The Invasion

I can quite clearly remember the night that began the troubles on Earth that had repercussions even to today.

I was weary after spending a long day at school but still I stayed up 'till quite late watching the television, I must have fallen asleep at one point because the next thing I remember was a late night astronomy programme with the famous astronomer Patrick Moore, there was much lively debate on the "volcanoes on Mars" incident that had occurred recently when on 7 consecutive nights there were green eruptions on Mars at precisely midnight each time, there was a lot of conjecture about whether these were volcanic eruptions or not, the probability of advanced life on Mars having never been taken into consideration.

I switched off the television and glanced at the clock, good grief midnight already! I had school the next morning, time for bed!

But before I went to bed I took a stroll outside in the garden to look at the stars, there in the western sky was Mars, millions of miles away, billions perhaps and yet, so close.

But, what was that? A shooting star! Flying low over my head going northward, leaving a faint green trail behind it, I watched it disappear over the trees at the bottom of my garden and out of sight, returning to the house I dismissed it, thinking that it would have burned up in the atmosphere like so many normal meteorites.

And so I slept, quite peacefully if I remember rightly, and woke up at the usual time next morning, about 7:30am, I got dressed and went downstairs to have my breakfast, the news was all about the recent demise of an important retail firm and how it had had a knock-on effect on the stock market, such petty concerns and yet a matter of life and death to many people at that time.

I washed and then headed for the bus, bidding my parents farewell at that point.

As I walked to the bus, my mind briefly replayed the events of last night as it is wont to do on the odd occasion, thinking about the meteorite I began to ponder where it would of landed, had it not been destroyed in a fireball many miles up in the sky, my mind ran through many quick calculations, judges of distances, etc and finally decided on a destination somewhere in Norfolk, how wrong I was.

The mood at the bus stop was of the usual lively spirits, the flirting, the arguing, and the laughter that was so much a part of teenage life.

At last our chariot arrived and away we were borne to school, the day was as usual, as any other day would be, and lessons droned on in their usual bleary way.

But then there was lunchtime and the chance to socialize, I noticed a large group of year 10s listening to a small, blonde haired child, intrigued I moved closer.

"It was at last 10 meters across!" he cried "Fell out of the sky, right next to our house, it scared the **** out of me!"

"Yeah, right Charlie, whatever!" was the general retort

I watched the struggle on the poor lads face as he tried and tried to persuade his audience that what he had seen was real, but it was a battle he was doomed to lose.

As his group of "admirers" slowly drifted away to play football or "hang out" with other people, I moved next to him and asked me to tell me his story, always concerned with what might be happening, whether it be true or false.

Excited by the prospect of a sixth form listener, he professed his story to me with great strength.

A falling star had landed near his house during the night, with a bright flash of light and a heavy concussion.

There had been no damage to his house or injuries to any of his family, but this was the part where the story seemed to break down into science fiction, he said that he and his parents had gone over to see the fallen star and had found a cylindrical object that was about 10 meters in diameter, still smoking gently with the heat from it's rush through the atmosphere, he and his parents were understandably alarmed and rang the police who arrived at about 4 o clock in the morning.

At this point I interrupted, asking him what time the meteorite had landed.

"Must have been...just after midnight.... I think" he replied

I thanked him and asked him to continue his story.

"Well the police had a good look around the site and cordoned off the area around the meteorite, then at about 7 this morning, 4 army trucks came through and set up around it."

I looked puzzled but did not dispute his story for had I not seen a falling star that night at roughly midnight?

I thanked the boy, who nodded and rushed off to some other activity, I then went and found some of my friends in the common room, where all sixth formers could go to get away from the lower school, a haven if you wish, in a sea of turmoil, and a good place to get a cup of tea.

As I sat drinking my tea, I told my two friends the 10th years story.

"Hah, he made it up, those lot are always making things up to get attention." was Davids reply, he was quite heavily into rock music and spent most of his time with earphones on, these were producing faint scratching noises as we spoke.

"He might well had done that, but I saw a falling star at the same time, heading towards Dunwich" I stated

"So what," said Henry "The kids had a meteorite land in his back garden, happens a lot you know, in America one poor sod had one land on his car."

Henry was a cynical type, always ready to attempt to disprove or offer his side of what you had to say, it could be very annoying.

"Yes, ok, but this thing was big, 10 meters across! And cylindrical too, name me one meteorite that’s been that size and a cylinder!!"

That stumped them.

Then before the conversation could resume the bell went, signifying the end of lunchtime and the return to slavery for all, that is all except me, who by a nice quirk of fate, had the rest of the afternoon off as "Study" periods.

Really I should have used this time to study as I had important "A-level" exams next year and needed to "cram" as much as I could.

But my mind could not keep off the subject of the cylindrical meteor, the kids face, I've not seen a face so truthful as his, he couldn't have been lying.... or could he?
I decided that the only way to find out would be to go and see myself, so I walked into Leiston and caught a bus to Dunwich, it was a lovely day with a clear sky and a humid feel to the air, I sat by the window and watched the flat countryside streaming past.

At last we reached the sleepy village of Dunwich, and I dismounted my ride and walked into the main village, now I had no idea where to go to find this object but followed a small streamer of smoke heading straight up into the calm sky, and so, 15 minutes later, I found myself on a field on the edge of Dunwich Heath, overlooking a curious scene below.

Embedded in the ground with earth heaped up around it was the cylindrical meteor, it was amazing, it's impact was so violent that it had set the surrounding heath land on fire, always so dry at this time of year, and the police and fire brigade were having a difficult time in putting the blaze out.

I wandered across the heath towards the object but was stopped by a police officer halfway across.

"Oi, where do you think you're going?"

"To see the object up close"

"I don't think so pal, this whole areas out of bounds which means you are out of here!"

There was a sudden cry from the direction of the meteor and both me and the officer turned to look.

The end of the cylinder was slowly turning around, it was barely noticeable but by keeping an eye on a dark patch of the meteor I was finally able to see it going around in a circle.

The cylinder was hollow!

Several men crept up nearer to the meteor, the top span faster and faster, the nerve of a couple of policeman in the pit, around the meteor, failed and they fled up the sides of the pit to safety.

Eventually the officer that had been interrogating me turned back to escort me off the site, but I had gone, slipping quickly away to the meteor while he was distracted.

As I drew closer to the meteor I could see a metallic colour underneath the burnt patches, metal in a meteor, that couldn't be right surely, I mean I know that meteors do have metal in them, but they are not made of it, nor are they cylindrical, and as I looked at the object I realized, nor do they unscrew!

The cylinder was indeed unscrewing, as I watched several centimeters of shining metal was protruding from the cylinder and it was getting larger by the second.

A hand slapped me on the shoulder.

"Alright sunshine, come on, hop it" came a gruff voice behind me

I turned and saw the same officer that had stopped me earlier

"But can't you see, it's unscrewing, the damn things hollow!"

But this only got a laugh from the officer

"Yeah right, pull the other one, it's probably just a trick of the li...."

And as he was about to say the word "light", there was a loud clang from behind us and the ground shook slightly.

The lid had fallen off!

At the sound of the lid we both turned and stared at the cylinder, I could not see properly into the cylinder as the sun was in my eyes, but I thought I saw a glimpse of shadows moving, then against the afternoon sun a small snakelike object rose up over the lip of the cylinder, it was closely followed by four other snake-like things that explored the air, almost tasting it, like a snake is wont to do.

Then a large rounded bulk heaved itself forward to the edge of the cylinder, the snake objects were connected to it, and then as I walked slowly forward I saw that on this rounded bulk were two eyes and a "v" shaped mouth, it slithered forward slightly, using the tentacles that were so numerously attracted to it, to push itself forward.

A moment later another one approached from inside the cylinder and joined it looking outside, at this the nerve of the men in the pit failed and they all came running out. I stood, staring unbelievably at this sight, and watched as the creature slithered forward more and fell into the pit.

A dull cry emanated from the pit and the creatures colleague returned inside the cylinder, we watched in amazement as it returned with a long strip of metal it used to get down into the pit with it's comrade.

Now the officer remembered what he was supposed to be doing and escorted me off the premises, pushing me down the road and telling me not to come back.

I attempted to follow him at a distance but when I saw that he was guarding the gate I decided not to pursue the matter further.

I checked my watch, 2:30pm! I ran back down to the bus stop, just in time to catch the bus back to Leiston, on the way I sketched what I had seen of the Martian on a piece of scrap A4 paper that I had in my pocket, I still have the picture today.

When I returned to school I decided to seek out the year 10 who had first seen the cylinder and have a private word with him, he was in a music class, I took him out of the class, saying I had a message for him from some other teacher, and walked him out of earshot of any potential listeners from his class.

