Excerpt from THE LIGHT RUNNER by Ally Walker
One-Seven had never ventured out of the building this far, and he was becoming increasingly worried that the man-with-the kind-eyes, who had woken him up from a deep sleep, was doing something that wasn’t exactly OK. So, his body did what it always did when he was nervous and froze up.
He snuck a look up at the man-with-the-kind-eyes again, trying to understand why he kept muttering to himself, and why he seemed so frantic. Usually, he just held One Seven and gave him treats. And that was great. But today was different. He sure hoped the man knew what he was doing, because now he was making One-Seven sort of scared. Very scared.
The man had visited One-Seven and his relatives with that other man, and One Seven had grown somewhat fond of him. Mainly because he brought treats, but also cuz he was gentle. Very gentle. But he didn’t like that other man. He was cold. Like most of the humans he had known.
But the man-with-the-kind-eyes seemed to want to be his friend, so One-Seven sorta looked forward to his visits. But today was different. The man-with-the-kind-eyes seemed very different. He was running now, and it suddenly got a lot darker. Of course, One-Seven could see just fine. Probably a lot better than the man could. And once again, he sure hoped that the man-with-the-kind-eyes knew what he was doing.
But suddenly, the man stopped and gasped. He didn’t move a muscle for a long time. So, One-Seven, who’d remained frozen for what seemed like an eternity, looked up at him and followed his gaze. One-Seven wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw something running out of the corner of his eye, but it was the human lying there sleeping that caught his attention.
Apparently, the man-with-the-kind-eyes didn’t like this one bit, cuz he went to the human sleeping, and he began to cry and mutter even louder. And One-Seven didn’t know what he was saying, but he could tell it had nothing to do with treats.
And now something smelled funny. When One-Seven looked closer, he noticed that there was a lot of black stuff coming out of the human sleeping on the ground. He had smelled this black stuff before and seen it a few times when humans hurt one of them. One-Seven knew the black stuff was a bad sign, and he decided that the time to move was now. So, when the man-with-the-kind-eyes touched the human on the ground, he saw his chance and took it.
He pushed off with his strong hind legs and virtually flew out of the man’s hands.
Wow!” he thought as he sprang toward freedom. This feels fantastic! And he never looked back. He set off toward green bushes that didn’t look green.
Toward a place they couldn’t catch him.
Toward a new life.
He set off…
Toward the light.
Copyright © 2025 Ally Walker
The first exciting installment in the Realities series!
Things aren't as they appear to be at Bainbridge Psychiatric Hospital. Decorated war hero and politician Captain Oliver Haskell has voluntarily committed himself following the murder of his wife, scientist Hannah Haskell, in the parking lot of her workplace, Wellglad Pharmaceuticals. His case is assigned to Dr. Ella Kramer, a young psychiatrist just out of her residency with a troubled past of her own. After interviewing the captain, Ella starts to listen to her other patients at Bainbridge, who seem to be operating in another reality altogether. But it is when their reality bleeds into Captain Haskell's that Ella is forced to choose between the two worlds and learns to trust her gut about what really happened to Hannah Haskell that night. Detective Paul Moran who is investigating the murder smells a rat-or, perhaps, in this case, a rabbit-as he attempts to unravel what has taken place and its strange connection to the hospital's patients.
The Light Runner, the first installment in the Realities series from debut author Ally Walker, is an edge-of-your-seat metaphysical thriller that will mesmerize and haunt you from the first page to its shocking end.
Thriller [Red Carpet Press, On Sale: June 6, 2025, Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9781966981060 / ]
Ally Walker was a budding biochemist with a BA in biology from UCSC when she stumbled into show business. Spotted by a producer in an LA eatery, she was cast in a small film and continued to make her name as an actress for the next thirty years, starring in Profiler, Universal Soldier, While You Were Sleeping, and Sons of Anarchy, to name a few. She produced and directed an award-winning documentary on LA County’s foster care system, then penned and directed the film, Far More, which won Best Screenplay at the Milan International Film Festival. She lives in LA with her husband, three boys, and two unruly bulldogs. The Light Runner is her first novel.
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