When they got back to the house Oscar went down into the basement to wait. In his basement was a small carpeted area surrounded by bookshelves. The 2 couches in the middle of the area were deep in their cushions, and faced the fireplace. Its chimney went all the way up the house, but only gave heat to the tiny room.
Of course there were other things that heated up the room naturally, but either way it was the hottest chamber in the house.

Oscar laid his back on the couch and held Ball in his arms. He only listened, as Ethan, Robey, and Rocky played 21 on the floor.

"Are you going to take a card?" Ethan asked Rocky. Rocky looked back and forth between the deck and his hand, which was behind a book on the carpet. Unable to decide what to do, he hopped up to the couch's arm to ask Oscar.
"Hey Rocky," Oscar sleepily sat up a little more. His worry was starting to seep in, "What's wrong?"
"Should I take or keep the cards I have?" Rocky asked him.
"Why don't you decide?" Oscar smiled a little, "It's more fun that way."
"Ok," Rocky hopped down to the floor again, and kept the cards he had.

Oscar looked at Ball again.
Robey noticed and signed 'You worried?'
"He's asking if you're worried," Ethan said

"Well, I mean of course I am," Oscar started, "I've never seen anybody sleep this long. It reminds me of a coma, so it scares me."
Ethan and Robey nodded, as they could only hope for the best.

After a while it had gotten too late, so Ethan and Robey had to leave for the night. Oscar then just stared at the ceiling, as Rocky sat on the head of the couch staring at the wall.

"Why do you stare so often Rocky?" Oscar asked genuinely.
"I like to imagine I'm a pirate on a quest to save a golden statue of myself, but then I end up staring often, because I think of it often," Rocky looked down at him quantly.

"Hmm," Oscar hummed. He looked back at Ball, who had her eyes open. Oscar jumped back a little, even though he was lying down.
Ball looked around, worried.

"What happened?" She uprighted herself and stood on Oscar's chest.
"Ball!" Oscar sat up, letting her step off him.
"Oscar.." Ball mimicked his speech, "Where am I?"
"We're just in my basement it's super small. I guess I never brought you down here before now," Oscar said, suddenly energized.

"Oscar. What. Happened?" Ball asked again.
"You fell out of the sky! And then you landed in the dump while the trash pack was having smores! Beta almost killed you but I grabbed you so now we're here," Oscar explained.
"Beta tried to kill me!?" Ball shouted.
"Yes," Oscar said.
"Did Josie send her?" She asked.

"Ball… J-Josie's dead. Beta thinks.." Oscar paused as he saw the fright develop in Ball's face, "Beta blames you for her death,"

"No!" Ball cried, "How did she die!?"
"She was shot by the aliens. Everyone saw. People are blaming you," Oscar hated to have to be the one to say all these things to Ball, but he felt he had to.
"No…" Ball looked at down the couch. Defeated, she sat and wondered what to do, "I do not see a way out of this," She sighed.

"There's gotta be something," Oscar slouched.
"Yes, but if everyone knows, than they will want justice. In death, it is only just to bring death… Unless we bring Josie back. Of course that still cannot solve everything. Everyone will know we can bring the dead back. Everyone will want their defunct elders, but is it justified?" She asked Oscar.
"Is it justified to bring everybody's grandparents back from the dead?" Oscar asked back slowly.
"That is my question," Ball said.
"That sounds like a difficult question…" Oscar said.

"What time is it?" Ball went off topic.
"It's around 9," Oscar said.
"We should go to Johnson tomorrow to discuss. I will need your help to deliver me. If anyone sees me they may attack the both of us. I suggest you also keep Rocky in the safety of your home as well," Ball said.
"Ok," Oscar said sleepily.

"One more thing," Ball started, "Thank you for keeping me from Beta. It was very brave of you to put yourself in danger so that I may survive," She bowed slightly in gratefulness.
Oscar smiled. He took a moment to think about how odd this was. A sentient object was thanking him for saving her life. He couldn't look her in the eyes.

For the rest of the night Oscar slept in the couch. He assumed Ball was sleeping too, but he woke to find her standing on the arm of the couch. She was staring at the door up the little staircase.

"What are you doing?" Oscar asked softly.
"Why did I fall out of the sky Oscar?" Ball asked in an oddly calm manner. She didn't stop staring at the door.
"I don't know," He answered honestly.
"Was it from space you think-ch?" She asked him.
"Uh huh! People thought you were a meteorite," Oscar woke up a little.
"I may have, killed the aliens.." Ball glanced at the ceiling and turned around to face him, "But a detail is haunting me so hard I fear I cannot shiver the cold of this thought,"

"What might that be?" Oscar sat up.
"We did not kill, ALL of THEM," Ball cried.

