This chapter title is in the book like the other ones were, but it is called The Artilleryman. In the book like the others includes At the Window and What I Saw of the Destruction of Weybridge and Shepperton. My story is not going to include Waybridge or Shepperton so don't worry if you don't know about them. Sorry I didn't update sooner. My computer was broken.

I past a McDonalds and went inside for a rest.Inside it seemed empty except for a woman behind the counter reading todays newspaper. She was about to throw it away but I asked for it before she did. "Why aren't you at home?" she asked.

"Because I'm staying with my uncle but I lost my way." I flipped through the newspaper and looked for an article about the Reginites. There was a sentence which said, A meteorite landed on the highway and cut out all communication. That was it.

"I found a map on page 10. Maby that will help." I turned to page 10 and sure enough, there was a weather map. It's suppose to be clear for the next nine days! I thought. "In fact, I could drive you there after my shift," she added.

"Thanks." I found a piece of paper in my pocket and put against the scale. It was about fifty miles to his house. I put the piece of paper in my pocket.

"Where is his house?" she asked. I pointed at the map. She took the map and put it in her pocket. "Alright. Would you like something to eat?''

"Sure. Thank you," I read her name tag, "Debra."

"I have to make it a hamburger since it is 10:30."

"That's okay." Debra brought out a hamburger, a soda, and fries.I reached out for a drink but saw it didn't have a lid. I set it at the edge of the table and went to get one. "Have you heard about the meteor?'' I asked looking for the lids.

"They're over there," she said pointing. I walked over there and saw the lids. "And yes, I have. They say strange creatures came out with some death ray."

"Heat ray." I corrected.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I saw it. It burned everything the light touched. Trees burned, people lay as dry as a desert. I returned last night with my nonbelieving uncle and we saw a giant three-legged machine. The tripod looked a little like a spider. And the thing had the heat ray."

"You know a lot about them."

"And I'm sure there is more." I went back to my table and put the lid on my cup and took a drink. I set it back down and began to eat. Than the cup fell off the table. It rolled under the table and I went under it to fetch it while Debra picked up the spill. A leg of a tripod suddenly smashed through the ceiling. A tentacule came down and picked up Debra. It through her up, higher than the tripod itself. While she was in the air, the heat ray shot her in midair and her charred body came falling. The body landed right in front of me and shattered everywhere. I was frozen with fear, waiting for it to get me. It didn't. Since I was under the table and they were high up, they could only see the table.

It began walking again and I could see it through the glass door. I waited untill it was out of site to come out. I grabbed my hamburger and ran to the kitchen to get some water bottles which I stuck in my pockets (I have big pockets, big enough for a book in real life). I left the building. Then I stopped cross-eyed and dropped my hamburger. I was looking at the barrel of a gun pointed right between my eyes. The gun lowered, allowing me to see the person holding it. It was a man in an army uniform. The man had long hair, a stern look on his face, and a utility belt. "What are you doing here, kid?" he asked.

"I'm trying to get away form the tripods." He looked around.

"The only tripod left. There shouldn't be another." A meteor went over us and hit the top off McDonalds and made the building fall. We walk towards it and it looked exactly like the first one. Then we ran. But I stopped. I looked at the destroyed McDonalds and took the paper out of my pocket. I ran to Debra's remains and wrote on the paper. I put the note on the ground. The note said, "R.I.P., Dreba."

"Hurry up kid. we got to go now!" the man said. I ran to him and we ran away from the meteor. When we were a good distance from the meteor, I broke the ice by talking.

"How did you get separated from the others?" He looked at me.

"How do you know I did?"

"Because you still wearing your uniform without any other army man around."

"Once we heard of what happened at I-20, we got prepared to battle. We got everything we could; cannons, guns, even bazookas. But we were still beat. All the artillery I brought was destroyed. So were the people. Luckly for me, people died falling on me so they couldn't see me." I knew it must be true because he had blood on his face and shirt. "So what happened to you?"

I told him the story and by the time we finished we stopped in front of a tipped over building. It looked like a brick layed on dirt but the building was more beat up. There were people hanging out of windows and from under the building. "That was our military building," he said. "Let's take a look inside."

