Badlands — Micah S. Hackler

Sheriff Cliff Lansing's week begins with a corpse and a desecrated grave. By Saturday he has two more dead men, one killed by a wild animal, the other shot in a remote canyon. A nearly catatonic Navajo teen is brought to a hospital, covered in blood. While she is being treated, someone tries to abduct her, then tries to kill her. A park ranger, along with his truck, goes missing from Chaco Canyon National Historical Park. Five days of searching turns up nothing. After six years, Charlotte Charlie Brown Etsitty, Tina Morales' best friend from childhood, returns to the Navajo Reservation with her two young daughters. Home temporarily to help on the family ranch, she spends long nights defending against evil intruders. After her grandfather's death, she learns of missing cousins, and by dawn the next morning, three more relatives are dead. Charlie and her grandmother are convinced the Etsitty family is cursed. The Navajo Badlands of western New Mexico provide the backdrop. A picture emerges linking abductions, Navajo Medicine Men and mystical Skinwalkers to tragic events across two states. Barely on speaking terms, Lansing and Tina Morales still make a formidable team. It will remain to be seen if a near-death experience will bring them back together.