Get your ass to Wellington!

As the other side of the world is waking up to the realization of this martian invasion there’s big news.  For some reason, as yet undetermined, the Martians have not landed in New Zealand!  That may be the last safe place on the face of the earth.

Still, there is some disturbing news coming from there.  John McCain was in Wellington to judge some sort of Kiwi barbecue  contest when word of the invasion came down.  Given the ambiguous location of both the President and Vice-President, he’s declared himself the leader of the free world and has retreated to the back country in the hopes of mustering the hordes of orcs and goblins he heard about from a documentary he claims to have seen while on the campaign trail in order to beat back the invasion.

I’ve also just seen guidance from a military website stating that all tripod attacks made via their heat ray will be referred to as Martian Improved Combustion Events (M.I.C.E.) which should not be confused with the explosions of gas seen on the surface of Mars yesterday, also called M.I.C.E. (Martian Improvised Conventional Explosives) by U.S. Space Command.  Obviously the G.A.A.A.C. (the Governmental Agency for Acronym Anti-Confliction pronounced Gaak) is out of the fight which is going to result is serious problems with continuity of government issues for us.

Update

Things are quiet now.  The aliens have either returned to their tripods or have shacked up in one of the other houses around here, but I kind of doubt that.  I went back upstairs to quickly grab some things and came back down to the basement.  I’ve got enough food and water to last a couple of days easily down here.

And I got the shotgun and a box of shells.

I also have a name for the owner(s) of this house.  Mr. and Mrs. W. Lepeire (at least according to their NRA membership card).

I’m still here!

Holy crap that was close.  I think it may have been hurt and that was the reason it sounded like it did upstairs.  It fact it was limping and not moving very smoothly.  It came down as was rummaging around, like it was searching for something.  After a few minutes, I heard a sound upstairs (I’m assuming another one of the aliens) and the wounded one hightailed it back upstairs (well, as much as it could).

I was able to snap a picture of it as it was banging around.

It’s here

its coming down the stairs…sounds like it’s crawling.

just realized I left the shotgun upstairs and all i’ve got is the pistol.

if anyone makes it out of this, please check on my family.  Tell them I went down blogging…

It’s in the house

I just started hearing noises upstairs.  Sounds like their tearing the place up.  Definitely not footsteps.  More like someone putting their foot down and then dragging a leg behind them except the dragging is much louder.

Something like that can’t come down the stairs.  There’s no way it’d be able to maneuver it.

I should be fine here.

In the basement

god, can my luck get any worse?

Ten minutes after my last post I heard a crashing outside.  I looked out the window and saw one of those tripods heading right for me.  It seems the martians want to take advantage of the high ground as well.  I rushed down the the basement with all the stuff I could carry.  I made two trips before the tripod got so close I didn’t want to risk making any noise.

I’ve set up a nook here behind a bunch of boxes and under blankets.  It’s like those forts I used to make when I was a kid but I figured it’d muffle any sound I might make and keep me hidden if anything decides to check out the basement.

haven’t heard anything for a few minutes now.  I can hunker down here all night if I have to. I’ll keep posting as long as I can.

Plan B

That didn’t go as planned.  I just got a few miles when I saw that black gas.  I still don’t know what it is but I saw it pouring down the river and knew immediately I didn’t want to go through it.  I saw it engulf a few geese which made it about three wing beats before they let out a scream I didn’t know they could make and hit the water.

I cut west into the town of Yardley and moved as fast as I could.  The gas generally sticks to the low ground so I had some time before it achieved the required density to rise over the banks of the river.  I didn’t want to screw around in the dark for too long since I was afraid of riding right through a patch of this gas.  There’s a patch of high ground about a mile in from the river where there’s a tract of McMansions.  They all seem abandoned so I forced my way through one of the back door (man, I think that was the scariest thing I’ve done all day.  I kept picturing somebody taking a shot at me).

There’s still power and I found a computer (and, obviously an internet connection) so I figured I’d keep updating as long as I can.  It’s hard to see much but from the top floor I think I can see the gas continuing to spread.  It looks really inky and thick.  Not at all like tear gas or signal smoke.  Much thicker.

Hopefully this gas disperses by tomorrow and I’ll be able to move on.  I’ve easily got a week’s food here, even without power and plenty of water.  I started filling up every cup, glass and tupperware with water just in case.

If this gas moves in, does anyone have any suggestions to improvise a gas mask?  I don’t even know if it inhaled or contact poison.

I found a shotgun in one of the closets.  Not sure what I would do with it but it does give me a bit more confidence than my puny pistol did.

Ok…wish me luck

It’s getting dark and I want to get out while there’s a bit of visibility left.  Everything sounds like it’s settling down around here.  I haven’t heard the tripods or much of anything for over an hour.  I’ll see how far I can get and find a place to hole up before sunrise if there’s any sign of the tripods.

I’m not sure how I’m going to bypass the Allentown area yet but other than that I’m going to try to stick to the river on my way North.

Good luck to everyone out there.

Shoot on sight order

I just heard on the radio that everyone not already evacuated out the area is being ordered to stay in their homes.  Governors in both NJ and PA have issued ‘shoot on sight’ orders.  This may be in response to reports that the tripods have dismounted troops.  They’re also reporting that some of the people who have been attacked by those head-crabs I mentioned are attacking people.

I’m not entirely convinced staying here is the best thing however.  I’m afraid if the martians don’t get me, society is going to get pretty ugly fast once everything breaks down and everyone realizes help will not be on the way.  I’m still going to try to get out of here once darkness falls.  I haven’t seen or heard any police, fire or military around here for quite some time so I don’t think that order has much practical effect of me anyway.

Nick Pope named Minister of Alien Affairs in U.K.

The BBC is reporting that Nick Pope has been named Minister for the new Alien Affairs ministry.  The ministry will be an umbrella organization which will have control over all defense, security and law enforcement agencies within the U.K.  It appears he’s been named because of the yeoman work he’s done in warning the British government of the dangers of just this sort of thing.

Here’s an interview he gave awhile back.  It doesn’t appear we have an American equivalent.  Yet.

Leave it to the Brits to worry about cabinet appointments while everything’s going to hell.

Update:  It appears the tripods are active in the U.K. as well as this reader reported right before he was cut down by the Martians.  Fortunately, in a heroic example of British ‘stiff upper lipism’, he actually kept blogging while he was being cut down by the Martians!

Ray, you are a real champion of freedom.