I told him what I had done and what I had seen and it was his turn to disbelieve me.

"Alien creatures, get out of it, what sort of **** is that!?"

"It's true, I saw it with my own eyes, this is what they look like"

I showed him the picture, I had also done a quick sketch of the cylinder in the bottom right hand corner of the page. It was this that started to sway him.

"That’s exactly what that meteor looked like"

"Right," said I "But it wasn't a meteor, it was hollow!"

"It can't have been!"

"Were you there?"

"No, but...."

"And how did I get that so-called meteorite drawn so accurately, eh?"

"It does look like it a lot"

"Well then believe me, I was there and it happened!"

The lad was quiet for a moment and then

"Well what are we going to do now?"

"Well, it's in the hands of the military and the police, they'll try to hush it up."

"What am I going to do tonight?"

"Well you should be alright, they were very sluggish beings, and I doubt they would be able to get to your house, but if I were you, I'd start making arrangements to leave, maybe tonight."

"You really think it will be necessary?"

"I hope to God it isn't"

And with that, our conversation ended, the lad went back to class in a quiet and reflective mood, I couldn't say I blame him.

Next I rang my parents, I told them all that I had seen, my mother listened quietly and believed me first time, she has a very open mind on most matters, and she asked me what I thought was going to happen, I replied that while people near Dunwich might be at risk, at Aldeburgh we should be safe, but to make preparations anyway.

The rest of the school day went quickly, I returned on the bus in a quiet and somber mood, my friends asked me if I was ok, I replied that I was ok, but everything else isn't.

As I looked towards Dunwich I could see a trail of smoke drifting up into the air, as I stared the smoke steadily got blacker and wider, I knew that something was wrong.

When I got home, the news was on, a series of violent fires had broken out around Dunwich and the village was at risk from the flames, fire-fighters were desperately battling the blaze but several men had been lost due to "unknown circumstances", I knew at once that this was connected to the aliens, I said so to my mother, she quite rightly pointed out that if the aliens could barely move then they couldn't have proven much threat to the village, her theory was that the heath fires caused by the landing of the cylinder had spread out of control, I agreed with her, but something in the back of my mind told me that the situation was different.

 

That night, although I did not see it, another cylinder landed in Sizewell, near Leiston, when I woke next morning, there was no news of it except a brief mention of a brilliant meteorite falling near Leiston, at this I nearly dropped my cereal bowl, another! surely not!

I took the bus into the school again, my friends were again confused by my attitude and I said to them:

"Something quite terrible is going to happen, I know it, please, meet up with me at break time, I need to go and look at something."

They accepted, if somewhat confused, and we continued on our way, as we approached Leiston I saw a large streamer of smoke winding it's way up into the air from the direction of Sizewell, I knew only too well what it meant and I groaned inwardly, even more of Them!

School lessons up until break time continued normally although I was somewhat understandably distracted.

At break we met up as I arranged, and I told them I needed to go and look at something near Sizewell, at this they asked what, and I pointed to the smoke.

"What’s so important about that," asked Henry "It's only someone’s bonfire"

I shook my head

"Then what!?" he said in answer and looked at my worried face

"I'll tell you when we get there" I replied, not willing to speak the truth lest I put them off coming with me.

 

We walked towards the pall of smoke, break time came and went but we carried on, me knowing what I would find at the end of my trip and them wondering what the hell I was on about.

But at last we reached the cylinder and it's pit, the lid had not begun rotating yet, and we were the first to find it!

I ran towards the cylinder determined to get a closer look, the metal was hot but was cool enough to let me get close enough to examine the cylinder in some detail, it appeared to be made of one material and showed no signs of plates or joins anywhere, but, as I listened hard I could hear it, stirring noise from inside...they were in there!

My friends stood around the cylinder their faces fluttering from amazement to shock to horror in a matter of seconds, and as I turned to tell them what it was I was interrupted by the sound of gunfire, very far off but getting louder.

A helicopter gunship whirred overhead and headed towards Dunwich, I frowned and wondered what the hell was going on, and behind me the lid began to unscrew.

I turned and saw the lid moving and in that very fraction of a second there was a loud explosion and far away I saw a fireball drifting lazily into the sky.

I started to run away from the cylinder and told the others to follow me, they did and we ran back to Leiston, we had only got about half a mile before I heard what I presume was a car alarm, a loud wailing noise which ran up and down the musical scale but as I listened I noticed it was getting louder, I stopped and stared towards the sound, and it was then I saw it.

There have been many descriptions of the fighting machines that were published after the war, but I don't think they do the terror justice.

This machine was a mighty metal tripod, it's legs had to be over 40 meters in height with a large "head" at the top of them, it moved swiftly with a rolling motion and inside the "hood" of the machine could be seen a controlling alien.

I stood terror struck as the machine advanced towards where we had been standing and as I watched another appeared over the treetops to the east, strolling freely towards the cylinder, another helicopter gunship thudded overhead and attempted to rake the fighting machine with cannon fire, the cannon shells just ricocheted off of the machine which turned to perceive this new aggressor, a small box shaped object rose on an arm from inside the fighting machine and swung slowly around, tracking the helicopter, and then it fired.

Now at this point I must describe to you the Heat Ray, for someone who has never seen it in action, it is hard to imagine.

Basically the Heat Ray was a beam of intense heat that was projected from the Heat Ray generator towards the intended target, it is similar to a heat-gun paint-stripper, but the amazing thing about the heat ray was that it was practically invisible, but it's result was deadly.

The helicopter briefly glowed red and then exploded into flames, dropping like a stone into some trees to our left, we ran on then, fearing that every second might bring death from this fiery doom.

 

By a miracle we made it back to the school, I don't know how we did, if the Fighting Machines had happened to look this way we would have been killed.

My friends were in a state of shock and as we passed through groups of people enjoying their lunch we got many a strange look, but there was an air of anticipation as they could hear the gunfire but not see the cause.

I went straight to the head office to see the headmaster and recommended an immediate evacuation, he agreed and rang up the nearest coach firm.

 

About 10 minutes later we were assembled in the main hall and the headmaster took the stage and began to speak:

"I don't want to arouse alarm but I'm ordering an evacuation of this school"

There was a loud murmuring amongst the students at this, and it took much shouting to stop it

"Quiet please Quiet! Now as I sure you're all aware their has been some major fighting going on around us, and the school has gone under threat from attack, so we're hoping to get you out of here as soon as possible"

My other friends who hadn't come with me to the cylinder were looking at my rather haggard appearance, and I could see the puzzlement in their eyes, and above all else they were scared, it was the first time in almost 60 years that this country had come under direct attack and what a swift and terrible attack it was!

The coach turned up after about 15 minutes, before it did we heard sirens going off over Sizewell way and various stirrings of activity from within Leiston, I knew that it was only a matter of time before the guarding Fighting Machines spread out from around the pit bringing death and destruction with them, the army were out in force and to the alarm of most of the students in the school, several army trucks had arrived and were shipping various people in and out of the school, and much to my alarm one of the army officers stopped me and took me aside.

"Excuse me mate, but I've been told you've had experience with these aliens that are over there" at this he indicated the rough direction of the pit

"could you tell us what we're up against?"

I gave him a shortened but detailed account of what I had seen, he frowned at several points in the story and then thanked me and headed off to a nearby temporary radio station.

The coach arrived shortly afterwards and people began packing on, it was clear that several more coaches were needed and we were told they were on their way, I began to doubt they would arrive in time.

Four more coaches arrived and I began to make my way towards one, when a prolonged wailing began from the east and over the top of the school building appeared the top of a fighting machine, at the sight of it all of the army soldiers ran to their weapons, a medium gun which had been unlimbered in the school field was turned and pointed at the aggressor, it fired, missed and exploded in a large orange fireball that made the ground shake and buckle under my feet.

During all of this, I stood transfixed at this terror, but when the gun exploded I lost my nerve altogether and ran, not away from the machine, but towards it, I cannot account for this strange action even today, something just clicked inside me and I ran.

It was probably this action that saved my life, others were not so fortunate, as I ran, the Fighting machine turned and swept the heat ray over the remaining troops, the smell of burning flesh briefly played over my nostrils making me wrinkle my nose in disgust.

Another explosion occurred nearby and threw me headlong into the crater caused by the explosion of the medium gun, I lay in this crater, too scared to move for fear of attracting attention to myself from these deadly machines.

I watched over the lip of my hole, the machine walk over towards the coaches, which were slowly, all too slowly away from the terror that was moving towards them.

