For three days I fought my way along roads packed with refugees, the homeless, burdened with boxes and bundles containing their valuables. All that was a value to me was in London, by the time i reached their little red-brick house, Carrie and her father were gone.
The summer sun is fading
As the year grows old
And darker days are drawing near.
The winter winds will be much colder
Now you’re not here.
I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky
And one by one they disappear.
I wish that I was flying with them
Now you’re not here.
Like the sun through the trees you came to love me
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away.
Through autumns golden gown we used to kick our way
You always loved this time of year.
Those fallen leaves lay undisturbed now
Cause you’re not here.
Cause you’re not here.
Cause you’re not here.
Fire suddenly leapt from house to house, the population panicked and ran and I was swept along with them, aimless and lost without Carrie. Finally I headed eastward for the ocean and my only hope for survival — a boat out of England.
Like the sun through the trees you came to love me.
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away.
A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes.
As if to hide a lonely tear.
My life will be forever autumn
Cause you’re not here.
Cause you’re not here.
Cause you’re not here.
As I hastened through Covent Garden, Blackfriars and Billingsgate, more and more people joined the painful exodus. Sad, weary women, their children stumbling and streaked with tears, their men bitter and angry, the rich rubbing shoulders with beggars and outcasts. Dogs snarled and whined, the horses’ bits were covered with foam… and here and there were wounded soldiers, as helpless as the rest.
We saw tripods wading up the Thames, cutting through bridges as though they were paper — Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Bridge… One appeared above Big Ben.
ULLA!!
Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of human beings moved and suffered together. This was no disciplined march — it was a stampede — without order and without a goal, six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilization, of the massacre of mankind. A vast crowd buffeted me towards the already packed steamer. I looked up enviously at those safely on board — straight into the eyes of my beloved Carrie! At sight of me she began to fight her way along the packed deck to the gangplank. At that very moment it was raised, and I caught a last glimpse of her despairing face as the crowd swept me away from her.
Like the sun through the trees you came to love me
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away.
Through autumn’s golden gown we used to kick our way
You always loved this time of year
Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now
Cause you’re not here
Cause you’re not here
Cause you’re not here
ULLA!!
The steamer began to move slowly away — but on the landward horizon
appeared the silhouette of a Fighting Machine. Another came, and another, striding over
hills and trees, plunging far out to sea and blocking the exit of the steamer. Between
them lay the silent, grey Ironclad ‘Thunder Child’. Slowly it moved towards shore; then,
with a deafening roar and whoosh of spray, it swung about and drove at full speed
towards the waiting Martians.
