Unsafe, Unsound

Ethan and his family live on the outskirts of town, between civilization and the total lack of it. Ma always keeps the shotgun handy. Ethan's brother announces a nighttime visitor as "a dead man coming up the road". The man surely looks halfway to death, but Ethan fears his brother, touched in the head after a long illness, sees something else. Something more. Then the pistol on the man's belt catches Ethan's eye.
A weapon of eerie, unearthly beauty, meant for more than the mere killing of outlaws. What trouble follows a man with a weapon like that?"Unsafe, Unsound", a short story for fans of western weird fiction.