Meanwhile, somewhere in northern London
Under the rubble of the few houses that had been damaged and destroyed by the Martians in their advance into London, three other fairies and a mouse carefully picked their way over and underneath the remains of what had been the homes and workplaces of the humans in this city. Now, however, they were just shells of their former selves, and what ruined shells they were. Some were burning; others were just half destroyed, having been damaged when the foot of a Martian tripod had crashed down onto it. The streets were filled with overturned and destroyed cars and horse carriages. A few gas lamps also littered the road and even in some parts of the cobbled road, there were holes, some caused by smashes from the legs of the Martian tripods, others caused by the tripods' heat rays. London really was turning into a warzone, though, for the moment, the buildings and much of what was left of the city was being spared from the destruction, though only time would tell whether the Martians would keep it that way or whether they would decide to level the city.
"Careful, Cheese,"
In the remains of a small shop, which had been destroyed when one of the legs of a Martian tripod crashed through the roof, Fawn and Tinkerbell were helping Cheese climb over a few wooden beams which had been broken in several places, leaving splinters sticking out of the wooden beam. Cheese carefully picked his way across them, hoping that he would not get his paw stuck in one of them because if he did, it would not heal quickly and it would slow the group down. Although abandoning him would be beyond their minds, and it would something they would never do, they would start to consider it, even though they would regret doing so.
Finally, Cheese managed to jump across the last part of the wooden beam and climbed down onto the charred carpet of the shop. Whilst Fawn congratulated him, Tinkerbell turned to look towards a large hole in the window.
"Hey Bobble, is it clear?" she called.
"It's clear, Tinkerbell." his voice came back.
Bobble had gone ahead to check the streets and make sure that there were no Martians walking about. For now, there were not, but as he looked up and saw it was getting dark, he did think it was best not to risk their chances. The night was, no doubt, the worst time for a fairy because their bodies would light up a gold colour because of the pixie dust on them and in pitch blackness, if a Martian tripod saw them, they would have to leg it to safety or a nearby hiding spot quickly.
"We best hurry, girls, and mouse," he warned. "It's getting dark and it's best we're not out here at night."
"Alright, we're coming." Fawn replied and a few seconds later, the two girls and the mouse came over to him. Tinkerbell looked out into the street, gazing at the houses and the destroyed vehicles and such scattered about in the streets.
"Where are we gonna stay for the night?" Fawn asked.
"Hang on," Tinkerbell told her, looking at the houses.
Even though they were small, what they needed to be fully safe was a cellar. Whilst a house was more ideal, it would be too dangerous if any Martians came through the area. In the cellar they could spend the night down there and they would be safe, maybe not completely, but it would at least be better than staying on another floor if, again, the Martians came through the area.
It was then Tinkerbell saw a small flight of stairs next to a tree lead down into the ground in front of a house. The top of a window was just visible on the wall next to the flight of stairs. No doubt that led to a cellar. Her eyes lit up.
"Alright, guys, I've found the place!" she said to the others.
"Where?" Bobble and Fawn asked her in unison and Tinkerbell replied by pointing over to the house with the flight of stairs in front of the house on the other side of the street.
"The basement under that house over there," she said. "It's the perfect place."
"Are you sure it's going to safe?" Bobble asked her uneasily.
"Not really," Tinkerbell told him. "But it's better than staying on another floor of anywhere else here. C'mon, we better get over there,"
She flew across the road, though keeping close to the ground, as going to high would probably attract the attention of any nearby Martian tripods, to the other side. Fawn and Bobble followed with Cheese scurrying along below them.
However, when they reached the tree, Fawn looked at the bottom of the tree and her eyes went wide. All over it was a kind of red vine that was quickly growing up the side of it at an incredible speed. She hovered over to it, not taking her eyes off the red vines. Never before had she seen something like this, or anything that grows so fast.
Behind her, Tinkerbell, Bobble and Cheese were looking down the flight of stairs towards the partially broken window at the bottom. A small hole was in the bottom left corner but what was on the other side was shielded by a small curtain.
