Ch 9

Maria ---

After hours on the highway, the car started making weird sounds, so Maria pulled off onto exit 133 for Birdsong Rd, and parked on the shoulder.

Knowing they've made it into Tennessee but Maria didn't catch what town they were passing through.

Maria turns the engine off, "Stay in the car, I just need to check something."

"I wanna help too!" Max whines, staring at Maria pleadingly.

Opening the door, Maria turns to Max, "Not this time. Maybe later. You need to stay in the car for now."

Maria closes the door and heads to the front of the car, "Ugh… Well let's see what's going on,"

Popping open the hood, steam and a wave of heat hits Maria in the face.

'Cough, Cough'

Maria covers her mouth and steps back to let the steam dissipate, before beginning the investigation.

'Oil?'

'Check,'

'Timing belts?'

'Worn, but should be working'

Maria, still covering her nose and mouth, gets closer to inspect and notices something not attached. A hose had come loose, and was dribbling blue fluid.

'What is that?'

"Mom?"

'Really?'

Maria looks up and over towards Max's voice, "Max…..? What is it?"

"Are you okay?" Max says slowly stepping out of the car.

'Sigh'

Shutting the hood, I make eye contact with Cain, who is still in the car.

"Cain, do you mind checking if there's any close-by auto shops," Maria says, gesturing for Max to get back in the car

Max reluctantly moves back to the car, putting one foot in and sitting on the edge of the seat, then looks at Maria to say 'Is this good enough?'

Cain lifts up his phone, then looks up at Maria.

"I don't have service," he says out the car window.

"Okay then..." Maria massages her forehead, "We'll have to walk."

"Cool!" Max yells, jumping back out of the car, "Are we going to hitch hike too?"

"Absolutely not!" Maria barks, giving Max a stern glance, then turning towards the trunk of the car where she grabs a bottle of lemon juice

Cain quietly opens his passenger-side door, and unfolds out of the car, stepping away onto the side of the road and stretching while he watches Max and Maria with a small quiet smirk.

"Max, go get the To-Go bag."

Max jumps back over to the car, and using both hands grabs the packed To-Go backpack from the floor of the back seat. She carries it over to the side of the road, her small frame making the backpack look all the bigger.

Cain watches her, almost stepping in to carry the bag for her, but a combination of Max's eager determination and Maria's clear Don't-Touch-My-Stuff attitude keep him in place, so instead he cheers Max on in his mind.

Maria un-caps the cleaning solution, and glances over her shoulder at Cain.

"You far away enough to not get hurt by the fruit, Sparkly Boy?" she says, provocatively.

Cain's eyes twinkle at her barb, and he grins as he answers.

"I'll be fine as long as you stick to pouring it on the car and don't try to pour it on me instead. I'll just pinch my nose if it gets too bad."

Maria rolls her eyes, and turns back to the car, pouring the cleaning solution over all of the seats, before re-capping it and spraying every possible surface.

By the end, Maria was finding the scent overpowering herself, though she took satisfaction in the knowledge that a vampire would find it ten times worse.

Max wrinkled her nose as she watched her mom obsessively spray down the car, inside and out, the smell drifting over to where she and Cain were standing.

She glanced up at Cain.

"Will that really stop the bad guys from finding us?" she asked, feeling a little doubtful, plus her dislike of the smell made her even less positive about the whole idea.

Cain smiles down at her.

"It will certainly give any trackers who find your car a headache and a half. Since we're walking, they'll pick our scent up again without losing too much time, but it will delay them for a little bit."

Max frowned, watching Maria who had started to spray the outside of the car.

"Well, it'll definitely make me not want to come back to the car anyway. I guess it's working?"

Cain gives Max a bitter smile.

"You and me, both kid. But at least she's trying to keep you safe"

Max frowned again and didn't respond.

Cain glances towards her again, but they end up falling into silence as Maria finishes up spraying the outside of the car.

Once she finishes, Maria walks over and shoves the now-empty bottle into the To-Go backpack, then slings it onto her back.

"Alright, let's get going," Maria says practically sweating.