Dan is on me, tackling me to the ground. I cop a mouthful of gravel and land on top of the branch. He tries to rip it away, grabbing my hair and wrenching it. I jerk my head back, cracking his nose with my skull. He lets go of the branch and raises his clenched fist. I brace as Rhi comes screaming in. I feel her hit Dan, see her hand grab his arm and hold on. I let go of the branch and land an elbow to his gut. His breath rushes out and he rolls further over, holding me with his full weight while he tries to deal with Rhi. I can’t see what she’s doing but it must hurt because he’s swearing a blue streak.

Dan’s weight lifts and I immediately flip over onto my back, legs raised and ready, searching for Rhi. Sam has her wrapped in his arms, while Eric holds Dan back. I can’t look at Mick’s still form.

Dan wrestles with his brother, still swearing, although not much of it makes sense. I find my feet but stay crouched, waiting. Sam gives me a look that says to stay down, but fuck that. I am a Thomson woman. I pull the branch to my side and grip it double-handed, ready to swing.

‘Fuckin’ hell, Dan, we gotta get Mick to the hospital!’

Eric’s shout finally reaches Dan and he stops fighting to get to me. We all look over at their stockman. Dan turns back to me, and I’m grateful for Eric. ‘You little bitch! You wait.’

‘Wait for what?’ I stand, ignoring the pain and how I wobble a bit on my feet. ‘You attacked a bunch of underage kids ya silly fuckin moron. Not even the cops could help you on this one.’

It was a blatant lie. The cops can and had ignored a lot of bad shit. Dan isn’t exactly smart, but he’d figure it out if I give him time.

‘But it’s not the cops you wanna worry about. It’s our mobs.’ I nod at Sam. We’re the two biggest families in town, everyone knows it. ‘Word gets out you did this and it won’t matter what the cops say, you won’t be able to step foot off your place again. Who knows, maybe revenge on you will be what ends the war between the Millers and the Thomsons.’

And there it is. The fear of us, of what we can do as a people when we put our minds to it. Community politics and infighting aside, we back each other.

‘Dan, she’s right! She’s the fucking golden girl of the Thomson mob; you’ll have ’em all out for us. And Toni’s fucking psychotic about her boys.’