SCP Tales
To Kill a Living Room
Based off SCP-002
'Denied'
Dr. Bryan stared at the last word written on his computer screen.
'Denied'
He couldn't pull his eyes away from it. It was as if he was repeatedly checking it to make sure he was reading it correctly. He even muttered the word several times until he finally snapped back to reality.
The echo of Dr Bryan's fist hitting the metal desk in his small office cubicle echoed through office, silencing several chattering voices. A head appeared over the short cubicle wall in front of him, a balding man in his late forties.
"You alright Clift?" he said, a concerned look on his face.
Dr. Bryan relaxed and took a deep breath before answering.
"Yeah, I'm fine Darrin, just," he paused for a moment and adjusted his glasses, "just trying to kill a bug that's running around my desk."
After a sceptical look and a quick glance around the room, the head returned from whence it came, and the voices in the room returned to their slightly quieter muttering.
In reality, Dr. Bryan was not 'fine'. When he joined the SCP Foundation eleven years ago, he saw a promising future full of scientific discovery and leaps and bounds in his career. His reputation would be comparable to the infamous Dr. Klein's and his discoveries would earn him fame and, more importantly, cold hard cash. Now here he was; a lowly Class C who had been swapped from project to project more times than a hooker would work in a week. It infuriated him, stuck in his little box with nothing available to distinguish himself from the crowd around him. He felt as though he almost blended into the white walls around him, their cold embrace would hold him here forever until death came for him, SCP or otherwise.
He felt himself getting worked up again.
"Breathe Clift, breathe," he reminded himself quietly.
He had a plan. Dr. Bryan had always prided himself on his entrepreneurial abilities and he would soon be on his way to retiring comfortably. In the last twelve months he had been assigned to several different projects, each studying various SCPs, none of which drew his interest more so than SCP-002.
He had been present on a scheduled examination of SCP-002; him and three teams of seven people. Accompanied by three other researchers and five security staff, he had actually gone inside the thing and the sight beyond amazed him. He'd read the reports, but sheer realism of the apartment beyond was astonishing. It looked like a perfect recreation of a small apartment, yet it was all made of biological material, bone and hair. If he could just get a sample, he would be able to reverse-engineer it and develop a way to 'grow' actual furniture. The applications if he was successful were endless.
Dr Bryan corrected himself; the applications when he was successful were endless.
High Command, on the other hand, did not share his enthusiasm. Despite Dr. Bryan's repeated requests over several months, they deemed his request a "Pointless waste of Foundation resources and an unnecessary disturbance of SCP-002." This time they had even gone as far as to threaten him with a psychological assessment and a mark on his record for insubordination if he didn't cease his requests.
But Dr. Bryan was determined not to let those bigots in their comfy chairs tell him what to do. He was going to get what he wanted, one way or another.
It took Dr. Bryan a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness in the maintenance tunnels. God knows why they kept it so dark down here, perhaps the maintenance staff really were cave trolls. He chuckled at his own joke and pulled out a small keychain flashlight from his pocket. The light from it was poor, but it was enough for him to see any tripping hazards within a few metres. He hated coming down here; the dank, dark tunnels smelled of oil and smoke, but it was the safest way to talk to Kevin.
Dr. Bryan had known Kevin since he transferred from the maintenance crew on another site a few years ago. Kevin had been doing some repairs to a SCP containment cell when they met, and despite Kevin's initial disinterest, Dr. Bryan managed to get him talking. Once the two had gotten to know each other, Kevin was happy to talk to him about anything, anything except the SCPs and his last posting. If Dr. Bryan pressed the topic too much, Kevin often got quite angry and wouldn't talk to him for a few days. He tried looking up Kevin's file, but it was locked away behind a higher security clearance than his.
He liked Kevin, mostly because Kevin was so weak-willed he was always be able to coerce him into doing what he asked; he almost considered him his 'friend', even though the relationship was very one-sided.
