Master Of The Past

Mark Anthony lives in the year 2052.Earth is too crowded and the system is not right. He travels back in time to change it all.

   To experience shear power over history can be a rush. Mark Anthony was caught up in the rush.

                                                                Master Of The Past

   The year is 2052 and Mark Anthony was just getting up from bed. He went to wash his face and hands. Afterwards he went downstairs into the dining area where he started staring at some of his collection of books. He was particularly interested in one book. A book called The History Of American Slavery From 1790 to 1829.He took the book off of the shelf and began reading it. He started talking to himself. 

   “ As a black man, I find it very difficult to believe that white people had gained all of this with my peoples help. I wonder what would happen if a black man from the future goes back into the past during the slavery times, bringing all of his future supplies with him. What would be the outcome? Since time travel is popular now, I can just go to work tomorrow on the third shift, at the laboratory, and use the time machine we have.

   I’m going to have to purchase some supplies for myself, like weapons, and food,etc…

I’ll take along this book on slavery times. The weapons of today can turn slavery completely around and with me knowing the martial arts, I will be able to kick all kinds of asses.”

   Mark gathered up some weapons he had purchased. He had a gun that shoots out rays. It ran on a nuclear battery that never runs down. 

   “ I really don’t need that much but to my understanding, the slaves of that time ate differently. I’ll take along some nutrition bars. They’re very good, and they are guarantied to keep me full for days on just one bar.We’re just too crowded in this time period. Everywhere you go, you’re being followed. Cameras all around. There’s no more privacy. At least during the slavery days there were room to exist. I could change the outcome and maybe be a ruler, but it will have to be a one way trip. I would need someone to bring me back to my own time, but why would I need to come back? The year 1795 should be perfect for me. At least some of the black people should speak English.”

   Mark read about Richmond Virginia and decided that it was the perfect place to live. He went to sleep that night, dreaming about his new life. He woke up the next morning. It was Sunday. Very few people worked in the laboratory on Sunday but a special project was being worked on. Only six of them were scheduled to work, and no one really cared about what the other one was doing. They all had their own office to work in.

   Mark left home for work. He entered the high tech building. He slid his pass card down into the slot for entrance. The door clicked and then opened. He went inside. There was a tunnel inside of the building, down on the bottom level. That’s where the time machine is kept. It was vacant down below on Sunday. There were no security guards working down there because that part of the building was shut down on weekends.

   Mark used his special key he had made for just this occasion. It was for the elevator to work on the weekends. He used it. He went down ten levels. 

   “ This would be perfect. Know one will be able to here any sounds coming from the time machine,” he said to himself.

   Mark walked over to the control panel. 

   “ I’ll punch in the coordinates and program the computer to delete everything in ten minutes. Therefore no one will ever know that it has been used. Now to just put in the year and the place.”

   The monitor came on and Mark was able to see Richmond Virginia on it. There’s a plantation over there. I can see black people working the fields, picking cotton. It looks like there could be a forest over there. That’s where I’ll go.”

   Mark punched in the coordinates and ran towards the time car. He stepped inside. 

   "Once the car starts there can be no turning back. When the car reaches it’s destination I will have one minute to get out or the car will return back to its original timeline and resume its original position.”

   Mark made sure his equipment was secured. He fastened his seat belt. The clock inside of the car was counting down. Three, two, one, zero. The car had picked up speed. He passed through the two oracles and soon he was in the woods. He stepped out of the car and looked around. The air was clean and the sky was pure blue. He hurried up and reached inside of the car to get his equipment. As soon as he had retrieved them the car had disappeared. 

   “ Wow, just in time. I don’t know what I could’ve done if I had lost my gear. I do have my sidearm. I’m glad that I wore my long leather western duster and my western hat to keep the sun out of my eyes. I know that I will stand out in this time period but who cares?”

   Mark started walking out of the woods. He came upon a plantation. He started walking through it. There were men,women,boys,and girls, picking cotton. He walked towards them. They stopped working to look at him. 

   "The women here look mighty good to me.”

