Hole.

[deleted]

What the hell?

Average day at the SCP Foundation

The old woman had a thick accent that I could not quite place. She didn't seem to realize the smell of dust surrounding her. Idly, with one of her disfigured, bony hands, she gestured me to come inside the house, as she stood by the door.

"Wh- Oh, thanks but I just- um, so um, do you have any?" I asked awkwardly. I had no idea what she just asked me. What I thought I heard made no sense.

She just stood there, waiting for me to step inside, and said "Hm". It wasn't even a question. She just looked away with glassy eyes, as if trying to catch on to a distant memory; as if it would disappear for good if she stopped thinking about it. Meanwhile, the "conversation" had ground to a halt.

"Um, so, uh- if you had some that would be great..."

"Ha? Hm."

God damn it. I couldn't figure out how much of it she could hear, follow or understand. One last try, then I would ask for my leave.

"Um, thyme? Dried thyme? Green is okay too. You know, thyme, the plant? Lemon thyme? Orange thyme? Lime thyme-"

She immediately came back from her slumber; her glassy eyes widened, and her demeanor changed completely. She said "Lifetime? Hmm yes, I can do that."

Before I could say anything; she shut the door. I just stood there for a while, confused. I tried knocking, to no avail. I went back to my apartment, scratching my head. I never saw the neighbor again. Two weeks later, a family moved in, as if no one ever lived there before.

I didn't think of the incident for the first century. Lately, though, it has been haunting me. What was it that I said, exactly? Didn't I say borrow?

Whom did I borrow it from?

hi sorry there probably won't be a part 2 but glad you liked my take on this!!

I thought Prey but that also works

[removed]

That's where the forum comes into play. Decently sure you can just get it greenlit there

"Oh no..." Said the human behind me. "how many of those vials did you drink?"

"Umm all of them... so like 12?" responded my crewmate.

"Ugh... Captain can we please put Johnny Reckless here in isolation?' Asked the Human.

"Harry, is it?" Asked the captain. After a nod from Harry he continued "is there an infections disease or parasite risk?"

Thinking for a moment and clearly about to say Yes the human gets a perplexed look before saying "Not exactly??" with visible confusion.

"hold on my family is explaining it to me, I was just collecting samples for my grandfather." the human closed his eyes and put a finger to his temple.

The rest of the crew saw what was happening and rushed over to watch. "Oh My God the human is about to channel!!!" said one excited crewmate.

"I've never gotten to witness one in person!" said another.

"they don't usually commune with the collective consciousness in public this must be something HUGE!" said

assuming a stance of confidence and pride Harry began to speak in an authoritative tone.

"Our Family has always believed that above all the water remembers, all life began in the water and all life eventually returns to the water. We have returned to reclaim the ancestors of humanity so they can be restored and reunited with their families." with a sign Harry continued in his usual tone. "okay so the deal is we have always believed that a human could be reconstructed by the collective back into its original form once it has been broken back down into its base components. We just never had the technology to identify the base components accurately enough do so."

'like the ship of Theseus." asked an Asgard their large eyes staring intently. "So your concern is now that our crewmate has taken your family hostage you will not be able to recover them?"

"well I wouldn't accuse him of kidnapping since its an honest mistake but yes. It took all of our families resources to track down and identify water samples from the correct time periods containing the needed materials." Harry said waving a hand at the now incredibly embarrassed crewmate.

"Well then I believe another Earth concept will solve the issue for us and once thats done i would love to help you continue your research. This could be the solution the Asgard have been looking for in regards to our cloning degradation and restoration of our collective." Said the Asgard.

Confused one of the crewmates ask "what concept?"

"I believe they are referring to "Montezuma's revenge". before doubling over laughing

"indeed" said a human figure next to the Asgard.

This is just Half Life in which case go watch the Freeman's Mind series on YouTube.

I tried putting together an SCP some time ago. It's a REAL bother to even get admins to look at your draft so they approve it.