The door handle at the top of the staircase violently wiggled.
Ball turned around.
"What do we do?" Oscar whispered.
"Stay silent.. I think they wish to scare us," Ball whispered back.

"This house is too big…" A deep voice said beyond the door.
"Check anyway," another voice said.

"Get behind the couch!" Ball hiss whispered. The two of them scrambled to get behind the short side of the couch facing away from the door. The couch's other short side was facing the door. The couch's long back side wasn't close enough to a wall to hide behind.

(If this paints a better visual)
The door burst in, and wood flew on the floor. The light from upstairs beamed red. A single prism with a nailed bat in his 2 front hands crawled down the steps. His shadow long and grey.
Ball and Oscar could only hear the alien approach. As he took step after step, they had only guesses as to how close he was. Ball looked at Oscar in the eyes. She pointed behind the couch by sticking her foot out and wagging it. Oscar nodded, understanding. They crawled around the back of the couch, and soon later crawled around to the front of the couch.

"I hear somethin…" they heard the prism growl clear as day. He was behind the couch, while they were sitting in front of the couch.
Ball and Oscar held their breath.
A voice from the stairs shouted down.
"Find anything?" It asked.
Ball and Oscar silently crawled back to the short side of the couch facing the wall.
"Nope," the prism with the bat said. He walked back up the stairs, but moved his face to his behind. He looked back one more time, and then left.

Oscar peeked over the arm of the couch. Tiptoeing, he approached Rocky who was still sleeping on the top of the couch.
Oscar grasped him closely, waking the stone.

"They didn't see you," He whispered.
Ball creeped out from the couch and looked up to them.
"We need to stay low.." She said softly, "We must wait till they leave.."
Oscar nodded, and carried Rocky back to the short side of the couch facing the wall.

They waited in silence for about an hour, unable to rest or diminish any stress.
"I think they wish to kill me," Ball glanced at the ground and swayed uneasily, "For good."
"Most people die for good Ball," Oscar said, "You have to fight for your life, but you still can't be afraid to die."
"Why should I not be afraid to die? If I can fight than I will stay alive," Ball asked.

Oscar exhaled.
"Everybody dies one day Ball. When.. when humans get too old their bodies stop working and they die," Oscar sighed.
"Ah, yes, I, believe.. I remember you telling me something like this," Ball said.

It went quiet.
"So you will die, one day, anyway?" Ball asked him.
"Yeah..That's why I can't be afraid, cause I'll die one day.. anyway," Oscar said.
"Oh. Will I as well, die of age?" Ball looked up at him.
"Can your body stop working? Do you have a heart?" Oscar held the collar of his shirt, in a move to comfort his own fear of cardiac arrest, "Do you have lungs, or a brain?"

"I have a mind," Ball said, "I have seen my scans, I have heard the explications. I am truly a strange thing. I, I wish I was not," Her voice cracked.

"Why's that?" Oscar asked her.
"To be me, means being stuck in a scandal of mass proportions. I am strange, created from strange, and am forced to involve with the strange, and strangers. Nobody wanted to separate me from the thing they feared, and I myself have failed to communicate my life. Now I am misunderstood, and misunderstood I will remain," She looked up at him again,

"But Oscar, there is more I am guilty of than just being misunderstood. I am not truly innocent. I was the one who asked Johnson to communicate the prank to the aliens, and I was the one who angered the aliens by freeing their most successful experiments.

I did not intend for all of this discord to ensue. I just wanted to break the shackles strange has on me, and break the real ones that were on the innocent digits, of an even further strange," Ball said.

"You are pretty strange Ball, but it doesn't matter to me. I'm sure everyone thinks they're at least a little strange, and your no different. Everybody makes mistakes too. I know you, you didn't mean for this to happen. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you wanted. There might be people that will hate you for that, but not me. I forgive you Ball for whatever," Oscar said.

Ball looked away.
"So you do not care that the aliens are threatening us, or that the aliens have killed in my name?" She asked him.
"The aliens, are to blame for this Ball. Not you. You are not them, and you never were," Oscar said.
"Yes, but I have infuriated them! I should have been more careful! I-" Ball looked confused.
"It's over now. You did your best. You just have to accept that. What else could you do?" Oscar suggested.

Ball looked away again, and then walked over to the fireplace. She tapped her foot, before returning to him.
"You may be right, but my troubles are still real," Ball said to Oscar.

