Meanwhile, further towards central London
Central London had been the hardest hit area of the Martian attack on the capital. Although most buildings were still standing, few were undamaged. Apparently, there was battle between two groups of British soldiers and a tripod. Judging by the devastation, the tripod must have blasted at the buildings either to prevent them from going into them, or the soldiers had already taken cover in them and the Martians decided to destroy the buildings anyway. Either way, it had most likely won. It must have been planting red weed when it was attacked because there was a large isolated pocket of the alien plant growing in a small park at the end of the road of where the battle took place.
In one of the streets, a large group of survivors walked. Among them were Mr and Mrs Perkins and Lizzy. They had been quiet for most of the journey, partly because the crowd had been told not to make any noise in case any nearby Martians heard them. In Lizzy's coat pockets were the fairies, Rosetta, Iridessa and Clank in one and Silvermist, Vidia and Terence in the other. Vidia had been quiet for most of the morning. When they were on the move, she had apologized to Rosetta for what had happened last night. Rosetta also apologized and the two hoped to put it behind them, but it still lingered in their minds. Would another argument like last night happen again in the group? Hopefully not, but with the way things were now, it probably could.
As the group walked down to the end of the road, one of the officers, at the front of the crowd, looked at the layer of red over the greenery in the park.
"Bloody Hell!" he muttered, aghast with what he was seeing. "I can't believe they're doing that as well."
"And I thought they were just invading to kill us all," the soldier walking net to him replied. "They're replacing the nature and everything. It's literally a war for our country."
"Or our world." the officer muttered under his breath.
As the officer reached the end of the road, he suddenly stopped and pushed the soldier back behind the wall of the building, whipping out his revolver pistol.
"Everyone, stop!" he ordered. The rest of the crowd did so.
"What goin' on, sir?" a soldier asked.
"I saw movement in the road to our left," the officer replied. "Soldiers up 'ere!" he ordered.
About twenty soldiers and three other officers ran over to the first officer, who stepped down towards the corner, but suddenly stopped when he saw the shadow of someone on the pavement in front of him from around the other side of the corner.
"Alright, whoever it is that's there, come out slowly!" he barked, raising his weapon. The other soldiers and officer did the same.
The crowd moved over to the wall of the buildings the soldiers and officer were hiding behind.
"What if It's another tripod?" Lizzy asked worryingly.
"Don't worry, Lizzy," Mrs Perkins reassured her. "We'll be okay," though she sounded uncertain herself if they would be okay.
Iridessa looked out from the coat pocket of Lizzy's coat and saw everyone throw themselves against the walls of the buildings, anxious looks on their faces.
"What's going on, Iridessa?" Rosetta asked from the pocket.
"There's something up ahead," she told her.
"Oh no!" Silvermist said from the other pocket. "It's a tripod!" she said worryingly.
Terence and Vidia, who stuck their heads out from the pocket as well, gave each other worried looks.
"We're dead!" Vidia whimpered, slowly descending back into the pocket.
"Don't worry." Terence reassured her, though he too was uncertain and worried. "We'll be okay."
At the head of the crowd, the officer aimed his pistol at the corner as the shadow began to move closer to it. When the whole of the shadow was revealed, the officer clutched his weapon tighter.
"Come out from behind the corner, slowly!" the officer barked.
The soldiers and officer aimed their weapons at the corner as well, waiting tensely for who was to come out from behind the corner.
Then, the figure emerged from behind the corner. He was a man dressed in a suit, or what had been a suit as the colour of the black top and trousers was faded as well as the red tie on the front of the top. He too looked tired and his hair looked faded. Dark rings circled his eyes. When he saw the soldiers and officers with their guns raised at him, he raised his arms in panic.
"No, don't shoot!" he exclaimed.
The officer lowered his weapon. "Are you on your own?" the officer asked.
"No,. another voice said and another officer, who was elderly, about in his late fifties, with grey hair that looked greyer than normal, a tattered and faded uniform and a face that showed the clear signs of exhaustion and illness.
The officer with the crowd sighed in relief and turned to everyone else. "It's alright, we're safe," he called. Everyone moved away from the walls. As they did, another group of about forty people came around the corner.
"We're glad we found ya," the officer said to the officer leading the crowd. "Thought we were on our own,"
"Same 'ere," the other officer replied.