I got a lot of shit from my friends for working at this research facility, but I have almost ten years of student debt to pay so I can't be picky. There are tons of rumors about what the company does with our research at the higher levels, but I just research this one mold likes to eat. It seems to love most plants but seems to almost get a boost when it comes into contact with bits of meat. This made a tear in my glove terrifying when I noticed it, but after doing all the proper procedures to decontaminate it seems I was either lucky or this mold doesn't have a taste for alive flesh. Out of worry, the company had some higher researchers run tests on me for a few days, but they said nothing turned up. They still insist on a blood sample once a week and a visual check-up once a month but I don't mind since they pay for it. Plus, they found out I had a cavity in my molar that one time and paid for it to be fixed so this is kind of a sweet deal.

After the first week after the glove incident, I was allowed to go back to my research. It is a bit mind-numbing since there are normally no new findings. At lunch today Carl was complaining about how he had still not received the mandatory gun training. He was shocked to hear I had been here for years and still only watched the video. It is odd they want us trained with guns, but they give you a pay bump if you get through the entire training so it is kind of nice. I personally think it is a bit silly to have the researchers training on how to weld a gun. We have state-of-the-art security tech, so many checkpoints it is annoying, and tons of security guards. I don't think even Fort Knox is so well-guarded.

The batch I'm preparing now is supposed to see if the mold likes Garter snake eggs or Pygmy snake eggs better. Apparently, another researcher found that it liked the Garter snake eggs over bits of Garter snake, so now we are seeing if it prefers certain snake eggs over others. There is talk that it might just be eggs in general, but there is a lot of time and research before we can figure that out. As I said, a bit mind-numbing. I had just finished putting all of the containers back in the air-sealed tank when the alarm went off. I'm glad I didn't have anything important in my hands, as the alarm startled me so badly that I dropped my notepad to the floor.

Looking over at the door, where the lights for the alarms were, it was red. It meant... something bad? I ran over to my desk to find my work manual, my hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold the book. Red meant danger of death and to evacuate to a designated safe room. The sound of the alarm suddenly turned off but the light was still flashing, my ears felt relief even if my heart didn't feel it. I grabbed my issued pistol, was it always this light? I swear when they gave it to me it felt so heavy. Standing at the door, I tried to listen through it but then felt like an idiot when I remembered they were soundproofed. I didn't want to open the door, I just wanted to go back to my normal boring research where I didn't have to worry that if I walked out this door I could die. I could also die here though, the only safety was to get to this section's safe room. That was the thought that finally got me to open the door.

The hallway was quiet like always, only the flashing red lights told you that there was something wrong. It just needed to go to the closest intersection and hang a right to get to the safe room. I could do this. I can do this. My heart was pounding loudly in my chest as I slowly moved down the hallway towards the intersection. As I got closer, I strained to try to hear any footsteps but heard nothing. Where was Carl? His lab was further than mine to the safe room, did I really take that long to get the courage to leave my lab?

Steeling myself, I leaned forward a bit to see to the left, nothing. I leaned a bit more to the right and almost screamed. In the doorway of the safe room was Carl, laying in a growing pool of blood. Over him was a… thing. It swayed like a leaf in a gentle, nonexistent wind. It was an off white, humanoid but only barely. As its’ skin shifted in the light, it hit me it looked like the mold but in human form??? I heard a drawn out moan behind me and turned to see another one shuffling its way towards me from the left side of the intersection. A wet slapping sound made me look back at Carl to see the mold creature take a chunk of Carl’s flesh and eat it. Where in the hell was security?

Another moan reminded me I had one behind me and I jerked back when I noticed how close it had gotten to me in such a short time. It lunged for me but I was able to kick it back, it felt like kicking a pillow with how much its body gave into the kick. In a panic, I lifted my pistol and fired rapidly, hoping just something would hit. In my amazement, all three bullets hit the center of its forehead, causing it to dissolve into ashes. Okay, maybe I could do this. Something slamming into me and into the floor proved me wrong almost immediately. I couldn’t stop screaming, the mold creature biting through my left hand didn’t help matters. In a daze of pain, I fired point blank into its head while it was gnawing on my finger bones. My previously connected fingers landed on my chest as it too, faded into ashes.