   As he walked closer to the women they started backing up. The men did also. They didn’t know what to make out of another black man who dressed so differently. Mark looked at one man. 

   “ Can you understand me?”

   The man looked at him strangely and back away. 

   “ Hey? I’m not going to hurt you. You don’t have to run away.”

   It wasn’t him the man was running away from. It was what was going on behind him. Mark turned around to see two men on horses galloping towards him. When they had arrived they both climbed off of their horses. 

   “ Hey slave? What are you doing dressed like that? Get back to work.”

   The black man who was standing next to me ran away to finish picking cotton.

   " Don’t let me have to tell you again boy,” said the stranger. 

   " Why don’t you two just get back on your horses and ride away before you get hurt,” said Mark. 

   “ Did you hear that, Tom? That slave have just dug his own grave,"said Frank.

   “ I did hear that,Frank and I still don’t believe that he said it,"said Tom.

   Frank went to grab Mark’s arm and Mark twisted it behind his back. He spun Frank around and kicked him. Frank fell to the ground. Tom charged at Mark and Mark had side stepped. Tom trip on Mark’s foot that was stuck out and then he fell to the ground. 

   “ I’m going to kill you slave,” said Tom.

   Tom pulled out his pistol but his arm was shot off. The arm hit the ground. Frank tried

to pull out his pistol as he started to stand up but Mark ran and jumped into the air with his leg extended and made contact with Frank’s face. Frank fell to the ground unconscious. Tom ran over to Frank. He turned to looked at Mark.

   " You’re a dead slave.You hear? A dead slave.” he said.

   Tom picked up Frank and tied him to his horse. He also had climbed up on top of his horse. Tom took the strap of Frank’s horse and guided him away from the scene. As he rode away, he turned back to yell out. 

   “ I’ll be back for you,slave. Only this time I won’t be alone. 

   “ You better bring plenty of help,” said Mark.

   The black people in the field had started walking towards Mark. 

   “ Don’t be afraid. I won’t bite.

   " One man came forward. 

   " Where did you come from?" he asked. 

   " You wouldn’t understand. You speak English?” asked Mark. 

   " Yes, I do. Master taught us all how to speak their language. Only we’re not to speak to each other or we’ll get whipped. Those riders will be back. You better go,” said the man. 

   " No, I better stay. So this is a plantation. This is a huge field. Where’s your master’s house?” asked Mark. 

   “ It’s over there, beyond those trees.” 

   “ What’s your name?"

   " Thomas.” 

   “ Well, Thomas? Why don’t you all just leave? There’s no one here to stop you.”    

   “ Where can we go ? Those riders will shoot to kill and we’re on foot. We also have babies to carry and young kids.” 

   “ What if I say to you all that I can make your master give you his land and house to live in?”    “ Who are you?" 

   “ My name’s Mark Anthony and we helped build this country.” 

   “ What do you mean, we?” 

   “ We black people helped build this country. Therefore we should have a piece of it.” 

   “ You are talking so strange, Mark Anthony.”

   “ Just call me Mark. Everyone ,follow me,” said Mark.

   The people wouldn’t move. They just stood there.

   " What’s wrong with you all?”

   “ They’re not going to risk getting whipped because of one man,” said Thomas. 

   “ I understand. I’ll be back.”

   Mark walked across the field. As he was almost entering the wooded area, he heard a sound from behind. He turned around to look. There were eight horsemen leaning over their horses, and whipping the slaves. Mark put down his big bag and placed them in the woods. He ran through the field yelling and the men on horseback had stopped whipping the slaves. Instead they looked up to see Mark standing there. 

   They rode towards him. Mark pulled out his weapon and fired at the ground in front of the horses. The horses reared up on their hind legs, throwing off the riders. Mark fired his weapon again and the horses took off running. All of the men were thrown to the ground. They got up cussing. 

   “ You’re dead,N****r,” one of them had yelled out.

   The man drew his gun and was shot dead by Mark. Mark shot the others and left one alive. 

