A Story A Day Challenge 2025 – A Leap Backwards Part 1

Robert slowly scanned the area around him. The small village still burned, the hollowed out ruins were all the evidence left that people once lived here.

“Aerial bombardment?” a voice in his ear comm asked.

Robert shook his head, though his partner couldn’t see it. “Looks like. Orbital wouldn’t have left ruins.”

“Yeah.”

The readout on his HUD reported no life signs, but that was expected. The systems were still being updated to register the dead as anything beyond movement. It was a design flaw that hindered their targeting systems.

It seemed an obvious glitch, but who could expect this?