I saw the Martians come out of the cylinder. They came to Earth from their planet. I stood in the heather (small plants with purple flowers). I was very afraid, but I was also curious. I stayed still and looked at the sand that hid the Martians.
I did not go near the pit. I wanted to see inside it, so I walked in a big circle. I wanted to find a better place to watch. Suddenly, I saw long black arms flash in the air. They looked like the arms of an octopus (a sea animal with eight long arms). Then a thin metal stick rose up. It had a round disk on top that spun around.
Many people stood in small groups. Some people stood near the town of Woking. Other people stood near the town of Chobham. These people were also afraid. I saw a neighbor and I spoke to him. He was very scared. He said, “They are very ugly!” He said this many times.
I asked the neighbor about a man in the pit. The neighbor did not answer my question. We stood together in silence and watched the pit. Then I moved to a small hill to see better. My neighbor walked away toward Woking.
The sun went down and the sky became dark. More people came from Woking. I heard them talking far away. The people near Chobham went home. The pit was very quiet. Nothing moved inside it.
The people began to feel brave because the pit was quiet. More people arrived from Woking. Some men started to walk toward the pit. They stopped and watched, and then they walked again. I also started to move toward the pit.
I saw some men with horses and a boy with a cart of apples. A small group of men walked toward the pit from the town of Horsell. The man at the front of the group had a white flag.
This group was a deputation (a group of people sent to talk for others). They talked together before they moved. The Martians were ugly, but they were also intelligent. The men wanted to show the Martians that humans are also intelligent. They used the flag to show they were friends.
The man moved the flag to the right and to the left. I was too far away to see the men's faces. Later, I learned their names. Ogilvy, Stent, and Henderson were in that group. Many people followed them slowly at a distance.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light. Bright green smoke came out of the pit in three clouds. The smoke went straight up into the air.
The green light was very bright. The blue sky and the trees looked very dark because the green light was so strong. Then I heard a thin hissing sound.
The men with the white flag stopped. They stood together on the black ground. The green smoke made their faces look green. Then the hissing sound changed. It became a long, loud humming noise. A large shape rose out of the pit. A small beam of light came from the shape.
Then I saw many flashes of fire. The fire jumped from one man to another. It was like an invisible stream of water, but it was fire. Each man suddenly became a ball of fire.
The men were burning. I saw them fall to the ground. Their friends turned and tried to run away.
I stood and watched. I did not understand that the men were dead. I only felt that the scene was very strange. There was a quiet and bright flash of light. A man fell and did not move.
The Martians used a Heat-Ray (a beam of very hot light that burns things). When the light touched the trees, they started to burn. The dry bushes burned with a loud noise. I saw houses and fences start to burn far away.
The Heat-Ray moved around the pit in a circle. It was an invisible sword of fire. It came toward me. I saw the bushes burn as the light touched them. I was too shocked to move.
I heard the fire in the sand-pits. I heard a horse cry out, and then the horse was silent. Then the invisible Heat-Ray moved across the ground between me and the Martians. The ground smoked and the grass burned. Something hit the ground with a loud crash far away. Then the humming noise stopped. The large shape went back into the pit.
Everything happened very fast. I stood still and did not speak. The flashes of light made it hard to see. The Heat-Ray almost hit me. If it moved in a full circle, it would kill me. But the Heat-Ray stopped. Now the night was very dark.
The land was very dark and there were no people. I saw the stars in the sky. The trees and the roofs of the houses looked black against the sky. The Martians and their machines were hidden. I only saw the thin metal stick. Some bushes and houses were still burning.
Nothing changed except for the fire and my fear. The men with the white flag were gone. They were dead. The evening was quiet again.
I was alone on this dark land. I had no protection. Suddenly, I felt a terrible fear. It was like something fell on me.
I turned around and started to run. I ran through the plants. I was very afraid of the Martians. I was also afraid of the dark and the silence. I cried like a child as I ran. I did not look back.
I thought the Martians were playing with me. I thought the Heat-Ray would follow me. I thought the fire would hit me before I was safe.