“Remind me to never go to the top of the Empire State Building again.”

“Aw, come on Pam, it wasn’t that bad!” “

You’re talking to a girl who can’t even go on a Ferris wheel without feeling nauseous!”

It was a cool weekend in November and Jim and Pam were in New York celebrating their six month anniversary.

“How about I make it up to you by taking to Serendipity? We can share a big ice cream sundae.”

Pam smiled. There was never a time she regretted dating Jim. She had been much happier and was almost always smiling.

“Okay, but you better not eat it all when I go to the bathroom this time.”

Jim took Pam’s hand and they started walking down the streets of New York. He loved how she was open to do anything, whether it be visiting the Statue of Liberty or trying to play Mary had a Little Lamb on the oversized piano at FAO Schwartz.

“Let me just call Jon and tell him to meet us there.”

Jim’s brother Jonathan had moved to New York recently and they were spending a lot of time with him. This didn’t bother Pam. She loved spending time with Jim’s brother.

He was so nice to her and he was also extremely funny, just like Jim.

The wind started to pick up and it was becoming chilly. They walked into the warm ice cream parlor and took a seat. Pam reached her leg over to Jim’s under the table and kicked his foot. He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Are you trying to play footsie with me?”

“Well—“ Pam was interrupted when a man burst into the shop and started yelling.

“Come outside! Look at this! This is wild! I’ve never seen anything like it! Hurry!”

Jim and Pam started to make their way outside.

They saw everybody turned and looking at the sky. Some were taking pictures while others were talking on their cell phones.

Pam looked up and saw that it was black. It looked like a dark hurricane cloud. The wind was blowing even faster now. She snuggled up closer to Jim and he wrapped an arm around her.

“That’s weird…”

“What?” “

The wind is blowing towards the storm.”

Jim was absolutely right.

“Hey guys, what are you looking at?” Jon asked while running up to Jim and Pam.

Jim pointed up to the sky and Jon turned to look at it.

“Woah.”

They watched the clouds turn in a strange way.

More people started gathering around to see what was happening. They were still staring at the sky in awe when a bright flash of lightning struck. It didn’t look normal. It almost sounded like thunder. A car alarm started to go off.

Pam jumped and Jim pulled her closer.

“It’s okay,” he reassured her. She nuzzled her head into his chest and squeezed her eyes shut. Another lightning struck. She screamed and Jim grabbed her hand motioning for Jon to follow them. They ran back into the ice cream store and the three of them sat close together in a booth. The lightening kept coming.

“That one hit right by the store!”

Pam said, and clutched onto Jim’s shirt.

“Lightning never strikes the same place twice.”

The words had just left his lips when the lightning actually did hit in the same place again, and then again. It kept coming. He could feel Pam breathing hard and saw Jon clutching onto the table in shock.

“It’s okay, Pam, it’s okay.”

All of a sudden, everything went silent. The lightening had hit in the same place 36 times, Jim had counted. Pam turned her head from his chest and looked outside.

“Is it over?” Jim slowly stood up. He let go of Pam walked to the window. He couldn’t see any damage, only smoke, but it was a few blocks away. He opened his phone and tried to turn it on. When nothing showed up on the screen, he checked his watch. It also wasn’t working. He made his way to Pam and put his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m going to go outside and see what happened. Stay here with Jon and don’t leave. I will be back soon.”

Pam nodded her head hugged him.

“Be safe.”

Jim kissed her forehead and replied, “Don’t worry. Everything’s okay.”

Jim started making his way to the smoke. As he was walking, he noticed that none of the cars were working. He saw mechanics trying to fix one near Serendipity. Everywhere Jim looked the power was out. When he got to the smoke, he saw a crowd of people standing around a big hole in the earth. Policemen were telling them to stand back. Jim knelt down and looked into the whole. It seemed to go on forever. He reached for a piece of the concrete expecting it to be scolding hot, but instead, it was freezing.
The ground started to rumble. The police started debating on what could be causing it. There was nothing down there, not a subway station or anything. Then, the ground started to crack. Everybody started walking backwards as the crack kept growing. It went all the way to a shop when a window broke and people ran out screaming. Jim stood behind a car door. The ground kept shaking and buildings began falling down. A car flew up and onto the car next to where he was hiding. He bent down deeper when a strange, robotic figure jumped out of the ground. It had three legs and had something like suction cups as its feet. It was high in the air and started to fall onto of the car where Jim hid. He stood up and ran back and the large machine robot landed on it. He went and joined a group of people when the steeple of a church came crashing down. The ground in front of him went up and then fell into the earth. Jim didn’t know if he was dreaming or not when he heard a loud, deep, moaning sound and a gigantic tripod emerged from the hole. The odd jumping robot with three legs turned out to be one of the three legs of the tripod.

He felt his stomach turning in cartwheels and he turned to run back to Pam and Jon. He had to make sure they were alright. He didn’t know if anything similar was happening near them or not. He heard a zap and saw a laser shoot out and hit the man running next to him. The man just disappeared, but his clothes remained. His mind immediatly changed to Pam and Jon. Images of them being zapped made their way into his thoughts and he shook them away.

