"Holy shit, that's huge!" Faith said as they looked at the barge which easily dwarfed, not only the two tugboats tied to it, but the dock itself.
"That's at least half a football field," Dawn said.
"Yeah, I think the 'third of a football field' measurement was just referring to amount of useable deck," Xander said as they stared at it.
"Why is there a three-story building on the back of it?" Dawn asked.
"Offices and possibly living quarters for the people on board," Xander guessed.
"And a crane on front to load railroad cars and shit," Faith said.
"Giles really outdid himself," Xander said as they slowly drove up to the wide metal ramp that would allow them to drive onto the deck.
"This still feels unreal," Dawn said, voicing what they were all thinking.
"I would love for us to turn out to be wrong," Xander admitted, "but I don't see it happening." He eased the truck slowly onto the metal ramp but the weight didn't cause the barge to shift a millimeter as he drove onboard.
"Big Tweed is already here," Faith noted as she spotted Giles onboard arguing with someone.
"Let's go see what's going on," Xander suggested, driving over to where Faith had gestured near the superstructure on back.
"And I'm telling you even if we put a rush on it, it'd take at least eight hours and cost another 20 grand," the man told Giles.
Xander leaned out the window and Giles nodded to him before returning to his conversation. "I understand and I don't mind the charge, however wire transfers from Great Britain require additional time to clear, so I would appreciate if you would simply add it to my bill for my return."
"It's against company policy," the man replied, "While we can charge vehicle rental and repair against accounts, consumables like fuel and water require payment up front."
"Pass me thirty," Xander told Faith, who popped the glove box and passed him three bundles of hundreds.
"Pardon?" Giles said, turning to Xander who handed him the money out the window.
"Pay the man and have him fill all the tanks, replace the toilet paper, and anything else he can think of," Xander said.
Giles passed the money over. "Sufficient?"
"Easily," the dock worker assured. "Hell, I'll get Benny to check the oil and refill the soap dispensers in the bathrooms."
Faith passed Xander another bundle and gestured towards the dock worker with her chin.
Xander tossed him the bundle. "That's for all the little things we don't know enough to ask about so we can leave on time."
The dockworker grinned. "Yes, sir. I'll make sure of it." He strode off with a spring in his step.
"Where did you get all that money?" Giles asked, nodding politely to Faith and Dawn, not at all surprised Xander had picked up Faith and another young person.
"The Mayor," Xander replied. "In exchange for the safety of Faith and Dawn, he's also going to be delivering a number of trucks filled with supplies."
"I… I hadn't thought he'd be so agreeable or place such a high value on Faith," Giles admitted.
"People are complicated," Xander said. "He's probably going to do a sleeping beauty act until the human population recovers so he's not our problem anymore. We can write some prophecies to bug future Scoobies about him later, when we're bored."
"Alright," Giles said. "I'll warn Buffy about Faith, so she doesn't do anything rash, but I'd suggest keeping the tranquilizer gun handy, just in case."
"Will do," Xander agreed. "Also, Dawn came up with the idea of test driving or renting RVs and bringing them on board."
"That's brilliant," Giles said. "Why did none of us think of that?" he asked rhetorically.
"Also, she suggested making sure to grab household supplies like silverware and plates as well as binoculars and telescopes for when the TV and radios go down, so we can scan the shore."
"All things we would likely overlook and need later," Giles said. "Miss Dawn, it is very nice to meet you."
"Thanks," Dawn said, beaming at having her contribution acknowledged.
"We need a ride to the rental place," Xander said. "Got your car with you?"
"Yes, I parked it on the pier," Giles replied.
"Good," Xander said. "If the Mayor comes through, and I believe he will, we'll have plenty of time to make sure we have everything and pull out early."
"That would be wise," Giles agreed sadly, knowing they were leaving the majority of the city to die.
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Giles and Faith sat in the front of Giles' car while Dawn and Xander were crammed in the back seat, though Dawn had solved the space problem by having Xander turn sideways and climbing on his lap.
"Wake me when we get there," Dawn said, pulling Xander's arms around her like a blanket and closing her eyes.
Xander was a bit surprised, but seeing Faith's amused grin put him at ease and he found himself nodding off as well, Dawn a comforting weight in his arms.
"Where is the rental place?" Faith asked.
"Just a couple of miles outside of town," Giles replied. "It's rather a large facility, but I suspect the real reason it's outside of town is for safety rather than tax purposes."
"If they're in the know this may be easier," Faith said, "we drop the bomb and he lets us borrow what we want with the understanding that if the world doesn't end, we return it all."
"That would be helpful," Giles agreed.
An awkward silence fell in the car for several minutes until Giles finally broke it, "I wasn't aware you had a younger sister."
"Didn't trust you guys enough to tell you," Faith said flatly.
"Not an entirely unwarranted response," Giles admitted. "While I will maintain that you overreacted, I cannot in good conscience say we did not give you at least some justification for it."
"What?" Faith asked, not wanting to try and untangle his overly wordy reply.
"We all screwed up," Giles said as simply as possible.
Thinking over what Xander had told her, she slowly nodded. "I could have handled it better," she admitted, "but the thought of Dawn alone on the streets of Sunnydale…"
"I understand," Giles said. "You should know that the group is… in a way… a family to us."
Faith considered that for a moment, thinking of what she knew of the Scoobs and their home life. It explained why they had all acted so betrayed when she was just looking out for herself and her little sister, not to mention why they were so reluctant to let her into their group. "Fuck," she said softly, realizing how bad they'd all screwed up.
"Indeed," Giles agreed with just a hint of amusement.
The silence was much less awkward this time. The sun was just above the horizon by the time they'd reached Dave's RV World.
"Whoa," Faith said as she saw the acres of vehicles parked in neat little rows.