"Tinkerbell, are you sure this is a good idea?" Bobble asked her.
"There's nowhere else that can be any safe, Bobble," she replied. "Plus, you said it yourself, we can stay out at night in case we draw the Martians to us and we do need to rest,"
Bobble sighed. "I just don't feel a hundred percent about this," he muttered.
"You don't have to be," Tinkerbell told him. She looked behind them. "Where's Fawn?" she asked.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
The two looked up at the sound of the scream and saw their friend hovering in front of a tree, though she looked like she was struggling to get away from it, but something was holding her in place. The two flew over to her, Cheese scurrying after them.
"What's wrong?" Bobble asked, but both he and Tinkerbell went wide-eyed when they saw the red weed growing up the side of the tree, already now stretching onto the branches like an all-conquering army taking over the world.
"Help me!" Fawn cried.
The two looked at her arm and saw the red weed growing up her arm and was wrapping itself around it. Tinkerbell and Bobble grabbed her and pulled as hard as they could to break her free of the vine, but this thing seemed to have incredible strength. They pulled harder, but it did not work.
"We can get you free," Bobble said as the weed began to grow up her elbow.
"Well do something!" Fawn cried in a panicked voice. "Try and split it or something!"
"Good idea!" Tinkerbell said. "Bobble, help me grab Cheese,"
"Got it,"
The two fairies flew down to the mouse and picked him up and, with all their strength, lifted him up into the air. It was hard because Cheese was heavy, but they managed to keep hold of him. Slowly, they lifted him up to the weed.
"Cheese, bite away at the vines," Tinkerbell said in a struggling voice.
Cheese began to knaw away at the vines. Gradually, the growth of the vines up Fawns' arms slowed to a halt, just stopping half-way up the upper part of her arm. Then, they snapped and the vines suddenly turned a ghostly grey colour and broke away from Fawn, falling to the ground below. Fawn flew away from the tree, helping Tinkerbell and Bobble set Cheese back onto the ground.
"Thank, guys," she said.
"Don't…mention it," Bobble groaned, rubbing his arms.
"What is this stuff?" Tinkerbell asked, picking up a piece of the red wine, which was about the size of her head.
"I've never seen anything like that before," Bobble said.
"Me neither," Fawn replied.
"Where d'you think it's coming from?" Tinkerbell asked as she ran her finger down the side of the weed, causing it to snap and break away even more into dust.
Just as she finished speaking, a loud fog horn blew away in the distance. The three fairies gasped and looked in the direction of the noise. Cheese squeaked nervously and hide behind them.
"My guess, the Martians," Tinkerbell said.
"And I doubt Rosetta or anyone else would know how to stop this," Fawn piped up.
Another fog horn sounded in the distance. "I think we better get inside," Bobble said.
"Good idea," Tinkerbell replied. "C'mon,"
The three flew over to the stairs, Cheese scurrying after them and picked him up and flew down to the windowsill, setting Cheese down on the edge. He jumped through the hole, which was just slightly bigger than he was and the fairies followed. They pushed aside the curtain.
The cellar was a large square shaped room with four wooden pillars placed in a square shape in the middle of the cellar. A flight of stairs descended down from the floor above to the cellar. Along the walls were boxes and cases filled with a variety of Human objects such as toys, books, old cutlery and china, Large inventions with two wheels called bicycles and piles of old clothes and shoes. A small old moth eaten chair was placed behind a small wooden beam wall built two of the wooden pillars. A moth eaten blanket was on the cushion, probably having been dumped there and forgotten about by the house owners. Across part of the floor was a small puddle of water. Dangling down from the wooden board ceiling above it was a pipe that had fallen out of place. Water was dripping out of it.
"Not really the Hollow," Tinkerbell said. "But It'll have to do,"
The three fairies flew into the cellar. Cheese jumped down onto a box and then onto the floor and scurried over to the puddle and began to lick up the water. The three fairies flew up to the pipe and held up their hands. The water dripped into them and they greedily drank the water, quenching their thirst that they had had for most of the day, and went back in for more.
