The Martians went back to their first position on Horsell Common. They moved quickly because their friend was dead. They carried the broken pieces of the dead Martian with them. The Martians did not see me because I was small and unimportant.
If the Martians moved to London immediately, no one could stop them. Only a few guns stood between the Martians and the big city. The Martians would arrive before the news of the attack. It would be a terrible surprise, like a sudden earthquake.
But the Martians were not in a hurry. A new cylinder (a large, metal tube from space) fell from the sky every twenty-four hours. These brought more Martians to Earth. The Martians waited for these new friends to arrive.
Meanwhile, the British army worked very hard. The leaders now knew the Martians were very strong. Every minute, the soldiers moved a new gun into a lucky position. By evening, many guns were hidden on the hills near the towns of Kingston and Richmond.
Soldiers walked through the burned areas near the Martians. These scouts used a heliograph (a tool that uses a mirror to send messages with sunlight). They wanted to warn the other soldiers when the Martians moved. But the Martians were careful now. No man could get close to the Martians without dying.
The giant machines moved between the different landing sites. They carried everything to the first pit on Horsell Common. One Martian stood at the top to watch for danger. The other Martians went down into the pit to work.
The Martians worked late into the night. A tall pillar of green smoke rose from the pit. People could see this smoke from many miles away. While the Martians prepared for their next attack, I tried to escape. I walked through the fire and smoke toward London.
I saw a small boat on the river. I took off most of my wet clothes and swam to the boat. The boat had no oars. I used my hands to move the boat down the river. My hands were very painful from the hot water. I looked behind me many times because I was afraid.
The water was still hot because the Martian fell into it. I could not see the land well because of the steam. Later, I saw some people running across the fields. The town of Halliford was empty. Some of the houses near the river were on fire.
The town was very quiet and empty under the hot blue sky. I saw the smoke and small flames rising from the houses. Usually, a big crowd of people watches a fire. Now, there was no one. The fire moved slowly across the dry fields of hay.
I moved on the water for a long time. I was very tired and the sun was hot on my back. Finally, I reached the shore and lay down in the long grass. I was very sick. Later, I woke up and walked a short distance. Then I lay down again in the shadow of a hedge.
I was very thirsty. I felt angry with my wife, but I did not know why. I wanted to reach her in the town of Leatherhead, but I was too weak. I think I fell asleep for a short time.
When I woke up, a man was sitting near me. He was a curate (a low-ranking priest in the church). He wore a dirty shirt and his face was clean. He looked up at the clouds in the sky. The sky was beautiful with the colors of the sunset.
I sat up and the curate looked at me quickly. "Do you have any water?" I asked. The curate shook his head. He said I was asking for water for an hour while I slept.
We sat in silence and looked at each other. I looked very strange to the curate. I had no shirt. My trousers and socks were wet. My face and skin were black from the smoke.
The curate was a weak man with large blue eyes. He looked away from me and spoke. "What does this mean?" the curate asked. "Why are these things happening?"
I looked at the curate but I did not answer. He held out his thin hand. He sounded like he was complaining. "Why does God allow this?" the curate asked. "What did we do wrong?"
The curate said he was walking to think about his work. Then, suddenly, there was fire and death. He felt that all his work was destroyed. "What are these Martians?" the curate shouted.
"What are we?" I answered. My throat was dry. The curate looked at me for a long time without speaking. Then he began to wave his hands around.
"Everything is gone," the curate said. "The schools and the church are destroyed. We rebuilt the church only three years ago. Why did this happen?" The curate began to shout like a crazy man.
I realized that the curate was losing his mind. The fire and death in Weybridge scared him too much. He was a fugitive from the Martians. I tried to speak to him in a calm voice.
"Are we far from the town of Sunbury?" I asked. The curate did not answer my question. He asked if the Martians were everywhere. He asked if the Martians now owned the Earth.
"You must be strong," I told the curate. "You are too scared. Religion must help you during bad times. Think of the earthquakes and wars in the past. There is still hope."
The curate sat in silence. Then he asked how they could escape. He said the Martians were too strong and they had no pity. I told him that the Martians were not gods. I told him that the soldiers killed one Martian recently.
The curate was surprised. He did not believe a Martian could die. I told him that I saw it happen. Then the curate pointed at a light in the sky. He asked what it was.
I told him it was the heliograph. I explained that it was a signal from other humans. "The soldiers are getting ready for a battle," I said. "The Martians will come this way again soon."
Suddenly, the curate stood up. He told me to listen. From behind the hills, we heard a loud noise. It was the sound of big guns far away. We also heard a strange, loud cry.
Then everything was quiet again. A small insect flew past us. The moon was thin and pale in the sky. "We must follow this path," I said to the curate. "We must go north."