A long metallic tentacle of types spread out from the machines head and flashed towards the last coach to leave, it curled around the coach and showing titanic strength it lifted the coach up into the air and spent several minutes examining it, and then, and I shudder still to this day about it, it calmly threw the coach over it's head behind it, where it promptly exploded, the screams of those on board, people I knew and had worked and played alongside for several years, will haunt me until I go up to meet them.

I lay in that hole until it got dark, the fighting machine spent the next hour setting fire to most of the surrounding scenery, the heat from the burning buildings and shrubbery made my eyes water, once the machine had finished destroying everything it moved off back to the pit in the east.

I sat there, fading in and out of consciousness until the light had faded from the western sky and the fires around me had burnt themselves out.

Only when it was completely dark did I dare to emerge from the hole, around me was a scene of complete destruction, all of the school had been razed to the ground and everything I could see was burnt, Leiston to the north-west was a mass of fire and a red glaze was glowing in the northern sky.

I stood for a moment surveying this destruction and decided to head south for my home town of Aldeburgh, I walked down the road out of Leiston, with burnt out houses either side of me and sections of road had melted and fused together.

Three quarters of the way to Aldeburgh I could see that there could be a problem with my proposed plan, the whole sky was glowing red to the south, in fact nearly everywhere I turned there was a flicker of flame shooting up into the still sky.

I collapsed in the middle of the road and wept for 15 solid minutes, what had become of all my friends, family and pets? What was happening to me, caught up in the middle of a war between two planets!

I carried on in my trek to Aldeburgh but stopped when I reached a point where I could actually see Aldeburgh, or at least what was left of it.

There was not a building, I could see, that was intact, the aliens had wiped everything out, absolutely everything.

I felt so intolerably lonely, there was not a sound to be hear except the flickering of the flames in the clear moonlit night.

I must have fallen asleep on the roadside, I don't remember falling asleep but the next thing I remember was opening my eyes and it being a fine blue-skied day.

The flames had burnt themselves out during the night but here and there streamers of smoke drifted up into the still sky, I stood up and looked around trying to decide where to go next, I decided that the aliens, who I now started to suspect were linked to the volcanic eruptions on Mars, would probably head for London, so I needed to head in the opposite direction, North.

However to the North of me lay two cylinders and their guarding Fighting machines that I dared not cross.

So I decided to strike west and then north, I walked back up the road and was lucky to come across a car parked in someone’s drive, I looked through the car window and jumped for joy, the keys were still in the ignition!!

I looked around for several long minutes before I decided it was safe to start the car, even so the sudden noise in the quietness was deafening and scared the hell out of me, if a Fighting Machine should appear, could I out-run it or would I be killed like my friends on the school bus?

I reversed extremely badly out of the drive (having not actually learnt to drive yet, but knowing the basics) and drove back towards Leiston, at Aldringham I turned left and headed along a road which I hoped lead to Saxmundham.

Since I could see no smoke from towards Saxmundham I could only assume that the Fighting machines hadn't visited there yet, therefore I was safe, for now.

Feeling as safe as I did, I ceased my almost constant vigil for Fighting Machines and turned on the car radio, after searching through static I found a news broadcast.

From this broadcast I determined that the aliens were confirmed Martians and that another cylinder had landed at Darsham, I cursed, Darsham lay to the north, where I wanted to go.

So I changed my plan again, I headed west.

I drove at a rather breakneck speed towards Saxmundham, sliding some corners, as I turned one I screeched to a halt and spun the car a good 180 degrees, blocking the road ahead of me was two rather large howitzers flanked by two missile launchers.

I stopped the engine and got out with my hands in the air, several army men approached with their machine guns leveled at me, when they saw I was human they relaxed a little.

I lowered my hands and walked over to them to explain I was making my way out of Suffolk, possibly out of England, the soldiers laughed, told me not to worry, that they had enough fire power here to destroy Mars let alone a few attackers from it.

I was not as confident as they were and I left with a cryptic description of the machines.

I at last arrived at a quiet Saxmundham, there were a few army trucks in the main street and a heavy presence of military police, when I tried to break into a nearby shop one of the police shouted at me and I ran off.

I found a food shop in a back street and broke in, I grabbed several carrier bags full of food and water and quickly took at back to the car, and on the way back I heard a terrible commotion to the east and knew immediately that my time was up.

Several explosions shook the ground, each one getting louder and closer, I ran to the car and threw all of my bags in the boot, and a wailing noise started up from the east intermingled with the explosions.

Five aircraft flew overhead, F-15s I think they were, and launched their missiles with a deafened roar at a target that I could not see over the trees to the east, I sat in the car and started the engine, I floored the accelerator and wheel span away from Saxmundham.

As I drove like the clappers to the south towards Benhall I saw a Fighting Machine smash through the pine trees to the east and approach Saxmundham, the heat ray generator rose up and fired at something in the town.

Suddenly a small black object flew up from Saxmundham and smashed into one of the Fighting Machine's three legs, the machine attempted to walk forward on two legs and failed, crashing to the ground in a series of impressive explosions.

This was the first time I saw a Fighting Machine destroyed, and I screamed "Hit!" and stopped the car to get out and look.

The machine, from what I could see, had collapsed across the main street and had caused incredible destruction, just from it's own destruction! Small shapes ran towards in downed monster, army soldiers I could only presume, and began to clamber all over it, however, their joy was to be short lived, for through the same pine forest to the east came two more Fighting Machines who with a vengeful cry, targeted something in Saxmundham which exploded with tremendous force.

When I saw the machines return I once again floored the accelerator and headed for the A-12 motorway, and once on it, headed north for Lowestoft, which would, I hoped bypass Darsham and it's cylinder.

 

Under Foot

I once again switched on the radio to get an update, from what I could tell, a very fierce battle was taking place around Sizewell in humanity's attempt to regain control of the nuclear power station there, they were evacuating the fuel rods with all their radiation by ship and trying to shut down the reactors but were under almost constant attack by Martians because of their proximity to the Leiston cylinder.

Once I heard this I knew that my time in Suffolk was limited, if that reactor was to go up, the whole East Suffolk area could be in danger. I decided to head for Lowestoft and to get a ship, one way or another, out of England.

I sped recklessly along the motorway, it was completely deserted, I've heard at that time most of the population was heading south for London, an incredible folly in my opinion, London as capital city was a large target.

The first signs of activity I saw was Martian, as I drew close to Darsham I slowed down and kept a constant look out for Fighting Machines and sure enough, over the trees to the north-east there was not one but four of them.

I panicked and cut the engine, drifting to a halt, I dived out, packed as much of my food into a rucksack I had "liberated" from Saxmundham and headed cross-country alongside the motorway, however as most of the area around the cylinder was open countryside I couldn't head north until nightfall, so I found myself a sheltered spot, I hoped that was out of view of the Martians and sat down and had a small dinner.

It's a thought that makes me laugh now, there I was, on a beautiful clear day, having a picnic within 2 miles of one of humanities greatest threats to survival.

They made no movement as I watched them, in fact by observing the pit with a pair of binoculars I saw that only one of the machines was actually occupied, I briefly entertained a mad thought of setting out for a closer look, but with that machine standing sentinel it would be suicide.

A high pitched metallic grinding noise drifted over to me on the breeze on the odd occasion and every now and then a puff of green smoke drifted up out of the pit around the cylinder.

I wondered what they were doing, were they working on another fighting machine or something more sinister?

Eventually, under the afternoon sun, I fell asleep, utterly and soundly, and did not wake again until what my watch told me was 9:30pm.

I looked over to where the Martians pit was, there wasn't any Fighting Machines around it now, in fact, it looked deserted, perplexed I moved in for a closer look, ever vigilant should the pits occupants return.

I walked right up to the pit's rim, there wasn't a Martian to be seen, but they were still about as several loud gun shots confirmed to the south.

I walked around the pit, as I examined the cylinder thoroughly there was again seven cannon-like reports to the south.

I briefly climbed up the rim and looked south, to the southwest I could see what looked like a large black hill, far distant, which as I looked seemed to settle and sink slowly.

What I has seen was the first use of the Black Smoke by the Martians against Earth.

The Black Smoke was a highly toxic and deadly cocktail of gases which when released to the atmosphere (usually by means of an explosive canister fired by Fighting Machines, hence the cannon-like shots I had heard) rose quickly up into the air and sank slowly over the surrounding landscape, when it had served it's purpose and all humans in the area were dead, the Martians waded into it and fired jets of superheated steam which had the effect of dispersing the gas, leaving only a Black soot on the ground.

