Revenant I: Into the Abyss

By Cameron Walker

Downtown, the ancient and shattered remains of 21st century civilisation, abandoned centuries ago as the cities of the east coast of the former USA grew into one vast megacity:

When elite commando Jax Caskar goes renegade during a mission and steals top secret documents, things don't go as planned and he crashes in the forsaken, subterranean world of Downtown. With Caskar hiding among the festering ruins, and in possession of information he plans to give to Syndicate rebels, Revenant Squadron is assigned the task of venturing Downtown to apprehend him and recover the data. It's a perilous mission with a small chance of success, as Revenant Squadron must face not only Caskar, but the labyrinthine streets and abyssal darkness of the uncharted realm, long shrouded in myth that's rumoured to be home to hideous mutants, terrible monsters, and a plethora of vile creatures that call Downtown home. But they're just a myth. They couldn't possibly be real right? Can Revenant Squadron prevail against the odds?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cameron Walker
• Release date: Jul 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463638255

Cameron Walker

Cameron Walker is a thirty-four-year-old writer from Sydney, Australia, where he resides with his two cats Bubbles and Einari. He first began writing in 2003 at the age of sixteen, where he quickly became interested in writing fanfiction, and soon went on to participate in chain stories and online text-based RPGs. He released his debut novel, the high seas pirate adventure, Devil’s Eye in 2019, and has since released a short story anthology Tales of the Forsaken (2020), and a novella Revenant: Into the Abyss (2020). He mostly writes speculative fiction in a wide range of genres, but specifically horror, fantasy, historical, cyberpunk, and science fiction. Cameron cites R.L. Stine, George Lucas, J.R.R Tolkien, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joss Whedon, and H.P. Lovecraft as the main influences on his writing. He is known for his eclectic style and willingness to always be experimenting, trying something new, and pushing the boundaries of his work.

Book preview

Revenant: Into the Abyss

Cameron Walker

Copyright 2020 by Cameron Walker

Ebook Edition

To anyone who has ever supported me or my work, this is for you.

Revenant:

Into the Abyss

CHAPTER ONE

Grim tensed his muscles, blinked sweat from his eyes, and pushed aside the pain that tore at his arms. Gritting his teeth and tightening his grip on the bar he exhaled and pushed upwards once more with all his might, groaning with the effort as he lifted the heavy weights for a final time and brought them to a rest on the stand above his head. With a sigh of relief, he collapsed back onto the bench and lay there for several moments to catch his breath and wait for the aches in his muscles to subside. Breathing heavily, he closed his eyes and relished the feeling of another gruelling work out successfully completed.

A harmonic beeping sounded as his commlink demanded his attention. With a groan he rolled up into a sitting position and picked up the bleating device. He looked at the data screen and grunted in irritation, the summons always came at the most inconvenient of times.

He clicked off the commlink and sighed, deciding he had time for a quick shower before he reported for duty in the allocated briefing room indicated in the message. Running his hands through his crew cut Grim stood and plodded into the bathroom for a well-earned shower.

Removing his shorts, he stepped into the shower and activated it, gasping in surprise as his body was shocked by the sudden assault of cold water that rained upon him and cascaded down his naked body. It had been a month since Revenant Squadron’s last mission, their deployment to the Acacia Avenue Apartments to apprehend the notorious computer hacker Cyrus Green. The mission hadn’t gone quite as planned with the squad being ambushed by over thirty bogeys. But still, they had come out victorious in the end, and although half the squad had spent a good amount of time in the infirmary, they hadn’t suffered any fatalities. They had spent the past four weeks recovering from the mission, training, running drill exercises, and for Grim and his Sergeants, hosting classes on various topics at the academy. Despite his initial objections to the undertaking Grim had come to quite enjoy teaching classes on combat tactics and the theoretical side of warfare, in connection with more practical training exercises.

Grim was the last to enter the briefing room. The rest of his team sat at the table before Colonel West, a stern-faced black officer who had the same displeased expression permanently frozen on his face. Grim noted that the buzzcuts the five other members of Revenant Squadron wore made them all look alike at first glance, like brothers. "Brothers in arms," he thought to himself.

The other members of the team greeted him as he entered, his hair still wet from the shower he had taken before answering the summons. He replied with a lacklustre hello and nodded to them all in acknowledgement before taking the seat nearest the Colonel.

Thank you for joining us Lieutenant, West said with zero enthusiasm. I’m glad you could find time out of your busy schedule to attend an official military summons in a prompt fashion, he said, dryly. His cold, dark eyes fixated on the commander of Revenant Squadron.

Grim didn’t take the bait and nodded in response.

Colonel West turned from him and addressed the entire team, getting straight to business. Just over a week ago, on a mission to apprehend a wanted fugitive, a commando in our armed forces stole some valuable and classified information and deserted, taking with him some highly classified and dangerous data and a cache of weapons in a stolen gunship, West said as images appeared on the large screen behind him to emphasise his point. The deserter was pursued and his ship badly damaged in the chase. Unfortunately for us the chase had descended into the lower city and the gunship went down somewhere in the recesses of Downtown. Due to the complicated nature of the terrain and its depth from the surface it has been difficult to pinpoint the crash site and track the deserter, West explained. But several days ago we finally got confirmation of the location of the crash site and his last known position, the Colonel said, a map appearing on the screen behind him as several flashing lights indicated the crash site and his position. Due to the delicate nature of the information and the significance it holds command wants Revenant Squadron to requisition it and apprehend the deserter, he said, sweeping his gaze over the six commandos seated in front of him. You’re to bring him in alive. I have specific orders from headquarters that he is to be captured and brought in for questioning, failure to do so or seize the data will have dire consequences for Revenant Squadron, West said, looking them all in the eye one by one.

Um, excuse me, sir, Jet asked, raising a hand.

West glared at him. What is it Corporal?

Jet shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The date on the deserter’s last known position sir. It’s from three days ago, he said, gesturing to the board behind the Colonel.

West nodded. It is. Unfortunately, we were unable to track him any further as he had removed his armour’s tracking system, he explained.

A target could move a long way over the course of three days, even while trapped Downtown, Dex pointed out. He could be anywhere in a hundred-kilometre radius. That’s if he even stayed down there and didn’t move up into the lower city, in that case, the search area could be huge, Dex continued.

Colonel West nodded in agreement. Revenant Squadron was specially chosen for this mission due to the complex nature of the parameters and the logistics involved, he said. Plus, he continued, turning his gaze to the lieutenant. The deserter is someone you’re well acquainted with, and General Vulcan thought it would be appropriate to allocate Revenant Squadron this mission as a result. Considering your….rivalry of sorts, it should provide some extra motivation.

Who? Grim thought aloud, before the realisation hit home.

West noticed his expression and nodded curtly. Yes, he said simply, before turning to the screen and pressing a button on the remote he held. The image changed to that of a grizzled, battle scarred warrior roughly Grim’s age. Gentlemen; meet Major Jax Caskar. Four purple hearts, three silver stars, two medals of honour, and one Federation Commendation of Valour, West said.

Jet whistled in appreciation. Damn, that’s impress…. he began before a glare from his superior officer shut him up.

As soon as he realised who their target was Grim clenched his fists and grit his teeth, burying the rage building inside him before it boiled over. He and Caskar had history together, to say the least.

Caskar’s a certified war hero, why is he suddenly stealing government documents and deserting from the military? Cram asked, raising an eyebrow.

Doesn’t make much sense, does it? Wes chimed in.

The Colonel’s expression became even more displeased, if such a thing were possible. "How or why isn’t important. What does matter is Major Caskar is a traitor and has turned his back on the Federation, and made