More zaps came and abolished the frantic people. He knew it was coming from the tripod. He ran into a shop thinking it would be safer, but the lasers shot in there too and killed those taking refuge there. He ran out and hid in an alleyway to catch his breath. He couldn’t ever remember being this scared. His heart was pounding and his stomach felt tight. He watched as people lost their lives. He was determined to make it back to Pam and Jon.

He kept running, listening to the desperate screams and cries. He finally made it back to the shop. Nothing looked damaged….yet. Jim knew how lucky he was to make it before the tripods demolished the buildings and took the lives of his girlfriend and brother. He saw Pam looking in the window and when he opened the door, he pulled her into a hug.

“We are leaving this city right away.”

“What? Jim, what happened out there! Are you okay? What’s going on?”

Jim heard the worry in Pam’s voice. He grabbed her hand and told Jon to stay close. He ran to the old van he saw the mechanics fixing earlier. “Please work,” he said to himself.

“Jim! What’s happening? Are we in trouble?” Pam asked again.

Every building surrounding them was catching on fire. They could still hear the cries of people losing their lives and the zaps of the tripods. He opened up the back of the van motioning for Pam to sit back there while he sat in the drivers’ seat. Jon sat on Jim's right. He said a silent, thankful prayer when the car started. He pressed the gas and drove the car through the city at full speed. Since all of the cars had mysteriously stopped working except for theirs, there was no traffic which made their escape easy. Jon still hadn’t spoken. He was always silent when he was scared. He only stared straight ahead.

Pam turned and looked out the back window when a tree caught on fire from the tripod that was nearing.

“Get down!” Jim ordered. She bent down in her seat and Jon followed.

“Jim, why won’t you answer me? What’s going on!?” Pam cried.

He finally made it out of Manhattan and onto the highway. People were running on the grassy area surrounding the highway trying to get escape New York as well. Jim dodged through the broken down cars on the highway. Jon finally spoke.

"Jim, really, what’s happening? Where are we going?”

“I’ll explain as soon as we’re safe. Do you remember where our cousin, Andrew, lives?”

“Yeah,”

“Here, then take the wheel and I tell you everything I know.”

Jim held onto the gas and Jon climbed over to the drivers’ seat. When Jim looked back at Pam, he saw she was breathing hard and had her hands wrapped around her stomach. He leaned in the backseat and held her chin up to his face. That’s when he noticed the tears falling from her eyes. She spoke in between sobs.

“Jim, what’s going on?”

“Here, hold my hand.”

Pam did so and Jim sat back up in the front seat.

“I think we’re under attack—”

“By who, terrorists?” Jon asked.

“No, more like by people from a completely different place."

"You mean like Europe?"

"No, Jon, not like Europe! God knows if they are even people.”

Pam squeezed Jim’s hand and he squeezed it back. She leaned forward so she could be closer to the front seat, and to Jim.

“The lighting we heard really did hit the same spot over and over. It made this huge hole in the ground. Then, everything started to shake. Cracks were being formed and buildings came crashing down everywhere. All of a sudden, the ground near the hole rose up and then fell straight into the earth. A tripod rose up from the opening. It started zapping people with this strange, green colored beam. When the people were zapped, they disappeared. I ran back just in time because the tripod was heading to your location next.”

Pam was holding onto Jim’s hand tighter now and Jon was gripping onto the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Everything was silent except for Pam’s occasional sobs.

***

It was dark by the time the car drove into a driveway of a big suburban house. Jim opened up the backseat car door to wake up Pam who had fallen asleep during the ride.

“Pam,” he whispered while tucking a stray curl behind her hair. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Jim. He helped her out of the car and they walked inside the house. Jon met Jim and Pam in the kitchen.

“I looked all around and Andrew isn’t here. His car isn’t in the garage either.”

Jim nodded his head.

“Are either of you hungry?”

Jon and Pam shook their heads.

“My stomach is too uneasy to even think about food,” Pam said.

“Same.”

“Let’s spend the night in the basement. It seems safer,” Jim said.

“Are the tripods coming here too?” Pam asked.

“I don’t know. I’m still not very sure of what’s going on.”

***

The three of them walked into the basement carrying blankets and pillows. Jon started making a bed on the floor under the stairs. Pam walked and sat down on the floor. Jim looked over at Pam and saw that she looked worried. He made his way to her and sat next on her left.

“Are you alright there, Beesly?”

“Jim…”

“Yeah?”

“Are we going to be okay?”

“Truthfully… I don’t know the answer to that, but I can tell you this. I’ll try my best to make sure nothing happens to you. I’m going to protect you. I love you so much.”

Jim pulled Pam into his arms and hugged her tightly. He could hear her crying again so he pulled her closer and ran a hand up and down her back.

“I love you too,” she said.