I, of course, knew nothing of this and dismissed it as a trick of the light, and returned down into the cylinder, I looked around and found to my disgust several human bodies lying in the corner, they were all dead and from what I could see had had their living blood drained from their still breathing bodies, I shuddered in disgust, not knowing what it meant only that the Martians had some use for our blood.

I was not to know that the since the Martians had no heart and therefore nothing to pump their "blood" around their system, they drained the blood from still living humans and injected it into their own veins through the use of a small pipette, it was a most disgusting operation and a horrible way to die.

In another area was a large pile of bluish coloured powder, rising so high it topped the edge of the pit, I knew nothing of what this all meant but took the opportunity to nose about to try and find a weakness I could use against the invaders, but it wasn't to be.

After about two hours or so scrounging around the pit and then decided to continue on my way north where Martian activity seemed limited.

I walked back to the car, got in and drove off northwards along the A-12, I didn't put my head-lights on because of fear of attracting attention from the Martians, when I got to within 10 miles of Lowestoft, I turned the lights on and the radio too.

As I listened to the radio, I realized the situation was getting pretty desperate, all contact had been lost with Ipswich, the Martians were presumed heading south, this tallied with my thoughts of Martian strategy, the military had been transferring nearly every gun it had to the countryside between Ipswich and Colchester where it hoped to destroy the invaders.

I had little hope for the military, fleeing the Martians was the only way to survive, I just prayed that my parents had not headed south but had headed somewhere else, my main bets were on Wales and the hills there.

Lowest came into view in front of me, the power was still on here and the street lamps shone the way for me, I drove towards the beach hoping to get a boat from somewhere, and discovered that I wasn't the only person heading out to sea.

On the beach of Lowest was hundreds, no, thousands of people, it reminded me more than anything, of the beach at Dunkirk, but with many more people, and children too, many asleep in their mothers arms, policemen, lawyers, judges even army soldiers queued on that beach waiting for a boat to come and take them to a ship waiting out at sea.

On the battlefield and its aftermath all men and women are equal.

The Thunderchild

Out at sea I could see the glinting lights of many ships, and as the light of dawn began to grow, I could see Royal Navy ships out there too moving around each other, protecting the shipping lines.

I parked my car and took careful note of where I had parked it, should I need it again, and took my belongings and me down to the beach.

From the crowd of people there I would have been lucky if I had secured a place on a boat that week, but the gods were smiling on me that day.

As I stared at the crowd, two bedraggled young men, roughly my age came running out towards me, I didn't recognize them at first, it was Henry and David!

After a rather emotional reunion, I asked them of their tale, after the destruction of Leiston and their subsequent escape they had persuaded their parents to make a run for it, they headed north but got stuck on a massive refugee tail back on the A-12 and didn't get here until yesterday.

I told them my story and they were equally amazed and horrified, especially when I told of the corpses in the pit.

When I explained I was on my own, searching for a way out of England, they invited me onto their boat, it was due to leave at Mid-day today and another person wouldn't hurt them, I graciously accepted the offer.

As the morning wore on, we sat in a group and Henry produced a radio and turned it on for the news, which was on practically every channel by now.

Ipswich had been destroyed, the first reportings of the Black Smoke came into play now, the military had been astounded and surprised by it, the gas masks issued to their troops seemed to have no effect in combating the gas, there was, as one military official put it "no safety from the Black Smoke but in instant flight".

But when reports started coming in of a change in the Martians direction, people started to get worried, no one knew for certain in what direction they were heading, but I began to get a feeling that the game was up, activity out at sea increased ten-fold, Naval cruisers began to form up in battle readiness.

When the news came through on the radio that Southwold had just been lost, I swore loudly and heavily

"That’s it, we've got to go now"

Henry and David seemed non-plused, they saw no reason for our departure

"Just think about it for a minute, the Martians need Humans for some reason, and where at this moment is the largest congregation of Humans?"

We looked about and then David swore too

"Sitting F**king ducks!"

"Exactly," said I "We've got to go soon, I'm not sure how much of a repellant the British Navy will be!"

Unfortunately, we couldn't persuade the boatman to let us on any earlier than mid-day, even the prospect of the Martians didn't phase him, and he must not have encountered them I concluded.

At Eleven o clock, the sound of a heavy gun firing at random intervals began from the south, the crowd began to stir restlessly, and I entertained the thought of leaving by car, I ventured the idea to Henry and David, they decided to stay with their parents, I understood and said I'd give it another half an hour.

20 minutes later, an explosion occurred in the south, quite near by my reckoning, and a few people in the crowd began crying hysterically.

I thanked Henry and David for their offer and bid them farewell, wishing them luck in their journey.

As I was walking up the hill back to the car, the sea behind me full of ships, the nearest Naval Cruiser fired a small gun and turned towards the south.

The action had begun.

I looked to the south but could not see anything because of houses being in the way, but I could hear the siren like howling I came to recognize as the Martians calling to each other, I ran to the car, as I did several heavy explosions came from behind me, I turned to see one of the cruisers from the fleet suddenly setting off to the south at full speed while the rest of the fleet milled about, uncertain how to face this aggressor.

On the beach people were running here and there, several people were swarming on to dangerously overcrowded boats, swamping them in many cases and causing many deaths through drowning, over people were heading into the town past me screaming, I couldn't see Henry or David in the crowds that fled past me and so presumed they had made it onto a boat, or at least hoped they had.

As I reached the car a shadow fell on me, terrified I turned as a Fighting machine strolled past me heading for the beach, had it looked down I would surely have perished, as it reached the beach it rose up the Heat Ray generator and prepared to fire on the remaining people on the beach.

Suddenly it's "head" exploded sending metal fragments whirling here and there, barely half a mile out from the beach I saw the cruiser that had left the fleet storming along, it's guns smoking having just destroyed the aggressor.

I cheered for the cruiser whose name I could see was "Thunderchild" another fighting machine appeared running at an incredible speed along the beach towards the destroyed machine, when it got to the wreckage it turned to face the Thunderchild which opened fire and missed.

The fighting machine wailed loudly, deafening me briefly and fired at the Thunderchild, a massive explosion erupted from the Thunderchild and massive clouds of steam rose up from the water, meanwhile the Fighting Machine turned and began to walk towards me.

But what was that? Out of the steam thundering up to the shoreline came the blackened hulk of the Thunderchild, her steering gear still intact it would appear and her guns firing randomly at the machine.

In surprise the Fighting Machine turned back to face the cruiser.

The Thunderchild hit the beach and began to ride up it towards the fighting machine, in response the machine fired again on the cruiser scoring a direct hit, the bow of the Thunderchild glowed white briefly and then erupted in a huge fireball which engulfed the Fighting Machine causing it to stagger, another explosion followed and the Fighting Machine took the full brunt of the force and fell down on top of the burning wreckage of the cruiser.

I cheered, having seen the destruction of two Martian machines, but at the cost of the Thunderchild and her crew, out at sea the rest of the fleet milled around uncertain what to do next, unwilling to attack should they be wiped out.

More wailing began from the south, more of them! I panicked and got into the car and drove north, out of Lowestoft and towards Great Yarmouth where I hoped I could get another boat out of England.

But 5 miles from Yarmouth the engine suddenly started belching clouds of smoke and I ground to a halt.

I got out of the car and looked around, massive clouds of smoke rose from the direction of Lowestoft and weird alien cries drifted on the wind to me.

I opened up the bonnet of the car to find the engine on fire and in danger of exploding, I grabbed all of my provisions and ran for cover, about 5 minutes later a loud explosion came from the direction of the car and a lazy orange fireball rose slowly into the sky.

So now I was going by foot.

I decided to give up the idea of leaving by boat, I had no idea how to pilot a boat and the prices being charged by the ship captains were way beyond anything I had, so where could I go now?

West of me lay Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and a lot of distance until I reached Wales, my ultimate target.

North of me lay Norfolk and Lincolnshire and eventually after weeks of travelling Scotland, I didn't know how quickly the Martians would move and what their ultimate target was, it had to be London surely but what would they do after that?

I decided that instead of trekking along unknown roads to Wales or Scotland, that I should return to the place I knew, Suffolk.

So I turned south, straight back where I had come from, straight back to the middle of the Martians territory.

It would be a long walk back to Leiston from Great Yarmouth, there had to be another way, a car would be the simplest option but also the one with the greatest danger of detection by the Martians.

But a motorcycle might be a better way, faster and smaller, it would be able to evade Martians by going off road, but where could I find one?

I walked north for about 5 miles to Great Yarmouth where I hoped to find a motorcycle.

I'd never seen Yarmouth so deserted and so quiet as I did that day, the pedestrian street leading down to the beach, which normally would be full of people looking for bargains, was completely empty, not even the pigeons flew that day, but here and there the rats had started to creep in to feast on the remnants of society.

I suddenly had a thought, of what I could be going back to, people like myself, wandering, desperate, I wondered how long it would be before cannibalism started, the grotesque act of man eating man.

I smashed the window of a shop named Martyns, where I knew there was replica swords, replica or non-replica I knew these swords could still rend flesh and could prove useful in the future.

I grabbed a short sword and a long sword, the short sword for stabbing, the long sword for more chopping actions.

I put the short sword in my satchel and carried the long sword with me, I also found a replica six-shooter, and I knew that gun-replicas didn't work but hopefully the sight of me carrying what looked like a real six-shooter would dissuade any would-be attackers.

After leaving Martyns I walked over to a nearby pub, the Troll's Cart I think it was called and walked in, I knew I hadn't been the first in there, as the door had been forced.

I walked in to a bar that looked like it had just seen a fight in it, tables and chairs were overturned and many glasses had been shattered, I couldn't move without something scrunching under my feet, I (after about five attempts) managed to kick down a door leading to the back room where I found some barrels of ale and beer and several large packets of crisps.

I made an impromptu feast out of these and put the rest in my rucksack, which promptly broke.

Cursing I strolled down the street trying to find a shop that sold clothes and various other items, about three quarters of the way down the street I found an Army and Navy clothing store that had just recently opened up, I cheered silently and smashed the front window, climbing in I found just what I needed, a large rucksack and camouflage clothing which I donned in an effort to be able to blend into the countryside when I returned to Suffolk.

All the time I spent looking around in Yarmouth my mind was thinking ahead to what dangers I would face in returning to Suffolk, I decided that once I had found a motorcycle and obtained enough petrol for it, my next priority should be to get a gun of some sort, a replica wouldn't last me very long and others may have rifles which could pick me off while I try to engage them by sword.

After breaking into several garages I finally found an old motorcycle and sidecar, perfect! I found the keys after some searching, and put them in the ignition turned them and kick started the bike, which erupted into life with a loud roar, excellent.

Now for petrol, I looked around and found a medium sized container which was full, I put it in the sidecar along with my rucksack and swords, I put the helmet on, I wasn't sure just how well I could manage this motorcycle, and eased back on the throttle and glided rather smoothly out of the garage and onto the road.

My next stop was at a small newsagents just off the main road which I hoped would have maps in stock, it did quite fortunately and I looked around for the nearest army base, I found one just 10 miles from Yarmouth, to the west, I looked up the road for it and headed there.

My journey there was without comment, nothing major happened and it was nice to be able to travel around without worrying about meeting an artic truck coming the other way, my main worry was the Martians though, what were they up to, I cursed for not thinking of getting a radio while I was in Great Yarmouth.

Finally I reached the Army base which looked to be deserted, I idled the bike at the main gates while trying to find a way in, everything was shut and locked and the Army doesn't make their bases easy to break into.

I kicked in the door to the checkpoint and looked around for the gate switch, after pushing several buttons which didn't do anything except change the views on the CCTV screen I finally found a pair of bolt croppers which I used to cut my way through the lock on the gate, as I walked back to the bike I could have sworn I saw movement on the CCTV monitor, I dismissed it as my overactive imagination, but as I entered the base I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched by someone or something.

I traveled around on the base for over an hour searching for their armory, it was a small building at the back of the base where I found it.

There wasn't much to choose from weapons wise, I was very surprised to find the door wide open, I picked up two MP5 machineguns and ammo for them and one sniper rifle and ammo for it, I also picked up a small crate of hand grenades which I thought might come in useful at one point.

As I was loading the crate into the now rather overloaded sidecar, a gun shot ricocheted off the wall behind me, I ran and ducked behind a wall nearby, another shot pinged off the ground behind me.

I shouted out "I'm human, you have no need to fear me!"

Another shot whistled over my head, I looked around for more cover and saw an APC parked a couple of meters away, I ran and dived behind that, more shots caused little puffs of dirt to spring up behind me.

I thought enough was enough, and loaded the rifle I had brought with me, slung over my shoulder, peering around the corner of the APC I attracted two more shots which went wide but was able to roughly locate where the attacker was firing from.

I poked my sniper rifle around the corner and ducked as a bullet flew past me, looking down the sights I could see a young man, slightly older than me hunched over a rifle on top of a building, aiming for his arm I fired and scored a lucky hit bang on target, I heard a loud shout and he fell off the roof clutching his arm.

I ran over to his position, crouching low should there be any more snipers around, and keeping my gun pointed at his prostrate form.

I checked his neck for a pulse, nothing, he must have broken his neck from the fall, I looked up, and yes it was a long way down, enough to kill a man.

I felt a pang of guilt overtake me, I had killed a fellow man for the first time, I was supposed to be fighting the Martians not my own kind, but I knew that this wouldn't be the last time I would train my sights on a human, it was kill or be killed now, the laws of the jungle had replaced the civility of modern life, this was the new order of things, a struggle for survival in which only the strong and the smartest would survive.

I just hoped I was smart enough.

 

I walked back to my motorcycle and contemplated taking the APC instead, but no, the APC would be a good target for Martians and wasn't as fast and as mobile as the motorcycle was.

I started up the bike and reloaded my rifle and slung it over my back, gunning the engine, I headed out south, back to whence I had came, Suffolk.

 

 

Human Intervention

I didn't see any signs of human or alien activity on my journey, it seemed as though I was the only person left alive on the planet, it started to grow dark, the day was drawing to an end and when it got to nightfall I was over the Norfolk/Suffolk border and not far from Southwold. I stopped the bike, wary of continuing in the bad visibility where anything could sneak up on me, and set up "camp" at the side of the road.

In the dusk light I saw something in the southern skies, a large mass moving quickly towards me, I hid in a bush and watched as a large circular ship flew over me, banked and returned south, I had no doubts as to who had made this machine, the Martians were clearly setting up to gain domination in the skies, I did not know how many Flying Machines they had or what weaponry the machines carried but I knew I had to be very careful now of not being spotted.

I slept incredibly well that night, all things considering, and awoke, refreshed the next morning.

The sun was just beginning to rise and it looked like it was going to be a nice day, although there were dark clouds to the east hovering menacingly out to sea.

I started the bike, which as it was being started from cold, took about five kicks before erupting into life.

I headed again south, but it was not long before I ran into trouble.

As I drove along the narrow lanes I saw in the distance, a tank traveling along the road towards me, with several men walking before it, these men were not dressed in army uniforms but civilian, and I remembered the man at the army base, when they saw me they raised their machine guns and shouted at me, I idled the engine and drifted towards them, when I drew near I could hear they were shouting for me to stop.

One man walked up to me and demanded I should turn over my provisions and weapons to the Suffolk Local Army, I said that there was no such thing as the Suffolk local army, he countered me by saying that it was a new thing set up to organize the provision of food and water to those left in Suffolk.

I asked what I would get in return, he said that I would get free passage through and the chance to live.

I accused them of being "Highwaymen" they didn't like this and gave me an ultimation "Surrender us your provisions or die"

Now all the time we had been trading warnings at each other I had been sliding my hand down towards the pack of hand grenades, and as he gave his ultimation I pulled the pin out of one and threw it at the group of men, they scattered and dived to the ground as I turned the bike around and headed back the way I came, there was a bang behind me as the grenade went off and then the whirring of machine gun fire as the men realized I was making a break for it, another loud bang occurred behind me and an eruption of earth and smoke came from the field next to me, the Tank!

I knew that eventually either a bullet or a shell would get me and with the petrol tank and grenades in the sidecar next to me, I would spread myself over the surrounding landscape very well.

I saw a dirt track leading to a forest coming up on my right and swung the bike around down on the track.

I left the men behind me, the tank couldn't go very fast and so I quickly left it and it's exploding shells behind me.

I breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, just in time to see a large dip in front of me, uh-oh.

I zoomed over the dip and flew up the other side, the bike went one way, and I went the other, straight into a tree trunk and blackness.

 

I woke up to find the muzzle of a machine gun being pointed in my face, I groaned inwardly, it was the Suffolk Local Army, they had my bike and all of my provisions under guard too.

One of the men walked over to me and sneered at me

"I see you've come 'round Mr Clever Clogs, thought you could outrun and out smart us, eh. Well your little stunt cost us two good men"

With that he kicked me in the ribs, winded I couldn't say anything in return.