"Oh, thank goodness we found this," Bobble breathed in a relieved sigh as he drank another drop of water.
"Yeah, I thought we would never find any after what happened on the river earlier on," Fawn replied.
After a few moments, they withdrew from the pipes, their thirst quenched. Tinkerbell flew over to the chair and sat down on the cushion of it.
"It's comfy," she said, pulling the blanket over them. "And it's warm." She added in a satisfied tone.
Fawn and Bobble joined her. "Wow, it is warm." Bobble said.
A squeaking noise from below drew the three over to the edge of the cushion and they saw Cheese was looking up at them. He tried to jump up the side of the chair and grab hold of it with his paws, but he fell down.
"Aww!" Fawn said. "C'mon, let's help him up here," and she, Tinkerbell and Bobble lifted him up onto the chair. Cheese scurried over to the blanket and got underneath it and curled into a ball, snuggling into the cushion, a small smile on his face. The others chuckled.
"You can tell he's happy!" Bobble said.
"Well, he's easily made happy," Tinkerbell replied.
She placed a hand to her stomach as it began to growl, realising that they had barely eaten since being in St Angel when … Her thoughts briefly drifted to Lizzy and the others, but she supressed them. I hope the are okay, and I have to be strong for the others.
"I'm gonna go search the kitchen for any food," she told them. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Alright," Fawn and Bobble replied in unison as they walked over to Cheese and began to rub his nose, which he enjoyed.
Tinkerbell flew off up the stairs and through a small trapdoor that open just enough for her to squeeze through into a long corridor with the entrance to the house behind her, a flight of wooden stairs to her left that led upstairs and a small room at the end which led to a kitchen. Tinkerbell flew down the corridor, passing pictures of the family that owned the house, to a small rectangular shaped room at the end. A table and about four chairs were placed in the middle of the kitchen with a sink and a few cupboards along the left wall. A small packet of plain biscuits and a few pieces of bread were scattered across the sideboard on the top of the cupboard. Tinkerbell flew over to the sideboards and broke off a few pieces from one of the biscuits and, balancing them carefully one on top of the other, flew back into the corridor towards the trap door. When she reached it, she hovered to the floor, placed the pieces of biscuits on the floor, moved under the trapdoor and picked up the pile of biscuits.
BOOM! "AAAAAHHHH!"
The whole house seemed to shake violently. Tinkerbell was thrown onto the step below her, the bits of biscuits falling around her and onto the steps below. Below her Fawn and Bobble were heard talking in response to the shaking. Squeaking followed.
"Tinkerbell!" Fawn's voice called up from below. "You okay?"
Tinkerbell groaned as she lifted her head up from the step floor. "I'm … okay," she said.
"Come down here, quick!" Bobble called.
Groaning, Tinkerbell got up and flew down to the cellar. Over by the window, she saw Bobble looking out of the window. Fawn was on the cushion, her hand placed on Cheese's nose to calm him as he was hiding underneath the blanket, shaking with fear over the sudden shaking of the house.
"Don't worry, Cheese," Fawn said calmly. "We'll be okay,"
Tinkerbell flew over to the window, setting down next to Bobble. "What is it?" she asked.
"Take a look," Bobble whispered to her, moving himself and part of the curtain aside. Tinkerbell looked out and gasped, her eyes going wide at the sight before her.
Standing above them on the street was a tripod. It was so close that Tinkerbell felt like it was a real creature, a real giant to her. In a way, it made her think of them to humans' size compared to the Martian tripods. They were as much as a giant to them as Humans were a giant to the fairies, though the only humans they had come across had not been trying to kill them.
"Oh my," Tinkerbell gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth.
"I hope it doesn't see us," Bobble said, looking out from behind the curtain at the tripod.
The two watched as the tripod lowered down slightly, though, thankfully, its head was looking down towards the road. Two cylindrical vents were sticking out of the bottom and they hissed loudly, puffing out a maroon coloured cloud of some kind. One of the tentacles on the front of the enormous machine reached into the back of the main section through an opening just behind the dome. Tinkerbell and Bobble watched with a mixture of fear and curiousness. What was the tripod doing?
"Oi, lemme go, ya bastard!"
The two fairies watched as the tentacle re-emerged from the opening at the back of the main section, though this time it was holding a struggling man who looked to be in his twenties and was wearing soldier's uniform. The man grunted and struggled violently, but it was useless against the tripod. Its tentacles were probably built for such purposes, so a human was not going to do anything against it. The tentacle brought the man down onto the road, placing him out of view by the edge of the road. Another tentacle slowly hovered down towards the first.
"What's it doing?" Tinkerbell asked quietly as she lowered her hand from in front her mouth.
"I have no idea," Bobble replied, whispering.
A kind of thick sharp needle, about the size of a pillow though only it was not going to be soft and comfortable like one, appeared out of the end of the second tentacle. Tinkerbell's and Bobble's eyes went wide as they watched the second tentacle suddenly strike down towards the road next to the first. As it did, a kind of tearing sound filled the air, followed in unison by a strangled breath. Tinkerbell gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth again.
They heard a sucking sound and watched as a red liquid began to flow up the now transparent second tentacle towards the tripod. Even though Tinkerbell and Bobble, who were watching this with complete shock and disbelief, could not see exactly what was going on, they knew very well what happening and what that red liquid was.
It was blood. Human blood.
Tinkerbell moved back from the window, breathing deeply in shock. "They're eating them!" she gasped quietly. "A-And … they … they're gonna … eating us too!" she repeated, though this time her voice was louder.
"Ssshh!" Bobble hissed at her as he threw his hand over her mouth. "Tinkerbell, you have to be quiet!"
She must have been overwhelmed with shock because she did not hear him and her voice began to go hysterical. Her eyes went wide and she appeared to be on the verge of breaking down.
"They're eating us! They're eating us!"
"Tinkerbell, be quiet!"
"They're eating us! They're eating us!"
"Tinkerbell, you've got to be quiet!" Fawn said, flying over to her.
Suddenly, a mechanical noise came from outside and Tinkerbell promptly went quiet. The three, along with Cheese, looked over towards the window. As they did, they saw the window side of the curtains glow a light neon green colour. Their eyes went wide. The tripod was looking in!
"Quick, get down!" Bobble hissed, pulling the two over towards the chair.
They flew over towards it and hid underneath the blanket, pulling it almost over them completely, but leaving a small gap big enough for them to look out. As they did, something big descended down from behind the curtain, the outline of it just visible behind the cloth draping. The fairies and Cheese looked at it with fear in their eyes. They watched as the front of the object seemed to open up and it moved forward into the cellar, pushing open the window and past the curtain cloth, giving the fairies and Cheese a clear view of the object.
The object was a large oval shape with two small triangle pieces sticking off the sides. A kind of glass ball had been placed in the object and lights turned on at the front of the triangle pieces. The entire object was attached to a kind of large thick wire that was completely silver, the object also the same colour, that went outside through the window and went into a curve that went up in a kind of diagonal manner like a serpent when it curves its body. A soft humming/droning sound was emanating from the object. It was a kind of mechanical eye with what it was looking at reflecting off the front of the clear glass on the front.
"Oh no!" Fawn gasped, placing a hand over her mouth as her eyes went wide with fear.
"Quick, get down!" Bobble whispered, moving them under the blanket, pulling Cheese under with them. The eye moved forward into the cellar and looked around left and right, its lights scanning everything in front of it.
As it approached the wooden wall, Bobble, who poked his head out slightly from under the blanket, saw it coming and went wide-eyed. There was no doubt that it would try and look underneath the blanket to see if there was anything there and if it saw them, then they were all dead.
"We have to move," Bobble whispered to Fawn, Tinkerbell and Cheese.
"Where?" Tinkerbell asked him.
Bobble crawled over to the side of the blanket and looked out from underneath it across the room towards the right wall. There were a few boxes filled with toys placed on an old plastic table. Perfect places to hide, but they had to be quick and careful if they were going to go over to them. If this thing saw them, they were dead.
