Chapter 4

Rivet City

Nobody noticed that Moriarty was lying dead on top of the bomb until morning.

Sandra had slipped back into her hotel room that evening, waited for the stealthboy to wear off, then returned to her friends in the bar.

She tried her best to cheer Gob up and she managed to get a smile out of him before she, Charon, and Bryan headed back to her house for the night.

They all had a long, restful slumber, Sandra sleeping oddly soudly despite what she'd done the night before.

When she awoke, Charon was downstairs tinkering with his shotgun, and Bryan was still snuggled into his sleeping bag.

Charon hardly ever slept. She'd been meaning to talk to him about it, but it always managed to slip her mind...

"Get packed and ready, Charon. We're heading out soon," Sandra said when she thumped down the stairs. "Wake Bryan up, and make sure he eats and gets clean."

Charon stared at her.

Sandra vanished out the front door before he could retort.

There was a pause, during which Charon merely glared at the door.

"What… am I a friggin' babysitter now…?"

Meanwhile—the lone wanderer ventured deeper into town.

Most of the townspeople were huddled around the megaton bomb, and Sandra knew why.

She put on her best face of nonchalance and approached the crowd.

"Oh... hey, kid," Gob said when he spotted her. "Shit… you're not gonna believe this. They found Moriarty dead on the bomb. The guardrail broke. He just… fell… to his death..."

"Did he?" Sandra said tonelessly. "Huh. Then I guess you just got promoted."

Gob blinked.

"I mean... you can run the saloon now," Sandra explained with a smirk. "We have to go, but I'll come back as soon as I know where my dad went. Good luck."

Sandra scooped Gob into a hug, and he returned it.

When they separated, he was giving her a rather studying look.

"Kid. Did you..." he uttered, glimpsing over at the mangled remains of Moriarty, which were lying in the radioactive water puddle now.

"You were the first friend I made out here… you know that?" Sandra told him.

"Well... likewise," Gob replied. "But..."

"You made my life a lot easier that day," Sandra whispered. "I just wanted to... return the favor."

With a final smile, Sandra wandered up the hill and out of sight.

After Sandra and her companions left town, Gob made sure not to repeat what she'd said to anyone. No one else in Megaton would know how intentional Moriarty's death truly was.

Sandra and Bryan spent the entire day climbing on broken buildings or giant boulders, and the vaultie was sure to teach the boy how to use his new 357 magnum revolver.

Bryan was noticeably frightened of the gun; he expressed to Sandra that he didn't want to shoot anyone, but she insisted that it was a skill he needed to learn, whether he wanted to or not. They began by taking pot-shots at boatflies, and Sandra was enjoying herself in shooting down the bugs one after the other.

Bryan made a dark expression when he saw the bugs hit the ground and die.

Charon, as usual, was watching them both silently and kept an eye out for danger. The first day he traveled with Sandra, he vaguely recalled their first departure of the inner city; she was insistent on running away because she refused to shoot any of the super mutants or mutated animals in the area. Back then, she seemed to hate the thought of killing anyone or anything, even if it was absolutely necessary to do so.

But now, however, Sandra was killing numerous boatflies with no hesitation whatsoever, and he played witness to her doing much the same to any unfortunate raiders who happened to cross her path during their travels. Something had most assuredly changed in her.

"Charon!" Sandra called, smiling and waving him over. "Come'ere!"

Charon grumbled and marched over to her.

Sandra and Bryan were crouched on a rocky formation on top of a hill, and a few of the boatflies were still buzzing around in the distance.

Charon knelt on the opposite side of Bryan. "Yes?"

"You're better at shooting than me. Show him how," Sandra instructed, handing the ghoul Bryan's revolver.

Charon took the gun and stared at the boy for a few seconds, then sighed and looked away.

"Look here," Charon growled, standing, taking a firm stance, and aligning the small sight on the pistol with a single boatfly. His aim followed the insect as it bobbed through the air. "Aim down the sight and fire. Don't endure the shot, and don't snap your eyes shut at the sound of it. Man up and shoot it. Don't endure it. Shoot it."

Then, Charon fired off four rapid shots with frighteningly accurate precision. All of the remaining boatflies hit the ground almost simultaneously.

He spun the gun around his finger and handed it to Bryan handle-first.

"Don't let the gun shoot itself. You shoot it. Understand?" Charon stated.

Bryan nodded and took his gun. He stared up at Charon quietly; the ghoul was positively towering compared to the child, but now that he was finally talking to him like a human being, he seemed much less scary than before.

And not only that, but Charon seemed to understand Bryan's problem immediately; Bryan was afraid to shoot, and he truly wasn't trying his hardest. He had to overcome his fear and use the gun as an extension of himself, rather than just reluctantly tolerating its power.