"Hey knock it off Fred," said one of the other men "We're not supposed to hurt the prisoner, you know that"

"But he killed Arthur and Pete, the little bastard needs to be taught a lesson"

"So do you" said a voice from behind me

At the sound of this all the men visibly stiffened and Fred saluted

A tall grey haired man walked past me and punched Fred in the face

"When I give you an order, I expect you to obey it!" he snarled

"Yes, sir!" snapped Fred, still at attention

The tall man turned to me, and offered me his hand, I reluctantly took it and he helped me up

"Guard the bike until I get back" he ordered

With that he led me off into the trees

"I could easily run away" I tried

"But where would you go, and besides look around you, there are snipers in the trees around us, they'd shoot you unless I ordered them not to."

I looked around, I couldn't see anything

"You're bluffing"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, are you willing to risk your life to find out?"

I fancied I saw movement in the trees to the left, damn he was right, I couldn't risk it

"What do you want from me?"

He stopped walking and turned, I got a good look at him now, I was at least 50 and was silver haired and bearded, he had a few scars across his face and was wearing a military uniform from World War Two with the rank of Major on his arm. He radiated command, and looked a natural born leader.

"Just your food and weapons, what you should really be asking is what do you want from us?"

"What the hell are you on about?"

He laughed

"Look at you, you're a small kid barely what 15-16?"

"I'm 17!"

"Ok 17, what hope have you got in this mess of a world"

"I've done pretty well up to your goons stopped me"

"Yes, I've got to give you that, you have done well to live this long, but you've got to understand, you can't survive on packets of crisps and spam forever you know, pretty soon this years food will run out, we must plan ahead in order to survive"

I snorted in defiance, but I knew he was right

"Ok, you've got a point, but robbing people isn't going to help"

"Think about it! We've got to organize what food we have left, we can't farm because of those aliens trampling around, we've got to make the food last, that’s why we're taking food off people like you"

"Those aliens could quite easily wipe you and your merry men out, have you seen them?"

He shook his head

"Then you don't know what they're like, you don't have a chance in hell of organizing anything, you'll set something up and they'll wipe it out!"

"I'm not saying we rebuild Suffolk, sure we'll have to lie low for a couple of years until we've got everything sorted then we can strike back!"

At the thought of attacking he broke into a smile

"Yes, just think of it, destroying the invaders and finally rebuilding the country"

"Oh," I said "That’s your game, you're just in it for the power"

He laughed at me

"How little you understand me"

"No, I've seen people like you before, you're just using this as an excuse to get power over people"

This seemed to agitate him a bit

"You're nothing, without other people to order about, on your own you're nothing"

This made him snap

"Look, I could have you killed right now, all I have to do is give the word"

"But you won't because I'm right"

He didn't answer, just walked away, from behind me two guards suddenly appeared and nudged me with their rifles

I followed the man back to the clearing where my motorcycle was being wheeled into position behind a small convoy of trucks and a couple of tanks.

The tall man waved down a passing soldier

"Put him in the back of one of the trucks, make sure he's well guarded, he's a sly one this"

The soldier took me by the shoulder and I was manhandled onto the back of the truck in front of my bike.

A couple of minutes later the convoy started off, rattling down the forest lane back to the road I had come from, we proceeded at quite a slow pace because of the tanks in front and behind us not being able to go very fast.

We traveled like this for half an hour, my eyes were constantly on my guard and on my bike behind us, the provisions still in the side-car, it was being ridden by one of the soldiers, could I over come my guard and get my bike back, I decided it wasn't worth it.

We passed through a village that was a blackened ruin, the black powder that is all that remains of the Black Smoke once it is dealt with, lay everywhere and in a side road I saw the remains of a tank and several corpses.

 

It was shortly after passing through the village I saw a black shape in the northern sky and knew immediately what it was, a Flying Machine.

It must have seen our group as it immediately changed course straight for us, flying low over the trees. Other people in the convoy must have seen it as we suddenly braked sharply and I was thrown to the front of the truck.

Machine gun fire erupted around me and there was the shriek of missiles being fired from somewhere up the front, I looked up, my guard had gone, presumably to fire at the Flying Machine, there was a strange noise almost like the whoosh of a fireball and something exploded to my left.

I clambered out the back of the truck as the Flying Machine thundered low overhead, the wind created by it's passing blew me over onto my hands and legs and as the Flying Machine banked around for another pass I leapt onto my bike and gunned it's engine.

I weaved out behind the truck and drove up the convoy, past several burning trucks and the twisted metal of what looked like the tank on fire.

The machine came overhead flying very low now, firing a heat ray at the convoy behind me, more explosions followed with a new outbreak of machine gun fire as the machine passed over the convoy and men took the chance to let off a few rounds at it's underneath.

I drove as fast as I dared up the straight road, I saw the Flying machine bank around again in my mirror and come screaming down the road behind me, it's Heat Ray destroyed the rest of the convoy but didn't shut off once it was over the convoy, it carried on going, straight towards me!

I saw another track leading into a wood to the left of me and swung the bike around and headed down the track as the heat ray set fire to the main road behind me.

In the forest I was safe, the Flying Machine couldn't spot me under the trees and I could wait, I stopped the bike and turned off the engine and collapsed in the side of the road, that was so close, I had to thank the Martians, rather begrudgingly, for attacking as I had been able to get my bike back with all it's provisions intact!

I thought of the silver-haired Major and the Suffolk Local Army, they had a very good point, our food wouldn't last forever and with the Martians about reorganizing anything would be very hard, as the Major had just found out.

I walked back up to the main road and looked down it towards the convoy.

The tar on the road was bubbling where the heat ray had passed over it, and just down the road was the convoy, on fire and with no signs of life around it, I looked up, there was no sign of the Flying Machine but I dared risk traveling in the open should it return.

I walked back to the bike and looked in the map, trying to figure out where I was, after about 15 minutes deduction I reckoned I was in the area of Dunwich forest, not too far from Leiston and Aldeburgh, I roughly knew where I was now.

After about half an hour I figured that the coast must be clear by now and got on my bike and steered due south, towards the convoy and beyond.

I stopped by the convoy, to check for survivors, part of me told me not to bother because of what they had tried to do to me, but I had to make sure.

I found the Major by the side of the road, he was still alive but his legs had been burnt away and he was bleeding heavily from a wound in his chest.

He looked up at me.

"Oh it's you, come to gloat have you?"

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything

"Well you were right, maybe it is all over with mankind"

"Don't say that," I cried "There is still plenty of hope"

"What? For all this destruction?"

Again, I couldn't say anything, he coughed and winced with more blood pumping out of his wound.

I looked around and back at him

"I'll go get help, there was a village back there"

He laughed

"I'm beyond help, leave me"

Despite my knowing he was the enemy I couldn't help but cry

"Don't die!"

"Why don't you leave me, look what I did to you, I took you prisoner, threatened you, and still you're acting the good Samaritan"

"I, I err, you're human for Gods sake, we shouldn't be fighting each other, we should be fighting them!"

He laughed

"You're right boy, but it's human nature to hoard, you didn't want to share with us, you're not the only one, out there are hundreds of starving people fighting people who have a loaf of bread when the real threat is them aliens, I just wanted order, a chance for us to survive"

He coughed harshly again and wheezed painfully

"But it wasn't to be, you're still in with a chance my boy, you're sensible for a lad your age, go and carry on with the Suffolk Local Army, bring order to this country, we're based at Bentwaters airbase, tell them Major Adamms sent you, give them this"

He pressed a bloodied piece of paper into my hands, I looked at it, it had a coat of arms with the words '1st Suffolk Local Army regiment, Major Tony Adamms' written underneath it, I looked at it.

"No, you can't die dammit!"

But it was too late, he had gone.

I sat next to him crying, I couldn't believe myself, here was a man who had attacked me and held me prisoner and I was crying over his death!

But there was something I had found in him, while it was true that he was power crazy, he was right, and what he was organizing was correct in it's meaning.

I dug a grave for him, it took me a long time to dig the right sized hole with a piece of blunt metal but for some bizarre reason I felt I owed it to him, by the time I had lowered him into the hole and covered him up with earth it was almost dark.

I sat there in the dusk light next to his grave for a while, thinking, I had a clear path ahead of me.

Before now, I was wandering aimlessly, just knowing I had to get back to Suffolk, but now I knew what I had to do, head of the Suffolk Local Army? I smiled to myself, if it wasn't such a horrible time it would be a job I would relish but now, I wasn't so sure, what would be their reaction to me taking over?

Only one way to find out I supposed and went to sleep after eating a small meal.

 

The next morning I awoke to a sound I hadn't heard in ages, the sound of birds singing, I lay listening to it for a while and then slowly got up.

