The Last Walk Out

The catastrophic Abunga virus has wiped out everyone on Earth except for a few scattered souls with natural immunity. The only other living humans are ones who already inhabit other planets and moons in the Solar System – people manning various scientific stations.

A thousand years on, those now living on these distant outposts still cannot return but secretly confine and observe the survivors as a combination of social experiment and nostalgic entertainment. Their former home is now transmitted as ‘holoparks’. It is seen as a new Eden, the place where some day the human race might start all over again.

There, Gibbous Moon, a 70-year-old tribal story-teller and seer, is leaving his settlement on a solitary Long Walk Out.

Except that he is not alone. Reluctantly he has to accept animal company in the shape of a determined dog he names Yellow. And then his daughter-in-law Paintbrush and her baby suddenly appear after their clan is brutally massacred by rivals on the reservation.

Gibbous, who has wandered beyond the boundaries of the park, also unexpectedly meets a real ‘skyman’, a rebellious ranger. Peter Allaby is from Titan and works on one of the stations set up to monitor Earth. They are at opposite ends of the evolutionary spectrum, but kindred spirits.

Could it be possible that this small renegade band could now form an unlikely alliance, the basis of a real New Beginning?

David Helton’s impressive and witty sci-fi epic The Last Walk Out is a story that satisfies on many levels – compelling and adventurous, with engaging characters including strong and individualistic women, and investigating the wisdom and contradictions mankind has confronted across history.