"Over there," Bobble whispered, pointing over towards the boxes. Fawn, Tinkerbell and Cheese crawled over and looked.
"I don't think it's such a good idea," Fawn said.
"We don't have much of a choice Fawn," Tinkerbell told her. "If we stay here, that'll thing will see us and we'll be dead,"
Suddenly, Cheese let out a quiet, but panicked squeak and nudged Fawn on the side and nodded his head towards the side of the chair. The three looked and almost gasped as the eye moved up over the top of the wooden wall next to the chair, much like a kind of monster rising up over a treeline or a hill, and moved towards the chair, its light shining on the blanket and the soft humming sound ringing in their ears. The eye turned to It's left slightly as it shined onto the blanket and moved forward towards the blanket, especially towards a small kind of bulge on the side of the blanket.
"Oh no!" Fawn breathed as the four retreated back under the blanket. "It's seen us!"
Tinkerbell's heart was racing like mad as if she was running a marathon. This thing had no doubt seen the bulge they had made in the blanket and was coming towards them to investigate. She looked around desperately for somewhere for them to hide but she knew it was hopeless. It was too late.
The eye moved in close towards the blanket, the glass front now just a few inches above the blanket. As it rose up to turn and look under the blanket, the surface of it hit the stairs. Teetering on the edge of one of the stairs was one of the pieces of biscuit Tinkerbell had collected. When the top of the mechanical eye scrapped it, the piece of biscuit fell down the stairs, tapping loudly.
The eye turned and moved over towards the bottom of the stairs to investigate the noise. Tinkerbell looked out when she had heard the soft humming noise suddenly grow quieter, though it was still quite loud, and saw the eye looking down towards the bottom of the stairs. Her heart leapt with relief. Now was their chance!
"C'mon!" she whispered to Bobble, Fawn and Cheese.
"What about that thing?" Bobble asked her.
"It's distracted. Now quick!" Tinkerbell replied. "I'll go first and give the signal,"
Tinkerbell moved over to the edge of the blanket and looked out at the eye once more to make sure it was not looking at the chair. It was. She breathed in deeply, trying to conceal her nervousness, and darted out from under the blanket towards the boxes placed on the plastic table placed along the right wall. When she reached it, she hid behind the side of one of the boxes and poked her head out, looking towards the chair, though keeping one eye on the mechanical eye.
After a second, she moved her hand towards herself to say "Okay, it's clear," and Fawn and Bobble looked out at the boxes.
"Go on, Fawn," Bobble said to her.
"No, you go, Bobble," she replied. "I have to help Cheese,"
"No, look, I'll do that. You just get yourself to safety, lass," he insisted.
"No, Bobble-" Fawn began.
"Guys!" Tinkerbell whispered and the two looked over across the room at her. "C'mon, we don't have much time,"
"Fawn, go, I promise you, me and Cheese will be okay," Bobble said to her.
Fawn wanted to reply, but stopped when she saw the serious look on his face. She sighed.
"Okay, Bobble," she said.
"Don't worry, we'll be okay," he reassured her.
Fawn gave him a small smile and looked over towards the boxes, where Tinkerbell was looking at the mechanical eye. Fawn, taking one quick look at the mechanical eye, breathed in deeply and darted towards the table. Tinkerbell grabbed her when she was close and pulled her behind the side of the box. That was two down, just two more to go.
"Alright, c'mon, Bobble," Tinkerbell whispered to him.
He nodded and looked under the blanket at Cheese, who was crouched down, shaking a little in fear.
"C'mon, Cheese," he whispered. Cheese was reluctant to move at first, but Bobble reassured him they would be okay and, slowly, he came out from under the blanket.
"Okay, Cheese. We need to get you down onto the floor and we'll head over to the table and we'll pick you up and put you in one of the boxes with us," Bobble said to him.
Cheese nodded, giving a small squeak as well, but looked nervously over at the mechanical eye. Bobble did the same, thinking of what would happen if the mechanical eye suddenly turned around and saw them. There was no question of what would happen.
