Shadow Of The Eternal Watcher by Josh Mendoza (EXCERPT)

Hi, readers! Today we have an excerpt from a very cool speculative fiction debut by screenwriter Josh Mendoza, the genre-bending Shadow Of The Eternal Watcher.

From the blurb: “Private detective Duster Raines has demons. Some visit him in his dreams, reminding him of the choices he made in combat to survive. Others visit him while he’s awake, demanding he pay penance for those sins. But lately, he’s started seeing an alternate version of reality where he leads a life of importance, full of wealth and power. Visions so vivid, they seem more real than the life he lives as a private investigator, scrounging the gutters of Los Angeles for an easy buck. It’s enough to drive anyone insane.

“Pulled into a missing persons case he never wanted, Raines finds himself framed and hunted by the government. But as he searches for answers to clear his name, he discovers a truth he never could have imagined: he possesses the ability to bend spacetime to accomplish incredible feats. With these powers, maybe he’s got a shot at the life he deserves.

“There’s only one problem standing in his way: another Duster Raines.”

Read on for a pulse-pounding excerpt that shows exactly what Raines is up against as he navigates (for now) our Los Angeles!

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(From Shadow of the Eternal Watcher by Josh Mendoza, published by Inkshares, January 2025. Reprinted with permission.)

At the bottom of the ladder, I dropped down into a pool of muck. Ice-cold water soaked through my socks. Wished I hadn’t taken my shoes off in the kitchen. But I had. My feet would keep.

Darkness enveloped me but my eyes had adjusted on the climb down. I could make out a latticework of pipes and wires on the ceiling. They ran past where I could see into what appeared to be a tunnel. The sound of slow-flowing water echoed around me. With the reverberations and tight spacing, the noise of the water raged like a river roaring out to sea.

Probably about three minutes before SWAT was on my trail. I’d pulled the carpet back over the hatch as I closed it but that would only slow them down for so long. And they’d have a distinct advantage down in these catacombs with night-vision goggles. I needed a head start and it should’ve started five minutes ago. I plunged into the darkness.

The space was cramped and I had to stoop to keep moving. I gasped in breaths that should’ve been easy. The dank air felt packed together, like it didn’t flow outside in any natural way. I ignored that thought. There was an exit to this maze somewhere. Had to be. No use worrying about it now because there was no going back.

Doubled my pace.

To keep from falling, I steadied my hands along the walls. They were rough, some type of stacked brick with patchy cement keeping them together. The masonry was subpar and certainly hadn’t been built by whoever constructed that concrete monstrosity I’d just escaped. No, this place felt old and slapped together.

Alone in the dark, my mind raced. How long had these tunnels been here? Were they an old LA sewer system? Was I going towards the outskirts of the Hollywood Hills or deeper into them? Maybe this wasn’t an escape route at all. Maybe it was leading to an old fallout shelter: a defense for the rich against imaginary nuclear wars. Idea after idea flowed through me, none of them good, the possibilities making me jumpy. Claustrophobia struck next, the walls closing in all around. Suffocating.

My heart hammered in my ears. I stooped down a little farther, took my hands off the walls, tried to keep from being crushed.

Keep going. Back only leads to death. Or worse.

It felt like miles before the tunnel came to a sudden stop at a T-intersection. The ground here dipped down, and the gathered water flowed at the lowest point. I’d found my river. I decided to follow the water and made a hard left into a giant pipe. From there the straightness of the tunnels came to an end, twisting and turning into an abysmal black hole. I continued to follow the flow of freezing water at my feet. Hopefully it flowed somewhere worth going.

In the distance, I heard the reverberations of an explosion. The SWAT team had blown the steel door. They’d be in the tunnels and coming after me soon. Hopefully my route would throw them off but following the water seemed obvious.

Run, Raines. You can’t let them capture you.

My feet pounded the water, numb from the cold, prickling with an odd sensation that wasn’t pain but still hurt. In spite of that, I kept moving. Tried to find a rhythm for my pace. But my breaths were coming out hoarse and ragged. Despite the fact I drank too much, I kept myself in decent shape—old Air Force habits die hard—and I still ran every day. Sometimes nights because mornings are tough when you’re on a binger. But none of that mattered down here with the tight air and the constrained spaces.

My eyes danced with bizarre halos of light that didn’t exist. I thought I could just make out another T-intersection ahead. No time to think, I went left.

And ran straight into a wall.

The impact put me on the ground. Wind knocked out of me. Dazed. My entire body ached. But I had to keep moving. Shaking away the cobwebs in my head, I dragged myself up and turned back the way I’d come. But something stopped me short. Two red eyes glowed in the dark maybe thirty feet in front of me. I couldn’t hear the breathing of the animal over the deafening sound of my own gasps, but I figured some type of coyote had wandered into these tunnels from the Hollywood Hills.

Fear dissipated to a desperate relief at seeing this creature. There must be a way out near here. But that elation disappeared faster than it came.

The noise told me the beast had moved before I could see the shadow of the animal emerging from the dark. The red eyes grew larger, covering the distance at an incredible speed—faster than any animal I’d ever seen. As it closed in, I saw its claws digging into the stone floor with an awesome power that didn’t seem possible. This was no coyote.

With no time to react, I fumbled for the gun in my pocket. Wasted precious seconds finding the grip. Took aim without pulling the revolver out of the jacket. Sighted down what I thought was the barrel. Right between those terrifying red eyes.

Pulled the trigger.

The gun kicked with incredible force that almost tore my jacket at the seams. I missed—at least I think I did—and those eyes continued closing in. The beast let out a terrible roar. My heart stopped. I was a dead man.

Round after round erupted from the gun until it went click.

Bullets ricocheted off stone, pipes, and metal. No way I hit the creature. But then, just as suddenly as they’d appeared, the eyes vanished. The shadow of the creature’s body hit the ground and skidded to a stop about fifteen feet from where I stood.

Nice shooting, Raines.

Thanks.

Taking the gun out of my now ruined jacket—occupational hazard—I quickly reloaded it with the last six bullets. Readying the revolver, I inched towards the downed animal. It didn’t appear to be moving. No labored breaths or whimpering to indicate I’d only wounded it. The beast was dead. I smiled. Still had my shot.

As I got closer, I could see there were sparks coming out of the animal’s carcass. Certain in my safety, I hustled over and saw the impossible. The animal looked like a small cheetah crossed with a dog. Maybe four feet across, with long legs, sharp teeth, the whole nine yards. Except it was made of some type of reflective metal. My bullet had struck it in the skull and blown it open, revealing a mess of wires, circuit boards, and other electronics I couldn’t begin to comprehend.

No, this wasn’t an animal. It was a robot.

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From Shadow Of The Eternal Watcher by Josh Mendoza. Copyright © 2025 by the author and reprinted by permission.

Shadow Of The Eternal Watcher by Josh Mendoza was published January 28 2025 by Inkshares and is available from all good booksellers, including