   “ You tell the rest of your people to stay off of this land. Now get,” said Mark. 

   The man took off running and Mark turned towards the people in the field, who were wiping their wounds from the whip. 

   “ I’ll be back,” said Mark.

   Mark took one of the horses and rode towards the woods. He stepped down from the horse to get his carrying bag. He then tied it down on the saddled and climbed back up on the horse. He rode through the woods and was finally in front of the house. There were more slaves out front planting flowers. He could see the shacks the slaves were living in.

   “ What a horrible way to live. All of the slaves could live inside of this big house.”

   Suddenly someone came out of the house with a shot gun. Mark drew his gun faster and shot the person in the doorway. The person wasn’t killed. He was just wounded in the arm. Mark stepped down from his horse. 

   “ Are you the owner of this plantation?” 

   “ I don’t answer to no n****r,” said the man. 

   “ Ok then.” said Mark. 

   Mark shot him in the leg. 

   “ Ok,don’t shoot me again.” 

   “ I’ll asked you one more time. Are you the owner of this plantation?” 

   “ Yes. I’m Mat Thompson. What do you want? “ 

   “ Are there any other people in the house, Mat ?” 

   “ Yes. My wife and two daughters.” 

   “ This is what I want you to do. You’re going to get your family out of the house and follow me out in the field.” 

   “ What are you going to do?” 

   “ It’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to give your house to the slaves.” 

   “ You can’t just run a man’s family off of his property like that.” 

   “ Your people have been doing it for years.” 

   “ What are you talking about?”

   “ Never mind. Go get your family. You have three minutes.”

   Mat hopped into his house and started calling everyone outside. They all came out crying. There was a wagon that was on the side of the house. They started walking towards it. They all climbed inside. 

   “ Ok, lets rock,” said Mark. 

   “ What did you say?”

   “ Never mind. Ride over towards those fields.” 

   Mark trotted around the back of the wagon, while Mat’s wife drove the wagon towards the field. A few minutes later they were there. The workers were hard at work, picking cotton. Mark stepped down from his horse, and walked around the side of the wagon.

   “ Ok,Mat Thompson. You tell the slaves that they are free and that you are going to let them live in the big house." 

   “ But what am I suppose to do. You n*****s can’t live inside of my house. It’s against the 

law." 

   “ Well, I’m changing the law. Now call them.”

   Mat called the slaves in. The slaves had stopped working and slowly started walking towards the wagon. They were wondering why there were no extra men beside Mat Thompson. They were also curious about the strange black man standing behind their master and was wondering why their master had brought along his family. Plus he was covered with blood.

   Mat stepped down from his wagon with the help of his wife. He turned towards his slaves. 

   “ I called you all here to tell you that you are free and that I am turning over this entire plantation to you. You can also have the house. I’m taking my family away from here.” 

   “ That’s good enough. Now you can get going.” said Mark 

   “ I would like to let you know that once the word gets out about n*****s living in my house, and on the plantation, and that I am nowhere to be found, their will be an uprising,” said Mat.

   “ You let me worry about that. Now I’m not going to tell you again. Get.”

   Mat’s wife started the horses to gallop. Mark turned towards the slaves.

   " You see? You are free to go. This place is yours.” 

   A black woman stepped forward. 

   “ We can’t live in Master’s place. We’ll be killed.” she said. 

   “ What’s your name?” asked Mark. 

   “ My name’s Mattie.” 

   “ Hi Mattie. I’ll protect you all from danger.” 

   “ But you’re only one man. Do you have any soldiers?” 

   “ No. I do better all by myself.” 

   “ Come on. Lets get to the house,” said Mark.

   The slaves started walking. They were talking among themselves. Soon they were at the big house. They were reluctant to go inside. They felt that there might be men hiding just to wait for them to enter so they can have fun whipping them and laughing at them while they were being punished. 

   “ I’ll go in first and show you that there is nothing for you to worry about.” 

   Mark went inside of the house. He had his weapon ready just in case. He went upstairs and around the back. The house was clear. He went back outside. 

