CHAPTER 6: THE DESTRUCTION OF BUNNYBURROW AND HAYBRIDGE
I took Jack back up into the house and headed for the door that led into the garage. I grabbed the truck keys hanging on a hook by the garage, got in there and opened the big door. The Fighting-Machines were closing in – I could see that there were five of them. Now they were starting to draw closer, I could make out the details of each of them, seeing that Jack's description of them was correct, if not quite complete.
The only saving grace was that the size of the machines meant that they were moving quite slowly, which gave me the time I needed to get myself and Jack out of Bunnyburrow before it was in range of their Heat-Rays. I unlocked the driver's side door, hopped inside and started the truck up, unlocked the passenger door and waved to Jack, who came over.
"Get in," I said. Jack opened the door and climbed in. I drove out of the garage and off down the road, the pedal flat to the floor. As we sped away, my eyes occasionally moved toward the rear-view mirror, where I could see the Fighting-Machines as they lumbered towards Bunnyburrow from the Meadow. Even if they were moving slowly, their height surely gave their Heat-Rays a greater range, and while I was confident my family was safe and the rest of the town was evacuated, I didn't wish to experience for myself those terrible, otherworldly weapons.
We made it out onto the roads between the carrot farms. As I drove further away from my home, I could see the centre of Bunnyburrow, which contained the town's schools, the mayor's office, the sheriff's office, local shops and smaller homes for non-colony families. It was once filled with the many mammals of the town going about their daily business. Now, the town stood completely empty of any life.
We reached the outskirts, passing the sign that sat at the border of the town, cheerfully stating 'You are now leaving Bunnyburrow. Population: 792,618,372'. It was, of course, a joke sign, but even considering that, it had been switched off, its count frozen. I had no plans to stop and admire the sign, so I drove on.
Aside from occasionally flicking my eyes to the rear-view mirror, I didn't look back until I was sure we were far enough away. Half a mile outside Bunnyburrow's limits, I stopped the truck, got out and looked back.
From this distance, I could see the smoke rising from Horsell Meadow. The Fighting-Machines had already made it to Bunnyburrow. They were still, as if scanning to see if they could find their prey. The tall, gleaming tripods continued checking the town, not moving from the place they had planted themselves at.
And then the hills and homes of Bunnyburrow burst into flame. The Martians had fired their Heat-Rays, incinerating the place I once called home. I could do nothing but watch in horror. Surely, my family was safe, but I was still witness to that destruction. I had grown up there, and seeing it razed to the ground like this was one of the worst things I had witnessed.
"Is there enough gas to get us to Zootopia?" Jack asked me, breaking me from my horror-fuelled thoughts.
"I… I can at least get us to Hareford, I think," I remarked. We got back into the truck. I started it up and drove off down the road, my rear-view mirror clouded by the smoke rising from the ruins of Bunnyburrow.
"What's going to happen now?" I wondered, though I wasn't sure if I even wanted to hear the answer.
"A ground assault failed to take down their Fighting-Machines," Jack replied. "They'll probably send air support next… if the Martians don't already have something they can use against them. We should get as far away as we can before that happens."
"Do you think that there's any chance they'll be able to take the Martians down?" I asked.
Jack chose not to answer, which definitely didn't help the feeling of foreboding that had taken hold of me. In truth, the Martian Fighting-Machines had taken down an entire ground assault force without so much as a scratch. Surely these things couldn't actually be invincible? Something had to work on them.
We got to Haybridge, and decided to stop there first. The Fighting-Machines were a long way back, and were slow enough that we could catch our breath. I figured we had at least an hour.
Haybridge was a small town with a river that ran through the middle of it down to the south coast. The mammals there were carrying on as they usually did, unconcerned with the incoming death that awaited them, perhaps thinking that it wouldn't come for them. I considered warning them, but I didn't like the thought that I might be dragged off in a straightjacket like a loon.
Jack had made contact with his superiors back in Zootopia, through a satellite phone he borrowed from local law enforcement. He had told them that he had survived the destruction of Bunnyburrow, and needed to report to his superiors. As he had guessed, air support was already on its way, with the military already having witnessed the Martian Fighting-Machines through a live feed from Horsell Meadow.
Within half an hour of Jack's call, the sound of jet engines reached our ears. Looking up, I saw them: five fighter jets, each armed with six missiles and a machine gun. They soared overhead, making for the Fighting-Machines. We could see the Fighting-Machines a distance away. If I had to guess, they were about five miles out, their Heat-Rays not yet in range to destroy Haybridge. At this distance, and with the luxury of being able to observe even if just for a bit, I could make out some of the details a bit better. I realised that their Heat-Ray weapons were underslung to the head of the machine – surely that meant that they would have a hard time aiming it at a moving target coming from a higher altitude. The palms of the claws at the end of their tentacles each had a green light in them, the purpose of which wasn't clear to me at the time.
The deafening roar of jet engines echoed through the air as the planes circled the approaching Fighting-Machines, and I hoped that they could take the Martians out before they made it to Haybridge.
