Chapter Eight : Eyes Of The Exterminators

*In the silvery moonlight , a massive Tripod battalion marched through the suburban area , bathing the many homes with harsh light , scouring the land for survivors . To say so , there seemed to be barely any at all . Juniper , Adalene , Steven , Rigel , Misty , Spinel and Brandon all stayed close , creeping slowly under the titanic war machines , forced to hear the screams of people being grounded up and sprayed on the torched Earth as a fine red mist . The machine's feet stood atop a car and crushed it , unfazed in its pursuit to exterminate humanity .*

*Dodging and evading bullets at high speeds , Spica was at the peak of her misery , trying barely to hold out until help came . Dahlia was a little overwhelmed in her pursuit against deactivating the black hole machine , being thrown off balance as the soldiers assaulted her . Tripods blared in the distance , signaling their arrival . If they came close enough , Spica thought , the fight would be lost . However , even though she was occupied with such things , her mind could not help but revert back to a time of peace , but still , even then , turmoil was in the air .......*

*Spica was just two days in with living with Brandon and the others , the strange world , everything . It was ....odd .*

*She had just escaped from Cassiopeia , telling everyone of the memories of her blowing up that building with all those people in it , just to make an attempt to kill her 'master' , her torturer .......her wife . It was too much to handle .*

*The feather that broke the camel's back was the statement Brandon had said to her , a simple , ' I'm sorry . '*

*Spica absolutely lost herself and screamed in anguish with such force that for a second , her entire being was glowing with immense power , and a massive shockwave shoved everyone back into the walls and furniture . Misty was standing particularly close and was thrown the farthest , actually being blasted through the walls , flung across the street and into the house beside it . Such a blast disorientated everyone . Everyone but Brandon , who was barely moved physically by the accidental spectacle of power . Instead , he held out his hand and led Spica to a large , dimly lit room and talked to her , all while she wept and repeated apologies , Although she hadn't noticed it yet , Brandon had already seen something great in her , and was hell bent on bringing it out .*

*Now Brandon was staring in bewilderment as the crew hid behind a truck , a shivering Adalene in his arms as the titanic Tripod walked away , all of them covered in blood and small flecks of human flesh . An arm was flung from the machine's internal grinder , then a leg as it moved away . Smoke stunk in the area during the trek , with Spinel crying in Misty's embrace , intent on surviving such a massive catastrophe . Who could allow such a thing to happen ? Why would they ? Brandon's questions were cut short , just as another Tripod screamed from its bellowing horn . Juniper ordered the crew to keep going as a soldier ran past , asking them to do the same . It was dark , therefore he could not see them very well .*

*" I need you civilians to evacuate the city at once . New York is overrun . There are underground shelters in New Jersey and Boston , take the highways and get to them at once !! " Shaking his head , Brandon took Adalene and helped her to stand up as more marines ran through the area .*

*" Come on , mom . Just a little more until we reach the park . Keep with us ." he said . Misty unsheathed her sword and began to circle the group , the same as Rigel took his pistols and did the same . Another spray of blood and humanly fluid , most of which smelled awful , showered them . Dead bodies littered the streets as heavy thumps from the war machines shook the ground .*

*" How much more ? " Adalene said in a weak voice . She was extremely tired and stressed , nearly fainting as the group went ahead , temporarily forgetting her as they saved a man trapped in rubble . He had a face degloved and a body that was torn to shreds as they pulled him out , dying before he could say one word . Then she slumped onto her knees and fell to the ground . Exhaustion had taken a toll on all of them , but as a fifty year old with no sleep in two days , plus being thrashed about in a war that they already lost , she couldn't take it anymore . She was about to give in until Brandon and Misty helped her up , wiped the dust and blood from her face and carried her all the way until now , they were in the midst of a massive extermination zone .*

*" Not much more . Just a little farther ...." he said , trying not to choke on his words . Brandon began to cry himself as he thought about Iris , his own mother , dying by the hands of humans . Being held captive and passing away , rather violently . So violent that he couldn't look upon it with a straight mindset . If he did , he'd run the risk of making himself emotionally unstable . Now , yet again , with conditions out of his control , Adalene seemed close to death's door as she shuddered and coughed . As superhuman as he was , he felt like he was going to fall apart at the seams ....so a person much more fragile and older than him ? And his mother at that ? No wonder she looked pale , despite her dark complexion , and most of her vitality drained . To put it such , she seemed dead , and would have been , if Misty and Brandon didn't come when they did . It was a stark contrast to their surroundings as well , with the devastating night came about as fast as a bullet , especially since the marines were now coming by in swaths , armored and coupled with personnel vehicles and war machines of their own : tanks and fighter jets . Those subsonic , missile-carrying behemoths hardly mattered against the three-legged , indestructible , humanity-feasting abominations of the galaxy that walked upon the beaten city .*

*Literally human-feasting . Misty remembered seeing such as disgusting feat as a few Cassiopites tore apart a human woman and began eating her contents , ripping out her intestines and organs as she convulsed and shuddered , too close to the cold , unfeeling hands of Death to do anything . She then expired , her eyes making contact with her own ...............still , Misty had to "ignore" it as the Heart Of Darkness was first priority . If they lost Earth again , Juniper made it clear .....they were not getting it back . Ever .*