His hands were still trembling, but he tried his hardest to keep his eyes open when the earsplitting gunshots would ring through the air.

He was shooting at chunks of rubble now, and his aim wasn't terrible—but he found it nearly impossible to keep his eyes open whenever he squeezed the trigger. He anticipated the horrible sound and the recoil, and even though he was getting used to it, it still managed to give him something of a startle him every time...

"I had the same problem when I got my first gun," Sandra remarked, remembering the day she looted her 44 from a dead raider. "Took me forever to get used to the sound and the kick. You'll get used to it."

When they began to run low on ammunition, Sandra called it quits and led her friends onward.

The entire day came and went, and the three wanderers found themselves traveling through another metro tunnel just when a thunderstorm began brewing outside.

Sandra heard the rain pummeling on the concrete outside when they finally approached the tunnel's exit at about eleven o'clock pm.

It took the entire day to reach the place—but at long last, upon pushing the fence open, Sandra spotted a metal structure sitting parallel with an enormous boat in the river.

"Rivet City!" Sandra exclaimed. "Hell yeah!"

The vaultie didn't even care that she was getting soaked in the rain; she bolted for the small tower which presumably lead to Rivet City's entrance, and when she reached the top, she noticed an intercom on the nearest pole.

"Stay there while we extend the bridge," a stranger's voice played from the speaker. "Welcome to Rivet City."

With a loud echoing creeeak, the massive bridge began to swing ever so cautiously towards the metal platform upon which they stood. Sandra stared up at it, looking completely captivated, but then she became distracted when she heard a faint whimper from behind.

A man was sitting crouched beside the stairs, hunched over himself and appearing very distraught. His skin was sickly and discolored, and he looked as though he hadn't eaten in days.

Sandra knelt beside the man. "You okay?"

"Water... I need water," the man begged hoarsely. "Please... please..."

"I..." Sandra said, shaking her head and suddenly feeling guilty. "I don't have any water right now. I'm sorry..."

"Please... if you find some... please..." he coughed. "Please..."

"I'll bring you some as soon as I can. I promise," Sandra told him.

She gave him a pat on the back, then stood and rejoined her friends at the platform. The bridge had extended, and Sandra led Charon and Bryan over the river.

"Hold it right there," one of the armed guards on the ship hollered when Sandra was halfway across the bridge. "What's your business in Rivet City?"

"We're here for the blackjack and hookers," Sandra smiled, then sighed and rolled her eyes when nobody appreciated the joke. "Hey, I'm just looking for my dad. He came here to see somebody named Doctor Li. That's what Three Dog told me, anyway... and uh... we're kinda standing in the pouring rad rain, here. Let us in and give us a place to fucking sleep, pretty fucking please."

"Christ... do you have any vocabulary apart from cussing like a sailor?" the guard asked.

Sandra blinked, staring humorlessly at him as the rain continued drenching her and her friends to the bone.

"Okay… okay. Come inside, but mind yourself. I'm watching you," the guard threatened, then stepped aside and allowed the three of them to enter the town deck of the ship.

"Ooo… I'm friggin' scared now," Sandra quipped sarcastically after she already passed him by.

The evening was setting in, and the storm was only getting more hellish outside, but Sandra and her friends quickly sought shelter inside the marketplace of Rivet City.

It was incredible; the entire ship had been fashioned into a society, with hotel rooms, a museum, a clinic, a bar, a ship deck for viewing the sights up top, and best of all, the marketplace, containing many different shops and numerous colorful individuals. Sandra, Charon, and Bryan, however, were the only ones in the place who were thoroughly soaked. Everybody quickly guessed that they were outsiders right away; it was obvious that they'd been traveling in the storm.

"My aunt runs the hotel," Bryan said when the three of them found themselves sitting at Gary's Galley and overlooking the menus. "I think it's called... the Weatherly?"

"We'll go by there later," Sandra replied dismissively. "You really wanna see her again, huh?"

"Yeah..." Bryan stared down at his menu and sighed.

Sandra glanced at him.

She'd already grown attached to the child, and she wasn't looking forward to letting him go—but from what she'd seen of Rivet City already, the place was secluded, large, and heavily guarded, which meant that it was a much safer place for him than traveling with her.

Bryan was shifting his attention from the menu to two other children who were tossing bits of food at one another at a nearby table. Gary, the owner of the galley, kindly waved at them and asked them to stop.

"We'll get a room at the place, and you can decide overnight if you wanna stay," Sandra told him. "We'll relax here for a bit and give you time to make up your mind."

"Okay," Bryan agreed.

"Hey!" a young girl's voice chimed in.

