The City of Wanderers - No Peaceful North Part One

Chapter Four

Wes did not sleep at all that night. He was up trying to occupy his mind so he wasn't thinking about what had happened on the ferry. It was around 5am when Knox seemed to have suddenly appeared in their living room. Wes didn't hear him coming.
"You're not taking this well, huh?" Knox asked Wes in a bit of a condescending way. Wes only stared back at him, noticing he was wearing Wes' old high school hoodie, which prompted him to ask "Where did you get that hoodie?"
"Your husband is letting me borrow it. He found it downstairs." Knox answered before asking him again "Do you think we could talk about what happened? I feel like you should know some things about me."
Wes did want to know more, especially why some strange group was hunting down a teenager.
"Despite what they will tell you, my name is Knox and I'm not the person behind the attacks in Paradise. My family was framed for what happened because my father just happens to be the leader of a rival group, The Bow River Peacekeepers." Knox began explaining to Wes, who had no idea about any of that besides the attack in Paradise.
"Randy Lee is their dictator and he truly believes we killed his son, Nate. He ran us all out of the city and sent his two remaining offspring after us, Noah and Niamh." Knox finished explaining. He then got closer to Wes, who was standing by the kitchen counter, and started asking him "Now tell me, did you kill her? Did you kill Niamh?"
Wes wasn't sure how to deal with that confrontation. He backed away a bit and told him "I may have played a part in her disappearance."
"You did kill her, an innocent person wouldn't say that." Knox responded as Wes pleaded "It was an accident, I swear!"
"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. I just..." Knox started speaking but couldn't seem to finish his sentence. He took a deep breath and then said "If you didn't do whatever you did, she would've had the both of us killed and moved on to kill more people. So, you just saved a bunch of lives. Thank you."
Wes wasn't sure what to think anymore. Clearly Knox went through quite a lot if he was seemingly glad that Wes killed someone. It didn't make him feel any better about it though, the guilt was still eating away at him. But maybe it was for the best if what Knox said was true.
"Though I've likely just put you and Aditya into more danger just by being around so I should probably leave soon." Knox told Wes as he turned around only to turn back and face Wes again to ask "Wait, are you from Fort Saint John?"
Out of everything that kid could've asked Wes, that question was one of the least expected ones. He replied with "Uh, yeah, why do you ask?"
"My sister is there right now and I need to get to her. Do you know how I can get there?" Knox asked Wes again.
"From here? Good luck. Even before the downfall of humanity it was difficult to get there. You either have to drive, hope someone will give you a ride or book an overpriced flight." Wes told Knox before adding "I don't think I can drive safely so I can't take you, but maybe Aditya will. He's nice like that."
Knox thought about it for a moment before saying "But you guys have already done enough for me. You literally lost your eye protecting me."
"If it meant I would save another life then I'd also lose my other one." Wes responded to what Knox said. He smiled a bit as he said back "We need more people like you in this world."
Aditya woke up and joined them about an hour later. He seemed to be a bit surprised to have woken up after Wes as he was usually the one refusing to get up in the morning.
"Aditya, I need to get to Fort Saint John as soon as possible. Think you could help me?" Knox asked upon seeing him enter the room. He looked at Knox for a few seconds before responding with "What and where? Huh?"
"Small city to the northeast, if it still exists. Knox's sister is there and I'm also from there." Wes provided context for Aditya. He was silent for a few more seconds as he was trying to process everything said to him. Eventually Aditya responded "Oh, yeah sure. I'm always up for a bit of adventure. We haven't left this area since before all of this."
"I've never been outside of Calgary before this either, except the few times I went to Banff, Edmonton and Drumheller." Knox said, trying to relate to Aditya.
"And you've never been past Kamloops going north." Wes told Aditya as he asked "Is this town near there?"
"No, further. Past Prince George." Wes replied.
"Well, guess we're going there then. Anything to get out of Pacifica for a while." Aditya said as Knox informed him "If we can, there's a barricade and they don't just let anyone in or out."
Aditya suggested "I have a sister in Kelowna, I'm sure that's a valid enough reason to head that way."
The two continued their conversation as Wes laid back down on the couch. He didn't really want to go to Fort St. John as he left for many reasons. Burnt bridges in a metaphorical sense, being on bad terms with his family there and he thought the place just sucked. He willingly chose Surrey over it. Wes wasn't ready to possibly deal with those confrontations if anyone recognized him there. His appearance had changed a lot in the nearly 20 years since he was last there. His hair was long, he had a full beard, had gained more weight since then and was missing an eye.
"Do you think you should come too, Wes?" Aditya asked Wes, who replied "I shouldn't but I know you will get lost on the way."
"You think you're well enough?" Aditya asked again.
"It only hurts if I put pressure on it. Other than that I'm physically fine." Wes answered before adding "But I shouldn't drive."
"That's fine, I will drive." Aditya said as Knox told him "Thank you so much, both of you."
Wes knew he was going to regret that, but it didn't have to be for long. Go there, drop Knox off once they find who he's looking for and then go back. Avoid contact with anyone who could know him.