War of the Worlds (Jabbawockeez)

11. The road to the end

The boys had walked a few miles with the group of people they had joined since their escape from one of the tripods earlier. Everyone was tired from all the walking, but they knew that they had to keep walking. Daylight was peering over the trees and the mountains, indicating that the day was just beginning. Phil glanced around the surrounding area to see that most of the houses and trees had been destroyed. "Wow. There's hardly anything left." He muttered as Phi was walking next to him. 

"Yeah, no traces of anything." Phi replied, looking around before focusing his attention back to where they were going. 

Rynan let out a yawn and stretched, then rubbed his eyes to keep himself awake. Kevin was looking around at the other people who were also walking around them. Joe was adjusting his hat, then he placed his hands in his pockets and glanced around at the others. A sign was up ahead, which was partially covered in red weeds, read that the next city was about eight more miles north. All five boys gave out a quiet sigh of disatisfaction before trudging forward together, shoulder to shoulder. 

Noises could be heard in the distance, but they were really far away, so no one had to panic. Everyone was tired from walking and running so much. 

As the boys trudged on, they glanced around as they drew closer and closer to an upcoming city where most people were being evacuated. Within the city, large groups of people were being placed into some buildings for shelter. Others were just running to get out of way of any tripod. Upon entering the city, the boys saw that the cars and monuments were covered in red weeds, and ash, which the birds were picking at for food. While walking, Phil saw a line of people being moved by the military. Phil then gestured to the boys to follow, and walked the way they were supposed to go. When they turned the corner Phi glanced up to the side and stopped walking for a minute. 

Rynan noticed that Phi had stopped in his tracks and looked back and called to Phil. "Hey Phil! Wait up! Phi stopped!" he called as Phil, Joe and Kevin all stopped and made their way back to Phi and Rynan. 

"What's wrong Phi? What are you looking at?" Phil asked as Phi looked at Phil and the others then pointed at what he was looking at. "That." Phi replied, pointing at a fallen tripod that had crashed into one of the buildings, with debris still falling due to the weight of the tripod. "Oh.." Joe muttered, as Phil's, Kevin's, and Rynan's eyes widened at the sight. Joe was just as shocked as the others. "They're dying." Phil muttered to the others as they looked at Phil with wide eyes. "They are?!" Joe asked, as all the boys felt some sort of relief, yet panic was still there. 

Phil nodded. "I heard that most of the tripods had been taken down. This city is said to have one last remaining tripod somewhere within it. It's almost over guys." He said as the boys all gave smiles of the statement. 

"Although, we need to keep moving." Rynan stated, as all the boys stood out of the people's way. "I agree." Phi said, adjusting his hat so it was comfortably set on his head. Joe did the same as Phi, before agreeing with Kevin and Phil. "Let's get moving then." Phil stated and the boys agreed and followed behind him in his wake, staying close together as the military soldiers directed people to the evacuation route. Suddenly people started yelling and running, as one tripod that was the remaining one, was barely standing, attempting to walk around. 

Phil stopped walking and grabbed onto Phi and looked at the others. "Run to the tunnel!" he yelled over the noise, so the others could hear him. 

The others nodded, as Phi then held onto Rynan, Rynan held onto Joe and Joe held onto Kevin. Once Phil saw that the others were set, he ran towards the tunnel with the others clinging onto one another. "Come on!" Phil yelled as they had made it into the tunnel with other people. As they got to the opening of the tunnel Rynan had glanced at the tripod while he was running to make sure it was a safe distance away. Rynan let go of Phi and Joe, and stood by the entrance of the tunnel. 

Joe and Phi noticed and stopped running, causing Phil and Kevin to stop too. "Rynan come on!" Phil called as the others called him as well. Rynan gestured for them to come over, and turned around and tried to grab the attention of a nearby soldier. 

"Hey!" Rynan yelled, but to no avail, his first attempt didn't work. Rynan took a deep breath and called to the soldier again, this time, grabbing his attention just as the loud bellow sound emerged from the tripod, causing everyone to cover their ears from the noise. "Look at the birds!" He yelled as the soldier tried to hear him but it was no use. "I can't hear you!" The soldier called back, as Rynan then repeated his sentence. "Look at the birds!" he yelled again as the soldier then looked up and noticed that the birds were landing on the active tripod.  Rynan then yelled to the soldier again as another bellow sound rang from the tripod. "No shield!" He yelled, as the soldier then put his hand to his ear and leaned over towards Rynan, trying to hear him. 

He gestured to Rynan that he couldn't hear because of the noise, as Rynan pointed up at the tripod and yelled again. "No shield!" Now getting what Rynan had pointed out to him, he nodded then turned to the other soldiers that were with him. 

"Alright men! Tripod has no shield! Easy takedown, hard process! Let's go!" he called as the soldiers got their weapons ready to attack the last active tripod. Rynan then joined the others after telling the military the important information. "It's safer in here!" Phi stated, moving out of people's way. Joe nodded. "I agree with Phi, we should stay here until they take it down." Joe replied as Kevin gave a nod of agreement. "What do you think Rynan?" Phil asked, glancing over at Rynan who was next to him as people ran past them. "I think we should stay." He said, then looked at the others. "Alright, we stay here then. Whatever you all decide and agree on, I'm on board with you guys." Phil stated as the boys all huddled close, so more people had room to move in the tunnel. 

Just outside the tunnel, the creaking, and loud noises came from the tripod as it weakly walked around, looking down at everyone that was running, or trying to hide. Pretty soon it will be a battle no one would ever forget.