Blood Lands

She moved her sights over to the parson, then to Evans, then to Muller. They fit the description Reese had given her before he died. These were the ones; if by some fluke they weren’t her attackers, her father’s killers, too bad, she thought. If that was the case, they had simply picked the wrong day to come calling. Her sights homed onto Muller, the one farthest away, the one most likely to get atop his horse and make a run for it. She rested the sights there and waited, breathing slowly, calmly. Strange, she thought, how not long ago she had looked for the slightest reason not to kill these men, these men who had violated her, who had taken her father’s life, and in that sense destroyed hers. But that had changed. Now, if they fit the description, or matched the names, or came close to doing either, she wanted them dead. The killing had begun. The quicker they were dead, the sooner she could live in a home of her own—something she’d never had. And more than that, she could hold her head up and live there in peace, like regular, everyday folks—something she’d never known. A tear glistened in her eye, but there was no time to wipe it away. She wouldn’t let it affect her aim.