H. G. Wells · 1898 · survival

H. G. Wells's 1898 novel, the original alien invasion. When a cylinder from Mars crashes onto Horsell Common near Woking, the curious crowd that gathers is incinerated by a heat-ray, and soon towering Martian fighting-machines are striding across Surrey toward London, scattering millions before them. The unnamed narrator flees through a disintegrating England, certain humanity is finished, until the invaders are felled by the smallest things on Earth.

1. 1
   Woking

   A cylinder from Mars crashes onto Horsell Common, and the heat-ray destroys the watching crowd.

2. 2
   Leatherhead

   The narrator carries his wife to safety, then turns back into the path of the invasion.

3. 3
   Weybridge

   He flees across the Thames as the fighting-machines burn Weybridge and Shepperton.

4. 4
   London

   Into a London emptying in blind panic before the advancing Martians.

5. 5
   Primrose Hill

   And at last to Primrose Hill, where the Martians lie dead, killed by the bacteria of Earth.