A heavy fog covered the pier, only a small amount of sunlight was able to pierce it and allow Desmond to see that the place was deserted. The Tribals, now Godless, must have retreated back to the chapel. That or they were lying in wait for Jane, and to be honest he didn't give a damn if they were.
Not that the girl had been useless, but he was still rather pissed at her for getting his pups killed, even if her apparent double-cross had allowed him to finally destroy Calvert once and for all. At the time however he'd been ready to blow her pretty little head off.
"Come off it Desmond. I knew you were probably watching me, you were in the safe room moments after you saw me heading towards the mansion without activating the Ferris wheel first."
She has seemed so proud of herself, being so clever, for a moment he'd pondered still shooting her just to wipe that smug look off her face. At least the girl had had the decency to genuinely apologize for the loss of his pups, not that her feeling bad would bring them back, but it got her to stop gloating at least.
The Duchess Gambit still sat waiting for passengers, but instead of Tobar the ghoul was greeted by a young woman with bright orange hair leaning against one of the ferry's posts. It took a moment for him to recognize her as the brat who'd been sneaking around the mansion a few weeks ago. He gave her a dismissive sneer as he scanned the deck for the ferryman.
"Tobar's a little busy at the moment," Her voice matched her hair, loud and nauseating.
Desmond was about to tell the girl that he didn't give a flying fuck if the prick was busy or not when the boat's cabin door flew open and the ferryman skidded across the wooden deck, half his face drenched in blood.
"Say one more goddamn word and I swear I'll put a bullet in your skull!" The vaultie came storming out onto the deck with a 10mm raised at Tobar's head. She walked forward until she was standing over him, her hand shaking with rage.
"Think daddy would be prou-"
Desmond had to step back to avoid getting blood and bits of Tobar's brain all over his suit as Jane blew part of the ferryman's head off, a second later she unloaded two more bullets into the corpse before kicking it over the side of the boat. She looked up, glaring at Desmond and Nadine before turning her full attention on the ghoul.
"Not a fucking word Desmond." She warned before holstering her weapon.
The ghoul would have loved to have made a smart comment at her expense, but the deadly gleam in her eye a second ago made him pretty damned sure she would follow through on her threat.
"You do realize I need the keys off his body to run the boat, right?" Nadine pointed out after a minute. Jane cursed under her breath before diving into the murky water. Desmond watched with an amused smirk, he wondered just how long the girl could hold her breath. It didn't take long for the girl to resurface though, dragging herself onto the deck and tossing a ring of keys to Nadine. '
"Thanks." Nadine smiled at the vaultie and headed for the control room while Jane stood, trying to shake some of the water off of her before going into the other cabin.
Desmond grumbled to himself as he found a bench to sit on and waited, not exactly looking forward to spending a month trapped on this excuse for a riverboat with the two brats. Minutes later smoke began to billow out of the smokestack and the wheel began to turn behind the boat, Nadine exited the main cabin, she stopped a few feet from him and crossed her arms.
"Ride isn't free buddy, three hundred caps."
About that time Jane emerged from the other cabin, still damp, but she now wore a tank top and shorts instead of her battle armor. A gun was still strapped to her thigh and Desmond smirked, he didn't expect anything less from the girl. She looked up at the two of them as Nadine waited for him to pay up.
"What about her, I doubt she has that kind of caps on her."
"You offering to pay my way Desmond? How sweet." The vaultie drawled.
"Hardly." The ghoul sneered at her.
"She just got me a boat, so she gets to ride free. You on the other hand still need to pay up or I'll have her throw you overboard." Nadine gave cocky smile that made Desmond want to smack her, instead he grumbled under his breath and tossed her a bag of caps. He was beginning to wonder if he could make it through this trip without murdering the little fuck in her sleep.
It wasn't until nightfall that the group realized they had a small predicament on their hands, and why Tobar never did group trips. On the ferry there were three people and a grand total of two cots. Nadine was given automatic ownership of one since it resided in the captain's cabin, however she watched amusedly as both Desmond and Jane headed for the second cabin.
"The fuck you think you're doing Princess?"
"Going to sleep, Desmond." Jane frowned as the ghoul glared at her.
"I actually fucking paid for this little pleasure cruise so I'll be damned if I have to sleep out on the deck." Desmond growled. "Now be a good pup and find some corner to curl up in for the night."
He reached again for the door handle tearing the door halfway open before it met with 101's foot and came to a shaking stop.
"I may not have paid for my ticket but that doesn't mean I deserve a bed any less than you." The girl smirked as the man beside her continued to glare. "How about this, we're docked for the night, pretty open to attack, right? Why don't you go ahead and get your beauty rest while I take first watch, then we'll switch off later?"
Desmond continued to frown at her, and for a minute Nadine expected him to growl at her to fuck off before taking the cot for himself. To the surprise of both women he merely shrugged and continued into the cabin, Jane knowing that it was as close to him admitting she had a good idea as she was going to get. However she did not like the idea of having to wake him up.
Two weeks went by with relative ease, with Desmond and Jane took turns on night watch they managed to avoid any major confrontations, only running into a few of the wasteland's wild beasts here and there. Jane was usually left to hunt for their food during the day, she was annoyed that Desmond acted as if he couldn't be bothered to do more than stand guard at night; even then he acted as if that simple act was beneath him. So it was a great annoyance to the ghoul when one night Jane took longer than usual returning with the group's dinner.
"That little brat better hurry, is it really that hard to find and kill some molerats?" He growled as Nadine worked on the small fire she'd built on the shore.
"Maybe she ran into trouble." The girl shrugged, but the ghoul could sense the worry in Nadine's voice. The two women had developed a sort of friendship over the past few weeks, thankfully for him they had refrained from adolescent giggling fits, but they would spend most of the day with Nadine steering the boat while Jane read or told the other girl about her life in the vault.
"Oh for fuck's sake." The ghoul growled as he went to the boat and grabbed his combat shotgun. "If you want something done right you have to do it yourself."