   "You see. The house is empty. Come on.” 

   The slaves all went inside of the house. They slowly walked around. Some went into the kitchen where the food was. There was food all on the table. They began to start singing. Soon all of them were singing and they started passing around the food. 

   “They must be singing a slave song because I’ve never heard this one before,” Mark said to himself.

   Some of the men were jumping around or it could’ve been dancing. They started dancing as they were going out the door. The women had followed . Mattie started walking towards Mark. She showed a liking to him. 

   “ Hi Mattie. I thought you would be with your man,” said Mark. 

   Mattie had a nice figure and beautiful bone structure. Mark found it hard to believe that she didn’t have a man. 

   “ I don’t have a man. The Master forbid us getting together or we would get whipped. If we even looked at one another in a likable way we would get whipped. Therefore we keep to ourselves.” 

   “ Wow. Now that’s deep.” 

   “ You talk very strange, Mark. Where did you come from?” 

   “ You mean when did I come from.” 

   “ I don’t understand.” 

   “ You wouldn’t but that’s alright.You don’t have to understand.”

   There was some shots heard from outside. 

   “ Get down,” said Mark. 

   They all dropped to the floor. Mark crawled towards the window. He looked outside. There were at least twelve men with rifles. They had shot the few black slaves who were dancing outside. The slaves were all moaning on the ground. 

   “ Come on out n*****s or we’ll come in and shoot all of you,” ordered a man on horseback.

   “ What ‘ll we do Mark. They’re going to kill us all,” said Mattie.

   “ Don’t worry, Mattie. You just stay down.” 

   “ Now I know you all didn’t do this yourselves. I want that fancy dressed n****r to come outside or we’ll kill the slaves that’s on the ground in front of us,” said the rider. 

   “ I’m coming out,” said Mark. 

   “ They’ll kill you,” said Mattie. 

   “ Don’t worry about me.”

   Mark crawled over to his bag and took out a strange rifle. He pointed it towards the window, and shot a pulse blast at the rider. The rider fell off of his horse. Dead. The other riders didn’t hear a sound and they didn’t see a flash because there weren’t any. The pulse rifle doesn’t make a sound. It just sends out a beam of light that’s invisible. Once you have the victim in your scope, you just press the trigger, and watch your subject fall. 

   Mark was able to pick the riders off, one by one. The riders didn’t know what was happening to them. They had actually thought that the others had fallen ill. When finally only two were left. Mark had spoke up. 

   “ I’ve killed all of your friends. Now stepped down from your horses," ordered Mark.  

   “ How can you kill anyone without a gun? I didn’t hear any shots,” said the rider. 

   “ Look at the tree next to you,” said Mark.

   The riders that were left turned towards the tree, and all of a sudden the tree exploded. 

   “ I can do that to you,” said Mark. 

   The riders hurried off of their horses and stepped down on the ground.

   “ Drop your guns.” 

   The riders did just that. Mark stepped outside. 

   “ Walk towards me.”

   The men did. 

   ” Now lay on the ground.” 

   The riders did as they were told. 

   “ Someone get these people back inside,” said Mark.

   Some slaves came outside to help their comrades back inside. Mark started talking to the riders on the ground. 

   “ I’m letting you live because I wanted you to see the power I have. I can kill all of you. You go back into town and tell everyone that the Thompson’s plantation is off limits. The slaves own it now. The Thompson’s were forced to move away. If anyone comes back here to cause any trouble, I will come to your town and cause trouble of my own and you don’t want me to come to your town. Now get up and ride back to tell them all. The slaves rule,” said Mark.

   The riders got back on their horses and galloped off to town. Mark went back inside of the house to tend to the wounded. There were three wounded slaves. One women and two men. The woman looked as though she was shot in the shoulder. Mark reached into his bag and pulled out a gadget. He placed it on the women’s shoulder where the wound was located. 

   A series of beeps were made from the little machine. About a couple of minutes later Mark removed the machine and the woman’s eye’s had opened. He went to the other men and did the same. Soon they were all getting up from the ground.

