Free Gigantopus from Planet X! by Tony Abbott

1
    Warehouse of the Weird
    T he morning air was warming up as Holly Vickers biked down Main Street in Grover’s Mill.
    â€œIt’s going to be hot today,” said her best friend Liz Duffey, pedaling beside her.
    â€œAnd weird, too,” added Holly. “I have a feeling.” Riding just ahead was her brother Sean and their friends Jeff Ryan and Mike Mazur.
    Bong! came a loud gonging sound. The extra large donut clock on top of the Double Dunk Donut Den was chiming the morning hour.
    Sssss! The oversized pancake pan on the roof of Usher’s House of Pancakes hissed even louder.
    On their right they passed W. Reid Elementary School and the big fish-shaped Baits Motel. Across the street stood the X-raysUs Medical Clinic.
    Liz turned to Holly as they rode along. “Everything seems pretty normal.”
    Holly nodded at Liz. It did feel normal. It felt normal because everything was so weird. That’s because weird is normal in Grover’s Mill.
    Grover’s Mill. A place she and her friends call … The Zone. The Weird Zone. A place where really normal things never happen. Ever.
    And Holly and her friends were on their way to one of the weirdest places in The Zone. Humongous Horror Movie Studios. Everything there was a creepy set, an icky prop, or a cheesy costume for cheap, sometimes scary, always not-so-good horror movies.
    â€œWow!” gasped Mike, stopping with everyone else at the end of Main Street. “There it is!”
    An old airplane hangar just outside of town was home to Humongous Studios. It looked like a huge soup can cut in half and laid on its side. It even had ridges across the curved roof.
    â€œIt’s … it’s … humongous!” Jeff sputtered.
    â€œThat’s the idea,” said Sean. “Dad needed a big place to make big movies!”
    Holly and Sean’s father, Todd Vickers, owned Humongous Studios. But he was the only one who worked there. He wrote, directed, produced, acted in, filmed, and built the props for every Humongous horror movie.
    Today, Mr. Vickers was filming a new movie. And he was going to show the kids how he made movie magic.
    A few minutes later, the five friends parked their bikes outside the huge hangar.
    â€œEnter, if you dare,” said Sean, grinning.
    Eeeee-oooo-eeee! Creepy organ music floated all around the kids as they stepped inside.
    â€œWith horror movies,” said Sean, “you gotta have creepy music. It comes with the territory.”
    The five kids stepped into a vast room. Out in the middle of the floor was a large lumpy shape covered with a black canvas cloth.
    â€œAh,” said Sean, with a little smile. “Maybe a new prop. Let’s take a peek.”
    â€œI wouldn’t do that,” said Holly.
    Sean shrugged and moved in front of Holly. He started to pull the cloth off but at the last minute he pushed Holly ahead of him.
    â€œAaaaaah!” she shrieked as two huge spiked claws whipped out from under the cloth and closed tightly around her!
    â€œHey!” cried Jeff. “A giant claw thing is eating Holly!”
    As Holly struggled to free herself from the gnarly claws, she noticed that the creature’s hard shell was flaking apart in her hands. And it smelled like fresh paint.
    â€œWait a second!” she said. “Dad, are you in there?” She tried to see under the cloth. “Dad? Okay, put me down! Come on, Dad!”
    ERKKK! The claws stopped clawing, and Holly heard chuckling from inside the creature.
    A moment later, the jaws opened and out popped the head of Todd Vickers. He had a camera on his shoulder and was beaming with delight. “Great scream, dear! Got it all on film!”
    â€œThanks a lot, Dad,” mumbled Holly, slipping out from the claws and dusting the flaky bits of shell off her T-shirt.
    â€œWelcome to another Humongous scream fest!” Mr. Vickers said cheerily. He whipped off the cloth to show a giant crab monster with two