Sandgroper

By Lee Franklin

Geologist Aron is investigating the unexplained pinnacle formations off the coast of Western Australia. A sandstorm hits and brings hell with it as Aron battles to save not only his life, but that of his brother Damon, and Damon's beautiful girlfriend Albie. 

 

You thought the Outback couldn't get any more horrific - Think again!!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Franklin
• Release date: Feb 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393236122

Book preview

Sandgroper

By Lee Franklin

THE PINNACLE RUPTURED the earth like a fractured bone through torn flesh. It towered over me as I threaded the LED endoscope into the small hole I’d drilled into the formation. Beneath my hand, the gritted rock felt both immutable yet fragile.

A gust of wind billowed in, picking up the sand and hurling grit against my bare arms and legs. Goosebumps rippled my skin. When we arrived, the wind had been a desert-scalded easterly, sucking the moisture out of the air. It seemed to have snapped round by 180 degrees, to come cool and damp straight off the Coral Coast a few kilometres away to the west.

The last gaggle of tourists left on their bus about twenty minutes ago.

Hunched over the screen, protecting it from the wind, I turned it on to check if it was working.

Aron! Damon’s voice broke through the weather.

Irritation scratched down my back at his impatience. I flipped him the bird over my shoulder. Mum and Dad’s idea of brotherly bonding, yeah great. Just two hours, that’s all I’d asked him for. Two hours to place motion sensor cameras in ten of the pinnacles. It had taken me over a year to get permission, and this research was for my final paper. Less than an hour, and already he was busting my balls.

Head down, I moved the endoscope around the interior of the pinnacle. Dust and a few insects skittered around. A shadow cut across the corner of the lens. What the hell?

I swung it around, and the shadow moved down. I followed it to the base of the formation only to lose it in a cloud of dust. As the dust settled, a pile of white rocks poked through the dirt. I had found this in the base of other formations and was part of what I wanted to investigate. They looked like bones.

Aron . . . storm!

I noticed that Damon’s trademark wheedling tone had