Further towards the centre of the crowd, Mr and Mrs Perkins and Lizzy watched as the new group of people began to join their crowd.
"Thank God, it's just other people," Mr Perkins said.
"Yes, I thought we would be attacked then," Mrs Perkins replied.
The fairies looked out of Lizzy's coat pockets at the new group of people.
"Just another crowd," Silvermist said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"D'you think there are more people in the city?" Terence asked.
"Maybe," Vidia replied. "I just hope there's not a lot of Martians here with us," she added.
As the two groups joined, Lizzy looked at the faces of them all with sorrow. They were all tired and worried, some looked ill as well. It was horrible to think that they, like her and everyone in the crowd she was part of, had been driven out of their homes and turned instantly into the refugees. She sighed, knowing that there were probably many other children that were separated from their parents and probably even their brothers and sisters, not even knowing if they would see them again.
"Lizzy!"
Lizzy looked up to see a woman running towards her. She had short brown hair that cascaded down the top of her back, green eyes and a pretty face with a small nose and soft cheeks. She was wearing a black kind of dress with small black slip on shoes. Lizzy's face lit up.
"Mother!" she exclaimed, running to her.
When they met, Lizzy's mother embraced her tightly and Lizzy embraced her tightly as well. Tears ran down their faces.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Lizzy's mother said.
"So am I," Lizzy replied, hugging her mother around the neck. "I never thought I would see you again,"
"Rebecca," Mrs Perkins said as she and her husband walked over to them.
"Oh, Mr and Mrs Perkins," Rebecca said, getting up. "Thank you so much!" she said, hugging both of them tightly. "Thank you so much for getting my daughter here,"
"It's okay," Mr Perkins said as Rebecca released him.
In Lizzy's coat pockets, the fairies watched what was going on. Rosetta smiled and wiped away a tear from her eye.
"Aaaawww!" Iridessa said happily. "I'm so glad Lizzy's reunited with her mother.
"She's pretty," Clank said.
"Yeah, she is," Rosetta agreed.
In the other pocket, Terence smiled. "Well, I'm glad Lizzy's mother's alive," he said.
"Same here," Vidia and Silvermist replied in unison.
It was then Rebecca noticed someone was missing. "W-where's Martin?" she asked.
Upon hearing these words, Mr and Mrs Perkins' faces, along with Lizzy's and the fairies', changed from happiness to worry and concern. The fairies looked at one another. How could they tell her?
"Um…we…we don't know," Mrs Perkins said.
"What! B-but why? Why isn't he here?" she asked desperately.
"When we were leaving the house, he said he was going to try and phone you and warn you, mother," Lizzy explained. "He also had to stay to warn the fairies of what was happening,"
"Oh," Rebecca's face saddened. She was worried for her husband. Even though they had not been together for some time, she still loved him and now that he was not here and was probably dead. She sighed again. "Well, we can only hope he will come to us again,"
"Alright, everyone, c'mon!" one of the officers at the front of the crowd announced. "We're moving on,"
The crowd followed the officers right down one of the next road, Rebecca walking alongside her daughter.
"I hope your father's okay," she said.
"I hope so too," Lizzy replied. "And I hope Tinkerbell and the other fairies are okay," she added.
Rebecca looked at her daughter questionably for a moment, then lightly chuckled. "Your fascination with fairy tales certainly hasn't changed." she said. And honestly, given our situation, I'm glad she added mentally.
"No, mother, it's true. They're real. Even father says so," Lizzy told her.
"Now don't tell me your father's joined you in this silly nonsense as well,"
"It's not silly, mother. It's true and I can prove it," Lizzy opened her pockets and said: "Come out, fairies. Show my mother you really exist,"
As if on cue, they all shot out of the pockets and hovered in front of Rebecca, who was startled by this. She stared at them wide-eyed, and they smiled and waved.
"See, they're all real," Lizzy said.
"I … wow!" was all Lizzy's mother could say. "I … I stand corrected," she said.
The fairies smiled at each other and, with a final wave to Lizzy's mother, flew back into Lizzy's coat pockets.
"And I thought your father was working too hard when he spoke to me a few days ago to pick you up," Rebecca said, making her and Lizzy laugh a little as they walked on with the crowd down the next road further into the city.