(Chapter 23) Simon Delaney

The following interview was transcribed verbatim from a recorded session and written alongside several personal observations.

One of the few solo interviews I have on my schedule in this town, he has some interesting stories that I am very keen on hearing. He's an elderly man, mid to late sixties as seems to be the standard around here.

AA - Welcome, welcome. Thanks for taking the time today to speak with me.

SD - No problem, I had to give in to you eventually!

AA - Yes, I suppose I have been rather overbearing with my requests, but word around town is that you have a very interesting story to tell.

SD - It's not something I enjoy discussing, but for the matter of the record it's important that someone knows.

AA - Very noble of you. Now that you've segued into that for me, would you please introduce yourself?

SD - Certainly. My name is Simon Delaney, sixty...oh...let's call it sixty-eight. I'm the town's engineer.

AA - That's simplifying a bit from what I hear.

SD - You seem to hear an awful lot. Well, I guess what I am technically is an electro-mechanical engineer, I know you've already spoken to my colleagues James & Sam?

AA - They were the first people I interview after I arrived, they made it quite easy for me. They're also engineers if memory serves?

SD - Yeah, but they like to call themselves JOATs or something. Makes sense, they're good at anything they're asked to do really.

AA - Are you something of a supervisor then?

SD - I suppose that's fair to say, it's less official than that but I'm partly responsible for saying where they go and when.

AA - That's fair, and what is it you do exactly?

SD - I'm focussing on a big project at the minute, but I have to keep it hush hush just in case it doesn't work.

AA - Wouldn't want people getting their hopes up?

(SD just taps the side of his nose.)

AA - Hah, fair enough. So how did you end up here?

SD - Same story as everyone I suppose, I heard a rumour of a place that was gathering a lot of survivors in one place. I found another group that were heading in the same direction and they let me tag along.

AA - So where did those rumours start?

SD - Well they...I...erm, I guess I can't really remember.

AA - A similar tale indeed. Can you remember much about your previous life?

SD - About the same as everyone else here, I know I worked on wind turbines for a big tech company. Pretty sure I was single, but if I wasn't I guess she wasn't worth remembering.

AA - That's a fairly cutthroat attitude, from my other interviews people always try to remember what they can.

SD - I think they just try to cling to what they had, which isn't very healthy in my books. We're here and now, might as well try to do what we can for the future.

AA - That makes sense, focus on what you need to focus on. Were you well received?

SD - By this place? Everyone is, regardless of where they come from, who they're with or what they can provide. Very equal, which I always thought of as something of an irony.

AA - How do you mean?

SD - Well, it took the world ending for us to finally realise what true equality is. It seems like a common opinion around here that we're better off now than we were.

AA - Another shared opinion.

SD - And we all thought that way before we arrived here together. Which is a strange coincidence but there's probably something more at work here anyway.

[Tsxirxmep xlviex hixigxih]

AA - And what do you mean by that?

SD - Ah, just the ramblings of an old man. Pay no attention to me, us humans just love a spot of intrigue. But I know you're not here to ask me about my past.

AA - Yes, I suppose we've danced around the topic for long enough, haven't we?

SD - Indeed, don't be shy.

AA - Fair enough. So, what can you tell me about the Shadowcast?

SD - Whoa, straight to the point. Well, I first came across them on my journey up to this place.

AA - You were alone?

SD - Since I woke up, I was in a bunker down south. As far as I can remember, there were a few of us that went in the place together. When I woke up, there didn't seem to be anyone else around.

AA - Did you head for this town straight away?

SD - No, I figured I'd need supplies no matter what was going to happen. I went to the town centre near me and had a snoop around. The entire place was a wreck, but I managed to fix up a jeep and raided a supermarket for whatever long-term supplies they had left.

AA - Were you lucky in that regard?

SD - Fairly, actually, considering the circumstances. Had enough to last for months on my own, and I had my own rules in place if it came to other survivors?

AA - Dare I ask what they were?

SD - Well it all hinged on the...vibe I got from them, I guess. Luckily the only other groups I ever met were very like-minded so we got along famously. Discounting the zombies and crazy-ass mutants I had to duck and dodge through.

AA - You were lucky you managed to avoid them all.

SD - To be honest, a lot of it came down to sheer speed in the end. I could outrun them in my vehicle, so that saved my life more times than I care to remember.

AA - Well, whatever works. So what happened on your journey?

SD - I kept travelling through a few smaller towns and cities, but got to London eventually, or at least what was left of the place.

AA - I haven't managed to work my way down there yet.

SD - Look out a window and you'll basically see the same stuff, dilapidated buildings, wrecked windows, bullet holes and craters lined the streets. Parliament was just a gaping hole in the ground, the river had turned it into a lake.

AA - I hadn't seen that level of devastation, but I suppose with it being the capital.

SD - Makes sense that it would face the most destruction. Take out the country's leaders and things get very messy very quickly.

AA - Indeed, a basic rule of war.

SD - So, there was all that. Once I got closer to the centre itself, that's when I saw something I never thought I would. It was a massive military base, all sorts of equipment and so many vehicles just abandoned, left to rot.