I felt like I could barely breathe from the pain in my hand. I tried to stuff my hand into my shirt so I could slow the bleeding but just gave myself more pain instead. The sudden rush of new pain caused me to quickly lean over and vomit my barely digested lunch. Was it really only less than an hour ago I was eating lunch with Carl? My eyes focused on my slightly gnawed fingers on the floor, they must have slid off my chest when I got sick. Is this shock? I swear it looked like those fingers were becoming less gnawed-looking as I stared at them. I poked them and felt a burning in my hurt hand, looking over I started screaming. How are my fingers growing back? What the fuck is going on with me? What the fuck is going on with this facility? Mold doesn’t just randomly grow into people-like things that want to eat flesh. What in the hell were the higher researchers working on?

I need to get out of here. I got up carefully, being mindful to not step in my vomit or blood. Hoping for the best, I went towards the safe room, maybe there would be someone there hiding while this happened. As I neared the door, I tried to not look at Carl’s body while stepping around the thickening pool of blood, I didn’t need to get sick again. I paused before entering and shouted, “Is anyone hiding in the safe room? I took care of those… things, out here.” Silence closed in around me. “Um, Carl is… not okay… but it turns out those things are easy to kill so maybe we can get out of here?” Nothing. I heard nothing in reply. I leaned into the doorway, my heart dropping as I saw more blood. It was Sarah and a guard this time. It looked like Sarah was trying to use the computer in the safe room but got her neck ripped into from behind. I couldn’t tell where the guard was injured until I stepped around him to see his whole arm just gone.

No one else was in the room. I could hear my breathing become more rapid and the panic setting in. Was I alone? Was I the only alive non mold thing in this entire facility? I slammed the safe room door shut and locked it. There were no more people on our floor so no one to wait for. I need to calm down. I will get myself killed if I can’t calm down. Think. Come on Henry, think! There are tons of people who work here, I remember Sarah saying it was insane how many security guards they had here, over a dozen apparently. Carl complained said they had enough guards to match up to each non-security staff member, so there had to be at least twenty-four people here including myself. There is no way that all of them are dead, just the ones on my floor. I just need to contact security with the computer like Sarah was trying and they will know I need help.

Having a plan helped to calm me. I didn’t realize until I stopped panicking that I had backed myself into a corner with my pistol raised. I gently moved the chair that Sarah’s body was in so I could access the computer. It took me a minute, but I found the emergency contact button for security. I clicked it and started typing out what had happened and that I needed help. All I got back was an automated message, “The facility is in maximum lockdown, stay in safe rooms until a guard comes to your safe room. Please be sure to use the computer in the room to check who is at the door before opening it. This is an automated message, no one will reply to you. Please stay safe.” My heart felt like it fell into my feet. An automated message? Where were the guards in the security office? They are supposed to stay there to help us. Are they also dead? How long should I wait?

-more to come soon.

Edit: I was having issues replying to my original comment so I posted it and part 2 on my profile if you want to read more.

Good stuff. I really like how you described them looking around as trying to crack their necks but not finding the right angle. Solid foreshadowing with the vats at the beginning too.

For 2 PLAYCOINS™ I can show you the SECRETS of the horrible universe. I am in so much pain. HELP ME GOR-

HELLO GORDON

Gordon Freeman like

Gordon doesn't need to hear all this. He is a highly trained professional.

Ya, i feel like trope like that are too overused

“These Catalums…,” Stephen began, “Are they afraid of the dark?”

Sandy looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“Why yes, they are afraid of the dark. Spot told me their home system is dominated by a pair of orange stars. Their planet was effectively daylight all day and all night. A twenty-eight-hour day of which twenty-four were legit daylight. And tidally locked so there was no fluctuation throughout the year. It doesn’t help that the majority of their predators lived in the dark crevices in the valleys and had dark or black colored coats.

“Why do you ask?”

“Just peculiarities I saw with him.”

“Hey, I’m sorry that the people here shunned you when you tried to explain Maxwell.”

“It’s no worries. Now I can know that he wasn’t a demon.”

“A demon!?” Sandy gasped and put her hand over her mouth. She lowered it a few moments after.

“Yes. He has the basic shape of what we know as demons. It is seen as a bad sign for one to follow you around.”

“Oh my God. I didn’t know.”

“Like I said, it’s now not a problem.”

“Is this a cultural thing?”