   "Are you a medicine man?” one of the slaves had asked. 

  “ No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. I guess with what I have to work with, I could be a doctor in this time. What I brought along with me could make me a king,” said Mark.

   The slaves gathered around Mark.

   " My name’s Joseph. That’s the name my master had given me. We all have names that we were born with.” 

   “ Do you know your original names?” asked Mark. 

   “ All we know is that our ancestors had come from the mother country on ships and were brought here. That’s the story we have been told from our elders before they had passed away,” said Joseph. 

   " Yea, I’ve read about it,” said Mark.

   “ I don’t understand .You’ve read about it?” 

   “ I mean I was told about it.”

   Mattie walked up to Mark. 

   “ Do you want to walk around in the sun, before it goes down?” she asked. 

   “ I would like that,” said Mark. 

   They walked around, out on the plantation.

   " This is one beautiful piece of land and it’s all ours,” said Mark. 

   “ I can’t get used to calling this land ours but as long as you are with us we feel safe.” 

   Mattie moved closer to Mark and Mark moved closer to Mattie. Then they kissed. 

   “ You know something Mattie? I’m going to enjoy this time.” 

   “ Mattie laughed. You sure talk strange.”

   There was a rumbling heard from a distance. Mark turned around to see some riders in white hooded capes galloping towards them.

   " I didn’t know the K.K.K. was around this early. Go get inside of the house.Quick.

   " Mattie ran inside of the house. Mark hid behind a tree and waited .He had his side arm with him. The Clans had arrived and stopped. They got off of their horses and one of them started to light a torch. Mark pulled out his gun and fired at the clansman. The clansman’s arm flew off. 

   “ What the,Hell!” the man yelled out.

   Another man’s leg had dropped from his horse and he fell off screaming. A couple of trees were blown in half and a fire had started. The horses rose up on their hind legs and their riders had fallen off. The horses had ran away. The men on the ground were all squirming around trying to get up and trying to make out what had just happened. Mark had made his presence known. 

   “ Don’t move or you’ll die where you lay.” 

   The men froze. 

   “ Who are you?” one of the men had asked. 

   “ I’m the one who’s taking over this plantation and you are trespassing. Take off those hoods.” 

   They all did.

   “ Now take off your clothes” 

   “ Are you crazy?” asked one of the men. 

   Suddenly the ground had exploded next to them.

   " I said take them off.”

   The men hurried up and got nude. 

   “Now I want you all to go back into town and tell everyone that this plantation is ours and anyone who comes out here will be dealt with by me.” 

   The men got up and ran towards town. Mark shot at the ground around them. The men ran faster. 

   “ Hope that they got the message.”

   Back in town,Mat Thompson was talking to the constable. 

   “ Look Constable. I was run off of my property by some strange n****r, and he was carrying a weapon that I had never seen before in my life. Get some help to get this n****r off of my property. He’s stirring up my slaves and made me give my house to them.” 

   “ Look Mat. I’ll get some people together. We’ll hang that b*****d on the nearest tree in front of the slaves to leave a message. Meanwhile you,and your family should stay at the hotel until this matter is resolved.” 

   “ Thanks Constable.”

   Mat left the constable’s office and was met by a crowd of people who were staring at a group of naked men running towards the constable’s office. 

   “ Hey Constable? You better come out here,” said Mat.

   “ What now?” said the constable as he walked towards the door.

   Eight naked men had ran pass the constable.They ran into his office. The people ran in after him. 

   " What happen to you?” asked a man in the crowd. 

   “ Some n****r with a strange gun did this. How did he get a hold of a gun?” asked the naked man. 

   “ Yea. I’ve never seen that n****r around these parts before,” said another naked man. 

   “ That’s the one that ran me and my family off of my property and stirred up my slaves,” said Mat. 

   “ Ok, I want you men to get some clothes on and I need some men to come out with me to Mat Thompson’s plantation. We can’t let an armed n****r run around loose.” said the constable. 

   “ We’ll get our guns Constable,” someone said. 

