Strange Trails (An Endless Paths Novel) by Steve Statham

Author:Steve Statham [Statham, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Statham Communications LLC
Published: 2017-10-20T06:00:00+00:00

17

Ray watched the twenty-dollar bills slide out of the ATM. The small pieces of paper seemed alien to him, remnants from another time and place.

He held them in his hand, feeling the texture of the paper, and noting all the small words and numbers.

Then he snorted and jammed them into his pocket.

Quit being so dramatic. You've only been gone a couple days, for cryin' out loud.

But he smiled, despite his inner reprimand. The last few hours had emboldened him. He felt he was getting the hang of navigating between the worlds. Finding his way, he discovered, was a matter of locating and following a particular resonance along the pathways. The paths that led to worlds close to his own chimed in his head like the natural rhythms of his own body.

Other paths filled him with a cold dread. He could only assume those led to less welcoming Earths. After leaving the world of the grinning horny toad he had concentrated on one particular path, an intriguing one that somehow seemed to branch off into a completely unique and mysterious direction, but he had felt the dull ache from the shard in his back and an itch inside his skull, like fire ants burrowing in his brain. He took it as a warning and turned away from that path. He immediately felt better.

Once he figured this out, Ray had located his own Earth and his old life—what remained of it—without much trouble. He still held the sprawling, mysterious map in his mind, and it now made a lot more sense.

So Ray was home, but he knew it was only a stop-over. He figured it would be the best place to resupply and plan his next move. Still, even though he knew he was back on his homeworld, he hadn't been precisely sure where he was. He had not emerged back at his home, or even in his town.

After wandering along a road for a while, hobbling on his bare feet, Ray finally came across a highway sign and determined where he was. He was still in central Texas, although many miles from where he'd first walked the path to another world. He realized that even though he had traveled to many places over the last few days, geographically, he had remained in the same part of the world. That, too, was worthwhile knowledge.

At least if I take a wrong step, I'm not going to end up in the middle of Russia or something.

He'd had to hitchhike his way into the city, but that wasn't so unusual. With the tornado damage to his town and the surrounding areas, thousands had been left without cars. He'd spied many other people on the side of the road with thumbs out, and many drivers willing to stop and pick them up.

He would have walked all the way if needed. Amy was out there somewhere. He would find her.

Nagging doubts vied for his attention, but Ray pushed them aside. There was no going back, no looking back.

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