*A shudder then shook the ground , more massive than any other , even drowning out the warring between the humans and Tripods as another took its place . Poor Adalene just groaned as her son and the others panicked , especially Misty , asking Juniper what was going on . She didn't know . Then another . Soon enough , massive cracks began to shift and form , splotching their way through the subdivision as they began to spread .*

*" Run , Get away !! " a few marines shouted as the ground began to violently shake , splitting the team apart as Brandon , with an incapacitated Adalene ran as fast as he could , with Misty on his tail , trying to avoid being swallowed up by the abyss as the ground gave away . A few unlucky marines were swallowed as the ground shifted widely this time , shaking the nearby decrepit building and causing a few to fall . Spinel , Steven , Juniper , Rigel ? They were out of sight . It was too dark , too loud and too dusty to see anything as the collapsing buildings kicked up massive amounts of dust and smoke , A major crack emerged as Misty , Adalene and Brandon ran near a store , only for its windows to explode outwards violently , showering them with shards . The ground then began to separate as the groaning within the ground grew louder . The two stopped occasionally to catch their breath before running again , watching as the hole grew bigger yet in size . Shattering glass sounds , crumbling and noises louder than the jet engines of the fighters in the air filled Brandon's ears . He helplessly ran away from the mess and stopped behind a car , waiting out the apparent earthquake there , with Misty , watching as soot , dirt , water , sewage and debris rained down in cataclysmic torrents from the upheave . The ground then shifted so hard that a few high rise skyscrapers collapsed in the background and a nearby one fell right onto the void , shattering on impact noisily . Marines ran to reassign new places for strategic purposes , as many more needed to run for their survival . Then the tremors stopped all at once . Silence filled the air as the the ground stood still . Misty grasped Brandon's arm and helped him up , as he was on his knees for stability . Holding Adalene , who was still out of it , he was about to ask Misty to hold her whilst he searched for everyone else , but the notion was stopped when suddenly , the ground jolted upwards violently , throwing up everything it had swallowed in the inky blackness of night and throwing it about in deadly spurs . It then sunk inwards and exploded as the ground began to shake again , although , not as much as before . Then ....it was all clear . Slowly , a massive head began to rise up out of the void as its titanic engines began to roar . Misty shouted to everyone else to run as she and Brandon bolted at superhuman speeds to get out of the vicinity , watching behind them as a Harvester rose out of the ground , screeching at the other Tripods nearby . Running , Brandon didn't stop until he and Misty were hiding behind a house , breathing heavily as the noise subsided . Calm ran through the streets as they breathed in and out . Then again , the two walked out into the street slowly , them and other soldiers , watching as the Harvester stood before them , large , chrome and bright , as the machine's headlights beamed down on the alley . Misty and Brandon couldn't help but look on as the Harvester sounded its ear-popping horn , then began to unveil two tentacle-looking appendages , veering its ugly head among its audience . A loud whirring sound began to resonate as they stood there dumbfounded , unable to move , Brandon especially , as he and so many others looked onto the thing . Then , as the tentacles began to glow , massive beams of white hot energy began to slice at the onlookers , vaporizing them into bloody dust .*

*Brandon and Misty ran as fast as they could as a beam barely missed them , searing the air around them for a moment . Then as they managed to get away temporarily , an unlucky soldier was blasted away in a gory mess , along with another , and two more were set on fire , and the beam veered too close to them . Holding Adalene and staying close to Misty , the two narrowly avoided death as a beam shifted over their heads and blew up a soldier next to them , then blasted a tank , causing it to blow up in a deadly combustion , impaling many others . A marine ran past as the beam phased through and incinerated him before blasting a nearby car and overturning it , blasting many others . A loud scream was heard as another soldier died in a flaming inferno , being vaporized in front of Misty , barely missing her and singeing her hair's tips for a moment . Then another was blown apart in a bloody mess all over them , with some even entering their mouths , all the while trying to survive . They dashed into a nearby salon as a few others followed , most getting burned alive by the heat ray before nearly missing again . The two stopped as Adalene regained consciousness slightly , but were cut off as a few cars were thrown by in the shop , as the nearby cataclysm completely destroyed the alleyway they were just on , but they continued , running with a semi-awake Adalene in their arms as they tapped into their superhuman speed to outrun the devastation as the heat ray swept across a nearby freeway and overturned the entire superstructure , causing as explosion so big that fire engulfed the street for a few seconds . The heat ray obliterated many nearby houses as they ran and blew out multiple streets at once , the two barely avoided getting crushed by a fighter jet that had been downed , watching as many more buildings were obliterated , then finally stopping and hiding behind a truck that was overturned as the Harvester walked nearby , showering them with blinding light , staring intently at them , daring them to move . Adalene put her hands over her mouth as she stifled a cry , with Misty on the road , flat and merging with the dark , and Brandon pressed up against the vehicle's front end , barely shone on with the exterminator's eyes . And at once , it stood up slowly and turned away , walking forward as the soldiers that remained retreated , a few fighters that stood around being knocked out of the air by the Tripods nearby .*

*Adalene weeped silently as she , Misty and Brandon all hugged , having barely left the escapade with their lives ......still having one more objective left , saving Earth from the black hole machine .*