The Musings of a Teenage Something

The Silence of Thunder: Alternate Universe

An alternative ending to A Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury.

 Eckles was overwhelmed with the feelings of excitement and exhilaration at the sight of the huge Tyrannosaurus rex. He smiled and raised his rifle, aiming through the view-finder.

"No!" yelled Mr. Travis. "Not yet! Do not shoot until I say." Mr. Travis put a hand to his head, tired of everyone disrespecting and questioning the rules.

Eckles smiled up at the beast. Wonder what would happen if I shot now? He again brought the rifle up, aiming at the huge dinosaur. He squeezed the trigger.

"NO!" Mr. Travis said, turning Eckles's attention away from the dinosaur, the bullet heading for the guide instead of the beast.

Mr. Travis's face went pale as he looked down at his chest. The red color of blood was oozing from his chest. "You fool," Travis uttered before falling back onto the grate.

"You... you kill him..." Lesperance said, holding his friend's limp body in his own hands. "You monster!"

"No! I—I was just going to shoot the beast! And—and—" Eckles put down the rifle. "And it was an accident."

"We're going back." Billings said. Kramer nodded and helped Lesperance pull Mr. Travis into the time machine.

"I swear," Eckles said, more to himself than the others, "it was an accident."

He was sentenced life without parole.

"You're lucky," Lesperance said the day of Eckles's hearing, "that you didn't alter time completely."

It had been one year since Eckles had been locked up. He met Eden, his cell mate. Eden didn't talk to Eckles much, but it was the closest thing to a friend Eckles had.

Three months into 2056, there was a rumor of a sickness spreading through the country, but every time Eckles tried to ask a guard about it, they brushed him off.

"What do you think about it?" Eckles asked Eden one day, curious.

" 'bout wut?" Eden asked.

"About the sickness? I hear it's killing people faster than they can count."

"What does it matter? We here, they out there."

"You can't tell me that you're not at all curious? Not in the slightest?"

"What?"

"Never mind." Most conversations with Eden went this way. He was not very bright.

Five months into the year, something crazy happened:

The whole prison was in a panic, guards running every which way. The prisoners were yelling, demanding to know what was happening.

Eckles stopped a guard, reaching out through the bars and grabbing his collar. He'd never seen a guard so terrified. "What's happening out there?"

"It's the apocalypse out there. You're safer in here."

"What?! Let us out!"

The guard tossed his keys aside and ran. Out of Eckles's sight, he heard the guards' screams, then the sound of flesh being ripped and torn.

"What's goin' on, Gramps?" Eden asked from the cot.

Eckles backed away from the bars, shaking with fear. Screams were everywhere, then silence.