The cut in her leg throbbed and burned. Alice wedged herself deeper into a rock crevice high off the ground. Clawing her way up to the narrow sanctuary had taken hours and turned her muscles to jelly. She peered into the blue and crimson sunset. Light reflected off the windows of the farmhouse where the big man lived. He and his visitors were home: eating, drinking, and enjoying their shelter from the heat and the sun. It wasn’t fair but when had her life been fair? The red sky faded to the colour of ashes and night dropped like a curtain overhead. So many stars … She rested her forehead against the rock and closed her eyes, determined to sleep and dream.The crunch of footsteps and the timbre of male voices came from the thorn trees. Alice held her breath, made herself small. A wild animal grunted in the darkness but she paid it no mind. The most dangerous predators were the men and they were moving closer: their torch beams shining across the ground.“This is the place,” a man’s voice said.