A small hand was yanking on Bryan's leather jacket. He turned in his seat to see a girl who appeared to be only a couple years younger than him, smiling at him brightly.

"Me and James are gonna play hide-and-seek, but we need one more person," the girl told Bryan. "Wanna play?"

The girl was standing beside a grumpy, cross-armed child who he assumed must have been James.

"Uh... sure," Bryan replied, giving Sandra a look. "I'll uh... meet you at the hotel later, I guess."

"Have fun," Sandra told him with a grin, and she watched the three children disappear from her company.

Now, only she and Charon were sitting at the table.

"So..." Sandra eyed him. "Wanna go to the bar?"

Charon faced her. "Whatever you want, Mistress."

"Ugh... I'm asking what you want." Sandra grumbled. "You wanna go buy some liquor? Or just beer, or...?"

"I hate beer," Charon rasped with disdain. "Stuff's just piss water... and it doesn't even work."

"Me too," Sandra replied with a childlike smile. "You know what... there's something I've been wanting to ask you since the day we met."

"And that is?" Charon asked.

Sandra's grin became devilish.

"Charon... will you have a drinking contest with me?"

Charon blinked at her. He looked as stoic as ever, though Sandra swore she caught a glint of astonishment in his milky eyes.

"You're serious," he uttered.

"Serious as death," Sandra affirmed.

Then, Charon did something that she'd never seen him do before; he cocked his head and let out a dry, throaty laugh.

Sandra looked stunned.

"Nineteen," Charon said, shaking his head and pressing his fingers into his temples. "A nineteen-year-old kid thinks she can drink me under a table. Fuckin'a…"

"Get up," Sandra ordered as she reached her feet. "Let's go to the Muddy Rudder then, big man."

They left the marketplace, both of them completely forgetting that they were hungry.

After weaving through the stairways and greeting the people of Rivet City along the way, Sandra finally located the Muddy Rutter, and she and Charon claimed their seats at the bar.

Sandra chose to chase her scotch with ice water.

She and Charon swallowed their first six shots with no difficulty.

Around the seventh, however, Sandra was beginning to feel warm and woozy all the sudden, though she tensed up and hid it best she could. From what she observed of him, Charon didn't seem to be showing any signs of intoxication at all yet.

"You got guts, kid… but that ain't enough," Charon said, his crackled face harboring a smug smirk. "You're gonna drink yourself into a coma, I hope ya' know..."

"Shaddup..." Sandra laughed while she poured her next shot and downed it disdainfully. "Yum! More please. And water. Oh oh oh—and Nuka! Doya' have Nuka?"

The bartender slid a Nukacola across the bar without saying anything. The scent of the carbonated treat hit her face and sent a fuzzy sensation of pleasure throughout her body, thoroughly eliminating the musk of cigarette smoke and whiskey, which was rather prominent in the Muddy Rudder.

Something was off, something she couldn't place. Sandra had never felt this sensation before. Alcohol had never affected her like it did most other people. She always prided herself for her tolerance of the stuff... but this was new. Perhaps she'd overdone it…

Everything was simpler... the same, but less... complicated.

Simple, warm, and...

"Nice," Sandra exhaled.

Charon examined her.

"Kid. I'm on my eighth shot. You ready to bail out or what?" he asked.

Sandra didn't hesitate. She poured her next shot and swallowed it, ignoring the disgusted lurch in her stomach. Her body didn't want any more of the poison, but for some reason, she very much did.

Her forethought abandoned her entirely; she poured a ninth shot, drank it, then began pouring a tenth when Charon took the bottle from her.

"Aaaaaall right. You made your point. You smoothskins are so damn stubborn about your fragile little tolerances," he said, chugging what remained in the bottle and placing it on the counter once he emptied it. "You're done for the night."

"Wait..." Sandra said dazedly. "No I... fuck... Doctor Li... I forgot..."

The girl spun in her chair and stood. Her stance swayed, and her balance almost failed her, but she managed to regain her footing and crookedly strolled out of the Muddy Rudder.

Charon followed her closely behind.

"Augh… kid…"

He yanked her arm and pulled her upwards. She blinked up at him, trying to remember when she had started to fall in the first place. They were standing alone in one of the narrow hallways now, and his hand was clamped onto her wrist rather forcefully.

"You fucking lightweight."

"Am not..." Sandra moaned.

Her legs attempted to give out on her again—and Charon snapped an arm around her.

Sandra lay against his torso now, her head resting on his collar as he held her firmly upright.

"Auugh..." Charon growled. "All right... you can talk to your Doctor Li tomorrow. We're getting a room, and you're gonna sleep it off."

"But I need—"

"Shut it."

"I—"

"Shut. It."