He ran forward and crawled in the nearest window. I hesitated but followed. Inside, I found more gore. People inside were smashed under there sliding desks it seemed like. Some people's heads were smashed into the wall like thrown watermeleons. That made me sick. "There is a lounge up here," he said pointing to up.

We climbed the walls and made it to the lounge. There were vending machines, cabinets, and refridgerators but they were tipped over. They were very plentiful in food. We grabbed some and started to leave.

We found a city the next day. The weird thing was it was inhabbited with people like my city was. We went into a ten story building and asked for somewhere to sleep. "I have plenty of room for you at my house," a man said. He led us to his house. It was a nice, clean two story house with a basement. "I would stay, but I have to go back to work." The man left.

I found out that here they still had electricity. Good old electricity. And a working T.V.! I miss television. I turned on the T.V. and layed on the couch. Then I fell asleep.

I woke up to a bright light outside the window. The Artilleryman grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the basement. Down in the basement, we could her people screaming. Part of the ceiling fell in and we could see what was happening outside. The heat ray was shooting outside. It hit a person right next to the hole and the body fell in, black as coal. The tripods finally left about an hour later.

We stepped out of the basement and saw that the first floor was unchanged. We went upstairs and were shocked. The entire floor was burned off except for a wall with a melted window. We looked out to the surrounding buildings. They were either the same or completely destroyed. Nothing seemed to be living. "We better leave," the Artilleryman said. I nodded and followed him out of the building.

We walked around the townfor any sign of life. We didn't see anything. Then something caught my eye. The tipped over trash can we were pashing twitched. I turned and slowly and catiously walked towards it. The Artilleryman saw me and wondered until he saw it quiver. He pulled out his pistol and followed. We approached the trash can and suddenly knocked it down. Inside the trash can was a little girl, about five years old. She was wearing a pink dress, a matching backpack, and a blindfold. She was crying and cirled in a ball on the ground. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Who's there? Leave me alone!" she yelled. I untied her blindfold, which was a hard knot to untie, with her screaming and kicking. She saw I was a kid, too, and stopped. Then she saw the Artilleryman. He put away his gun and kneeled down.

"Are you okay?" I asked again. She nodded.

"What happened?" she asked.

We, the Artileryman and I, glanced at each other. "Bad people came by," the Artilleryman answered.

"This morning, mommy and daddy came and got my backpack and filled it with things and put this over my eyes," she said, raising the blindfold.

"Did they tell you why?" I asked.

"Daddy said we were playing a game of follow the leader blind. Where are they?" she looked around and saw a charred body. She screamed.

"I guess we know why," the Artilleryman. "I think you need to come with us."

"Not without my parents."

"There is no one here but us," I said.

"Not without my parents."

She stood up and a note fell from an open pocket on her backpack. I read it. "I think you should come with us to Kansas."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because this note said if they lost you to go to Kansas. They left a address."

"How do I know your not lying?" I handed her the letter. "I can't read."

I looked at the Arilleryman and he looked back as we mentally thought of what to do. The girl turned the note over and saw drawings. "When do we leave?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" the Artilleryman asked. "You said you wern't going to leave without your parents permission."

"If they leave me a note, it's in pictures. And pictures are on the back."

"So your coming?" the Artilleryman asked. She nodded. "Let's go to Kansas." That evening we got to a city that was still standing. But not for long. It semmed once we got there, it was attacked. We ran from the tripods. I wrote tripod with an (s) because there were three of them. I picked up the girl and we ran into a crowd and got seperated from the Artilleyman. If he lived or not, I don't know. All I knew was it was me and the girl in the middle of danger. Than I had an idea. Go where heat can't beat, I thought. I ran into a river. Some people saw me and did the same. Unfortunately, so did the tripods. They aimed for us and fired the heat ray.

"Hold your breath," I yelled. The girl did and I dived under the water. I could hear muffled screams of victims who didn't follow and met death. The girl tugged on my shirt and I relized she was out of breath. I swam to the surface of the boiling water. We took a great breath and the girl screamed. I think half was because the hot water and the other reason was because of the medium-rare bodies around. Then a little row-boat came flowing down the stream. Inside we found two crispy people and I tipped the boat to get them out. I put the girl in and then crawled in my self. We rested as our boat led us safely away from the tripods.