The City of Wanderers - No Peaceful North Part One

Chapter Seven

Wes couldn't sleep that night again. He couldn't stop thinking about what Knox had told him along with how the event played out for him. When he did eventually sleep he had a nightmare about it and was wide awake again. Wes was also worried about returning to his former hometown still, he wasn't ready for any encounters with anyone who knew him. He laid awake next to his husband for the rest of the night until morning.
Morning came and Aditya got up while Wes remained in bed. He suddenly felt sleepy only for it to be short lived due to a smoke alarm going off.
"Smoke alarm, more like 'warning you that someone in your home is cooking' alarm." Wes heard Aditya speaking from the other end of the room. Wes sat up and stretched as his husband asked him "Did you sleep okay?"
Wes rather cheerfully answered "Not at all."
"Oh? I'm sorry, Wes. You not feeling well?" Aditya asked as he sat next to him. He was right, Wes still felt horrible but he couldn't share why. Instead, he answered with "Just still shaken up I guess."
Aditya wrapped his arm around Wes and told him "Yeah, I would be too if I were in that situation. Again, if there's anything I can do to help please tell me."
Wes thought about it for a moment and decided to confess to one of the things bothering him.
"I think I'm just nervous about going back. I left that town years ago and rarely talk about it for a reason." Wes told Aditya as he asked "Oh, I see. Do you want to talk about it more?"
"No, not really. I just want to get it over with." Wes responded, though he still would prefer to stay in Kelowna or go back to Pacifica.
"And we will today, hopefully." Aditya said before standing back up again and suggesting "Before we leave, you should maybe take a shower. I can tell you haven't for a while."
Wes couldn't help but to laugh a little and replied "Thanks, Adi."
"No problem. I'll be in the living room with the others if you need me." Aditya told Wes, who responded with "I'll be out eventually."
Once Aditya left, Wes decided to take his advice and have a shower. His scar was stinging a bit upon contact with the water but nowhere near as bad as it was before. Or he had gotten used to it. He couldn't wait to get the stitches removed, they occasionally itched and he couldn't scratch them without making it worse.
Wes looked at himself in the mirror that was still defogging after he was done. He still hated how his scar looked. It went vertically across seemingly the entire left side of his face. He covered it back up and put the rest of his clothes on before leaving to go join everyone else.
Upon entering, everyone looked at Wes as he noticed only one person was absent, that being Knox. Riya's husband, Matt Gould, was finally there as well. He was like Wes but with brown and shorter hair.
"Geez, what happened to you?" Matt asked upon seeing him, to which he replied with "Work related accident."
"Yeah, it's why we're off for a while." Aditya added, playing along with Wes' story. Anna, the youngest kid, then told Wes "You look like a pirate."
"Anna!" Riya tried to stop her but Wes said "I do indeed."
"So, you're going back north? You aware of what's up there?" Matt asked Wes again as he wandered over to everyone.
"Maybe? We were warned of road pirates and stuff like that." Wes answered as Matt told him "They only really target semis, regular people usually aren't worth the effort."
"Have you been travelling recently?" Wes decided to ask him.
"I haven't but I know several people who have. I know a few who are here from Fort Saint John and they've all told me the place is rather unusual now." Matt responded as Wes asked him again "How so?"
"For starters, the city is run by a half-zombie or whatever. She also manages a group of zombie hunters essentially who collect them. Nobody knows why they do, not even their own members." Matt elaborated as Wes thought to himself "So that rumour is true, somewhat."
"That is quite unusual, you'd think one would put them out of their misery so they don't spread it further." Aditya commented while Wes said "That place has always been weird like that."
"They were doing this twenty or so years ago?" Matt asked Wes.
"No, nothing like that. The place just always had something weird going on." Wes answered as Riya added "I think every town and city does. I mean, this city's whole economy once relied on people drinking wine."
Wes chose to no longer elaborate, he figured at least Aditya would understand soon enough.
"Still kinda does, Kelowna is more like a fancy trading post for other cities that a lot of people live in now." Matt responded to Riya. They continued to talk about how the city was in the current age. Used boats on the lake as the primary way of getting to the other civilizations along it such as Vernon and Penticton. Despite being ruined by an out of control wildfire, the one in West Kelowna was still active as well. People still lived there and mostly farmed near the lakeshore, everywhere else on that side was mostly abandoned however. The nearby town of Peachland was burned out too.
"Do you know what the rest of the province is like by chance?" Aditya asked Matt.
"Not from personal experience, but most places north of here are abandoned. Prince George still has people and obviously Fort Saint John does too. They're the only two places I still hear from that are north. Be very careful and try not to run out of fuel or have your vehicle breakdown while on your way." Matt explained as Wes mentioned "Hopefully not, we do have enough fuel to get there and back."
They had a few canisters of diesel in the back of their truck. Wes' truck was pretty reliable, never had many issues. He doubted it would spontaneously have one on their journey.
Eventually it was time to go, they wanted to do most of the driving while they still had daylight. Wes wanted to stop there again on their way back so he knew he'd be seeing them again soon. Knox was with them in the back again, he was laying down on the seats. As they headed towards Vernon, just past Kalamalka Lake, Aditya asked Wes "Since you seem to know where we're going, we just stay on this highway the whole way, right?"
"Only until Kamloops." Wes answered, certain he was remembering correctly. He then elaborated "Highway Ninety-Seven branches off into different ones that go different directions. We're going north, not to Alberta or back to Pacifica."
"You seem to have the roadmap of the province memorized. Meanwhile I sometimes forget how to get to other places in Surrey." Aditya commented on Wes' strange memory prioritization, which he agreed with. Wes also hoped he was still right, he hadn't been further north than Kamloops since he left the north over twenty years ago. Still wasn't looking forward to it but Wes did want to spend time on the mainland. Soon he would have to return to the sea.