Jack felt he was falling backwards. His body landed on a thick floor. Jack wanted to stand up, but he felt that something was wrong with his body. His field of vision was blurred. He was having a headache and wanted to throw up. His body was like an anvil he was trying to pull. In a nutshell, the man wasn't feeling good. He smelt his breath and realized he was drunk.
It took him a moment to finally stand still on his feet without stumbling. Standing up didn't really improve his condition, but at least, now, he could have a better visibility on the environment.
Jack was in an abandoned area of a big city, located beneath big concrete structures. Jack looked up, blinked, and understood that the structures were suspended highways. A part of one branch had collapsed. The blocks of concrete that had fallen were still on the ground. The city didn't rebuild the portion of the highway. Surprising, Jack thought. Budget issues?
Jack looked around. He spotted small tents in different corners of the place. One was right next to him. Haggard people were wandering, or sleeping on the asphalt ground, or getting heat around trash cans transformed into fireplaces, or searching trash cans to retrieve useful items. They all seemed to be homeless people.
Jack scanned his clothes. A pair of jeans stained by something that Jack had no idea of. Shoes that seemed to have stayed around his feet for a very long time. A jacket and a pullover that looked better, however, Jack got sick when he smelt the pieces. He must have been wearing this clothing for… He preferred not to give a number of days... even weeks... He chose this option again when he thought about the last time he had taken a shower, because his head and beard were itchy. Talking about these, Jack realized he had longer hair and a big beard when he touched it.
O'Neill tried to remain calm and focus. Sam was lying in a hospital bed and refused to see him because of the loss of Allison. Thinking about it broke his heart. Then, Teal'c pushed him into an event horizon that appeared from nowhere behind Jack. Next thing he knew, he was standing in this new environment, in a very different look. And drunk. How could he be drunk? Did it mean that everything he had lived in the previous situation wasn't real? Jack felt a bit relieved, thinking about this possibility. On second thought, he had no clue about his new situation, perhaps he should wait a little before feeling relieved... Was he travelling from one alternate reality to another? How? The event horizon? How did it appear in the middle of nowhere? Or was he in a dream? If he was, where were his real body enveloppe and mind? Or was he dead and his mind was finding its way to paradise or hell?
Jack was completely puzzled and scared. Nevertheless, he strived to look for a logical argument.
Everything started with this visit on Ender. There was no other possible explanation. Something happened and for some reason, Jack couldn't recall what, but the answer was clearly related to Ender. Having said that, how was Jack going back to Ender? Where was he by the way?
The general looked at the tent next to him, then, the people in the neighborhood. As nobody seemed to be interested in that tent, Jack chose to start with that. Maybe it was his. The man sneaked into it and got the confirmation that the tent belonged to him.
There was a picture of him with Charlie taped inside. The father and the son were smiling in a base ball stadium. Charlie had just participated to a game with other boys. O'Neill smiled, recalling the event. He also felt sad because he wouldn't share these precious moments with Charlie anymore. He felt sad again because he wouldn't share these precious moments with any kid in his reality... Unless he could come back and unless his Sam and he had children someday... Jack smiled, thinking about this more positive perspective. Although the previous situation didn't end very well, Jack had loved the idea of having children with Sam.
O'Neill turned to the Purple Heart hooked on the tent next to the photo. One he received after an injury during a mission. The general couldn't tell which mission, there had been many missions with more or less severe injuries.
On the floor, a sleeping bag, bags, and other stuff that the Jack in this reality or dream had collected God knows where. Plus two empty bottles of beer.
As a conclusion, Jack had been a homeless for some time. Days? Months? Years?
A homeless man in his late twenties opened Jack's tent and made him turn around. "Sorry, man, didn't mean to disturb." the unknown fellow apologized.
"That's okay." Jack reassured, trying to sound friendly.
"Wanna go to the soup kitchen?" the other guy proposed, happy by this perspective.
Jack hesitated a moment. He eventually accepted the offer, and before he followed his new friend, he took the picture of Charlie.