War of the Worlds (Jabbawockeez)

10. A heroic escape

The creaks of the tripods elastic legs were the other noise that all five boys heard besides the other people in the same cage as them screaming for their lives. The five boys were together and terrified by what will happen next. Out of nowhere, one of the wires holding onto the tripod had disconnected and caused the cage to fall to the side, jerking everyone to the floor of the wired cage. Phil fell off to the side, his legs landing in the center of the cage. Phi had fallen on his back on the cage wall. Joe had fallen next to Rynan on his stomach. Rynan had fallen into another person that was next to him. Lastly, Kevin had fallen to the opposite side of the cage.

Suddenly, the loud bellow sound rang out from the tripod as the metal latch opened up once again and the rope like tentacle slowly emerged from the hole above the cage.

Phil struggled to pull himself up since so many people were moving out of the way, trying to avoid being chosen to be pulled into the tripod. The small camera on the rope searched around, then gazed down upon Phil's struggling form, and quickly moving down and tightly wrapping around his ankles. Upon feeling his ankles being seized, Phil hung onto the metal bars of the cage, not wanting to be separated from the others. After looking around, he noticed the sash of grenades that he had brought up with him.

More people began screaming as the rope began to pull upwards, just as Phil grabbed the grenades and started pulling the pins out as fast as he possibly could.

Phil struggled a bit as he was slowly lifted up by his ankles, so he was dangling upside down. Just as he was halfway in the air, he couldn't pull out the remaining two pins due to the gravity of being upside down. Phi got up from the cage floor and jumped up as fast as he could, and grabbed onto Phil's hand that was dangling down as he was being pulled up. Tightening his grip, Phi looked at the others, then at the other people in the cage with them. ¨Pull me down! Pull me! Hurry!¨ He yelled and looked up at Phil as he too was being lifted up.

Rynan, Joe and Kevin all rushed up and grabbed onto Phi's arms and jacket, as the other people began to join in, grabbing onto Phi as much as they could to add more weight.

¨Phil!¨ Phi yelled as Phil's head and shoulders disappeared through the hole in the tripod, and only his forearm and hand were the only things that were visible. From inside the tripod, Phil couldn't see anything but darkness. He took a deep breath and started to find the remaining two grenades to activate. Once finding them, he quickly used his teeth to pull the remaining two pins on the last two grenades that he had. After taking out the pins, with whatever strength he had, he threw the grenades far into the tripod, and dangled there.

More weight was added by the people pulling on Phi, causing the grip on Phil's ankles to loosen, and Phil's head and shoulders popped back out of the tripod, as Phi took notice and kept encouraging the people to keep pulling.

¨Keep pulling guys! Heś almost out!¨ He yelled as the others pulled even harder than before, and eventually, the tripod let go of Phil and he fell out of the tripod and collapsed on his back next to Phi as the others had fallen too. Phil turned over onto his stomach and put his hand in front of his mouth and spat out the two pins that he had pulled from the grenades. One soldier that was captured, and that helped get Phil out noticed the pins and began to panic. "Everyone get down!" He yelled just as the grenades in the tripod activated and started to blow up the tripod and slowly take it down.

The legs of the tripod trembled, and had trouble walking as the grenades weakened it. As it stumbled, the wires that were left holding the cage, disconnected and the cage fell and landed in a nearby tree.

Soon the tripod had collapsed onto the ground as the five boys scrambled out of the cage and jumped out of the tree along with the other people who were captured. As the tripod hit the ground, it burst into flames just as the boys made it onto a hill, which was a safe distance away. They all breathed heavily, and looked at one another as they caught their breath. "That was risky Phil." Kevin said, gazing over at Phil to make sure he was alright. "Yeah, it was, but I'm glad that Phi caught onto me just in time." Phil said with a smile, putting his hand on Phi's shoulder.

Phi gave a smile and nodded. "We all stick together bro. If one goes, we all go." Phi replied with a cheery tone. Joe, Kevin, Rynan and Phil gave each other a group hug then separated.

"Now we need to get out of here." Rynan stated, looking at everyone with a concerned expression. Joe pointed over at a large group of people running over the hills. "We should follow them." Joe stated, as the others looked at the group of people that Joe was pointing at. In the distance, a large group of people were running past the trees and over the remaining hills. "Agreed." Phil replied, looking at the others for their opinions. All the boys agreed with Phils decision, and walked next to one another down the dirt road.

Dawn was slowly approaching as the pink color was now beginning to paint the sky. As the evacuation continued, the boys had joined the other people who were trying to escape.

The path was somewhat crowded with people, children, and personal belongings that they had brought with them. Joe adjusted his backpack, and rumaged through it and took out a large water bottle that hasn't been opened or destroyed. He twisted the cap open and took a few sips before passing it to the others. The boys took sips of water then passed the bottle back to Joe and thanked him, as Joe put the bottle back into his backpack. Soon the sun slowly began to peek over the horizon, and peer over the mountains slowly pouring its light over the people who were walking.