A giant wave of fear moved through London on Monday morning. Thousands of people ran away from the city. They went to the train stations and the river. Soon, the police could not control the crowd. The railway workers could not manage the trains.
People fought to get onto the trains. By two o'clock in the morning, the carriages were full. At the stations, people pushed and stepped on each other. Some people had guns and knives. The police were very tired and angry.
Soon, the train drivers refused to go back to London. More people walked on the roads to the north. A Martian appeared near the river. The Black Smoke (a dark, poisonous gas) covered the bridges. People could not escape that way.
My brother tried to get a train at Chalk Farm station. It was impossible. He went to a bicycle shop and took a bicycle. The front tire was broken, but he rode away. He reached the town of Edgware at seven o’clock.
In Edgware, people stood in the street. They watched the many people running away. My brother left his broken bicycle and walked. He found some food at an inn (a small hotel with a restaurant). He did not know what to do next.
The road became very crowded. Many people were on bicycles or in carriages. My brother decided to walk east toward the town of Chelmsford. He went down a quiet road. Suddenly, he heard women screaming.
My brother ran around a corner. He saw three men attacking two women. The women were in a pony-chaise (a small carriage pulled by a small horse). One woman was screaming. The other woman hit a man with a whip.
My brother was a good boxer. He hit one man and the man fell down. Then he grabbed another man. The men hit my brother back. My brother was hurt, but he did not stop. One man ran away.
My brother fell down and the men attacked him again. But the younger woman had a revolver (a small gun). She fired the gun and the men ran away. She gave the gun to my brother. They went back to the carriage.
The women were the wife and the sister of a doctor. The doctor told them to drive to Edgware. He promised to meet them there. But the doctor did not arrive. The women were very afraid. My brother promised to stay with them.
They waited by the road for a short time. My brother told them about the Martians. The women had thirty-five pounds in money. They wanted to go to the coast. They decided to travel together to leave the country.
The day became very hot. The road was full of dust. They reached a big road near the town of Barnet. My brother heard a loud noise. It was the sound of thousands of people and wheels.
The main road was full of people. They were all running north. There was a giant cloud of white dust. The crowd was loud and the air was hot. A house was burning nearby. The smoke made it hard to see.
Everyone shouted, "Move! The Martians are coming!" Some people were blind. Some people were crying. The horses were tired and had blood in their eyes. There were many different types of carts and carriages.
My brother saw a man with a bag of gold coins. The bag broke and the money fell on the ground. The man tried to pick up the money. A cart hit the man and broke his back. He could not move.
My brother tried to help the man. But the crowd was too strong. The other drivers shouted at my brother to move. The man with the gold bit my brother’s arm. Then a horse stepped on the man. He died in the dust.
Miss Elphinstone covered her eyes. She did not want to see the dead man. My brother turned the horse around. They moved away from the crowd. The women were shaking with fear. My brother felt very bad for them.
They had to cross the big road. My brother pushed the horse into the crowd. A large wagon hit their carriage and broke the wood. Finally, the crowd pulled them forward. They moved with the thousands of people.
They finally moved to the side of the road. They went east through small towns. They saw people drinking water from a stream. They saw trains full of people moving north. The people were even sitting on the coal.
They stopped for the afternoon. They were very tired and hungry. The night was cold. They did not sleep because they were afraid. Many more people passed them in the dark. Everyone was running from the Martians.