   “ I want you all to meet me back here in one hour,” said the constable. 

   “ I don’t know, Constable. That black man have some kind of power that I’ve never seen before. I think it’s that black magic them slaves been practicing. They sing all the time while picking cotton,” said another naked man. 

   “ I don’t believe in black magic and go get dress,” said the constable. 

   “ Wait a minute Constable. The n****r said that if we come back and causes trouble he’ll come into town and bring Hell with him,” said the naked man. 

   “ No n****r can talk that way to a white man. Hurry up and get dress. I want to bring this n****r into town and make an example of him,” said the constable.

   One hour later the men had all shown up at the Constable's station. There were twenty of them all together. 

   “ Ok. Get your horses and lets ride,” said the constable.

   They all left the station together. Shouting. They jumped on top of their horses and rode off.

Mark was tending to the injured. 

   “ Ok, you’ll be fine now. I want all of you to be on guard because those white people are not known for giving up. I know they will be back so I want a volunteer to stand as a look out over there. On top of that hill. There you can see for miles away. You will be relieved every hour. I want another man to stand over there. In the back, on top of that hill. You will also be able to see for miles. 

   This way they will not be able to sneak up on us.” 

   “ I will go first over there,” said a slave. 

   “ What’s your name?” asked Mark. 

   “ My name’s Jeremiah.” 

   “ Ok,Jeremiah. You go over to that hill.” 

   “ I’ll stand guard on the hill in the back,” said a man walking towards Mark. 

   “ And what’s your name?” asked Mark.

   “ My name’s Moses,” he said. 

   “ Ok Moses. You stand guard over there. I think that should do it. The rest of you just keep your eyes and ears open,” said Mark. 

   Mattie walked up to Mark. 

   “ Did you use to be a soldier?” 

   “ I was once in the service a long time ago.” 

   “ Mark, can I talk to you for a minute?” asked Mattie.

   “ Sure Mattie.” 

   “ How did you come by such strange weapons?” 

   “ It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.” 

   “ Are you a witch?” 

   “ No Mattie,” Mark said, laughing.

   “ Are you a God?” 

   “ Mattie, I’m not a witch and I’m not a God.” 

   “ But you have such strange powers.” 

   “ Mattie, what I have are just machines. Where I come from these are common.” 

   “ You must come from a strange place.” 

   “ To you, it would be strange. Mattie, you better go into the other room. I can feel that there’s going to be trouble tonight.” 

   “ How do you know?” 

   “ I know my history. Now you go.”

   Mattie kissed Mark on the cheek and ran into the other room. The sun was going down. It was getting dark. Mark checked his weapons but because there was no electricity he had to use a lantern. He grabbed everything and placed them on his body. He went outside. He couldn’t see the two men on the hill and they couldn’t see him. The only light outside was that of the moon. It was a full moon and the sky was clear. No smog.

   The sun was completely down. The darkness have arrived. The only sound in the air was

that of crickets chirping and on the top of a hill, a short distance away,Jeremiah was staring off into the horizon when suddenly he had spotted something in the distance. 

   A thick line of light moving slowly up the road, about a couple of miles away. He couldn’t quite make out what it was but it was coming in his direction. He ran down the hill and back to the house. He opened the door suddenly and everyone had turned towards him.

   “ Jeremiah! What’s wrong?” asked one of the slaves. 

   “ I think they’re coming. I saw a long line of lights heading this way. Mark!” yelled Jeremiah,excitedly.

   Mark ran towards the front of the house. 

   “ How many are there?” 

   “ I couldn’t tell. They were so far away that I couldn’t count them. All I saw was a line of lights.” 

   “ Take me there.”

   Mark and Jeremiah left the house. They both ran towards the hill and then up to the top. 

   “ Right over there,” said Jeremiah, as he was pointing. 

   Mark looked on. 

   “ They’re carrying torches and they are about a mile and a half away,said Mark.” 

   “ I could’ve sworn that the line of lights were longer,” said Jeremiah. 