He kissed the top of her head and stood up. “

Where are you going?”

“Oh, I’m just going to drive back to New York and leave you here while I get zapped by tripods.”

Pam giggled at Jim’s joke and he smiled back at her. He went and got them both a blanket and pillows and sat on a chair. He pulled her onto his lap and put his hands on her stomach. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. He lay awake watching Pam. She looked so serene. He turned to look over at Jon who was in a deep slumber. Jim bent down to kiss Pam before he went to bed too.

He heard her quietly say, “I never want to lose you, Jim.”

He smiled and replied, “You'll never have to.”

He saw her smile before she fell asleep. He found himself doing the same. After he was asleep for quite some time, he felt somebody shaking him awake.

“Jim! Jim, wake up!” He slowly opened his eyes and saw Pam with worry in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” His question was answered when he looked out the window and saw a blue light. He heard rustling, and then suddenly, everything grew silent. He stood up and wrapped his arms around Pam. He could feel her heart pounding just as his was.Then, he heard the lightning again.

Pam screamed and Jon ran up beside them. A loud, high pitched whistling sound began.

“It’s happening again!” Jon said.

“No, no it’s different this time! It didn’t do that before!” Jim grabbed Pam’s hand and he took her to a closet on the far side of the basement. He ran back to get Jon who was standing in shock when the small basement window burst open and dirt came flying in.

Pam wanted to scream for Jim. Watching them run for their lives scared her. She didn’t know how she would handle things without him. She had to contain her screams, because she didn’t want whatever it was outside to hear them.

Jim and Jon ran into the closet and something burst into flames He closed the door on the fire and everything was dark. The wailing sounds outside could still be heard. Jim turned on a flashlight. Pam ran up to him and hugged him very tightly.

“Oh Jim…” He walked her over to a corner and sat her in between his legs. She leaned against his chest and clutched onto his shirt. He wrapped his jacket around her. Jon’s face was pale and he sat beside Jim and Pam. Their heavy breathing and pounding hearts were calming down.

“I’m scared,” Pam said.

“Shh, shh, shh, it’s okay. Don’t worry, we’re okay.” Jim replied. Jon just nodded his head and swallowed hard. He pulled his jacket tighter.

Everything grew quiet once again and the flashlight began to lose its light. In a few minutes, in spite of all of the terror they felt, everyone was asleep again.

The next morning, Jim was the first awake. Pam was in the same position that she was when she fell asleep that night. He stood up and tried not to wake Pam.

When he opened up the burnt door and heard:

“Hey babe.”

He felt his girlfriend gently turn him around and kiss him. He had to try not to smile. She spoke again.

“Thanks for last night…”

“What are you thanking me for?”

“Just for making me feel calm. I’m so lucky to have you.” She ran a finger down his chest and felt a shiver go down his spine.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay. I hated seeing you so scared.”

She smiled and hugged him.

“Come on, lets go outside,” he said and took her hand. They closed the door softly behind him and let Jon sleep. Jim felt his stomach rumble but he had to ignore it. He knew the tripods would be here soon and they would have to leave.

They looked around the basement. Walls were either down or burnt. They had to carefully step around rubble to make it to the stairs which were still standing. As they walked to what used to be the main floor of the house, they saw a propeller of an airplane still burning. All of the walls were down. They stepped around more rubble and they then saw the rest of the airplane split in half.

“I wonder if that airplane was the wailing we heard last night,” Pam asked.

“Probably—“

Jim was interrupted by a man rustling about in the aisles of the wrecked airplane. A woman came to retrieve the man.

“Excuse me, but do you have any clue what is going on?” Jim asked the woman.

“Come here, I can show you,” the woman said in her obvious Bostonian accent. Jim and Pam followed her to a news truck and opened the door. She turned on the TV in there and began to show them footage of New York. It showed the lightning striking in the same place over and over.

“I saw that! We were both there when that happened!” Jim said.

“Not like this. These tripods were obviously buried here in the ground, but who is driving the goddamn things?” She put the tape in slow motion and pointed to the lightning. As they looked closely, they saw something like a capsule in the lightning that made its way into the ground. Pam held Jim’s hand tighter and they looked at each other. The news reporter put the tape in fast forward now and pressed play when a tripod appeared on the screen. As the screen zoomed out, it showed around 20 tripods roaming around New York.

“Jim… you saw one of those?” Pam asked. Jim nodded his head and put his arm around Pam’s back. A chill ran up her spine.

“We called into L.A., Chicago, and Dallas. They were out. Then we called up to Paris, London, Rome, and Milan. They were out too. These tripods are everywhere. They must have killed thousands, maybe even millions already,” the woman explained. In the distance, they could hear a deep, moaning sound. Jim heard it earlier and recognized it immediately as one of the tripods.

“I’m getting out of here, and you should too,” the woman said and shut the news van’s door.

Pam looked at Jim. He saw the horror in her eyes.

“We have to find somewhere else to go,” Pam said. “We can’t stay here or else we will get killed too.”

