The City of Wanderers - No Peaceful North Part One

Chapter Ten

They were on the road again. The shock had worn off and Wes felt very nauseous about what happened. Aditya asking him about it wasn't helping much, but he explained to him what happened anyways.
"I don't know what to say other that I'm sorry you two had to witness that. This whole thing is just really sad." Aditya said as Knox rather angrily mentioned "Whole thing could've been avoided if there wasn't a need to keep the capitalist machine going at all times."
Wes found that to be a rather bold statement coming from a 15 year old, though he had the right to be angry about it all. At least Wes got to experience life before the outbreak for a few decades.
"If Hirsch wasn't assassinated the country would probably still exist too." Aditya mentioned.
"It kinda does still, but the Republic of Canada is different. Randy loves to boast about how he's the line of defence that keeps them out of the west." Knox continued the conversation. That was true, though it was like choosing between two evil dictators. British Columbia became its own thing, renamed to New Columbia and moved the capital to Pacifica, formerly known as Vancouver.
"I never understood them. They're lead by an anonymous person who dresses like a wolf all the time and apparently they killed Edith Hirsch. Why tolerate that? I assume they didn't have a choice." Aditya started rambling again as Knox snickered and said "Someone's fursona became the new leader of Canada. Would be amazing if they weren't also a fascist dictator."
"'Fursona'?" Both Wes and Aditya asked at the same time. Wes was already somewhat familiar with the concept but never looked into it.
"I forgot y'all are boomers, my bad. Basically, an anthro animal someone draws to represent them. And if they have the money, they get something called a 'fursuit' made of them. They're called 'Furries' and they had whole conventions dedicated to it." Knox explained to them. Wes and Aditya were both Gen X but it was close enough.
"Oh, those people. Those costumes were very well made." Aditya responded as Wes remained silent. Knox continued with "Yeah, I wish I could have one sometimes. Maybe in the future if I am still alive I could have my character made. His name is 'Toxic' and he's a black and green wolf."
Aditya would then ask him what their fursonas would be. Knox told them that Aditya would be a tiger while Wes' would be a ram. He chose to take that as a compliment.
They eventually made it to the town of Williams Lake and like everywhere else it seemed to be empty. They did not stop there, they continued going. They passed by more places such as McLeese Lake and Kersley before reaching Quesnel.
To their surprise, Quesnel was not abandoned. There was power and other vehicles on the road. The people they encountered in 100 Mile House were right. Though they chose not to stop there, getting to Fort St. John with as much daylight as possible was their priority.
Next town they passed through was Hixon, which seemed to be empty unfortunately, along with every other tiny town until they reached Prince George, the largest city in Northern New Columbia.
"Think we could stop here for a bit? I haven't eaten since we left Kelowna and I'm quite hungry right now." Aditya asked Wes, who told him "I also wanted to stop here briefly anyways, so yes."
Wes used to visit Prince George often on some weekends with his family when he was younger. It was either that or Grande Prairie, Alberta. He hadn't been there since he decided to live in the Lower Mainland over 20 years ago and wanted to know how it was.
The city was still alive with people. It was if nothing had happened there. It was the most traffic they've seen on the road in years heading into the city. There was snow everywhere still as well, it looked like they had a recent snowfall. They decided to stop at a park across the river on the north side of the city. It was along the river shore and Wes decided to sit by it.
He felt weird being back. The city changed quite a bit since he was last there too. More people, more buildings. Wes felt a bit nostalgic about it as well. He was still anxious about returning to his hometown and that anxiety only worsened as they got closer.
Wes stared at his reflection in the river, still not liking how his scar looked. Despite that, he couldn't stop staring at it. He then saw Niamh's reflection appear next to him, still with the knife in her eye. Wes jumped up and stumbled backwards away from the water out of fear only to see it was Aditya suddenly appearing next to him.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Aditya apologized as Wes was confused as to what happened. Perhaps the several hours he had gone without sleep was catching up to him.
"It's fine, I'm just seeing things that aren't really there." Wes responded as he rubbed his eye. Aditya suggested "Maybe you should lay down on the backseats and try to get some sleep."
Wes thought that was a good idea. He doubted Aditya would get lost now that they were on the north side of Prince George. The road was straight forward until a town called Chetwynd on the other side of the rockies.
"Yeah, maybe I should. Just keep following Ninety-Seven and you'll reach the place." Wes took Aditya's suggestion as he started holding Wes' hand.
"I also wanted to say that, despite the horrors we've come across today, I've been enjoying this journey. I've never explored the province outside of the Okanagan before, I wish I could've seen it before the outbreak. I had no idea any of this was here." Aditya started telling Wes as he responded with "To be honest, it's not that much different."
"We should do this more often. I'd love to spend more time here and get to know the place." Aditya said to him. Wes never thought he'd hear someone say they'd love to spend more time in Prince George.
"If you want to, I guess. The northwest is prettier." Wes told Aditya in response. He'd love to bring him to towns like Smithers or Kitimat, he knew Aditya would love those places more. Aditya then started hugging Wes as he quietly told him "I also love you."
Wes hugged him back and replied "I love you too, Adi."
Once they let go of each other, Aditya suggested again "Maybe you should eat something too. You might feel a bit better."
Aditya was probably right but Wes had no appetite, he lost it after fighting that wanderer and he was too anxious for it to come back.
"Maybe." Was Wes' only response to that.
Wes did decide to eat something before going to lay down. He could only eat half of a sandwich before he started feeling a bit nauseous again. Once it was time to continue, Knox sat in the front passenger seat while Wes took over the back. He told them to wake him once they reached Chetwynd or if they encountered anything that they needed him for. It was starting to get late in the day when they left Prince George, they definitely weren't gonna have enough daylight to at least reach Chetwynd. That was fine to Wes, as long as they made it to Fort St. John before the next day.