   “ Maybe it seemed that way when they were further out. Your eyes can play tricks on you.”    “ I guess you’re right, Mark. So what are we going to do? They have guns and we have nothing.” 

   “ You mean what am I going to do? Why don’t you go back with the others and let them know what’s going on.” 

   “ Mark, you’re not going to take them on all by yourself, are you?” 

   “ This is like a piece of cake. You just tell them that everything’s going to be alright and I’ll be there soon. Ok?”

   “ Ok Mark.”

   Jeremiah ran down the hill and back towards the house, while Mark looked on. 

   “ I can see that the road at the bottom of the hill leads right towards those riders. I’ll put on my night vision glasses to see the road better.” Mark said to himself. 

   He ran down the hill and jogged towards the riders. When the riders were nearer he jumped into some bushes. He counted about fifteen riders in all. He heard them talking about killing all of the slaves and getting new ones for Mat Thompson. They were all carrying their rifles on the side of their horses and were holding torches in their other hand.

   Mark took out his pulse rifle and aimed at the last rider. He shot at the bush in front of him, and his horse rose up on it’s hind legs. The rider fell off and started yelling. The rest of the riders had turned around and started riding towards the back. More bushes were exploding.

The riders had fallen off of their horses. They started shooting in all directions. Mark had shot one rider. He fell. Dead. The horses ran off. Now the riders were on foot. 

   “ I told you not to come back,” yelled Mark.

   “ Come on out N****r. We got something for you,” said one of the men. 

   As soon as he had said it he fell dead. More shots were fired. More men fell towards the ground. Soon there was only one man left alive. 

   “ I’m letting you live to tell the rest of your people what has happened here,” said Mark. “        The last laugh is on you N****r,” said the man.

   “ What do you mean?” 

   “ We knew that you might show yourself so we had split up. There are at least fifteen more riders that went around towards the back of the plantation. We knew that you couldn’t be in two places at once so about right now the other slaves are dead.” 

   “ You’re lying you b*****d.” 

   “ Go see for yourself.” 

   “ If you’re telling the truth then God help your town. You go tell them that. God better help your town because I’m bringing Hell with me. Go.” said Mark.

   The man got up from the ground and ran towards the town. Mark ran back towards the house. When he had arrived everything was quiet. He heard a low rumbling sound. He looked off to the side.He saw a line of torches along the road, going away from the plantation. They must have been about a half a mile away.

   He turned and went inside of the house. It was dark. Their were no lanterns burning. No sound. He started walking through his memory of how the house was made. He tripped over something. 

   “ What the….I better put back on my infrared glasses. Is everyone ok?”he yelled out while he was putting on his glasses. 

   After he had placed his glasses on his face he looked down towards the floor. 

   “ Damn! What happened?” he said out loud as he bent down to check the pulse of the slave that was laying on the floor. 

   He looked straight ahead. 

   “ My God.”

   There were bodies all over the place. 

   “ Mattie!” he yelled out as he started searching the bodies on the floor, crying and hoping that he didn’t see her’s. 

   The infrared glasses made everyone look about the same. He had to actually look closely at their faces. Even the kids were killed. He did see a dress that he had recognized. He walked over to the person who was wearing the dress. His worst fear had come true. It was Mattie. She was shot in the head. Right between her eyes. Mark bent down and placed his head on Mattie’s bloodied dress, and cried. He laid on top of her and fell asleep until morning.

   When he had awakened everything seemed worse because now he could see their faces. They never even had a chance. It was like they were rounded up and executed.

   “ So that’s how it is in this time period. Ok. Two can play that game and now it’s my turn.”

   Mark had gathered up his equipment.He placed them on his person. He had all kinds of weapons from his future. Weapons he had not used yet. He left the house but before he did, he had set fire to it. The house went up in a glorious flame. It was seen from the town.

   The towns people were shouting that there was a fire on the Thompson’s plantation. They started gathering equipment to carry towards the place. There were wagons with water in them and men on horses. All riding to the plantation. 

