken Ken and Cody,
“What was that?” Ken yelled. The noise startled Cody so much that he ran into his dad’s room,
“Dad I’m scared!” He squealed,
“It’s ok; we’re going to look.”
With Cody clinging around him, Ken got out of bed and crept down the hall into the kitchen. He turned the light on in the kitchen, and discovered the pod was broken! He turned the lights on in several other rooms where the items were upturned, broken, and smashed. Just then, the creature snuck up behind him with its hands out. Cody peeked from his dad’s shoulder and screamed out loud, “Ah Dad look!” Ken turned around and was confronted with the creature, which hissed and jumped at him,
“What is that?” he screamed.
Before he could react in any way, the creature pounced, prying Cody from his arms. It pressed its hands on Cody’s forehead, and into his head. Ken watched as the creature sucked out Cody’s brain, leaving him dead on the floor,
“No!” Ken yelled and lunged at the creature. But his efforts were minimal, as creature pressed its hands onto Ken’s forehead and penetrated them into his brain. Only this time, several small worms were released and began to wreak havoc at Ken’s central nervous system, leaving him unconscious.
It was then that out of his chest emerged another creature, the same as from the pod. Another creature burst from Cody’s dead body and went to join its comrades. They burst through the windows and went off to wreak havoc.
After a while the creatures found a small inlet of water and settled there to rest. There was nothing else to do but wait for the humans to come.
The next day they came upon the town of Marbleton and caused destruction, killing children and injecting worms into the brains of the inhabitants, knocking them unconscious. New creatures emerged from the people and continued to cause chaos on the town. As the people of Marbleton tried to stop the creatures, they refused, for the creatures were too strong and multiplied rapidly.
Eventually, they ceased their attack and returned to the outskirts where they were picked up by a flying saucer. At that same moment, Ken Doyle awoke from unconsciousness but couldn’t remember anything that happened. He was confused and disoriented. Then he saw Cody lying in the corner unconscious. He attempted to help him but it was already too late. Cody could not be saved,
“No!” He cried out.
It was then that he began to recall the attack last night and thought, “I shall seek revenge on these beings!” But the problem was each time Ken tried to think of an idea for getting rid of the creatures, he was struck with an agonizing headache.
In time, Ken buried Cody in a family plot and Marbleton’s residents were able to rebuild everything around them. But they remember much of the beings that wreaked havoc and seemed to be acting as if under a trance.
One day, Ken was hanging out with his brother Rob watching television. He felt the vision in his left eye go fuzzy. Thinking it was a hair, Ken went into the bathroom to see what it was. When he looked in the mirror, he discovered that a tiny worm was inching its way across his eye!
“Ah!” Ken screamed, which sent Rob running to his aide, “It’s a worm, Rob, a worm!” He then came to the conclusion that what he just saw inch across his eye was what was causing his headaches; the creatures had implanted them,
“They are controlling their minds; we have to do something to get them out.” Ken explained.
Then Rob realized, “I have developed a new kind of drug that destroys unknown beings in the human brain. It’s possible that we could give it to everyone in town who has the worms.” He explained,
“But we don’t know if everyone in town has the worms in their heads.” Ken said in return.
Then he remembered when the creature put its hands up to his forehead and penetrated it. What came from the creature’s hands had been the worm!
The next day, Rob went to the town clinic to deliver the drug. It turns out that everyone in town had felt the same agonizing headaches that Ken felt and they had discovered that they had the worms in their brains.
Nearly every person in Marbleton lined up at the clinic to receive Rob’s new drug and it worked! No one suffered the effects of the worms controlling their brains and felt back to normal. Just as this was happening, Ken and Rob decided that they would go out for a walk near Ken’s property…
All of a sudden a dark figure came off in the distance. It came closer to them every minute until it was right in front of them; a man dressed in a black business suit with a black tie, fedora hat, and sunglasses, his skin pale and sickly. As he stopped, he asked to see Rob. He was presented with a list of information regarding his work on the drug that destroyed the mind-controlling worms and was told by the man, “We need to talk to you back at headquarters, so please follow me this way.” Rob followed and he and the man in black walked down the pathway, disappearing off in the distance. On the ground Ken found a note that read, “How much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." He never saw his brother again.