"You jam on the brakes and stop the ute right at your front door. You jump out. Not for the first time you run into a house that could be full of guns, with death waiting for you. You don't even think of that until you're crossing the threshold... You already know what you're going to find. Underneath the fear and horror and panic there's a cold realisation that Gavin's body will be somewhere in the house. You can picture what those bullets will have done to his little body."

It is a time of profound change for Ellie Linton. Enemies are everywhere. Some come crawling over the hills; others drive in and knock on the front door. Sometimes her friends are there and sometimes they are not. Ellie fights every inch of the way. But when courage and imagination are not enough, when she is trapped and helpless, Ellie must face the end of life as she knows it... standing alone, sustained only by her own strength.