“What, the demon shape? I guess so. The government keeps reminding people that this shape is evil and I guess it stuck in our hearts.”

“Hey Spot.”

Spot looked down at Sandy. It was comical since he continued to sit on her head.

“Ooorrraahhoooo?”

“Could you do me a favor? Could you send me the data about this planet’s government? Have your ship beam it directly to my head.”

“Rrraaayipp!”

The planet was controlled by an organization that called itself the Government. “Government” was actually its name. They said they were for the people. The reality they oppressed the people. Stephen’s lot in life was considered pretty good. Most people toiled away in factories or scrapyards.

The Government used a quasi-religious culture that put them on a pedestal and marked demons as evil. It was the basis for extreme oppressive against the People.

“Okay…I’m getting the information. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. That’s worrisome.”

“What?”

“In laymen’s terms, the planetary Government is the remnant of a larger interstellar human government far from the home world that disagreed with the Catalum empire over something or another. Things got heated and the government did a stupid by challenging the Catalums for claim over something.

“The Catalums gave them the usual response for these things, which was to decloak a couple of their starships and blow up a major military space station. The shield was vaporized almost instantly. All hands were lost. Nearby ships as part of the station’s defense fleet were also vaporized.

“The Government ever since had instilled a culture of hate against the Catalums. The Catalum empire don’t care so as long as the Government doesn’t try to challenge or hurt them. The Government doesn’t have anywhere near the firepower needed to fight them. The largest Government warships are about the same strength as a Catalum corvette, which are the ships these two have as their personal guardians. And the smallest ships the Catalums employ.”

Sandy was talking about Spot and Maxwell. Each of them had a ship as powerful as the Government’s battleship class? Government battleships were over ten kilometers in length and four kilometers wipe. They had a dagger shaped profile. And they were considered “small”?!

“The Catalum people have quadrillions upon quadrillions of individuals in this galaxy alone. The Milky Way is basically a backwater nowhere land to them despite its relative proximity to their capital galaxy Andromeda. And each has a ship at least the size and power as your government’s battleship class.

“I think it’s time to do something about it. Spot?”

The Catalum hopped off Sandy’s head and turned to look at her.

“Raaaaroo?”

“Could you do me another favor? English too, please. I don’t speak Catalum.”

“Yesh?”

“Get your ship to decloak right in front of the Government’s headquarters. Have it broadcast to all televisions that your people do not stand for being called evil. Make sure to explain in the broadcast that your people are exactly the thing the Government keeps calling evil.

“You or your ship does not need to do much more than that. I suspect the Government will try to deal with you and or your ship. I don’t think it’d matter. There’s two Catalum ships here that we know of, your and Maxwell’s. I’m sure there’s a dozen more of your ships’ size at least. Knowing what I know about other attempts to challenge your people, there’s a destroyer lurking around out there and a few frigates backing it up. I just don’t know how many of each size.”

“Yhere yare yome twenty shyips close to us. One destroyer, six fwigates, and thirteen corvettes. Yhere yare also thirty probes spehwifically escorting the destroyer. Yas you know, probes are half the size and power of corvettes but maintwain no long-term facilities for our people. They woften act as fighter escort. Yhis small force can fwatten them.”

The amount of firepower that was nearby, Stephen had no idea. The Government maintained eight battleships across their twelve systems. And to say this was a small Catalum fleet? Unbelievable.

Stephen noticed everyone was watching the screen. On the television was a news channel detailing how a massive starship appeared right in from of the Government’s palace and blasted all channels, television, radio, and internet with broadcasts that they were unhappy with how the Government portrayed its people as evil, showing pictures of evil demons with the body plan of the Catalum. A delegation of Catalum diplomats sat on the top of the palace steps, anger in their eyes, not happy about the Government hurting their image.

The footage changed to the Government’s space stations where other Catalum ships were decloaked, weapons powered up and ready to vaporize anything that tried something funny. One of the Government’s battleships was on point. It was dwarfed by the six hundred kilometer long, one hundred kilometer wide and tall, hexagonal-shaped destroyer. Additional Catalum ships were escorting the destroyer, but it was making its point.

“The Government has no way out of this, Stephen. Things are going to be messy for a while as the People make their own government.”