"Yes," Giles agreed, "I heartily concur."
Faith looked in the back seat and smiled. "Almost hate to wake them."
Giles consulted his watch. "We have nearly ten minutes until they open, so why don't we discuss our plans and see if we can solve some problems before they start?"
Faith nodded. "The Boss is filling Xander's wish list, so we're pretty much just grabbing what my little sis suggested, RVs, dishes and shit, plus some binoculars and telescopes."
"That covers a lot of the bases," Giles said. "I would suggest expanding the list of items to anything that catches your eye."
"Huh?" Faith asked.
"Obviously you are going to need to purchase a number of different things to set up a household properly," Giles explained, "but since you are only going to get one shot at it, be sure to wander the mall and buy anything that catches your eye. In fact, buy multiples so you can replace anything that breaks or wears out in the coming months. If you decide you don't need or want something, you can always stow it in one of the trucks."
"No idea how much of everything I use, but I get the picture," Faith agreed. "We can grab an RV, take it to the mall, and then stock it with all the stuff we need, just to be sure we got it. I mean, I know the boss dots the I's and crosses the T's pretty well, but he's a bit busy with his own thing as well and we're wingin' it here."
"Exactly," Giles agreed.
"You going to fill up on magic junk?" Faith asked.
"Pardon?" Giles asked, not sure what she meant.
"Going to shop for all the stuff you need to cast spells and such, since I don't imagine much of it is on the lists we already got," Faith explained.
"I hadn't thought of that," Giles admitted. "I'll have to wait until the banks open as the shops that do sell such things don't take credit, but thanks to you three we are no longer as pressed for time."
"Nah, I'll cover you," Faith said. "As Xander pointed out, it's all just going to be funny colored toilet paper by the time midnight rolls around anyway so there's no use hanging onto it. Just pick up some For Dummies and Beginner's Guides so we got something to do while we're waiting, ok?"
"We are going to have an excess of time on our hands," Giles said with some surprise. "It's been so long since I've even had a day off I'm not sure what I'll do. Teaching magic isn't a bad idea. Thank you, Faith. I believe I will take you up on your offer."
Faith nodded and looked over at the prefab building they'd used for an office. "Looks like they're opening a bit early," she said.
"Good, while we may have more time, sitting around doing nothing is frustrating," Giles said.
"Xand, sis," Faith said loudly. "Wakey, wakey!"
Dawn slowly woke up. "Must have dozed off."
Xander sat up, adjusting his hold on Dawn but not letting her go. "Whoa, nice selection of RVs," he said.
"The RVs are nice," Faith said, "but look at those tour buses."
"I wonder if they deliver," Dawn said.
Xander and Faith exchanged looks and shook their heads.
"Ok, new plan," Xander said. "We have them deliver half a dozen RVs and tour buses while we rent a good size box truck and hit the mall. We hit a couple of specialty shops on the way to the barge and we should all be on board and ready to pull out by eight."
"Why so early?" Faith asked.
"Cause delays kill and I'm not taking chances with any of you. We are all going to be safely away when it hits the fan," Xander said firmly.
Dawn had to stop herself from purring as she grinned.
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"I, I can barely believe it," Joyce said as she packed up all her clothes, Buffy taping the box up and setting it to the side.
"I know," Buffy agreed. "We worked so hard and sacrificed so much that it's really screwed up that someone else… screwed up."
"At least Giles was ready with a backup plan to keep you safe," Joyce said, feeling an urge to hug the man who honestly did his best to keep her daughter safe by making her strong enough to face anything.
"Actually, I think the plan was mostly Xander's," Buffy said.
Joyce stopped what she was doing. "Really?"
"Yeah, but don't worry, Xander has probably seen every Zombie movie ever made and he is great at coming up with crazy ideas that actually work," Buffy assured her.
"This actually seems pretty well thought out," Joyce pointed out.
"Like I said, he's probably seen every Zombie movie ever made," Buffy said with a grin.
"Well, I for one am glad of it," Joyce decided. "I think I've got everything I need except furniture and we can use a truck for that. Are you sure we are going to have room for my SUV?"
"Easily," Buffy assured her. "Wait until you see the ship, it's huge!"
"Alright, then I suppose we should drop all this off and grab some breakfast while we wait for the bank to open," Joyce said.
"It'd be quicker just to make breakfast here," Buffy said.
"No dear, it only seems quicker because I do most of it while you are still asleep, also we might as well enjoy eating out while we have the chance," Joyce explained.
"I suppose you're right," Buffy said. "Can I have cinnamon buns?" she asked hopefully.
"We'll buy enough for days," Joyce promised.
"Really?"
"Of course," Joyce reassured her. "Now let's go, food and coffee await, and I have not had coffee or my morning cigarette yet."
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"Are you sure that's all you need?" Willow asked as she looked at the dozen boxes in the back of the truck Oz had borrowed from his cousin.
"Everything else I plan on buying new," Oz replied. "I figure my college fund is going to come in very handy today."
"What?! But you need that to…" Willow trailed off and looked thoughtful. "We will be hitting the college book store," she finally said, it was not a question.
"And a music store," Oz added.
"To buy tapes or instruments?" Willow asked.
"Both," Oz replied.
"We should pick up a box of condoms," Willow suggested, blushing bright red. They hadn't had sex yet, but considering what was going on, she was pretty sure they would be in the coming months.
"We are going to be at sea for six to nine months," Oz reminded her.
Willow's face went blank for a moment as she was deep in thought before she said, "OK, and add a sex shop to the list. We need condoms, lube, videos, handcuffs…"
Oz's eyes widened a touch as she continued with the list… before adding a few items of his own. It wasn't like they had to use everything they were getting, but waste not, want not.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel