Bayou

Chapter 4 ~ Uninhabitable

Chapter 4

The car jostled, jarring me awake just in time to stop myself from colliding with the dash. I clutched my head and grimaced. My mouth was dry, my throat burned, and my stomach rolled, angry about its emptiness. I needed to purge. My body knew, and it warred for its own survival. But the neon green had soaked in, flooded every cell, and there was no way to expel it.

It was a part of me.

"This is it." Julia motioned to the thick trees blocking our view.

I sat up, looked around, and twisted in my seat in an attempt to place our location. "Where...where's the road?"

Julia shrugged. "You passed out. The road ended. I took a scenic route."

I turned back, checking the children. They sat like little statues, staring innocently at the two of us as we spoke.

"You can't just drive through a..." I looked around again. "A muddy field."

"Why?" She snorted. "You worried about a fucking ticket?"

"How do you even know this is the spot?" I raised both brows at her and mentally kicked myself for falling asleep.

"I followed the signs."

"In a field?!"

She snatched my chin between her perfectly manicured fingers and jerked my head to the opposite side. Yellow signs lined the trees, dozens of them. They went on for as far as my eyes could follow, every ten feet. Biohazard.

"Oh." I pulled away from her and swallowed hard. For the second time, I questioned Merle's judgement. "Are we sure it's safe?"

"No. But I'm sure it's not safe anywhere else." She opened her door. "Now, get out and help me hide the car."

"Hide it?" I scrambled out after her.

Julia dipped down and gathered two globbing handfuls of mud, then with a wicked smile and dancing eyes, she smacked them onto the hood of Merle's Camaro and spread them around.

I stared at her grinning face.

She caught my ogling. "What? This car has been the other woman in Merle's life for decades. I can't wait to see his face when he gets a look at how I—" she paused to study her progress "—improved it."

My heart gave a lurch, aching with the knowledge Merle would probably never see what Julia had done, but I smiled despite it. I didn't get to do that to her. I didn't get to mourn and assume the worst while she needed me to be positive. The mud was thick and compacted, and it gave a plop as I dug my hands into it. I smacked it on the windshield then lifted a brow at Julia as I spread.

Julia pulled the back door open, smiling wide at the two children still huddled together like scared kittens. "C'mon, babies! What are you waiting for? I ain't ever met a kid who didn't wanna play in the mud!"

It was the girl who acted first. She moved slow, scooting across the seat as she worked hard to pull her brother along and keep him close. When she made it to the edge, Julia bent down to her level. "What's your name, darlin'?"

She hesitated. "Eve."

"And your little brother?" Julia peeked around at the boy ducked behind his sister.

Eve answered for him. "That's Eric."

"Well, Eve and Eric, I'm Julia." She held out her hand.

I bit back a laugh. Julia's hand was coated. Globs of mud gathered between her fingers and clumped under her nails. If the little girl wasn't reluctant before, I couldn't imagine her wanting to take the offering now.