“You go get Jon and I’ll start the car. And hurry!” Jim ran to the van, which was luckily not demolished, and Pam went to go wake up Jon. On Jon’s way out he noticed a gun lying amidst the rubble. When Pam wasn’t looking, he retrieved it thinking that it may come in handy later. In record time, they were back on the road again.

This time, Jim was driving this time and Jon was seated in the passenger seat. They needed to get back to Scranton. If the tripods were only attacking the major cities, then Scranton is defiantly out of target.

They had been driving for about an hour when Pam leaned up to the front seat. “Jim?” She looked uncomfortable.

“Yeah?”

“I have to pee.” They both let out a laugh and Jim pulled over his car. They opened the doors and stepped out of the car.

“Don’t let anybody see that we have a working car. They will fight us for it,” Jim said.

Pam put one hand on Jim’s shoulder and kissed his cheek. “That was for being such a great leader.” Jim blushed and Pam walked into the woods.

He owed all he knew about being a leader to Michael Scott. Just watch what he does and do the opposite.

Pam made her way out of sight of Jim and found herself in front of a river. She saw a dead body flowing in its currents. Then came another, then three more, and then around 30. She started breathing hard. She wanted to scream but nothing came out. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped. When she turned around, she saw it was only Jim. He watched as the bodies flowed down the river.

“Come on, let’s get away from here,” he said. He wrapped his arm around the shaken Pam and led her back to the car.

“Hey, Jon? Do you think you take over? I kind of want to sit in the back with Pam this time.”

“Sure,” Jon replied and winked at Jim. Jon took the wheel and Jim climbed in the back to join Pam.

***

Day began to change into night and Jim kept drifting in and out of sleep. When he first went into the backseat of the van, Pam turned from looking out the window to smile at Jim. She motioned him closer and she whispered in his ear.

“You know, last night whenever you were running, I couldn’t help but think you looked very manly … and very sexy, too.” Her hot breath in his ear made him want to grab her and kiss her passionately.

She rarely spoke like that, but when it did, it made his stomach flip. She giggled and he blushed. Jon turned back to face them.

“If you guys want to have sex, I could easily stop this car and let you go behind some trees or something,” he said. Jim and Pam turned red. They actually hadn’t had sex yet. Pam shyly told Jim at the beginning of their relationship that she really wanted to take things slow. Jim told her that he would wait until she was ready, but she would have to make the first move to let him know. Jim was thinking about this when he finally fell asleep.

***

“Jim? Jim, wake up now. JIM!”

Jim’s eyes jerked open. He peered out the car window and saw a crowd of people surrounding their car. They were all banging on the windows begging to get in. Jim turned to a now frightened Pam.

“I’m going to go have to go up to the front and drive. Stay brave.” Pam nodded her head and gave Jim’s hand one last squeeze. He took over the wheel.

“Put your seatbelts on!” he commanded and they all did so. One man banged his suitcase on the front window. Another big man jumped on the front of their car and held on, screaming to let them in.

“Get off the car!” Jim kept yelling at him. The man wouldn’t move, so he pressed the gas on full blast. The man flew off the car and landed in a puddle of water. One person got a rock and threw it at the front window. Pam screamed and held onto the seat of the car. Things got even more frightening when another man jumped on the front of the car. He grabbed onto the hole in the window and tried to extend it with his hands. Blood was spurting all over the window. Pam screamed again and closed her eyes at the sight. She was petrified. Another rock was thrown at Jim’s window, and then Pam’s. They shielded themselves and Pam continued screaming. More people were piling onto the car now.

“GET OFF!” Jim couldn’t see where he was going. He floored it again, but was unfortunate and ran into a power line pole. The doors to Jim and Jon’s side opened and people pulled them out. If only the van was new. It was so old that it didn’t even have auto lock doors. A man was now in the drivers’ seat. Pam was now screaming on the top of her lungs.

“Get out of the car, Pam!” he yelled back. As she leaned out of the window, a man leaned in and pushed her back in the car. She was crying now along with her constant screams. Somebody was climbing on top of the car which was causing it to shake. She was scared stiff. She got a look out of the window and saw Jim punching a man. The man got hit his head against the car and Jim fell down.

“JIM!” Pam cried out. She looked out the other window and saw Jon in a fist fight with a few other men. She watched as more people made their way into the car through the windows. Then, she heard a gunshot. Everything was silent.

She saw Jon was holding a gun.

“Everybody, back off!” She heard herself gasp when she saw another man holding a gun to Jon’s head. Jim was slowly standing up now and he saw what was happening.

“Drop the gun!” The man shouted Jon’s hand was shaking now.

“I just, I just want –” “DROP THE GUN!” Jon dropped the gun on the ground.

“I just want the girl,” he pleaded.

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” the man said and made his way into the car. Everybody who was in the car earlier had made their way out when it was shaking. One man bent down and picked up the gun that Jon had dropped. Jim opened the door and picked Pam up.

