Caught Out is a great introduction to The Wrecked Earth, the post-apocalyptic setting featured in “CLUTCH: Book One of The Wrecked Earth” and other short stories, as well as to Clutch himself.
In the closing days of 2012 Earth mysteriously intersected with an asteroid belt that appeared out of nowhere, resulting in a devastating series of celestial collisions. For thirty days meteorites rained down on the planet, causing death and destruction on an unimaginable scale; this period of time became known as Rockfall. The years following were called the Wrecking, and were filled with misery as survivors fell prey to earthquakes, floods, fallout, starvation and disease in the aftermath of Rockfall. The meteors continue to fall, and strange radiation has caused rapid changes in the animal population, resulting in mutants and animal herds of mythic proportions.
In Caught Out the protagonist, Clutch, struggles with his decision to take care of a young orphan when he realizes it may interfere with his oath to find his people's killers. When the boy, Jorge, is caught out in a meteor storm, the last Tribesman has to make a choice, and quickly.