CHAPTER TWELVE

The Attack on Weybridge

The soldier and I agreed that it would not be wise to remain at my home. He felt that the best thing would be for him to continue to make his way toward London, with the hope of joining his military unit. I, on the other hand, decided to go back to Leatherhead to get my wife and take her away from England. The only problem was that there was a Martian pit between here and Leatherhead.

The soldier convinced me that it would be better to travel together through the northern woods and then separate at Chobham Road, where I would then head for the town of Epsom, which neighbored Leatherhead.

Before going, we gathered as much food and drink as we could. Then we set out on the same road I had taken to return from Leatherhead. As we ran, most of the houses seemed untouched in this area. Then we began to find many dead bodies along the road along with broken carriages and scattered household items. We seemed to be the only living beings in the area. Everyone else had either died or escaped as I earlier had.

When we reached the woods, we found that most of its trees had fallen. Those left standing were burned black, and its branches stood either naked or dressed in browned leaves. The morning was strangely silent, not a bird could be heard anywhere. Then, through the stillness, came the sound of horse's hooves. Through the remaining trees, we saw three soldiers walking along a narrow road, toward Woking. We shouted to them and they stopped to wait for us. One of the soldiers was a lieutenant, so my companion saluted him before speaking.

"We lost everyone, Sir! I'm trying to get back to my unit now, sir!"

"Can you tell me about these Martians?" the lieutenant asked.

"Well, sir, they're huge, metal creatures that kill with guns that shoot fire!" my companion explained.

"Oh, come on! You expect me to believe that?"

"He's not lying," I said, "If you keep walking, you'll find them less than half-a-mile from here."

"Well, we're here to clear people out of their homes. You'd better report to General Marvin in Weybridge. You know where that is?"

"Yes, I do," I answered.

We then left them and moved on toward the town of Byfleet. When we came from out of the woods there, everything seemed calm and quiet. Only the sight of military men and the sounds of people gathering their household things onto wagons, indicated that this day was different from others. In one of the fields, we could see a small collection of soldiers waiting patiently with large guns pointed toward Woking.

"These guys have no idea how useless those guns are. They've never seen the Martian's flame-gun," my companion said.

It was clear that no one in this town knew how serious the situation really was. One man was arguing with a soldier, who had told him to leave his plants behind. He was demanding that he be allowed to take them with him. I walked up to the man and took hold of his arm.

"You have no idea what's beyond those trees, do you?"

The man just looked at me, his eyes wide with surprise.

"No one over there is alive. No one. And you'll be just as dead, if you don't forget about these damned flowers of yours!" I shouted and then walked away.

The town was full of people, wearing their nice Sunday clothing, gathering their things onto wagons with much excitement. It seemed almost entertaining to them, for many of them were smiling and laughing. The train stations were terribly crowded with people and boxes. As the day went on, I am told that the situation became a bit violent with people pushing and fighting each other in order to get aboard.

We stayed in Weybridge until mid-afternoon and ate the lunch we had gathered from my home and helped a few people to load their goods onto wagons. Then we walked down to the river, an area of town called Shepperton. Here, people were crowded together trying to get aboard a number of the boats that would carry them across the river to the other shore. I was surprised to see all of the household things people were trying to escape with. It was as if they thought the Martians would want to steal their things.

Across the water, it looked much calmer. The hotel there seemed to be closed and the ferry was just dropping off a load of people. Then I heard someone shout at a dog to "shut up!" Immediately, the sound of a distant explosion could be heard. One of the guns had been fired. It seemed that the fighting had begun. Many other guns fired soon after.

No one could see the battle, for it was taking place on the other side of the forest. Everyone stood and listened, trying to determine what was happening.

"It's okay. They won't get past those soldiers!" I heard a woman say.

Then, further down the river, there was a huge explosion that sent both earth and water flying high up into the air. Everyone stood, motionless and disbelieving.

"Oh my God! There they are!" a voice cried out.

And there they were, indeed, four of those huge killing machines, moving as quickly as birds, coming straight for the river. They were coming from the plains to the left of the forest that hid the military from our eyes.

The people stood in shock. Then everyone suddenly began to turn and run, not caring who or what might be in their way. I, myself, was knocked over by the end of a table one man carried on his back. Struggling to get to my feet, I could hear the sound of water splashing as people jumped from the side of the boats. Then I remembered the Martians' heat ray and got an idea.

I began to shout for everyone to jump into the water. Then I jumped in and waded out to the middle of the river. The water was not very deep. I could still stand with my chest above the water. Many followed my advice and immediately ran into the river. The sound of splashing water was so loud that I was completely surprised, when I looked up, only to find the Martians almost right on top of us. Right away, I dove down underwater.

When I could no longer hold my breath, I came up for air and saw that one of the Martians was preparing to shoot its heat ray into the trees where the military lay hidden. But, as soon as it raised its arm, I could hear the sound of six guns firing at the same time. All around the head of the machine shells exploded in the air. Bang! Bang! Bang! Then a fourth shell came racing directly into the face of the machine and knocked its head almost completely off. A direct hit!

Half of the monster's head was blown off, revealing the inside control area. From where I stood, I could see the destroyed body of the Martian, which had been operating the metal machine. The huge weapon now walked about without a brain and wandered clumsily about the shore of the river. One of its arms blindly destroyed the rooftop of the Shepperton Church, and then the metal monster came stumbling back down the riverbank and fell, face first, into the water.

The river rose up in waves and the water quickly heated to an almost painful temperature. People started running out of the river, but I was too happy at having seen the destruction of the monster to care about myself. Then, from behind, I heard a man scream a warning, "Look out!" I turned and saw the other Martians coming. I went underwater, again. The water grew ever hotter and the surface, above me, seemed to be under attack.

When I came back up, the air was filled with steam. I could just barely see the three Martians only two hundred meters away, standing near their fallen comrade. One seemed to be trying to repair the machine, while the other two were protecting it by standing on either side of it, firing their heat rays in all directions.

All around me, the sound of total destruction pounded upon my ears. Houses, trees, wagons, all were being burned. Those that had not yet been touched seemed to calmly wait for their certain death. The people who had followed me into the river were all now trying to escape from it, for the water was getting hotter and hotter by the second. Then a heat ray came shooting toward me. I began to swim toward the shore. The water was becoming unbearable. As the ray approached, it brought with it a huge wave of boiling water. I swam as quickly as I could, but the wave came crashing down upon me and I screamed in terrible pain. With my last strength, I pulled myself ashore, right out in front of the Martians.

I remember the foot of one of the machines coming within a few meters of stepping on my head. It then raised its foot and, with its huge stride, stepped onward with its companions. I watched, amazed to still be alive, as the three machines carried their fallen comrade off into the distance, far down the river.

(end of section)