Sci-Fi Short Stories - Sci-Fi Smackdown Round 2 Entries

Alfred - Sci-Fi Smackdown Round Two

Alfred fell from the sky landing on the top of a building surrounded by dense trees. Time travel was not as delightful as he thought it would be; he looked down at the hard surface he was about to land on. Bang. He took hold of his legs that cracked as he collided with the surface of the building. The pain was excruciating they were surely broken.

  He managed to crawl to his backpack; inside was his first aid kit. It was beginning to run low on supplies, there had to be a better way of landing he thought. Alfred winced as he swallowed brown liquid from a small vile, both legs cracked again and after a minute he was back on his feet, as good as new.

  The target had to be here somewhere, each point of time in history he had travelled to, his target just managed to escape him. Alfred was the best tracker in the new world order, he was fit, strong, and very capable with any weapon, however his target was proving to be his hardest adversary yet.

  Alfred double-checked his time travelling device attached to his wrist; he was in the right place. The great scientist Henry was the creator of the time travel devices; a great mistake that was. The new world order was starting to fall apart when someone broke into the top secret government building; stealing the only other time travel device.

  The target had been going back to certain points in time and assassinating important people. Each one he killed slightly changed the outcome of the future. Alfred took out his cloaking device from his backpack and slung it over him; within seconds he blended in with the hot roof.  He removed a set of binoculars; he scanned the surrounding buildings, it was his plan to be seen on the roof long enough for his target to spot him. The target had a habit of taking people out from hotel windows. 

  All the buildings in this time were deserted; there also were no people around at all. It was like no one existed except the two people trying to kill each other in different eras.  Alfred assembled his own tactical sniper rifle, he still could not understand what his target was thinking bringing the fight to such a remote time and place. The year was 2058; twenty years into the future of their time.

  A gust of wind blew through what was once a small well-known city.  It was one where the people often held festivals and parties; it was one of the few non-military provinces. Home to middle class people; people the government relied on for their support. Alfred wondered why it would be wiped out. The city of Melney looked like it had long been emptied the trees had taken over.

  Where are you Bart? Alfred scanned every window in a building straight in his line of sight. He was certain he seen a shadow on the second floor from the top, something had moved passed the window closest to the far left side. It would be a great place to take a shot and then run down the fire stairs. 

  Alfred was not going to risk giving away his position though; he would wait until he was positive of his targets location.

  It took a while for him to realize there was absolutely no noise; it sent chills throughout his body. Something was seriously wrong here. He put his eye on the scope and searched through the trees. Not one bird.  What’s wrong with this place?

  Alfred decided to carefully crawl toward the edge of the building; under the cover of his camouflage. He wanted to get a look down at the street level and see what he could find.  Alfred pressed his eye against the scope and scanned the once busy street. The footpath trees had grown wild, taking over everything. Cars were left abandoned some were even rusted out. There was also no rubbish anywhere; it was as though everything of potential substance had been devoured. 

  He tried to get a look in the other building across the road, but it was hard through the trees. All he could make out was a couple of broken windows and a burnt out window. Something terrible had happened in this place.