“It’s okay, I have you now, don’t worry, you’re with me and I love you,” Jim whispered to her while still holding her in his arms. Pam couldn’t respond because she was crying so hard. She held onto him with all her might. The three of them made their way into a diner Jon remembered passing earlier near the scene.

Jim, Pam, and Jon were still panic stricken when they took their seats in a booth at the diner; all huddled into one bench. Jim had on arm around a still shivering (more out of fright than of being cold) Pam and the other was rubbing his forehead. Jon’s arms were around his chest as he looked at the table in distress. The power was flickering on and off and a loud explosion sound caused the three of them to jump. They looked out of the window and saw that their van had run into a power line. Sparks were flying everywhere. Pam scooted closer to Jim and placed an arm around Jon so she could pull him closer. She looked up at Jim and saw a few tears trickle down his face.

“Jim…” she softly said. He kissed the top of her head before speaking. “I don’t know where to go from here. Now we don’t have a van. That was how we were going to get to Scranton… We can’t just walk there; it’s way too far. The tripods are getting closer and we are getting more and more in danger by the second.” Tears now escaped from Pam’s eyes as well.

“I think we should just try walking. Staying here isn’t going to do anything but put us more at a risk of being killed.”

*****

The rain was still falling as they walked in a crowd of around three hundred people. Jim had his arm around Pam as he tried to warm her up. She held him tightly in response. They were distraught and the conversations going on around them surely didn’t help that. They were mostly debates on who got it worse; Europe or America. Others didn’t care because they thought that in the end everyone would die no matter what. They finally made it to a ferry dock where the power was still on. There was a booth asking for blood donations and music similar to the kind in elevators was being played. Signs were posted everywhere of missing children and adults. She held on tighter to Jim when the thought of losing him crossed her mind. Her stomach was uneasy and her feet were killing her. All she wanted was to be home in Scranton and to be sharing a blanket with Jim as they sat in front of a movie or a warm fire. Crowds of desperate people pushed and shoved to get onto the ferry. Soldiers conducted people as to which way they should go.

“Jim!” a voice called. They all turned around and saw a woman around their age with a small daughter clutching her hand.

“Nicole?” he asked.

“Yeah!” she says and he pulls her into a hug. Jim began introducing Nicole to everyone but Pam was distracted by the way a group of seagulls were flying rather quickly away from the boat. She kept watching, thinking that it must mean something, and then she noticed that the trees were beginning to flatten in the distance. It began to get brighter.

“You guys, I think something’s going on,” she spoke up as she tugged on Jim’s hand. He turned to see what she was talking about and everyone else did the same. They then saw a tripod emerge from the distance. It made the piercing moaning noise it always made and put down each foot with a thud. The noise got the crowd’s attention and they all grew silent for a moment. Then, they began overrunning the soldiers and fighting their way onto the ferry. The captain noticed the commotion and began to prepare the ship for departure. He yelled that they were out of room for anyone else and that no more people were allowed on. By this time, three more tripods had emerged. They switched on their blinding lights and scanned the crowd of people. Jim stood right in front of a soldier and desperately fought to get him and the rest of his party on. They kept telling him that there was no more room.

“Grab onto my jacket!” he commanded to Nicole. She did so but then unexpectedly tripped. “Come on!” he yelled and pushed through so that he was on the boat. The switch was hit for the ramp to fold up. More people started urging onto the boat which caused Nicole to lose her grip on Jim’s jacket.

“Jim!” she called out. They ran faster as Nicole and her daughter fell farther behind. Jon tried to grab her but a soldier stopped Nicole short. She pleaded for him to let her through but he refused.

“Let us through, God dammit!” she screamed.

“There’s more room on the boat! There’s still room!” Jim yelled repeatedly. Nicole screamed once again and the boat pulled away from the dock. Pam gripped on to Jim and buried her head into his chest as she began to cry once again. He stared back at Nicole in despair. At that point, a large number of people climbed onto the ramp but many fell off and into the water. Jon sprang away from Jim and Pam and started to climb up the ramp.

“Jon, what are you doing?” Jim yelled.

“I have to help these people!” he called back as he pulled as many people as he could over the ramp and onto the ferry.

“Take my hand and hold on! Come on!” Jon ordered.

Suddenly, a whirlpool formed in the water by the ferry. The ship slowly began to turn to the hole formed by the whirlpool and started to be sucked in. The passengers rushed over to the railing to see what was happening but stared in horror as a tripod emerged from the water. Jon sprinted back to Pam and Jim as the tripods claws started to push the ferry to one side. It finally tipped over and everyone fell into the water. Cars that were on the ferry with them came crashing into the water as well and plummeted right towards them. One car pinned them against the front of it. The people that were sitting in that car were frantically screaming as the car filled up with water.

