Fade by Chad West Page B

question came. Where were the children?
    He stank. That was another thing he noticed aside from the Grizzly Adams beard and the mop of stringy hair languishing on his head. The smell reminded him of rotted apples and old cola, and he forced it out of his nostrils, angry at himself for letting all this happen. He should have found a way to stop it. He should have found a way to be there for the girls. That was his lone job, the only damn job a broken soldier was good for, and he even screwed that up somehow.
    Bits and pieces of what happened stuck like pinpricks of light through the fog in his mind. It wasn’t enough to paint a coherent picture, or tell him how long he’d been… crazy or whatever had happened, or even how he’d gotten better. There was just enough to frustrate him more.
    Jonas opened his mouth and found it dry; his throat shut tight. He licked his lips and tried his voice, unsure how long it had been since he’d used it. “Jonas.” He tasted his own name, and then cleared his throat and spat. Wanting out of these woods, he looked up at the sun, the trees, and walked north, hoping it was a good direction. The old boots he wore slipped on the muck. Gushes of brown water leapt out of them with each step, but he managed to stay upright. He thought of those little girls again and picked up his pace.
    Jonas found the end of the woods and tramped out, finding himself on the edge of a highway. Cars growled by and a huge billboard across the road raved about the new Ford. He stared at the year of the new model and trembled. That long? It had been that long since he went away ? For the first time, the thought occurred to him that the war was over for him. If more than a decade had passed since he’d brought the girls there, if that long had gone by without an incident—and things looked much too normal to indicate the Fade had come—then it was doubtful the Fade were going to find them.
    His thoughts then changed from fear for the girls to curiosity about their lives. Were they safe? Were they happy? Did his daughter have a family who cared for her? Did he have any right to pull her away when there seemed no need—no ghoulish alien army bearing down on them? A heavy drop worked its way down his cheek. If they’d found a peaceful—a normal—existence, then he had to stay away. But, he did have to know. He had to find them and make sure. Then he would go about rebuilding whatever kind of life he could manage in this place. Although unlike they’d all imagined, his job would be done—the children safe.
    Jonas stepped out onto the gravel beside the highway and stuck out his thumb. Then he thought about what he looked like and dropped the arm. Home. He’d have to go to what was meant to be home for all these years. Then he could start his final mission.
    The first thing he did after arriving on this other Earth all those years ago was open up two cases which were filled with several types of valuables that the scouts who had first explored this Earth had reported were worth money there. Turned out to be the same diamonds, gold, silver and other, shiny trinkets his Earth had found worthy of a hefty price tag. He sold every bit of it, amassing a small fortune over the first six months he and the three girls were there.
    By some miracle, the shelter was finished by the time the headaches started all those years ago. He hadn’t lasted long after the headaches began. They had warned him that some of the scouts had experienced minor vertigo, and even gave him meds for it. Said it was nothing. Losing one’s entire self for almost fifteen years wasn’t nothing . Something about being on this alternate Earth had stolen his mind. Like it had rejected him for not belonging there. But, thankfully, it hadn’t affected the children.
    The shelter was all but underground, but the inside had been bright and comfortable, for the kid’s sakes. But he only got to see them enjoy it for a short time. It seemed that no sooner