Hello and welcome to my first story, based on the Novel and movie of the same name. I own none of these characters other than Otto.

Chapter two: All gone

Alvin's POV

"So that will be two dollars for the soda, "he said, but I didn't hear him. My mind was on other things. I just stared at the floor silently. "I said, that will be two dollars for the soda!" Ogilvy repeated.

This time I heard him. "Oh, okay" I said weakly

Ogilvy took notice of the weakness in my voice. "Is something wrong with you?"

I looked him in the eyes while considering his question, when the ground began shaking violently. Objects began falling off their shelves and you could hear things breaking as they hit the floor, and whole shelves fell over crushed some people. But the shaking didn't stop.

Somehow I managed to slowly make my way out of the store to look around. The shaking didn't seem as bad out there. Suddenly the sky turned orange. I had a moment of déjà vu as I realized the familiarity of this situation when fire literally began raining from the sky. Giant balls of fire fell two or three times a second crashing into the earth like it was a mere pincushion.

They were huge; easily the size of a football field! And they shook the earth making it impossible to stay on your feet. Everyone was falling on their backs or stomachs but kept their heads up trying to remain conscious so they could see what was going on around them. All they remembered before all this was simply walking in a park and now all eighty from what I could see were lying helpless on the ground as hell was literally raining down from the heavens. Half of them were dead in the mere blink of an eye when a giant fire ball landed about twenty yards away. Even from that distance the heat from the blast was so intense that it was scorching my fur.

I looked beyond the park I was lying in. Large buildings were being knocked down by the force of one of these meteor things. It was the worst thing I have ever seen. I saw a hundred story skyscraper with at least five hundred unsuspecting people inside standing tall amongst the haze, and to be suddenly pushed over by a smaller ball that came out of nowhere. I watched it slowly crumple under it's own weight and I could swear I heard people from inside screaming, but the screaming stopped when the building hit the ground with an ear-splitting thud.

I was sure the rest of the city was just like this. Fortunately for those of us that were still alive it ended. Just like that, then and there the ground had stopped shaking,and some people who had recovered were slowly standing up, looking around. Not me. I was on my back, looking at the demented smoke ridden sky. In the distance I could hear the faint sound of a siren going off. I was glad that at least the emergency center was all right.

Suddenly my cell phone began buzzing. I took it out of my pocket and looked at the number on the screen. It said home "Hello?" I answered

"Alvin! Oh, thank God! Listen, what is going on down there? Do you know what just happened?"

It was Otto, our (ugh) babysitter. "I don't was some sort of... explosion," I answered.

"NO SHIT THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION! I mean it's crazy over here. I looked out the window and I could see people on frickin' fire running around and screaming! And on top of that the girls... won't...shut...up!"

"Otto, listen!" I screamed back at him. "Get everybody in the car, and get over here! I in the Barndsall Arts Park, by that shop place called 'Eggs and Random Things'. Hurry!"

There was a click indicating he hung up. I hoped he was hurrying up because I didn't like it here one bit. I looked around at what was left of the city that surrounded the park. Los Angeles was burning and its people were burning along with it.

Suddenly the ground began rumbling again. But instead of looking up to the sky to see if more fireballs were coming like everyone else was, I hopped to my feet and began sprinting behind a rock. I knew what was going to happen next. As I peaked from behind the rock I saw the "fire ball" now completely doused of flame sprouting legs. That's the only way I could describe it.

Three huge metal poles were slowly sprouting from three opposite sides of the thing. Once they were about eighty feet long, it split into a new one at the center of the first which was actually where its joint was. Before it put its new feet on the ground three metal claws emerged from the end of each first poll. And finally the claw-like feet were dug onto the earth.

Using its new legs the tripod itself began elevating from the ground until it was easily sixty feet in the air, and we could see above that the thing had three tentacles dangling from the bottom of the round middle section. All of the tentacles had three claws.

The people around all moved in closer like moths to a flame. It was almost as if the thing was appealing to them. I even saw Ogilvy standing in front of a crowd of people waving a white flag in the breeze. Perhaps he and the others wanted to show those things -whatever they were- that we as a species were intelligent. That we could communicate. Unfortunately communication was aparently not on the tripod's priority list.

The leg was made up of large polls. The one directly connected to the tripod met at about the center of the poll that met the ground leaving twenty or so feet of straight pole sticking up in the air. At the very top of these polls there was a loud click as something small sprouted from each leg. I ducked behind the rock again knowing what was about to happen, not even caring about anyone around me.

Then there was a strange noise, followed by screaming, then more of the noise, then more screaming,and then nothing but a weird noise and more screaming. People were running away as indicated by the two dozen who charged past my rock, pushing each other out of the way to get ahead, and I soon saw why.

A bright green ray came from behind me and turned whatever it met to ashes instantly. People were gone before my eyes, nothing left of them but smolders as were trees, bushes, and anything else that the deadly rays hit. I watched as all of my surroundings began turning to ash, and I wondered whether or not I should run.