Finally, Jim was able to un-pin himself. He helped pull the others free. They were all holding onto each other as they swam up to the surface. By this time, the lack of oxygen was beginning to make their lungs feel as if they were on fire. They all swam over to an area of land that was fairly distant from the frightening scene. They fought for their breath and coughed because they had swallowed so much salt water. Jim helped pull Pam up the beach; she was so weak that it took too much effort to simply walk. By now, alert sirens could be heard from the city. They finally settled on the top of a hill that was surrounded by forest. Jim pulled an exhaused Pam into his lap and they all lied down. They watched in shock as the tripods reached down with their claws, picked up a person, and shot their laser-like thing at them. After they felt a little more energized, they slowly stood up and started walking through the woods, fully aware that the tripods were drawing closer. Clothes from the dead bodies began to fall from the sky like snow. They all picked up a coat to put over their wet bodies, trying to take their mind off of the fact that their clothes could’ve be falling from the sky as well.

It was now dark and rain had come and gone. The air was still cold. They had joined a large number of people that were walking in a rural area. Everyone had their head down; it was as if all of the happiness had left the world. They were holding onto their loved ones, trying to keep warm. Many of them sought comfort in others arms for they felt that the end was near. Various times, Pam had silently cried because this same thought had crossed her mind. She thought about everything she hadn’t experienced, such as get married and have kids , travel to Paris, England, and Rome, actually get somewhere with her art, and so on. As much as she hated to admit it, she was beginning to lose hope. She was also wondering why Jon was acting so strangely. She knew it had to be something else along with the thought that they have the chance of dying soon. He wasn’t taking place in the small conversations she and Jim were holding and he was walking fairly quicker than them.

Suddenly, they heard a huge explosion that was similar to gunfire and fire rose at the top of a hill.

“Jon, slow down!” Jim called. Jon’s pace quickened as Jim said this. He started heading towards the direction where the explosion was heard. “Jon, slow down,” he said a little more forcefully.

They continued to follow Jon and then saw huge army tanks driving up and down the hill. They were obviously what were causing the explosion noises.

“Jon, seriously, we have to stick together,” Pam said. By then, Jon was beginning to run faster and faster and was making his way up the hill and towards the tanks.

“Jon! What are you doing? JON!” Jim called as they tried to keep up with him. Many other people were either making their way up or down the hill.

Just then, a missile aimed right towards Jim and Pam’s head.

“Pam, watch out!” he yelled as they jumped to the ground. When it was gone, they stood up and went after Jon once again. “Get back here! Come on!” Pam yelled. He was then in a full scale run towards the truck. Jim and Pam were far behind him by now so he told her to wait for him at a tree. “I’m coming right back,” he promised before he took off after Jon. He kept calling after him gaining no response back.

When Jon made it to the tanks and attempted to get in, the soldiers threw him back. Jim grabbed him and held him against the ground.

“Why are you doing this?” he yelled over the loud explosions. “We can’t lose you! We have to stick together!”

“But I want to help these people! I want to put an end to these tripods and be a hero!” Jon yelled back.

“You will put your life in danger. If you died do you know what it would be like for mom?”

“How do you know mom is alive? She’s probably dead like everyone else will be unless we all try and help!”

“Don’t say that!”

“It’s the truth!”

“Just please, don’t do this, Jon! I love you!”

“But I need to be here! I need to see this!”

“No you don’t! It may seem like you do but you don’t!”

“Just let me go! Please!”

While this was going on, Pam is approached by a couple around her age.

“You need to get out of this area! It’s not safe!” The woman said.

“You can come with us,” the boy requested.

“No, I’m okay! My boyfriend and his brother are here and they’re coming back for me,” Pam explained. Their conversation went on like this and the couple refused to let Pam do anything but come with them. Pam started to get more forceful and would not move from the tree. Meanwhile, Jim still had Jon pushed to the ground and they are still arguing.

“I’m not letting you do this!” Jim yelled.

“Please!” Then, Jim head his name called and he turned to see Pam surrounded by the two strangers. He looked back and forth from them to Jon.

“Listen to me!”

“I know you’re my brother and you love me but this is what I want to do!”

Jim didn’t respond and they both stared at each other for what seemed like forever. He turned back to look at Pam who was starting to be dragged away by the couple. He finally let his grasp off of Jon and they both stood up. Jim figured that it was time to let him go. It was what he wanted and he couldn’t stop him from that. They stared at each other for a moment before Jon began running up the hill. Jim watched him until he was out of sight before he dashed back to Pam.

“It’s okay, she’s with me,” he explained to the couple.

“I’m so sorry! We thought she was alone, we only wanted to help! We—” The woman didn’t finish her sentence because the man started dragging her away. Jim pulled Pam into a tight hug.

“Jim, what happened? Where’s Jon?” she asked. They looked up at in the direction of the hill where Jon ran not but a few minutes earlier. They saw a flaming tank roll down the hill. Two more followed in suit. Then, there was an earsplitting explosion that practically knocked them on their feet. A gigantic fire rose right where Jon went out of sight.

“Jon!” Jim screamed.

