My favorite book is "The war of the worlds" by H.G.Wells and I first experienced his story through Steven Spielberg's "War of the worlds" from 2005 with Tom Cruise in the role as Ray Ferrier. When I saw the film I wanted to rewrite the story and put the scene to my own country Norway.
So here goes: My first attempt as a Fan-Fictionist.
Chapter 1. Approaching clouds. Sinister lightning.
No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own, that as men busied themselves about
their various concerns, they observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinise the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite
complacency men went to and fro about the globe confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded our
planet with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
The amazing thunderstorm had made the curious citizens of Norway's capital Oslo, leave their dinner tables and wander out in the street. The electrical turbulence, the strong
wind and the dark clouds in the sky made their skin crawl. The electricity had went out as the first lightning stroke the ground. The storm was announced on the radio as bizarre
and unexplainable as there were no cold fronts to mix with the warm fronts hovering about the great capital and making it a perfect august day. The moving clouds had a great
speed as it started to enter the centre of Oslo. At a distance, the lighting striking the ground and the water in the Oslo fjord, looked like fireworks, but there was something odd
about it. The sound was so monotonous, the strikes made a crackling sound as it went from the dark clouds and hit the ground making no thunder. The water in the fjord did not
boil and go foamy. It barely moved. The clouds were blocking out the sun and covered the city in dimmed sunlight. The people at Aker Brygge, Oslo's famous peer where
people went to drink beer in the hot sun and eating shrimps bought from the fishermen who'd anchor themselves to the peers, had left their meals and went inside the restaurants
and the mall close by. "Hun, take a look at this!" Fredrik and his wife was in Oslo on a business trip for a law firm from a big island in the north of Norway called TromsЬ. His
wife Lena came over to him by the window "Auch!" Fredrik turned around and was looking for his wife in the room "Hun! Are you all right?" He whispered as if someone was
watching them on a hidden camera "Yeah, I am.. I just hit my knee in this freakin' table" She was standing by her husband, holding his arm as they were looking out the window
from Norway's tallest building Hotel Plaza. The mirror looking exterior of the building reflected the final sunbeams but still their room was in pitch black. "Oh, it's that freakin'
storm I read about on the internet right before my computer died" Lena said squeezing her husband's arm. "Should we go outside and watch it a bit closer? I should've brought
my binoculars. I didn't know we would have such a great view from here" Fredrik said to his wife, releasing her grip. "No, let's stay here. I don't like this felling I've got. Like
we're gonna fall down!" She sat down on the bed again and found her book about law ethics. "Well, would you mind me going outside hun? I wanted to buy something tasty, I
saw a snack bar on the corner. I think I'll buy a calzone" He looked at her wife with puppy eyes. She looked up at him from her book and sighed "Oh please, that look worked
once 25 years ago!" She laughed and continued reading the chapter. "But no, I don't mind. Just bring me one with ham! And no spinach like last time. I don't fancy grass!"
Fredrik closed the door behind him and put the card key in his pocket and started walking down the stairs as the elevator had stopped running for some reason. He'd never think
that walking down the stairs would be exhausting. He reached the lobby and was panting, a piccolo smiled at him as he passed. Fredrik imagined how his face must've looked
like a boiled lobster after all those steps. His new year's resolution had failed, he wanted to lose some weight and get a better physical form. But no changes yet. At the desk he
asked the portiere to borrow a phone to make a call, but the portiere said the phone was dead a long with the rest of the city. "The whole city!?" Fredrik cried out, now panting
again. He went outside and the weather had changed drastically since he came to the city. Now the rain had started to pour down. He took his sweater over his head and ran
under the awning jutting out from the walls of the buildings. He ran and ran until he reached a dryer place. "Freakin' weather" he was mumbling to himself. Finally he reached the
snack bar entering it and greeted the Pakistani owner. The snack bar had a strong smell of spices and meat, Fredrik was reading the menu and decided to go for the bacon and
ham calzone and asked for one one with ham and extra cheese for Lena. The owner said they were out of ham. Fredrik cursed and bought one with just cheese and a coke. It
took about ten minutes because the owner had to find a key to manually open the register and give Fredrik his change. Out in the streets again the rain had stopped and he was
relieved and looked up in the sky noticing there were two clouds now melting together into one big cloud. He became curious and walked deeper into the centre of the city
feeling guilty because his wife was in their dark hotel room reading a book. But he thought he could find a nice place to eat a late dinner at a fancy restaurant. He walked around
a corner of a brown brick building and found himself outside "Oslo City" a famous mall in Oslo. He didn't want to go in because it looked closed and abandoned, so he continued
towards the train station and now he was standing in the famous street of Karl Johan. Karl Johan was king in Norway and Sweden during the union of the two countries until his
death in 1818. The street was famous for it's trend shops, cafИs, restaurants and the Grand Hotel where the famous people stay during their visit.
He went up a small hill in the street and was now looking along the street and his eyes met a big yellowish building which was the castle where the king and the queen of Norway
lived. The clouds had gathered above the castle, hovering and the wind coming from the storm made the trees bend. Fredrik stopped as he came closer to the trees and the
castle. He was watching the trees and made a faint sound, the trees were blowing against the storm. He didn't have a feeling of being sucked into it and never come out, it was
just like a normal wind with an abnormal source. He didn't realize it until now, but the street was filled with people trying to figure out their digital cameras which didn't work and
shopping bags in the other hand talking together and pointing and discussing whether or not the king and queen had been evacuated in case of a lightning hitting the castle
damaging it. Fredrik went closer and he could now get a glimpse of the bronze statue of Karl Johan on his horse. People were still gathering in front of the castle but Fredrik
stayed at a safe distance watching the sinister castle and its' surroundings grow more and more eerie as the clouds thickened. The people stopped talking as the wind suddenly
ceased and the clouds stopped moving. It was dead quiet. A big flash of light came flashing out from the cloud and a lightning leapt from the clouds and hit the castle right on top
making pieces of concrete fly everywhere. One hit, two hit, up to fourteen hits in a row made the crowd scream in terror and scatter into the streets and alleys, hiding behind
buildings shivering and looking at the partly damaged castle. Fredrik followed a group of teenagers behind a kiosk and was now panting again peeking out from the corner.
"What the hell was that!" cried a teenager, his girlfriend was on the ground crying and shaking. "It must be some sort of electric storm, a lot stronger than the regular ones. Maybe
like the ones in a tornado" Fredrik said. The cries of man and women came from the streets making an echo, some had gathered their nerves and was now approaching the castle
again. Carefully Fredrik followed the crowd towards the castle, the pieces of concrete were scattered all around the castle's plaza, they looked scorched and hot. Fredrik
stopped in front of a piece and bend down to pick it up, he soon let go of it as it hurt his palm. A teenage girl asked him if he was O.K. and he said "Yeah, It didn't hurt. I was
just amazed, it was freezing cold!" as he tried to pick it up again. "Feel it" Fredrik said giving it to the girl "Wow, amazing! What is this? A piece of the cloud?" "No, it's a piece of
the castle" he replied and looked at the castle amazed. "It looks like the clouds are breaking up" the girl said as she left him and went up to the statue of Karl Johan. "It sure is"
Fredrik said to himself. He looked at the statue which had been struck by a piece of concrete, the head was missing. "A shame!" he thought, as Karl Johan was a well respected
and a famous king during the Norwegian-Swedish union.
The sun was once again warming the Norwegians as they were gathering in groups and discussed the occurrence.
Fredrik stood by himself as he didn't know anyone among the hundreds of people. He was trying to find out where the king's head had gone, and he saw some teenagers playing
around with it, he started to run towards them shouting "Hey! Leave that head alone! You vandals!" he didn't get far before his knees were shaking making him stop and fall, not
because of his bad physic but the entire ground was shaking and making people fall on their knees and on their backs. People started screaming again even louder. His heart was
beating franticly and he started to see stars, but he gathered himself quickly and supported himself on a lamp post. The glass in the lamp post broke and fell down all over
Fredrik. He was looking around himself and saw people trying to stand, some were running and then a big crunching sound drew Fredrik's attention towards the castle which
were breaking apart and big pieces were falling down on to the plaza crushing several people close to the castle. The big concrete pieces falling made an incredible look, not like
a building being demolished but like a little girl's dollhouse being crushed by an envious brother. The castle was now separated into two big units making a space between them,
and the units were tipping over. Suddenly in an instant the units were swallowed and crushed in an enormous hole in the ground. The hole was 40 meters in diameter, covering the
entire castle and about 7 meters deep. Everything was covered in dust and the ground stopped shaking. Fredrik navigated through the dust clouds covering the plaza and went
towards the big hole along with about seventy other people. They gathered around the hole talking together. More people gathered around the hole curious about the castle's
fate.
"This is odd" a guy said "I'm scared!" a woman cried out. Fredrik was trying to look into the hole but the dust was still floating around and all he could se was the wreckage of the
castle, completely in ruins at the bottom of the hole. "I think the lighting made an earth slide beneath the castle making the ground run out into the fjord! I read about this during
my geology studies at the university!" an older man said looking into the hole. "Did you feel that?" the crowd gasped. The earth had started to move again, like a beating heart. A
humming sound came from underground along with the rapid beating and there was another earthquake.
Okey! This was my first attempt so I'd like to hear your comments on this one :)