8. Time Management - a time travel dilemma
7. Forgetmenot - Steampunk war
6. The Dead Hitchhiker
5. Tok vs Terra - space war!
4. Dream Funk Inc - dreams or nightmares?
3. G.O.O.D. vs E.V.I.L. - a spy-fy challenge. Galactic Overlords, Operational Div...
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(Qualifying entry - word count 498)
The Time Machine came to a halt about half a metre from the forest floor. The door opened and a small set of stairs rippled down from the machine to the ground.
A large man wearing camouflage came out and turned around to address the group still inside the machine.
"Okay guys, follow me and don't shoot anything, and I mean anything, without my say-so. Walk quietly and don't speak unless it's urgent."
Five men, also in camouflage, came out of the Time Machine and looked around with eager eyes, staring at the strange prehistoric foliage and squinting upward, trying to see through the canopy. The warm earthy scent of rotting foliage filled their nostrils, battling with the testosterone. Each man held a rifle, modified to shoot large, single bullets, one at a time, ensuring that they were easy to retrieve.
The fear that treading on a butterfly in the past would change the future, might have proved to be a myth, but there were still Rules and Regulations governing time travel. And one of them was that every bullet taken on the journey had to be returned and accounted for.
Mitch made certain every man present knew it was their responsibility to retrieve their own bullets. He had led eight successful hunts before this one, but something about this particular group had him on edge. He took one final look to make sure everyone was ready and then led the way along a narrow path that wove through the bracken-like plants.
An hour later, the men were getting restless. "So when are we going to see the dinosaurs?" whispered Miller, the group's would-be leader.
Even as he spoke, the earth seemed to rise up before them. A huge head swung in their direction.
"Now!" cried Mitch.
Four of the group raised their guns immediately and fired once... twice... excitement and fear mixing together. No-one noticed that Miller had frozen.
As the huge dinosaur crashed to earth, a small creature ran out of the jungle, straight toward them. Miller shook off the paralysis and fired. The first bullet knocked the small dinosaur over but Miller fired again. The second bullet clipped an artery, spraying every man in the face with blood.
"What the fuck?" exclaimed Mitch, furiously wiping blood from his eyes.
"It was coming straight for us!" protested Miller.
"It's a Micropachycephalosaurus," said Mitch, "All of a metre high and a herbivore for fuck's sake!"
Everyone stared at Miller.
"Well, it's done now. Everyone reclaim your bullets. All of them." Mitch turned away.
"How was I supposed to know it was a damn Micro-, Mike- ..., whatever?" muttered Miller under his breath as he dug his bullets out of the dead dinosaur.
It wasn't until two hours later, on their way back to the Time Machine, that they experienced the first symptoms. Sweat broke out on their foreheads, followed by chills and violent shaking. They wandered the jungle for hours, fevered and delirious—before they died.
