Hanging overhead, the sun cast its rays across the southern wasteland, walking among the tattered land underneath the rays, Rose and Harold, as they neared the river.
The temperature started changing due to them getting closer, the mist of the radioactive waters helped cool the warm air.
Still paranoid, Harold covered up their tracks as they went, he hoped when they reached the ferries, he wouldn't have to cover them for much longer.
In the distance, they can see sparse structures near the water.
Finding a treaded path, the two follow it up to a shanty shack near a long dock leading out to the river.
On a dry-rotted board, there's explicit instructions on how to proceed getting on one of the automated ferries, including a list of warnings.
Most explicitly, there's a warning about fighting aboard the ferries.
In crude language, the ferryman threatened anyone causing trouble, warning how the automated ferries were expensive to replace, and the time and effort needed to replace them.
"How many people caused trouble?" Rose wonders.
Seeing the old bullet holes in the boards of the shanty shack, Harold answers, "Too many, it would seem."
Cautiously, the two went up to the shanty shack, their weapons at their sides to show they weren't hostile, and Rose boldly called out for the ferryman.
No response.
Going alone, Rose went up to the shack and knocked on the door, waiting for someone to come out, but no one did.
She instinctively dropped to her knees when she heard something popping and recovers after Harold calls out to her and points at a flare shooting up from across the river.
"I thought there'd be two ferrymen," Harold tilts his head quizzically.
He soon found his answer when Rose forcibly opened the shanty door and inside there was a dead man filled with holes.
There's a CB radio on the desk adjacent to the body and Rose hesitates to go near it when it came to life with a husky southern man saying, "Sorry for the mess, I couldn't get over there to clean it up."
Side stepping over to the radio, Rose picks up the receiver as she uses it to communicate with someone.
"Who are you?" Rose asks him.
The man introduces himself as Fisk, the man Rose had the misfortune of witnessing dead on the ground was his co-partner, Belmont.
"What happened?" Rose wanted to know.
Sighing, Fisk explains how the events unfolded that resulted in Belmont's untimely death.
It was a band of raiders being led by a man, Fisk doesn't know who, but from what he was able to view over the binoculars it was a man that stood out from the raiders wearing a nice suit and round glasses.
He thought it was a prisoner at first, raiders being as they are, using him as bait to lure Belmont out of the shanty shack.
Fisk was wrong in his observation as the man calmly waited for Belmont to open the door and then gave the order.
Raiders killed Belmont within moments, then the person leading them attempted to call for one of the automated ferries.
"We have a dead switch in both shacks for that reason, I flipped mine on, and then the guy starts talking into the radio," Fisk recalls how the man calmly came over the CB radio asking for the ferry to be sent.
Obviously, Fisk wasn't going to do it, and what scared him most was how utterly calm this man was to him despite him being understandably angry.
"Said the damndest things to me, too, but I was pissed, so I couldn't tell you what he said. Then, I remember him asking what it would take for him to cross the river. Sure, I gave my response, but he was asking if the raiders "going away" would be enough," Fisk was in disbelief recalling the events talking to the unknown man.
What happened next cemented this man being one of the most terrifying things Fisk ever seen since he grew up in the wastelands.
"What did he do?" Rose questions Fisk.
Fisk tells her with disbelief still in his voice, "He said something to them, I don't know what, but they started opening fire on each other!"
Evidently, the crawfish got to the bodies, but if Rose looked closely enough, she could see some remnants of the raiders.
The result, Fisk begrudgingly honored the agreement by sending a ferry over to the man.
He hoped the crawfish would get him, but either this man was more dangerous than he let on or the crawfish were too busy coming ashore for the raiders' bodies, he didn't know.
He wouldn't come out of his shack until the man disappeared over the horizon, that much he did know.
"In all my years of living, I never once saw anything like this!" Fisk exhaled sharply.
Don't know where the man went after that, but Fisk prayed that he never came through here, again!
"We're sorry for your loss, sir," Rose gave her condolences before Fisk waved his hand.
He said, "Belmont was a prick, but even he didn't deserve that. I'll send over a ferry, but I can't promise the crawfish won't bother ya."
Leaving the shanty shack and rejoining Harold's side, they went over the wooden dock towards the end as a red ferry slowly made its way across the irradiated waters.
Sitting up on a beach chair above the shanty shack, Fisk held a sniper rifle as he planned on taking out any crawfish that was drawn by the ferry being active.
The ferry docks itself and the step bridge lowers, allowing Rose and Harold to board the ferry.
Automatically, the step bridge raises, and the ferry begins moving back across the water.
"Anything?" Rose asks for Harold's opinion on the story.
Shaking his head, Harold replies how people survived the wasteland in their own way, but someone wearing a nice suit and round glasses without being obliterated by the raiders sounds obtuse even to him.
"I thought raiders weren't… people friendly," Rose questioned why the raiders hadn't descended on the man.
Shrugging, Harold points out, "Most have the intelligence of a radroach, he probably convinced them somehow. Only explanation I have why they suddenly turned on each other."
Don't know more than that, but it did perturb him as well.
Staying far from the handlebars, he and Rose were back-to-back keeping a watchful eye for any crawfish drawn to the ferry.
Thankfully, they didn't stir from the depths of the river, but given they'd eaten the raiders, they were probably still digesting their meals.
The moment the ferry docked at the other end of the river and the step bridge came down, Harold was so happy getting off the ferry with Rose trailing behind him.
"Figured they're still full," Fisk exhales as he came down from the rooftop of the shanty shack.
Studying Harold and Rose, the ferryman describes them as friendly, before apologizing for the delay.
Can't be too careful, all that.
"Do you know a quick way to Memphis?" Rose asks him.
Fisk nods as he gave detailed instructions on how to reach the city.
When he was done, he stopped to wonder if the man he witnessed was going there, before shaking his head as he notes how Memphis had Elvis impersonators and their King.
Even if the man was able to convince the raiders to shoot themselves, he would be pressed doing similar in the city.
"The impersonators are an eyesore, but they don't fuck around," Fisk explains.
While Fisk found the whole thing hokey, as did most people, the impersonators weren't to be underestimated.
Sure, they are cordial with people and generally try to be helpful to lost travelers, but when someone threatens them, their King, and Memphis, all hell breaks loose!
"But other than that, they're still eyesores," Fisk added.
Neither Harold or Rose should have any problems with them and if they need to know about anywhere outside Memphis, they're the best at knowing.
Before he let them go, Fisk then tells Rose that he and Belmont charges fees for crossing the river.
It was only fair since they kept the ferries maintained and with Belmont dead, Fisk would have to manage the load himself.
"How much?" Rose asks the amount required.
Thinking to himself, Fisk answers, "At least a thousand caps. It would have been less, but as I said, I'm the only one maintaining everything, now."
Without hesitation, Rose paid Fisk the amount and some extra to help him get by while considering his options regarding getting another person to help with the ferries.
"That's mighty generous of you, miss!" Fisk looked surprised as Rose gave him roughly four thousand caps.
Smiling, Rose points out, "You provide a service, it's only fair."
Profusely thanking her for her generosity, before seeing her and Harold off to the lonely roads leading to Memphis.