(Chapter 22) Day 236 - Shadows of humanity

Having observed this group of survivors for as long as I have now, the time is coming to introduce myself. They seem to be a peaceful lot, no in-fighting or malicious intent, which means the protocol had its intended effect. I've managed to establish their base of operations is indeed that smudge on the horizon I spotted those few days ago, the groups seem to routinely move from that direction into this old-world (such as it is) city, as well as several other parties I spotted moving out in various other directions, heading to similar locations.

However, there is one location the parties studiously avoid. Even the hearty scouts, such as their function is, have placed several warning signs and spray-painted multiple labels on the streets leading to these areas. The warnings all read the same approximation of 'Shadowcast. Stay clear.' although at the time I had taken this for another sign of old vandalism or artistic expression. Now I know what they mean, and I can clearly see why the humans steer clear of these places.

In the towns, the damage can be seen on a larger scale than it could whilst travelling through the country. Pieces are missing from tall buildings while other areas are all-but levelled completely from what I can only assume are ballistic strikes of some kind. Scorch marks outline the worst of these areas, as well as chunks of terrain that have been carved out of the ground by who-knows-what form of weaponry. Skyscrapers lean at precarious angles, others having fallen over entirely while still others seem to bear the marks of small arms fire at their most base levels, speaking of some kind of street fighting.

I mention this to give you a scale of what I am about to tell you. People seem to have little-to-no issue travelling in these ruins, even entering the most stable of these buildings and hunting around for supplies. There are no corpses as such to speak of, having disappeared in one form or another during the ensuing carnage of the new world. There are, however, some forms of evidence that time nor warfare seems to be able to erase from the streets of these towns.

The best way to describe them, I suppose, would be to call them shadows, hence the human moniker 'Shadowcast'. Humanoid shadows that lay on the ground, stuck in one haunting position for the remainder of time. I have examined several such sites and they are all relatively similar, hundreds of these shadows staining the grounds and walls on a street level, in varying forms. Some seem to be fleeing, others kneeling on the ground, some seem to be collections of humans, huddled together in their last moments on earth.

The term 'shadow' is, of course, something of a fantasy, these are simply forms burned onto the earth and stone by some terrible weapon. The area around these 'shadows' seems to have been barely touched by the fighting around the rest of the town. While time and nature have done their fair share of damage, there are no signs of artificial damage. By that, I simply mean this area did not see any bombs, bullets or any other weapons of which to speak. The buildings still stand strong, the ground is even and cracked only by weeds and tall trees.

I can only conclude that some form of terrible weapon was deployed here, one that had the express purpose of eliminating any human presence in an area without doing any physical damage to the area itself. The living creatures, for several shadows, resembled human pets as well, are destroyed, burned away in an instant leaving only the territory behind. A similar instant from the annals of human history comes to mind, that of the aftermath of their first atomic weapon. Aside from the colossal damage done to the immediate area, several people were burned away by the sheer force of the explosion, leaving only a shadow in their place.

I have heard several mutterings of 'curses' or 'bad luck' whenever the humans have to venture even close to these lost places, but so far I have not observed any of the scouts or parties interacting with the shadows. This does bear closer inspection, however, ensuring the ongoing survival of humanity remains the sole priority for now.