Chapter Nine – Blood On The Land
Pulling up to the house at three o’clock in the arvo, Ethan flinched out of his hide. Hanging on a hinge, the bowed front door gaped open.
“The hell,” he whipped out his .303 and the brick of ammunition. Senses wired, he opened the bolt and reloaded the magazine. Slamming the bolt shut, he sighted the open front door and the dark interior beyond. No bikes or other vehicles sat in front of the farmhouse.
“Whoever’s in the house, come the hell out right now! I’ve got a rifle trained on you! Come out with yer bloody hands in the air this instant!”
Cicadas buzzed and chirped around him. Magpies warbled and sang, joining the insects. Desert sun baked the country like a slow cooker.
Rage shoving down fear, he sprinted across the crunching gravel, negotiated