“Oh, Jim,” she said softly. A tripod suddenly rose over the hill. They both watched, scared, stiff for a couple of seconds before he realized what was going on. “Come on!” he yelled and grabbed her hand. They began sprinting down the hill in a desperate attempt to get away from one of the things that was the cause of the demolishment of millions. She turned her head back for a split second and saw three other tripods. They made their way back to the road and ran, not sure of where they were going. After about 500 yards of running, they saw a man holding a gun out of the cellar of a house.

“Over here! Over here!” the old man bellowed.

“Hurry!” Pam yelled as the lasers coming from the tripods were bright enough for them to see. They ran into the basement where the man was. Jim and Pam rushed into the main room while the man closed the cellar door. They both settled on a couch, shivering and terrified out of their minds. They listened to the gunfire coming from outside. All was dark except for flickering lights coming from the explosions and lasers that shone through the cracks.

Jim and Pam sat on the worn couch in the basement, shaking with fear and overcome with shock.

“Is Jon … you know?” Pam asked softly. Jim shook his head and said, “I don’t know…” He started rubbing his temple and closed his eyes as a tear fell down his cheek.

“Come here,” she said as she pulled him close to her. “I think he will be alright. He’ll find us, I know he will.”

“But he was right where the tank exploded. And even if he did make it out alive, the tripods were right there. We hardly made it through so how could he?”

“Jim, don’t think that way. Everything’s going to turn out okay, I promise.” She gave him a gentle kiss on his now colorless cheek.

“God, I hope you’re right.”

She reached behind her and grabbed an old and tattered quilt that was hanging from the back of the couch. She draped it around both her and Jim. He was then shaking from both the cold and overwhelming fear. She whispered in his ear, “Don’t lose hope,” as a tear escaped from her eyes and fell down her face. Of course, he noticed and wanted to do anything to take those tears away. “You want to know a secret?” he asked as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Sure.”

“I really enjoy Shakespeare.”

“Seriously?” she said as a small smile crept onto her face.

“Actually, yeah. When we read it in high school, I really got into it and kept on with it. I read every one of his works and started memorizing passages. Name a book and I could recite a scene out of it from the top of my head.”

“Do you still know any now?” she asked as she nestled into his shoulder.

“Yeah.”

“Recite something to me.”

“These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.”

Soon, her eyes drew shut and she was sound asleep for the first time in two nights. When Jim noticed, he carefully laid her down on the couch and tucked the blanket around her. He leaned over her and couldn’t help but smile when he saw how peaceful she looked. “Good-night, good-night, parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good-night till it be morrow,” he whispered and placed a soft kiss on her lips before standing up to find the old man that has welcomed them into his house.

“Rick,” said the mysterious man.

“Excuse me?”

“My name’s Rick.”

“Oh, I’m Jim,” he replied as he sat on a small wooden stool next to him.

“I’m sorry about your brother.”

“I’m trying to keep hope,” Jim said as he thought back on what Pam had told him a few moments earlier. There was a long pause before Rick spoke.

“I lost all of my family. My wife and daughter.”

“I’m so sorry. That’s horrible.”

Another long pause.

“So is that your wife?” Rick asked.

“No, she’s just my girlfriend. We were taking a visit in New York City with my brother when this all happened. I was actually planning on proposing. I had a big romantic night planned out and everything, but I guess that idea isn’t going to work out.” He immediately asked himself why in the hell was he telling this to a man he had just met.

“Hold onto her while you can.”

There was silence once again.

“I think I’m going to get some sleep,” Jim told him as he stood up to walk back to Pam.

“You know those machines?” Rick said loudly. It caught Jim’s attention and he made his way back to the stool.

“The tripods?”

“Yeah. They buried them here before there was any means of civilization. They’ve been right under our feet this whole time. It’s been planned for millions of years. Think of it this way. They defeated the greatest nation on the planet in less than two days. They dominated us. They’re still comin’, too. This ain’t a war between worlds. It’s an extermination. ”

Jim stood back up and shook his head as he walked back over to Pam. He kneeled down next to her and placed a hand on her cheek. He could see the lines her tears made through the dirt and blood that was covering her face. One of her arms was hanging loosely over the couch. He took the limp hand and brought it to his mouth for a kiss. She was the reason he was still persevering to escape from the horror that was occurring. He wanted to protect her even if it meant losing his own life.

“You know, I’ve been around death. I’ve been around it plenty.” Rick said from where he was still sitting on the other side of the room. “I drove an ambulance back up in the Big Apple. I realized that the people that make it are the ones that keep thinkin’. Those that keep runnin’, they’re the ones that don’t survive. We can’t keep runnin’, Jim. It’ll kill ‘ya. And alls I know is that I’m dead set on livin’.”

Just then, the ground began shaking and a loud boom was heard. His heart jumped and Pam’s eyes winked open. “Jim?” she asked in a quiet voice. “It’s okay,” he reassured her. She slowly sat up blinked her eyes a few times to see what was going on. Then, a small piece of the corner collapsed to the ground due to the extreme vibrations.