"They'll be gone one day. You're still less than a year old. Live it up ya baby thing. My grades were bad in middle school but I started over in high school. There will always be a day when you can reinvent yourself. Maybe just not right now," He said.
"Hmm. I suppose," Ball said, still not entirely convinced. Oscar reached his hand out to her, and patted her head twice.
"Pat pat," He said, "Cheer up Ball,"

Ball smiled.
"I think the aliens have moved on, but we are not safe here," Ball said.
"Then, where should we go?" He asked.
"Out of Yoyleland. The government here is corrupt. If we can find somebody, anybody that can protect us then we must. Another country's military might be the only thing that can stop the aliens," Ball said.

"Sounds like a plan," Oscar said.
"Yes. Oscar I want you to call anybody that you love and tell them to come here. They and their families have to me us here so we can all make a run for it," Ball explained.
"What about everyone else?" Oscar asked.

"If we all ran away then they would surely be easy to chase. The only way we can go is south. The less people, the more we seem to be just a normal outflux. Besides, if we can contact the armies of other nations we can beg for help from them. Then that way we can help the others," Ball said.

"Ok, I'll text my buddies," Oscar took out his phone and texted them to regroup at his house, "They're asking why."
"Prepare for a long trip. It is an emergency and yoyleand is no longer safe," Ball said.
"... Okie," Oscar paused before continuing to type.
They waited for responses for about 30 minutes.

"David and Dora aren't responding. Not even to calls," Oscar said.
"I suppose we will have to get them ourselves," Ball began up the steps to the first floor. Oscar quickly caught up with her.
"We don't have to walk ya'know. Stay here and I'll get my mom or dad to drive us," Oscar said. He rushed around the hall and up the stairs while Ball stood silent.

She waited there, and waited, and.. started to worry. She waited some more, but she thought all should her was the chuff of some distance breath.

If somebody had gotten to Oscar she didn't want them to know that she was coming, so silently, she began to approach the stairwell. When she was halfway up the stairs she looked down to see that Rocky had followed her to the base of them. He looked sad.

Ball could take it not longer, she feared taking another step.
"Oscar!" She hiss whispered. Oscar appeared from a room in the corridor. His face was contracted into a frown and he shut his eyes tight. He was crying and Ball could only wonder why.
"What's wrong!? Are you hurt?" Ball asked him.
Oscar shook his head, and gasped for breath.
"Where are your parents?" Ball asked him.

Oscar then began to audibly sob, and it did not stop. He sniffed, and wailed, then cried as if a heavy force had fallen over him.
As soon as Oscar began to sob Ball had realized what was upsetting him. She slowly tensed up, and didn't know what to do.
.. for a moment, she thought to just leave.
This is your consequence, you have done wrong to the only people who trusted you. Scum of the Earth you are.

She didn't even notice, but she had begun to walk backward.
"Ball…" Oscar saw the fright in her face. The guilt painted in harsh lines, "No no," He inhaled, "It's not your fault. ..It's not your fault do you hear me!?" He shivered a cry, but his attention was on her. Ball stopped walking.

"I, I know... I know.." She said softly. She looked down on the ground. Oscar walked up to her. He picked her up, and squeezed her tight.
"I'm not mad at you Ball, oh my goodness don't you DARE, try to tell me that this tragedy belongs under your name!" Oscar tried to speak up once again, but only cried. He sat on the floor against the wall and buried his face in his arms just as he held Ball. Rocky walked up to them, with a frown.
"Rocky," Oscar sniffed, "M-m-mom and Dad h-have been m-murdered!"
Rocky only sat next to Oscar. He wasn't jealous that Ball was in his lap and he wasn't. He just tried to help Oscar with his presence as much as possible, but it was sort've like a dog was trying to relieve him when all he wanted was his parents.

They didn't know how much longer they sat there for, but eventually Ball looked up at the now quiet Oscar, and sighed.
"We have to collect everybody and escape while we can.." Ball whispered to him. Oscar nodded slowly. He put her down as he got up and wiped what was left of his tears away. He covered his face for a little bit longer.

"You ready to go?" She asked him gently. Oscar inhaled, but in moderation.
"..Yeah," He breathed. Ball walked over to the stairs as Oscar shuffled behind her. Rocky thought for a moment of what he wanted to do before deciding to follow Oscar as well.
Ball had to wait ever so often for Oscar to keep up with her. On the stairs he asked," Are we gonna walk there?"
"What else would we do?" Ball asked him back. Oscar shrugged.
"I donno."
"Can you drive?"