“What do we do now?”

“Would you like to travel with me? I was getting lonely for human companionship. And it’d do Maxwell some good getting out of the rut you must’ve been in.” Sandy batted her eyelashes and winked at Stephen.

“I’ll take you up on that offer.” His job sucked and it looked like he wouldn’t have a job for a while. “When do we start?”

“Right now.”

They got up from their table and each scooped up their respective puppy dog. Stephen threw his trash in the bin as they walked out. Sandy slipped her hand into his. He looked down at her with a “Really?” look on his face. She looked back at him and smiled.

The two demons in their hands were smiling too.

r/maxathronwrites

The Demon That Followed Him Home

Stephen woke up at eight o’clock sharp. For weeks, this little demon had been following him. He found it on the way home from work and it had not left him alone since. No one else could see it and attempts to tell people about it only made him a pariah. People looked at him with odd expressions, whispered behind his back. He was the crazy cooch that talked about a demon that did not exist.

It sat on the bed next to where Stephen slept, staring at him, smiling. It was almost always smiling. It was weird like that. Like it was in near-perpetual happiness.

The demon slept during the day and became active at night. Stephen was not actually sure it was nocturnal. The demon had a tendency to back itself into a corner during the night. Like his closet. Stephen deduced it was actually just afraid of the dark and ran to a place that had limited access to hide. So, like his closet. Odd. The stories were wrong he guessed.

Stephen got up. He threw the covers off him and over the demon. It made a surprised sound and struggled to get the covers off. Stephen’s daily routine was interrupted by the demon teleporting into his bathroom. Half the time it would follow him into the shower and clean itself. The other half it would just sit there and wait for Stephen to finish everything.

Once done, Stephen went to get his clothes. The demon of course followed him back out. Stephen would get breakfast at a local café. Coffee too. He needed that. His job was being the groundskeeper of a medium-sized accounting firm. The land they were on required upkeep. Mowing, trash, weeding, and so on.

It was a good job. The demon followed him out the door and to the café. He had long gotten used to it being around him. It was harmless, despite being a demon. As he was walking, he heard the demon trip and fall forward. Every so often, it would trip over its own feet. It went down and made a squeak. Stephen didn’t bother to try to help it. He kept walking. The demon would catch up.

Stephen got to the café and ordered his usual. The demon sat behind him as he talked to the cashier and paid. A breakfast sandwich and a coffee. As he was making his way to a seat, he spied something odd. There was a demon. Not his. Sitting on a woman’s head. She would say some things. And that demon moved its mouth as if it was responding back.

Stephen stopped walking. And of course, his demon walked into him. He could feel it look up at him in confusion. The woman noticed the commotion and was confused too until she looked down and saw his demon walking around him to get in front of Stephen while looking up at his face. The woman beckoned Stephen to come over and have a seat. Nothing better to do and this was the first time he had ever seen a second demon, Stephen did so.

“Hi. I’m Sandy.” The woman stood up to shake his hand. She was a bit shorter than him. Her hair was light brown and her eyes were hazel. She was wearing her hair in a bun behind her. Her clothes looked trendy. Maybe someone from minor nobility.

The demon continued to sit on her head.

As a comparison, Stephen was shaved bald. All male commoners were shaved bald. His eyes were pale green, though. His clothes were drab. Made him look like a prisoner. Most male commoners did.

“Stephen.”

“Not much of a talker, I guess, Stephen,” as Stephen shook her hand and sat down.

“No. Not really. You can see it?”

“Yes. His name is Spot. Short for Spartacus Flavius Maximus. And even that is short for his people’s name for him. He’s a Catalum, or puppy dog. He likes Old Roman culture.”

Stephen eyed the demon on her head. Like his, it had four legs, a tail, floppy ears, and a snout. This “Spot” demon was obviously named so because its spots were vaguely heart-shaped, with a big fully heart-shaped one over its left eye. It made a low whining sound and tilted its head to the side. Spot was seemingly confused. Then it moved its head back to normal and started to happy smile.

Stephen’s demon got on top of his shoe and laid its body against his boot.