Charon glared sternly into her face, which was only inches away from his own now. Her shining blue eyes peered up at him almost innocently, and her crimson hair was going slightly crooked against his leather armor.

Sandra hardly felt Charon scoop her off of her feet; he carried her like an infant through the hallway until he located the Weatherly Hotel, and she rested warmly in his embrace, eyes drifting shut and secretly savoring the comfort she felt here…

Charon purchased a room from Vera Weatherly, then ventured a little further down the hallway until he found it.

There was only one bed, but it was a big one, and the room was unusually clean. It was quite refreshing compared to what they were used to.

Charon laid the girl on the bed and draped the blanket over her.

She'd drifted into a deep sleep already—and for a moment, he merely stared down at her, his expression seeming to soften just a bit, uncharacteristically so.

Then, he sighed, turned, and shut and locked the door for her.

And all night long, there she lay—feeling warmer and safer than she ever had, even in Vault 101.

Something about him made her feel wonderful, as if she was something precious and worth protecting, contract or not.

No... the safety of a vault paled in comparison to this.

This was a sort of joy and contentment that Vault-Tec couldn't create for anyone.

This was friendship... compassion... loyalty...

Hell—this was what she'd call love.

"Oh my God... it's you."

The woman named Doctor Li met her gaze, her eyes widening.

Sandra had slept in; she didn't roll out of bed until nearly one in the afternoon, only to find Bryan curled up in the bed beside her and Charon sitting upright against the wall half awake. She left the hotel room before either of them could notice—and now, she stood in the science lab, standing face-to-face with Doctor Li and meeting her for the first time.

"You look so much like him..." Li said. "You're James's daughter."

"Yeah, and I'm looking for him. Where is he?" Sandra replied.

And so, Doctor Li explained the whole story of James's past—that her father had been working on a thing called Project Purity before she was born.

Her birth halted all of their work, and her father decided to abscond into a vault in order to ensure his child's safety. Now, James planned to get Project Purity up and running again, and he had apparently run off to the nearby Memorial where the purifier resided.

"Don't go after him," Doctor Li advised. "It was foolish of him to go there after all these years anyway. It's infested with super mutants."

Sandra didn't listen, of course.

After returning to her hotel room, she found that Charon had slumped over onto the floor, still cross-armed and wearing his serious face, but his eyes were closed, and she could have sworn she heard him lightly snoring.

It was refreshing to see him sleep. Charon hardly ever allowed himself to rest.

After kneeling in front of Charon, she gently waved a small mirelurk cake in front of his face. He inhaled a long breath and caught the scent, then blinked himself awake and gave her a tired, disoriented stare.

"Breakfast?" Sandra grinned, setting the plate on the floor and heading over to Bryan. "Up up UP! Food time!"

Charon and Bryan ate their food and Sandra drank a few cold Nukas.

Afterwards, Sandra finally got up the nerve to ask. "Bryan, have you made up your mind? You staying or going? Because I have to go after my dad as soon as possible."

She was examining her third Nuka, attempting to look as casual as possible as she anticipated his answer.

"I think I have to stay," Bryan replied after a pause.

She felt a stab of disappointment, but managed not to show it.

"Your aunt's next door," she told him. "I hope you like it here. We'll be back after I sort all this out with my dad... and we'll visit a lot. I promise."

Bryan gave her a weak smile and reached his feet. He strolled over to her and gave her a close, warm hug.

It startled her for a second, but she gladly returned the embrace.

The boy collected his belongings and left the room, waving at Sandra and Charon, then pulling the door closed.

Charon was still sitting on the floor and licking his fingers. He didn't notice the sad look on Sandra's face, and neither did she.

They both gathered their stuff and headed out of the hotel without talking.

They stepped out of the stairwell and onto the deck, approaching the long metal bridge and preparing to leave Rivet City.

"Wait!" Bryan's voice cried out.

Sandra and Charon whirled around.

Bryan was darting up to them, his backpack slumped over one shoulder and his pistol at hand.

"I can't... I can't stay!" he panted. "I can't stay yet… I can't!"

"Why not?" Sandra wondered, trying to mask her happiness.

"Because I... it's not… it's not safe anywhere, not even here." Bryan breathed. "And I... when something happens again, I... I wanna be stronger. I wanna be able to handle it. I wanna be just like you! Both of you!"

Sandra and Charon exchanged looks.

"I wanna be stronger… and that's not gonna happen in there," Bryan told them, swatting at the massive boat behind him. "Please? Please?!"

"Like you even have to ask," Sandra answered with a grin. "Welcome aboard."

Bryan beamed with delight, sprinting over to Sandra and Charon and marching in between them.

The three of them headed back into the wasteland once again.