"Alright, get ready, Cheese," Bobble whispered, moving towards the edge of the chair, Cheese following next to him. When they reached the edge and looked down, they realised again how far down the floor was.
"Alright, Cheese, I'll try and lower you down," Bobble said, drawing a wide-eyed look from Cheese, but he did not squeak a reply or anything like that, Even though it was crazy, both by the height and the fact that Cheese was a heavy mouse, but it was better than trying to make him jump down.
Cautiously, Cheese moved to the edge of the cushion clamped his paws down tightly into it. Bobble grabbed his tail and stepped towards the edge of the cushion as Cheese began to slowly lower himself down towards the floor, griping the side of the chair tightly.
Then, as Cheese went to grab another part of the cushion with his front paw, he lost his grip on his back paws. He squeaked loudly and Bobble grabbed him tightly with one hand and grabbed the side of the cushion with the other. His other arm felt like it was slowly being pulled out if its socket as Cheese was dangling about two feet, a few tens of metres to him, above the floor.
"Oh no!" Fawn mouthed, her eyes going wide and clasping her hands over her mouth.
Then, the mechanical eye turned and looked over towards the chair, the light shining on it. It began to move over towards the chair to investigate the squeaking noise. Bobble saw the approaching danger and his eyes went wide. If that thing saw him and Cheese, then they were all dead! His mind was racing! What was he to do now?
"Bobble! Wait there!" Tinkerbell said as she and Fawn went to fly over to them, but he shook his head madly. If they came over, the eye would see them and that would also mean certain death for them! Tinkerbell and Fawn watched with wide eyes. What were they to do?
"What do we do?" Fawn whispered to Tinkerbell.
Tinkerbell looked around for something to help them, but what would? They did not have anything on them to help bring Bobble and Cheese over to them. Oh, this was getting out of h-wait! Tinkerbell looked at the box next to her and an idea popped into her head. She dived into it and began riffling through what was inside. After a few seconds, she came out a holding a small plastic bead that had been part of an old doll's headband. She brought her arm back and threw the bead towards another of the boxes further down along the wall on the floor. The bead landed in an old plastic basket with a loud tapping sound.
The Martian mechanical eye, just mere inches from the edge of the cushion, looked over towards the boxes placed on the floor along the right wall and moved over towards them. Bobble breathed a sigh of relief and Tinkerbell and Fawn flew over and grabbed Cheese around the front paws. With Bobble holding his tail, the three flew the mouse over to the plastic table and set him down. Cheese scurried off behind the box Tinkerbell had jumped into to find the bead, the three fairies following him.
"Thank you, you two," he said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Don't mention it," Fawn replied. "You okay Cheese?" she asked, rubbing the mouse's nose and he nodded and licked her hand, his way of saying thanks for saving him and Bobble.
Tinkerbell fluttered to the end of the box and poked her head out from behind it, looking at the mechanical eye, which was looking down into one of the boxes, its light on the front of it shining down into the box to reveal what was inside. However, instead of looking at the one box, it was moving along toward the table looking at the other boxes. In a few moments, it would be looking on the box they were hiding behind.
Tinkerbell flew back to the others. "It's searching the boxes," she whispered. "It'll be here in a minute,"
"Then where do we go?" Bobble asked.
Tinkerbell looked around, trying to find somewhere for them to hide. The chair was not an option for it would be a certain death sentence if they tried to fly across the room to it carrying Cheese. The box was no good either because the eye was looking into them. Oh, where were they to go?
Then, a light came down onto the table. Tinkerbell's eyes went wide and she and the others threw themselves against the side of the box. A few inches above them was the mechanical eye and it was looking onto the box, looking through the items within it. Tinkerbell and Fawn looked at each other with wide-eyes, both mentally praying that they would not be spotted by the eye.
Bobble was looking ahead with his eyes as wide as dinner plates, shaking with fear. Then, he felt something grab his hand and he looked down to see Fawn with her hand in his, clutching it tightly. She too was shaking a little and she gave him a worried look. Bobble wanted to reassure her, but he did not know what would happen.
Then, after about ten to fifteen heart beating seconds, the mechanical eye began to move away from the box. Tinkerbell looked out from behind the box and watched it move off towards the other side of the room. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"We're safe," she said to the others, breathing a sigh of relief.
The others sighed in relief. "Thank the Hollow," Fawn said.
"Yes, that was a close call," Bobble replied.
It was then Tinkerbell noticed something about her. "Uh, guys…your hands,"
The two looked down at their hands, realising that they were still holding them, and quickly let go, blushing slightly.
"Sorry," Bobble said to Fawn.
"Same here," she replied. Tinkerbell smiled a little and looked out at the mechanical eye, which was looking down at another box filled with old toys and books.
As Bobble slipped down to the floor, he failed to notice Cheeses' tail on the table below him.
Cheese squeaked loudly in pain as Bobble sat on his tail. Bobble, Fawn and Tinkerbell jumped, falling over.
"Sorry, Cheese," Bobble said to him.
As Tinkerbell got up, she looked up at the eye and went wide-eyed.
"Guys, It's coming back!" she warned.
Their eyes went wide. Oh no, and because of Cheese's squeaking, it was sure to look behind the box to see what had made the noise. They were dead!
The mechanical eye came close to the box, rising up slightly as the lights on the front shined onto it, searching for whatever had made that squeaking noise. When it was just above the top of the box, it suddenly decided to move to the side and, shooting forward and turning, it looked down onto the table behind the box, the lights revealing it.
There was nothing there. It was empty. The mechanical eye looked up and down the table to see if whatever had made the noise was in the darkness, but saw nothing. Slowly, the eye retreated and moved back towards the window. When it reached it, the front of the eye closed and the lights turned off, the triangle pieces sliding back into the main round section. Slowly, the tentacle section of the eye rose up away from the window and disappeared from sight.
When it was gone, four figures rose up from underneath the plastic table.
"That was close," Tinkerbell said, placing her back against the side of the box.
"Yeah, it was," Fawn replied. "I thought we were goners then,"
"Let's just hope they go away now and we can get some sl-" Bobble was saying when…
SMASH! The four jumped and looked over toward the window to see a cloud of glass fly from it to the floor. Then, a group of large figures ambled into the cellar. The four went wide-eyed when they saw these creatures. They were silver dragons with scales that went along to the back of their heads like silver fire, dark green saliva was dripping from their mouths and they walked on both their legs and arms. Their black colourless eyes scanned the room as they entered it, taking in what was around them.
Tinkerbell backed away further behind the box. "Oh my," she said.
Fawn, Bobble and Cheese backed away behind the box as well, fear gripping them as the silver dragons began to amble into the room.
"Quick, into the box!" Tinkerbell said.
"Are you crazy, Tinkerbell?" Bobble replied.
"No, but I'm trying to save us from being killed, now c'mon!" she told him.
They jumped into the box and pulled Cheese in with them. Luckily, the Martians had been grunting and growling to one another, so the noise of their jingling was covered. The four buried themselves under the amount of stuff in the box, trying to be as quietly as possible so as not to alert the Martians to their presence. As they did, Tinkerbell looked up through a small hole in the wall of the box ahead of her and watched as one of the Martians walked over to the pipe with the water dripping down onto the floor. When it reached the pipe, its arms and legs splashing into the pool of water, which drew the attention of the other Martians, it rose up on its back legs and clamped its mouth around the pipe and began to drink the water dripping out of the pipe, gulping loudly. Another of the Martians came over and grunted at the one drinking the water, probably wanting him to move. The first Martian growled at the other and the second Martian backed away, a glare on its face.
Another of the Martians walked over to the boxes and began to search through them. The first box it reached was the one the fairies and Cheese were hiding in. The box shook wildly as the Martian ran its hand through it, pushing and tossing things in it about. Tinkerbell, who was hiding near the right end of the box underneath an old teddy bear, looked over towards Fawn, who was hiding under an old child's book on top of another book, looked back at her with wide, worry filled eyes and looked to be on the verge of tears. Bobble, who was hiding under another old teddy bear next to her, placed a hand over her mouth and silently urged her to remain calm.
Then, the book she was sitting on rose up as the sharp clawed hand of the Martian grabbed the side of it, just millimetres from Fawn's leg. Fawn slid down to the bottom of the box and Bobble grabbed her and pulled under the teddy bear he was hiding under and held her close to him. A few moments later, the Martian let go of the book, making it thud loudly as it hit the bottom of the box, and ambled off to the other side of the room to search the other boxes. Tinkerbell saw Fawn breathe a sigh of relief.
A crunching sound caught her attention and Tinkerbell looked through a small hole in the side of the box, a little further down from where she was, and saw one of the Martians on the bottom step of the stairs that led up to the trap door, holding itself up with one arm placed on the step, holding something in its hand. A loud crunch and a sound of what Tinkerbell theorised was the Martian's teeth clicking together came. It was trying the biscuits. The Martin gave a satisfied grunt and moved up the steps, picking up another piece and ate that one as well. It was only when it was on the third thing it was eating that Tinkerbell saw the Martian more clearly through the gaps between the stairs, watching green saliva drip from its lips, the teeth clicking together noisily. It was akin to the ticking of a clock and the noise a person makes when they slam their tongue from the roof of their mouths to the space behind their teeth. She shuddered internally, momentarily wondering if that would be her or her friends if the Martians found them.
On the other side of the cellar, another of the Martians was investigating the bicycle that was placed against the wall with its wheels facing towards the stairs. It spun the top wheel of the bicycle, fascinated by the clicking-like sound it was making, and reached up and gave the bike a small push.
CLANK! The bicycle came undone from whatever it was that was holding it to the wall and fell towards the Martian, who moved out of the way. It growled and pushed the bicycle away from it and the bicycle fell to the floor with another clank. Another Martian a few feet down from that one was searching through a box and took out a picture of a young adult Human woman on it. The Martian looked at the photo and passed it to the Martian that had knocked the bicycle off the wall, who took it in its clawed hands and looked over it with its black colourless eyes. Another crunch came from the stairs and Tinkerbell looked to see the Martian continuing to nourish itself with another biscuit piece in its hand. Even though the eyes of the creature were black and colourless, it was not hard to tell it was pleasured by this new food.
Suddenly, a blast of air from outside shook the cellar, making the boxes, the chair and even the stairs shake. It was the horn of the Martian tripod outside. The Martians began to amble over towards the window, the Martian on the stairs grabbing the last two pieces of biscuit first before following its friends out. They ambled out of the cellar, climbed up the stairs and disappeared from sight.
After about ten seconds, Tinkerbell, cautiously, rose up from within the box and looked around to make sure the Martians were gone. They were.
"Okay, It's clear," she said to the others, who climbed out of the box onto the table.
"Boy, that was close," Bobble said, letting go of Fawn, who nodded in agreement.
"I'll just go check and see if the tripod's going," Tinkerbell said and she flew over to the now smashed open window and looked up into the street to see the tripod begin to lumber away, the footfalls of It's enormous metallic legs shaking the cellar with every step, but within a few minutes it had faded away.
"They're gone," Tinkerbell said, turning to the others.
"Good," Fawn said. "I think we all should all get some sleep,"
"Not a bad idea," Bobble said, stifling a yawn and floating down to Cheese, who was sitting on the edge of the table. "C'mon, Cheese, let's go to bed,"
He, Fawn and Tinkerbell carried the field mouse over to the chair, collapsing onto it when they reached it and crawled over to the back of the cushion, pulling the blanket over them. Cheese, Bobble and Fawn fell asleep instantly but Tinkerbell lay on her side, staring ahead at the side of the chair as if she was looking directly at the window. Would the Martians come back? She doubted it, but what if they did? They would not have a chance at escaping then. Tinkerbell was thinking of staying up to keep a look out, but her body was telling her that she needed rest.
Finally, she obeyed her body and let sleep overtake her.