14: War of the Worlds

Ethan had warned the others to keep an eye on the tripod that was on the far shore of the estuary but he watched the ting from time to time. It seems that Ethan's hunch about the weed was right, there were traces of the crimson horror but this close to the coast it definitely did not thrive.
The ever increasing throng of people wanting to escape by sea was becoming an impediment and the trainees were running out of places to go.
"Maybe we should try and get on a ship?" Dust asked.
"No," Firestar said, "I have read the book, the ships will get blown out of the water because there are machines in or under the water. There's no escape that way."
Ethan took a glance at the machine prowling far away on the other bank.
Machine singular.
Didn't these things come in three-packs?
As the thought occurred to Ethan the faint sounds of screaming could be heard in the distance ahead of them, followed by the roars of tripod machines. In seconds the crowd was a surging terrified crush of people stampeding towards them. The mass of bodies hit them like a wave washing through and past them, it took moments for them to be swept apart carried along by the rushing throng.
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Sorry, I missed this the response to the thread as it disappeared of the list onto the next page