   Mark was riding along the road when he saw a group of people riding towards him. He got off of his horse and tied the horse to a tree. Out of sight. He walked over to the middle of the road. When the riders saw that a black man was standing in the middle of the road, they drew their guns but they didn’t get a chance to fire because their horses had thrown them. The trees had burst into flames. The riders were on the ground.

   Mark didn’t want to harm the animals but the men belong to him. He shot each and every one of them. Except one. 

   “ Get back on your horse and ride into town. Tell them that I’m coming.” 

   The man climbed back on his horse.He rode back towards the town. Mark got back on his horse and started riding .

   Now it was late in the afternoon. The sun was going down. Mark was on a hill, looking down towards the town. 

   “ By now they should’ve gotten my message.” 

   Mark started riding down the hill but then it struck him. 

   “ Those thick trees up ahead would be a good place for an ambush."

Mark climbed down from his horse.He tied the horse against a tree. He took out his rifle.He put it together using nuclear pellets. 

   “ One shot should do the trick."

   He aimed the rifle down towards the middle of the road, between the thick trees.Mark fired.      He pulled his horse down low enough so the heat blast will follow up the hill and over their heads.

   The pellet hit the middle of the road.It exploded. There was a small mushroom cloud up ahead. The thick trees up ahead had burst into flames. There were cries of pain up ahead also. Suddenly the bodies were wandering out on the road. Then they fell. Dead. A few minutes later, after the wind had died down, Mark had released his horse’s head so it can rise up on it’s legs.

   As Mark walked down the road, holding on to his horse, he noticed the bodies. They were all in different positions with their skins burned off of their bones. Some were in the direct path of the blast. Their shadows were the only thing left on the ground. At least it looked like their shadows.

   The townspeople saw the mushroom cloud.They didn't understand what it was. They also heard the blast. They’ve never heard a sound so loud before. There was smoke coming from up the trail in the distance. The people all gathered in the streets to see what it was. The men of the town had their guns ready. They all stared and then one man on a horse suddenly came out of the smoky road and was slowly heading in their direction.

   As the man on the horse became recognizable the people realized that it was a black man. 

   “ Look at the way he’s dressed,” said one of the townsmen. 

   “ That’s the n****r we’ve been after. He’s the one that’s been stirring up the slaves,” said another townsman. 

   “ Lets string the n****r up,” said another townsman.

   They all started running up the trail. Mark saw them and took out his rifle. He got down from his horse. He took aim and fired a nuclear pellet behind them. It exploded.The men, along with some homes had disintegrated. The townspeople had started running in all directions. Mark waited until the wind had died down.He then continued towards the town.

   The people started hiding but it didn’t do any good. Mark had fired more pellets at their homes and businesses and all that was extra had exploded. There were small mushroom clouds throughout the town. The town was engulfed in smoke and fire. Mark waited until everything had cleared up. It took about two hours but he didn’t mind. He just sat down, out of the path of the hot wind and thought about Mattie. 

   “ She didn’t deserve to die like that. None of them did.”

   After the wind had died down Mark decided that it was time to ride through the town. He did. There were skeletons laying in the streets and on the platforms. Shadows of people were up against the walls of buildings and homes. All of the homes were flattened. Some had disintegrated. Richmond Virginia was no more.

   Mark road out of the town. 

   “ There’s no place for me to go so I’ll just have to keep riding until I come across a place. The plantation was burned down. I thought that I could spend the rest of my life with people that I know and a woman for me to love but I guess that was never the case. I do know this. There are other plantations around. Other slaves that need my help. Only this time I won’t cause the deaths of many slaves. I now know what this time period is really about. 

   Not like the books that I’ve read. No, this is the real story. I do know this. When I’m done here, my timeline will have a new history about this time. Maybe in my timeline things will be different for my people. Just maybe. Until then,I have enough weapons to last a lifetime, cause nuclear power will never run out. In this time, history is mine.”

                                                                                                            The End

                                              www.takeittothelimitproduction.com

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Reviews

[SGCool]

Very nice work. I liked how it turned into a western.