The recollections of the last days happenings came slowly back to me, the Majors directions, my new appointing as head of the Suffolk Local Army, I walked over to my bike and checked on the provisions and then putting my rifle over my shoulder I kick started my bike and set off towards Bentwaters airbase, I decided not to go and visit Leiston or Aldeburgh yet, the memories would be too painful.

Martian activity seemed to be very low, on the horizon, very far off I would occasionally see the head of a Fighting Machine strolling along but never so close as to be worth worrying about.

I approached Bentwaters airbase and slowed down my bike, the airbase was a smoldering wreck and had been for some days by the look of things, I sighed, another wild goose chase, I was about to turn around when a glint of glass in the bushes to my left caught my eye, so there was people here.

I brought my rifle over my shoulder and held it in my hands feeling very uneasy.

"Major Adamms sent me here," I shouted "To the Suffolk Local Army"

"What do you want" came a voice from behind me

I turned around, there was a woman standing in the middle of the road behind me holding a rifle much like my own but pointed at me, she was wearing camouflage outfit and looked to be slightly younger or older than myself.

I put my hands up

"Look, you're going to find this hard to believe, I barely believe it myself"

"Try us" she said

"I'm err, I'm your new commanding officer" I ventured

At that she burst out laughing

"You? You couldn't command a gerbil"

I was a little upset at this and put my hands down and walked towards her

"Look this is proof, Major Adams is dead, and he sent me here to replace him"

Her expression changed to one of shock

"He's dead? I don't believe you!"

"It's true I'm afraid, he captured me but his convoy was destroyed by Martians and he died shortly afterwards"

No answer

"Look he gave me this"

I held out the sheet of paper for her to inspect

"How do I know you didn't kill him and take this yourself”?

I shrugged

"You don't, but how else would I know where to find you, it's not written on here"

"You could have tortured the information out of him"

"I could have, but I don't think he would have told me much under torture, he didn't seem that type"

"What do you know about him?"

"Not much, but the time I was with him I came to respect him slightly, he had a great idea but was too heavy handed in implementing it"

She seemed to relent a bit, lowering her rifle

"Ok, you can come in, we'll talk about you taking over later"

Several men and women walked out of the bushes either side of me and guided me to a secret underground entrance.

 

Reorganization

I was lead through utilitarian corridors, reminisant of a nuclear bunker, I asked Sarah (that was her name) what this place was, and she smiled

"A government cover up, a secret nuclear weapons bunker which until two years ago held a large amount of nuclear weapons targeted at Russia and other possible threats, Dad worked here, knew about it, when the Martians invaded he brought us here where we would be safe and where he could build his empire from.

"Major Adamms was your father?"

"Yes, and he was a good father too before you say anything, but he just kept going on about his plans for a new Britain."

"He was very determined wasn't he?"

She laughed "That’s one word for it"

We turned to a large hall that contained many hundreds, maybe even thousands of boxes.

"Food and water," said Sarah "Enough here to last us ten years"

"Your Father?"

"Yes, he was very foresighted, knew we had to prepare to live underground for a long time, until the Martians had finished with Britain and had gone on to other parts of the world, they're starting that already do you know?"
"Really"

"Yes, their Flying Machines are making short trips across the English Channel and are attacking coastal towns in France, luckily the Fighting Machines can't get across yet"

"You know this?"

"Oh yes, we have lots of military equipment here, radios, RADAR and such like, we're in contact with most of Britain"

"How far have the Martians got, I haven't heard the news for a while"

She turned and looked at me

"So many questions, well, the last report I had indicated that they were on the outskirts of London"

"Already?"

"Yes, luckily most of the population, including the government, have evacuated to France"

"Not a very safe place to go"

"True but safer than London"

We walked into the "war room" a large electronic map was on a table on the center of the room, various computer and TV screens on the walls relayed information from across Britain.

I looked at the electronic map; most of Eastern England was a red colour.

"Martians?"

She sighed, "Yes they now have control of most of Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire"

"They've worked quickly"

"Yes, too quickly"

"Look about me taking command"

She nodded "Yes I can see what father saw in you, you can take command now if you want"

I put a hand up to stop her

"Look hang on a damn minute, I don't have a clue what most of this is about, I've just been riding across most of Suffolk and Norfolk in my motorcycle dodging Martians, I get captured by your dad, free myself, and then get put in charge of an army! This is a little too much for me to understand!!"

She looked astonished at me

"You've been up there all this time"

"Yes, I was one of the first people at the scene when the swines landed and I've been trying to figure out what to do with myself and then.."

Now it was her turn to interrupt me

"My god, you really are a survivor, where did you live?"

"Erm, Aldeburgh"

"Where are your parents?"

"Alive, somewhere, I hope"

"Ok look, you're in command of us now, you know what fathers plan was?"

"Err, yes, a bit"

"So we've got to work on that plan and improve it, what do you reckon our first actions should be”?

"Erm, go and look for more food and people I suppose"

"Ok, how shall we do it”?

"What do you mean, how?"

"By helicopter, plane, truck, what?"

"Good god no, it'll have to be by jeep or something, we can't risk flying with the Martians around we'll get heat rayed"

"Yes I've heard about that"

"You mean you've never seen them?"

"No, I've been down here since the invasion started"

"Your father hadn't seen them either, probably why he was ambushed by them so easily"

"No, Father would never let himself get in a situation like that"

She started to cry

I put my arms around her to comfort her

"Hey there, he put up a good fight but there’s not a lot you can do against the Martians"

She pulled away from me and walked off, still crying

I shook my head, poor girl losing her father like that, I thought, but then I realized, I could well be in exactly the same situation as her, I didn't know if my parents were alive or dead and probably never would do, I sighed, no good about thinking about the past you can only get on with living in the present.

I pointed at a nearby soldier who saluted at me

"Hey enough of that rubbish," I said much to the amazement of the soldier "What sort of vehicles do we have here?"

"Lots, sir. If you'll just follow me?"

"Lead the way"

 

The airbase had a large number of vehicles in it's underground garage, including a jeep which I decided was the best vehicle to use in the situation, I got in it and started it up, it started first time.

I whistled in amazement and drove her around the garage before pulling up back where I started.

"She drives like a dream, I'll take her"

"Just bring her back before midnight sir" joked the soldier and then regretting it said "Sorry sir"

I smiled "Hey, no worries, it was a good joke"

He relaxed

"So what else do we have down here?"

"Well we haven't explored all of the base sir but so far, four helicopters, ten F-16 fighter planes, and a submarine"

"A Submarine?"

"Yes sir, turns out there’s an underground canal that goes all the way to the sea"

"Bloody hell, this place is a chamber of secrets isn't it?"

"Yes sir"

"Well, I guess I'd better take her out for a spin"

I heard someone call my name; I turned to find Sarah running towards me

"Hello Sarah, What’s up?"

"Hi, I'm coming with you, err sir"

"You are?"

"Yes"

"Ok, I'm glad that’s settled, what’s with the smiley face"

"The Martians don't seem to moved for twenty-four hours!"

"And.?"

"Well, that’s great news, they haven't stopped moving since they invaded"

"Really, well, better go and have a look then haven't we?"

"Yeah, where are we going?"

"A little town called Leiston"

"Some place you know?"

"Just a bit"

 

She got in and I drove the jeep up the spiral road way to the surface, passing several check points on the way up.

Then we were on the road to Leiston, passing through red fields, red? That wasn't right.

I stopped the jeep

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a form of plant the Martians brought with them"

She leapt out of the Jeep and picked a cactus-like frond from a clump of red plant on the side of the road

"It's called the Red Weed, or at least that’s what we called it, it's fascinating, it can grow at an alarming speed across the countryside, especially near rivers and water, it sucks the water out of other plants too, it can also extract nutrients from other plants into itself"

"It eats other plants?"

"Essentially, I've studied several samples of it at the base, it's a remarkable plant"

"It's also dying"

"What?"

I pointed at a clump of Red Weed, which had gone a dull white and was rotting, she ran over to it and picked a rotting frond

"Hmm, looks like a form of cancer, it's degrading the plant by rupturing its cells."

"Really, how interesting."

"Hmm? Oh sorry I must be boring you to death, I'm just very interested in plants and their science"

I grinned "Really? Doesn't show"

She hit me "Shut up you"

I laughed and started the Jeep up again.

We drove along the deserted lanes of several villages which had been overwhelmed by the Red Weed but here and there were the white patches which spelt it's doom.

As we drove through Aldringham I heard a noise above the engine, at first I dismissed it as a bird, but as we got closer to Leiston I was able to clearly hear it as a two tone wailing noise, I cursed and stopped the car, ran out and hid in a bush by the side of the road.