The five planes kept in formation as each one loosed a missile aimed for the lead Fighting-Machine. Within seconds, the missiles struck, engulfing the titan in a cloud of flame and smoke. Its legs collapsed inward, and as the smoke cleared, I could see that the missiles had struck true, blowing apart its body. What remained tumbled to the ground with a loud crash.
The jets made another pass. The remaining Fighting-Machines stopped still, their feet planted firmly in the ground. Five more volleys of missiles made for the remaining titans, this time aimed at all four of them. They exploded against their targets, and I hoped that this would be the end of it.
Fate must have been mocking mammalkind that day, because when the smoke cleared, the Fighting-Machines remained intact. In fact, it looked like not one of them had taken any damage from the barrage.
"They had some sort of force field they used to protect against our assault," Jack reminded me. "But I hoped that it couldn't…"
The sound of something unscrewing reached my ears, and I looked towards the Fighting-Machines. The claws of each were gripping the Heat-Ray weapons like a rifle as they came loose from underneath them. The Heat-Ray weapon could be unmounted from the main body, which meant that the Fighting Machines could also get around the limitation of their weapons only being able to aim low.
As the jets flew around to make another pass, the Fighting-Machines leaned backwards, aiming the Heat-Rays right at them. They unleashed the terrible weapons upon the jets, melting them almost instantly. Five burning hulks crashed into the ground, and as they did, a strange noise came from the Fighting-Machines – a sort of exaltation, like a war cry.
UUUULLLLAAAAAAAAA!
The Fighting-Machines replaced their Heat-Rays back to their underslung positions and started through the destruction they had caused, once again heading in our direction. The mammals of Haybridge, who were watching the skirmish with interest, maybe even hope, had already started to flee the town in panic, fearing that the Heat-Ray would be turned upon them next.
"We have to leave," Jack said. "Now!"
There really was nothing more that could have been done, I thought. I hopped back inside the truck, and tried to start it. The engine stalled, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't get it started.
"Leave it, let's go!" Jack urged. I tried again, and I got the same result. Finally, I had to concede that the truck was dead. I leaped from the seat and set out on foot, hoping to find another way to quickly get to Zootopia. As we followed the crowd fleeing from the approaching Fighting-Machines, I was buffeted by much larger mammals, and I got separated from Jack. The crowds became a stampede as the Martian titans reached Haybridge. I couldn't even see where the crowd was carrying me. I fought my way through, using my small size to squeeze through some of the gaps. I managed to find a small spot out of the stampede, and my attention turned back to the approaching Martians.
Something launched from the tubes mounted beside the Fighting-Machines' Heat-Rays, soaring through the air with a trail of black smoke. It struck the ground, the trailing fumes rising up towards the sky. From the palms of their claws, the Fighting-Machines sprayed steam, turning the smoke into a thick, black dust that spread through Haybridge. The panic of the mammals trying to flee exploded, making it much harder to separate myself from them. Some of the mammals who weren't fast enough, or hadn't been able to get clear of the area, were caught by the black smoke. I couldn't hear or see the victims of it, but I later learned that the Martians' black smoke was highly toxic, basically strangling its victims to death, slowly and painfully.
Eventually, I managed to untangle myself from the stampeding mammals, and I found myself at the banks of the river that divided Haybridge. The Fighting-Machines stomped onwards, aiming their Heat-Rays low, setting Haybridge alight, flames roaring as they leapt from house to house. I dived into the river, thinking that I could escape the fire there. I swam up to the surface, breathing in the smoky air. I swam towards the far bank, my feet soon touching the riverbed underfoot. I waded through the shallows, turning as the Fighting-Machines reached the opposite bank. The one nearest aimed its Heat-Ray low, and fired, turning the water into steam, which washed over me in a cloud of agonizing, scalding heat. If I could have screamed, I would have, but all I could manage was to stumble ashore, and collapse into a heap on the banks. My vision blurred, and I felt the strength leave me. The ground underneath shook with each step the Fighting-Machine took, and I thought that, for a moment, its foot would squash me, putting an end to the agony. I closed my eyes, waiting for death.
A loud impact forced my eyes open, and I saw, just a metre away from me, the Fighting-Machine's foot. It took me a moment to come to terms with it: by some miracle, I had escaped. The Fighting-Machine stopped, shooting its black smoke into the houses of east Haybridge, assumedly at the mammals still fleeing. Across the river, I saw that two of the remaining three Fighting-Machines had stopped in their tracks, while the remaining giant had headed backwards, possibly to retrieve the remains of its destroyed comrade. I knew I had to get out of there. Half-blinded, and in incredible pain, I stumbled to my feet and staggered away from the Martian titans.
The Fighting-Machines once again cried out.
UUUULLLLAAAAAAAAA! UUUULLLLAAAAAAAAA!
I later learned that the third cylinder landed north of the ruins of Haybridge. The Fighting-Machine in east Haybridge remained there, while its comrades moved towards the vessel's location, assumedly to oversee the construction of more of their vehicles of conquest. And I stumbled onward, hoping to find a place to rest, heal… and eventually continue on to Zootopia.