Luna on the Run

*Luna on the Run* is a twenty-two part story written by Michael Heckman that was released on his website, on Wattpad, and on Royal Road, with physical copies available on Amazon. The book follows the story of Luna and Freckles, a duo who lived on the streets of Carmsborough before coming into contact with a crime syndicate who stole Freckles and forced her to work for them on Blood Moon Island. The first release containing chapters one and two was on February 25th, 2022, with a chapter releasing weekly after. It is the first entry in the Carmsborough Vigilantes series.

### Premise

"Beggars can't be choosers, but I'm done begging." Luna, a homeless teen with skewed morals, and her mechanical cat Freckles embark on an adventure after finding a mysterious tracking device that could lead them to treasure. But when that device turns out to belong to Slaphand, a crime boss with a grip on the housing market in Carmsborough, Luna must save her best friend while coming to terms with her own gray morality.

### Synopsis

Luna, a homeless teenager with a tragic past and skewed morals, works for under minimum wage illegally at a scrapyard in Carmsborough. She dreams of one day having enough money to live comfortably with her steambot, Freckles, without worrying where her next meal was coming from. When she finds a strange beeping device at work that acts as a homing beacon to something mysterious, she goes on an adventure to sell it back to its owner.

Unfortunately for her, the owner is Slaphand, the co-leader of an evil crime syndicate with resources to spare. Also unfortunately for her, the beeping device is a key to a superpowered laser, which she accidentally sets off, destroying the machine. In retaliation, Slaphand separates her and Freckles, forcing Luna into unpaid labor on Blood Moon Island. There, she has only two goals: rescue Freckles and make it off the island alive.

Meanwhile, we learn more about Luna’s tragic life. Five years ago, her mother died of cancer, and her father left them long before that. When she arrived at her apartment returning from her mother’s funeral, she found herself in the middle of being evicted. She was paid next-to-nothing by the scrapyard owner simply because she was a minor, and not of legal age to work.

Feeling that she’s been wronged repeatedly, Luna struggles with questions of morality from the very first page of the book. Ideas she considers “moral” are often skewed and irrational, which she justifies by comparing it to what she’s been put through herself. Her more extreme ideas are usually shot down by Freckles, who, in reality, does not do anything other than meow. Luna instead projects her inner conflicts onto the cat’s inability to speak.

But with Freckles gone, the façade slips, and her actions throughout the rest of the story continue to worsen. After an unsuccessful infiltration mission with Mary, a debtor on the island who immediately befriends the teenager and assumes the role of moral stability, the two are locked in a cell in Slaphand’s office. Not five hours later, a seemingly random war breaks out across the island, and Luna is forced to choose between saving Mary from being crushed by rubble or chasing Slaphand in hopes of getting Freckles back.

She chooses to chase Slaphand, but once again, her plan is cut short when the invading party stops her. Just as it seems her luck has run out, a third group, run by a mysterious militia man who simply goes by S, swoops in to rescue her.

Luna, now down two moral supports, is in the ruts. Fortunately for her, S has a plan to take down Slaphand, and offers her to be the one to do it. Seeing as their interests line up, Luna accepts the offer. During her adventures, it’s revealed that not only was Slaphand the one responsible for evicting her from her apartment, but he also controls the scrapyard. For five years, she’d been indirectly helping him. He’s been her oppressor at every step in her life, and it’s more than personal to her now.

In her final mission to take Slaphand down, Luna meets Ike, an American government agent sent to do the same thing. Though they do not trust each other at first, and repeatedly ruin the other’s attempts at taking Slaphand down, they eventually form a shaky team dynamic. Ike acts as a stable mentor figure, repeatedly referencing the other young adults he is responsible for.

The two work together to defeat Slaphand and rescue Freckles, but Ike disappears soon after discovering that the “S” Luna is working for happens to be Syndra, a malicious military mastermind who sought to forcibly take over Carmsborough a few years prior. Syndra had previously been stopped by Orion and the Clockwork, a heroic duo that Luna grows to resent over the course of the story, believing they don’t look out for “the little guy” like Syndra does.

The story ends with closure for Luna, both in placing a tombstone for Mary next to her mom’s and in attacking and destroying the scrapyard she’d worked at for years. Her moral compass is permanently shifted, and it seems Freckles doesn’t have much to say about it. Luna the Blood Moon Pirate is born and ready to shift the power dynamic in Carmsborough for good. Now the only two things standing in her way are Slaphand’s organized crime syndicate and Orion and the Clockwork.

### Nominations and Awards

*Luna on the Run* was nominated for a 2022 Wattys award on Wattpad.