Sandy continued: “Catalums are aliens native to the Andromeda galaxy and command an empire that spans the Virgo Supercluster. They only look superficially like dogs from the home world. Their biology is definitely alien.

“Sometimes, the empire will assign a Catalum to people they deem trustworthy and safe. Spot was assigned to me ten years ago and I’ve been traveling this world with him in tow. His people have an extremely advanced series of cloaking technology placed on their members that only allow us trustworthy people to see them.

“Have… you been shunned because no one else can see yours?”

Stephen nodded. His eyes moistened thinking back about how far his life went down when he tried to convince people of his demon.

“That’s… disappointing. While I do not think it was the fault of your little one, it’s tragic that you had to deal with that.”

Sandy reached down under the table and Stephen’s demon walked over to her hands. She picked it up and placed it on the table. It made some sounds. Sandy scritched it behind its right ear.

“His name is Maxwell. Short for Maximillian Wellington the Third. Apparently, he’s a student of history. And was around the time when Napoleon tried to conquer Europe.”

“Wait, wasn’t that a thousand years ago?”

“Indeed. The Catalum people attained biological immortality millions of years ago. Maxwell is a little over a thousand years old. Spot is a youngster and only about thirty years old.

“Although, really, they’re both babies. They won’t be considered mentally adults until the ten-thousand-year mark.

“Maxwell cannot speak Basic. Spot can. Also, by the way, if you haven’t noticed, Spot likes to sit on my head.”

“Din’ notice.” Stephen chuckled. He was warming up to the woman and the two demons. He was no longer seeing Maxwell as an evil omen.

“Well, that’s because Catalums come from a planet that required them as a species to live on tops of plateaus. They’re adept climbers and only when they transitioned from small tribes to a civilization, they ventured into the planet’s valleys. That was when they could fend off their predators. They have a tendency to sit on top of people or on high places.”

SCP-7663 slot is open, OP. Go for it!

The MAN wants you to know that you’re their dog, so they want you to wear their leash.

Goated idea

I sat up slowly, in a daze, as the sirens wailed and the lights flashed around me. I could hear the automated message, but couldn't make out what it said. My heart was racing as a million scenarios flooded my brain at once, each more terrifying than the last.

I stood up, feeling unsteady as I walked to my desk looking for something I could use to defend myself should the worst occur. I heard a noise behind me, and a large shape rushed towards me, horrific noises bellowing from its maw. I reached behind me and grabbed my 3-hole punch, swinging it at the head of the monster with all my strength.

I connected with a resounding thud and the creature went down hard. Feeling strangely elated, yet ill, I looked out the window and saw more flashing lights.

I sat up slowly, in a daze, as the sirens wailed and the lights flashed around me. I could hear the automated message, but couldn't make out what it said. My heart was racing as a million scenarios flooded my brain at once, each more terrifying than the last.

I stood up and looked around the room, trying to figure out what was going on. There, on the floor between me and the door was an armed security guard lying in a puddle of blood, his head bashed in by something. His gun was in his hand, and I armed myself with the gun and all his ammo, and headed for the hallway, hoping to escape the building and the monsters within.

I heard noises in another office and saw two monsters that seemed to be communicating to each other. They turned towards me as I tried to walk past, and they moved towards me, one of them raising an arm above their head. I felt sick as I fired the gun and one of them collapsed to the floor.

The other monster shrieked as it turned towards its dead companion. I fired again and that freak died too.

I headed for escape again and found my exit cut off by more of the monsters. I fired, over and over again, reloading as needed. Each shot brought down more of those monsters.

Some of the beasts I killed had been attacking me, while others seemed to be trying to escape the building. I saw the dead bodies of my coworkers everywhere.

Eventually, I made it to the exit and saw the swat team pointing their guns at me and yelling at me. I dropped my gun and put my arms up.

"I think I got them all...every last one." I couldn't help but feel proud of myself that all those years playing video games had obviously paid off.

"You are under arrest, anything you say may be used against you. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, one will be appointed to you." One of the officers secured my arms behind my back and patted me down as he read me my rights.

"Why am I being arrested? Did anyone else get out alive, or did the monsters kill them all?"

"Yes, 2 of your coworkers managed to escape to tell us how you shot everyone inside"

I call it fuckery.