Sarah looked at me

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Martians!"

She shrieked and ran over and hid in the bush next to me.

"Where are they?"

"I'm not sure, but that’s the noise they make to communicate to each other"

"Is it?"

"Yes trust me on that, I've mixed with these sods enough times to know that"

"Really?"

I told her about all of my experiences, she gasped at several points in my story, especially when I told her of the corpses in the pit.

"What would the Martians want with us?"

"I dunno, but it involves us dying"

She shuddered

"I dread to think, they truly are monsters"

I couldn't help but agree with her

"True, but no more than we have been, think of Adolf Hitler or the destruction of the Native American tribes, who are we to complain should the Martians act the same way?"

"You've got a point I suppose"

"Hmm"

I wasn't really listening now as a thought had arrived to me, why hadn't the Martians appeared yet?

"Come on, lets walk a bit"

I got out of the bush and walked towards Leiston, Sarah followed me reluctantly

"What are you doing?"

"I'm curious"

"Haven't you heard the expression 'Curiosity killed the cat' ?"

"Yep, it ends 'but satisfaction brought it back' "

"Does it?"

"Yep"

"Oh"

We carried on walking, the howling got louder, it was a drawn out sobbing repetition of two notes

"Ulla ulla ulla ulla ulla ulla" wailed that voice

I saw over the trees to the east, the Fighting Machine from which the howling came from, it just stood there, didn't move an inch.

When Sarah saw what I was looking at she cried suddenly and made to run away, I stopped her

"Don't worry, we're ok, I think"

"You think!?"

"Well, we should be dead by now, or at least captured"

All the time in the background that cry continued

"Ulla ulla ulla ulla ulla ulla ulla ulla"

"What is it doing?"

"I don't know, it should be chasing after us, doing something, not just standing there!"

I set off over towards the machine, curious, Sarah followed but convinced I was insane she stayed near bushes so she could make a quick exit.

 

We got to the clearing where the Fighting Machine stood, it was standing guard over a cylinder pit, but the pit had been enlarged considerably and contained many Martians, dead.

As I walked to the rim of the pit, the wail stopped

"Ulla ulla ulla ul-"

The silence came like a thunderclap, I looked up and saw a multitude of crows were circling around the "head" of the machine and the glass screen in which the Martian sat was smashed and red threads were hanging out of it.

"Oh my god" I breathed

"What is it," asked Sarah "What’s wrong?"

"Nothings wrong, everything’s right!"

"What?"

"They're dead Sarah, the Martians are dead!"

She came up to the rim to look down and saw I was right, we hugged each other and cried then, the war was over. Humanity had prevailed.

The Martians, it has appeared since then, had a simplified immune system that wasn’t able to cope with the diseases which we had developed a complex defenses against, the particular disease they had succumbed to was the common cold.

But we were not to know that in the afternoon of joy, as we stood holding each other above the pit, it looked as if the Angel of Death had visited in the night and struck them all dead.

 

Me and Sarah spent some time sitting on the edge of the pit, I brought the jeep up and we had lunch, within full view of a Fighting Machine, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread whenever I saw that motionless monster even though it was simply a hunk of metal without it's controller now.

Finally I decided we should head back to base, and sped back with the jeep, not having to worry about dodging Martians, I even started singing a strange ditty on the way back.

When we got back it seemed that our news had already arrived, a soldier ran out to us as we drove in

"Sirs! Scouts are reporting in from all over the country, the Martians, they're dead!"

"We know soldier, we've just seen them" I replied

He saluted and run off again

When we walked into the "war room" there was an excited hubbub, I stood up on the electronic table, which creaked alarmingly

"Ladies and Gentlemen," I began "I can confirm what you have been hearing today, the Martians are dead, cause of death unknown, the war...is over"

At that a massive cheer went up and people started dancing around and generally celebrating, I stood down from the table and Sarah walked over

"Looks like I'm out of a job" I said

"Oh I dunno, there’s a lot of people out there who are starved and leaderless, scared, there are those who have left by boat, they'll need someone to look up to."

"Aye, can I do it though?"

She kissed me briefly

"I know you can"

 

Aftermath

So, we had won, the Human race had prevailed, but at what cost?

Sarah was right, most of Britains population was scattered out in the countryside and wilderness or even left the country itself!

I sighed, and put my head in my hands, just a month or so ago, I couldn't even remember how long it had been since the invasion began, I had been a normal school-child studying for his A-levels, now I was the commander of a large army, I laughed, how quickly things change!

There was a knock at the door, it was Sarah, I beckoned her in, and she sat down next to me.

"What’s the matter? You disappeared during the celebrations, we all wondered where you had gone?"

"It's all happened so quick"

"What do you mean?"
"I'm the commander of the Suffolk Local Army, Sarah, beforehand I was a 17 year old student studying for his A-levels"

"It's been quite a jump hasn't it?"

"You're not joking!!"

I laughed and then started crying, Sarah put her arm around me

"What’s up?"

"Oh, it's all over"

"Aren't you glad it's over?"
"Yes, but now I've got to figure out what to do next"

"Rebuilding mainly, I'll be here to help you"

"Thank you, you mean a lot to me"

"And you to me"

I stood up and smiled

"Back to the party then"

She stood and took my outstretched hand and we walked back to the celebrations taking place in the mess hall.

 

Then came the rebuilding, as Sarah had said, there was a lot to be done, it was as difficult, if not more, than surviving while the Martians had been here!

The first order I gave was the spreading of the word; pilots took planes to airfields all over Britain and told everyone the good news.

Then community centers were set up, and the railways repaired as destroyed houses were bulldozed and rebuilt bigger and better, people began to move in and live their lives again, food and water was distributed from our supplies at Bentwaters and then from abroad as foreign aid began to arrive.

We began searching for Martian machines and strongholds and brought several of their machines back to Rendlesham for experimentation.

The most progress was made on the study of the Red Weed, Sarah spent a lot of time working on the composition of the plant, it became increasingly difficult to get samples of it as the plant succumbed to the cancerous disease, that brought our green fields back, meanwhile I supervised the analysis of the Heat Ray, we made considerable progress, discovering that the heat was projected using a parabolic mirror, and focused using a strange set of mirrors that changed angle to focus or widen the beam, but there was a terrible accident at the lab one day and we were forced to shut down experimentation on the device.

 

It was three weeks later that I finally plucked up the courage to return to my home.

As I drove through Aldeburgh in my Humvee I looked out at the devastation and wondered if my parents were still alive, I turned off at our turning and drove down to our house on the edge of Aldeburgh, it was still intact! It must have been left by the Martians because of it being on the edge of Aldeburgh, the door was forced though, and as I walked in I saw that muddy footprints had been here and there, I sat down on the sofa in the living room and looked out the window, there had been no change, apart from a few white strands of dying red weed here and there it was as though the terrible war had never happened, my mind ran again to my parents and it was at that time I heard a voice, it said "Don't torment yourselves, no-one survived but you" I walked out into the kitchen and standing there with my grandparents was my parents.

I gave a shout of joy and ran towards them, they were alive!

Their story wasn't as remarkable as mine, they had heard about the destruction of Leiston and Mum, remembering my story decided to head for Wales, as I predicted she would, they had spent the period of occupation in the Welsh mountains listening to the radio and getting every scrap of news about the war, they had been as worried if not more about me than I had them, I told them my story and my current position of Army head, Mum couldn't believe me, so I offered to take them to Rendlesham.

When we drove in, and the guards saluted me, then Mum started to believe me and then I introduced Sarah to my parents and there was a lot of crying and hugging and such forth.

A couple of days later me and Sarah got engaged and were married two weeks later, life continued on and now, five years from the attack on our planet life has returned to a sense of normality, looking out of the window I can see our children playing the garden amongst our potted Red Weed (Sarah has managed to cultivate the seeds and developed a cure against the cancer, it needs daily clipping though or it would take over the village) and overhead flies one of our new types of planes, the XR-475 passenger aircraft, the jet engine is now obsolete as research into the Flying Machines has provided us with magnetic repulsion field technology, but this is stuff you know already.

I ponder on the safety of this planet, the Martians are still a threat and every effort is being made to build an effective defense system should they try to invade us from space again, what is certain though is that the element of surprise has been lost, there are plenty of rumors in the astronomical circles that the Martians have landed on Venus, whether this is true or not is uncertain but satellites have been launched to Mars and Venus for reconnaissance so time will tell.

I will end now as there is no more to say, any reader of this book will know of recent advances in technology so there is no need to go into that, and Sarah is preparing dinner and I am very hungry, so there it is.

                                     The End