“Go back to sleep,” he whispered to her. “And I want you to remember, I love you so much.” She smiled and leaned in to give him a little kiss before lying back down and falling asleep once again.

“Come ‘ere,” said Rick who was now holding a shotgun and was standing near a small, blocked off window. Jim gave Pam’s hand one last squeeze before walking over to him.

“We’ve gotta fight ‘em,” Rick continued.

“Wait, what?” Jim asked.

“They’ve gotta have a weakness. Look at this,” he said as he moved the wooden plank that was covering the window. They watched as two of the tripods sprayed out vine like strands out of the bottom of their machine. “They somehow found out how to kill a few in Asia . If they could do it, there’s no doubt we can.”

Jim looked at Rick with fear in his eyes and he hurried back to Pam. He picked her up and set her in a chair as her eyes instantly sprang open. “Jim, is something wrong?” she asked.

“Just stay right here,” he said as he hurried back to the insane man. “Why did you bring us here? I have a girlfriend and I fully intend on doing whatever it takes to keep her unharmed.”

“We have to fight ‘em together, Jim. We will come up from underground and take ‘em by surprise. Just like how they took us; by surprise. We’re right under their feet.”

Jim puts his hands over his face as he realized that he was in extreme danger staying with this psychotic man.  

 An hour or so had passed and Jim was still trembling with anger and fear.  Pam sat on the stairs with her knees up to her chest as she watched him pace back and forth.  Rick sat in a corner sharpening a knife. 

When Jim peeked outside, he saw a mysterious red plant growing wildly everywhere. It resembled veins. He ripped off a piece to examine but he couldn’t figure out what it was. He stepped away from the window when a beam of light filled the basement signaling that a tripod was standing right over them. Feeling more downhearted than ever, he walked back over to Pam where he saw Rick now sitting next to her. 

“You’re worried about your Jim, ain’t cha. How about if anything happens to him, you know, like he dies or somethin’, that I watch over ya’s.” Rick said as he placed his hand on her upper thigh. “He is not going to die, “ Pam replied through clenched teeth and tears. She shoved his hand away from her, stood up, and walked over to Jim who immediately pulled her into his arms. She was shaking. He glared at Rick and shook his head before saying, “I don’t want you to say anything to her or even come close to touching her. Am I making myself clear? If you have something to say, you say it to me.” 

“So this is your plan? Sittin’ here and not talkin’ to me? What exactly is your plan, Jim? Are you just going to wait here until they come get you?” 

“Shut up,” Pam said, her voice still tight.

Rick had no response. Instead, he stood up and started pacing the basement doing miscellaneous things. He began to ramble on and on about how the best thing was to take action against the tripods and how trying to hide and protect yourself was only going to kill you. Jim led Pam back to the couch where they sat and tried their best to calm down. All of a sudden, the sound of the robots outside came to a halt along with the rumbling that had been going on nonstop. 

“It stopped,” Jim said. 

“But who knows what will happen? Maybe they’ll turn you into their pet. Either way, you’re fate is lookin’ grim,” Rick continued.

“Just shut up and listen!” Jim yelled which caused Pam to tighten her grip on him. 

Suddenly, pieces of wood fell from the hole that formed earlier in the ceiling and what seemed to be like a tentacle of a robot came floating into the basement. It had an eye on the end that looked like a screen or a one-way mirror. It was metallic and as made a faint buzzing noise.  Pam and Jim ran behind the stairs and huddled together while Rick hid in a corner. The tentacle looked around the couch as if it knew they were hiding in there. A rat ran by which turned its attention away from looking for them. Pam looked up at Jim and the expression in her eyes was a mix of fear and a sign that she was getting ready to give up. He held her tighter, hoping that it would remind her that he was going to get them through this and that she should never, ever give up.  

As the tentacle continued to explore the wrecked basement, the terror in Jim, Pam, and continued to grow.  Rick reached for his axe to cut off the camera from its limb. Jim motioned for him to put it away and he finally did. When they were given the chance, Rick ran over to hide with Jim and Pam. He almost made it but he ended up hitting a cabinet, which created a loud thud to sound throughout the basement. The robot heard this and turned its attention towards their hiding place.  They ran to another hiding place and the robot’s tentacle neared them once again. Jim put up a large mirror in protection. At first, it examined itself in the mirror and then finally turned in the opposite direction. They all let out a sigh of relief. Then, Pam’s foot slid to where it was laying in eyesight of the tentacle, making a noise. The robot turned around and made it’s way towards the hiding place.  When it looked behind the mirror, the only thing left there was a shoe. The three of them were lucky to pull Pam’s foot out of her shoe and run to another hiding place in time. Sweat was trickling down their fear-stricken faces.

When the robot seemed to have given up, it finally exited out of the hole. They all let out a sigh of relief. For Jim, it was more than just relief.  For the first time since this nightmare had started, he saw that the invaders were capable of making mistakes.  For the first time, he began to feel hope.