AA - Did any of them work?

SD - I tried a few, but military engineering isn't my strong suit. I pressed a few buttons, nothing happened, I moved on. I did manage to grab a few crates of weapons though.

AA - I was wondering how the guards had become so well-armed.

SD - Yeah, that was me. Whether it was a good decision or not remains to be seen. Luckily they haven't seen any use outside of the training area.

AA - That's good to know.

SD - Yeah, you can be safe here. Anyway, I need to stop getting so sidetracked.

AA - It's quite alright, helps to flesh out the story somewhat.

SD - That's true, they'll need these details when the human race rebuilds itself and they make a film trilogy about all of this.

AA - Something I need to remember as well.

SD - Well, remember I'm seven foot tall and nothing but muscle.

AA - Well, I tend to avoid descriptions when I can. But I'll make a special note here.

(SD laughs, a satisfying sound.)

SD - A good policy. Anyway, I was in and around that base for the better part of a full day before I began to notice a few things out of the ordinary. Well, more out of the ordinary anyway.

AA - Such as?

SD - Well, there were no bodies, no skeletons, nothing that indicated any human presence at all.

AA - Was that so strange?

SD - Not really, but I'd seen a few things on my way through the outlying towns that led me to believe there was at least something living there before...well before they died I suppose.

AA - Fair enough, please go on.

SD - Well, that's when I noticed them for the first time. In what I can imagine were the most densely populated areas of the city, I thought at first they were just regular shadows on the walls. The whole city is pretty tall buildings so it wasn't too unusual.

AA - I can see how that would happen.

SD - It wasn't until I was looking at a building that the sun was shining directly on to. I was looking around just to make sure, and there was absolutely nothing, other than myself, which could have caused a shadow to surround the entire base level of the building.

AA - Was it solid black?

SD - For the most part, then I made the mistake of going in for a closer look. Closer to the top of this 'shadow' there were a few...details.

AA - Details?

SD - Handprints.

AA - Oh.

SD - Yeah, took a few minutes for my brain to come to that realisation, but clear as the sun that was shining on them were handprints. Then I noticed other shapes more clearly, outlines of heads or arms, stretching toward the sky.

AA - That sends a shiver down the spine.

(Presumably.)

SD - Indeed it did, I'm not ashamed to admit I vomited. Several times actually, every time I looked away and looked back and my brain had the chance to process that information all over again.

AA - What did you think they were?

SD - I know exactly what they are, they were corpses.

AA - ...You may have to elaborate somewhat.

SD - I remember before I went into that bunker, there were rumours of a horrendous new energy weapon. Reports said it was capable of annihilating the entire population of a city without doing damage to the infrastructure itself.

AA - I've found evidence of a similar thing, you think that's what caused these...shadows?

SD - I'm certain. From the point of explosion, which I also stumbled across, or, well nearly stumbled into, it makes sense. Seems like whatever it did when it landed or exploded just...decimated whoever was around at the time.

AA - In what way?

SD - The shadows were the only trace I found of the population. Once I knew what I was looking for, I noticed it everywhere. There wasn't a building that wasn't stained by it, then I just felt like…

AA - Like?

SD - Like they were...watching me, reaching for me, judging me. I'm not a superstitious man but...there was no escaping it. I left as soon as my head was steady enough to drive away.

AA - I don't think anyone could blame you. Had anyone in this town seen them before?

SD - It took me a long time to mention it. Not until I went along with one of the scavenging teams. We ended up in a much less populated area, I'm not sure why the weapon was even deployed there but the shadows were much more...pronounced.

AA - In what way?

SD - Profiles of entire people just...blasted onto the wall. The worst I saw looked like a family, two adults, two kids, even a dog. Just...gone but...not gone at the same time. Almost cursed to be here forever.

AA - I thought you weren't superstitious?

SD - I'm not but things like that are hard to avoid thinking about.

AA - I share the sentiment, it was a very uneasy experience while I was there.

SD - Where did you see them?

AA - There was an...accident after I had passed through. A lot of the buildings had burned down.

SD - That's fair. I felt like there should have been an...accident after I had passed through. But I thought they should serve as a reminder to the world.

AA - And a vivid reminder they shall be. I won't take up any more of your time on this, I'm sure you have a lot to get on with.

SD - The special project and all, you know.

AA - I'm very much looking forward to seeing what it is, hopefully it'll be soon?

SD - We'll see, there's a lot happening in the town right now. I hear Roger has a big announcement for the town soon, so we'll see what that is. I suppose they didn't tell you anything?

(I tap the side of my nose and wink. SD laughs.)

SD - Hah, fair enough. I walked into that one.

AA - Well, thank you, Simon. If you ever need anything, I'm a bit of a dab hand with mechanics.

SD - I'll keep that in mind.

END

Not much to say that can't be found in my appendix entry on the subject. Needless to say, the Shadowcast are and will be a haunting reminder of what humanity is capable of when things start going wrong. I remember a similar lesson being taught in the mid-to-late-forties with atomic weaponry. Apparently, that wasn't enough to stop them from doing it again.