*Flashback*

I walked down the stairs, eager to see my family again. To see Brittany again. The second I hit the bottom of the stairs the aroma of smoke and spices filled my nose and I breathed it in like fresh air. Theodore and Eleanor were busy cooking breakfast and I just wished it were a little easier to see. Cut onions being cooked on a pan made my eyes watery, and the smoke made it difficult to get around acurately.

When I walked into the dining room I was surprised to see Dave at the table reading the morning newspaper. It wasn't uncommon for him to be reading it at this time of day, but I had no idea how he was able to read well in all this steam and smoke. I didn't even realize he saw me coming.

"Well, good morning, Alvin!" he said.

I froze but said, "Good morning, Dave," back to him.

Hearing my feet coming down the stairs our pitbull/lab mix, Stormy pranced into the room and cuddled next to Dave's chair, letting him rub the side of her belly.

"Did you have a good night's sleep?" he asked looking at me.

"What's for breakfast?" I quickly asked trying to changing the subject.

"Eggs and bacon and... other stuff. It's a long list." answered Dave

''When will it be ready?" I asked

Dave looked unsure of himself for a few moments before yelling into the smoky abyss that was the kitchen. "Eleanor!"

Eleanor came prancing out of the room, lightly coughing. "Yes Dave?"

"When will breakfast be ready?" Dave asked.

"Soon. Theo should finish the sausages in a few minutes, and everything else is done."

*End Flashback*

I was frozen behind my rock watching as the world around me, the park and the city, were burning to a crisp. Suddenly a ray, whether on purpose or by accident, hit the rock. I was unaware at first but as the cold stone melted to lava oozing into a boiling hot liquid that began to engulf my petrified body and burn through my jacket I became very aware. Jumping to my feet, I began putting out a small fire on the back of my jacket which I soon realized wasn't there anymore.

It was then that I realized the tripod was still there standing where it had been before it torched everything that was within sight. It was a dramatic sight seeing this... thing from another world motionless... amidst a gigantic pool of fire that it had created. It was a tool of absolute destruction.

Regaining consciousness of the fact that everything around me was burning down I turned away from the tripod and began running in the first direction that looked like I might have a chance of escape. I was victim to a few careless shots of the deadly ray, but they all missed me thankfully. And to my surprise it actually began moving in the opposite direction. At least I'm pretty sure it did seeing as I had no time to look back to actually know for sure.

My mind was bent on escape... and I got it. To my pleasant surprise the fire hadn't spread very far yet and I was able to make it out of the park and into the parking lot where a few cars were road raging away like mad men were driving. Probably other survivors. One car pulled in right in front of me. The passenger seat door swung open revealing Otto at the wheel. "Hurry up, Alvin and get in!"

*Flashback*

It was a happy breakfast. Everybody had sat around the table, chatted about life, and ate their fill. "Okay, everybody you can be-" but Dave was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Hang on a second," he said as he turned around to pick up the phone.

Once he was in the kitchen he answered the phone and said, "Hello?"

All six of us stared at each other in anxiety. We look from Dave to the 'munk/'ette across from us, and back to Dave. "I understand," he said slowly into the phone. "When?"

He listened for a few moments. We all stared at him intently. Eleanor, Theodore, Jeanette, Simon, Brittany and myself were all eager to know what was going on.

"I can't it's too soon. ... What? ... She did? ... Very well, I'll be there."

He hung up the phone and turned his head and looked in our direction. "Aunt Jackie is dead," he said, "They want me to be there at her funeral tonight so I need to go pack."

"Dave," Theo asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going Maryland Theodore."Answered Dave

*End Flashback*

"ALVIN!" I snapped out of my trance and realized there were dozens of tripods running around torching Everything. My eyes focused back on Otto who was still motioning for me to get into the old van. Finally I obliged him by running forward and hopping into the passenger seat letting Otto, being almost as big as Dave, close the door behind me.

I looked all around the inside of the van, at the other passengers. I saw Theo, Ellie, Simon, Jeanette, Charlene,and Brittany. Everybody was here. "Wait!" I exclaimed just as Otto put the keys in the ignition. "What about Stormy?"

"She's alright, she's back home!" he answered, yelling because the panicked commotion outside so loud.

"Well, shouldn't we go back for her?" Ellie chipped in.

"No way!" Charlene objected abruptly. "Floor it, Otto!"

"Right! Here we go!" He turned the keys in the ignition and floored the gas pedal. The van was away from the blazing park in a matter of moments. But there were more problems on the way...

Please review! Reviews mean a lot to me.

Confused? I'm doing my back story in flashback. Each chapter will be about a different character. You know, kind of like that show Lost.

And if my description of my tripods was also a little confusing, which I'm pretty sure it was, then I'm sorry because it was an originaly design that I spent days thinking up. This is the closest design I could find online, but it's not the same. encrypted-tbn1. google images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQZigALAwi9 _phqcCDz9CQxZQfpE6Uh0vM_ tReCDuE1jshLO2E7Bg remove the spaces.

Peace! Me outtie!