He found Kevin inspecting some pipes, wearing his regulation yellow jumpsuit as well as a pair of thick arm length gloves and a full face shield with a mounted headlamp. Startled by the unexpected presence, Kevin turned to look at the approaching figure, blinding Dr. Bryan in the process with the headlamp.
"Sheesh, Kevin," Dr. Bryan exclaimed as he tried to shield his eyes from the blinding light. "Can't you turn that thing down or something?"
"Oh, sorry about that Clift," he replied, feeling much more at ease with the familiar face.
He pulled one of the gloves off and reached up to the headlamp and turned it from a beam to a bulb, illuminating the entire tunnel around them for a good five metres or so. Kevin looked somewhat happy to see Dr. Bryan, perhaps the dark tunnels were getting to his nerves.
"What are you doing down here Clift? We're still on for poker aren't we?"
"Actually, can we put that off until next rotation? I have something I need your help with," Clift said, trying to sound meek and pleading.
"If you need something fixed, I told you, just put in a ticket and I'll bump it up the list, that way I don't have to explain anything to my supervisor."
"No, I need a favour."
Kevin's somewhat cheerful demeanour retreated a fraction. He had know Dr. Bryan well enough that a 'favour' meant he was going to ask for something that fell beyond regulations, and he knew full well the price of getting caught. Despite this, Dr. Bryan was pretty much his only friend at this site, and although he got along with the other maintenance staff, they reminded him too much of his old crew. Thinking about them only made him shudder.
Kevin sat down on his toolbox, pondering what the 'favour' would be this time, trying to remind himself that he could always say 'no'. They'd been friends for years, surely Dr. Bryan would understand, wouldn't he?
"I've got an idea to make some decent cash and we'll partner, fifty-fifty split if you help me out," Dr. Bryan began to sound more forceful.
Kevin snickered upon hearing yet another one of his 'get rich quick' schemes, and although he agreed that many of them were quite legitimate, they never ended well. Dr. Bryan had the uncanny ability to avoid most of the punishment, but Kevin did not. In fact, for the number of times he had been reprimanded, he was surprised that he even still had a job.
"I don't know Clift," Kevin felt a pang of guilt already. "These plans of yours; they usually get me into a heap of trouble, and I don't know how much longer they're gonna put up with me."
"Why the hell would they care?" Dr. Bryan snapped at him; he could sense Kevin's unease and knew it was time to twist his arm.
"I don't know," Kevin stammered. "With all the stunts we've pulled, I… I don't want to be…you know…"
"I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't want to spend the rest of my life couped up in this hell-hole. Do you want to spend the rest of your life down here in these festering tunnels?"
Kevin looked at the ground in shame. He couldn't argue against that, and he certainly didn't want to risk pissing off Dr. Bryan any further. Anyway, what kind of friend was he if he didn't help in any way he could.
"Ok," Kevin muttered, not raising his eyes from the ground. "What do you want me to do?"
Dr. Bryan took a moment to revel in his ability to, once again, coerce Kevin into doing what he wanted. He found it somewhat empowering.
"Not now, I have to get back," Dr. Bryan said, looking at his watch. "Meet me in break room four at ten tonight."
Dr. Bryan turned back the way he came and, with his keychain light, entered the darkness of the tunnel. Before he disappeared from Kevin's sight completely, his voice echoed up the tunnel.
"And bring your EDD!"
Dr. Bryan was watching some kind of Japanese game show on the television in break room four. There weren't any subtitles, so he didn't know what they were saying, but watching people run into walls was amusing enough without words. He looked at the clock on the wall, reading quarter past ten. Thoughts ran through his head; maybe Kevin bailed on him, or worse, reported him. He quickly dismissed the idea, instead assuming Kevin was trying to assert himself by making him wait. Pathetic really, he thought.
He laughed loudly as a contestant ran through a paper sheet door straight into a net. There was nobody in the break room, there usually wasn't. Break room four was the least used as it was furthest away from any of the main areas of the site and because of this, it was the least maintained. The coffee tasted stale, the fridge was bare and the room had a faint musky smell.
Dr. Bryan heard the door open and turned to see Kevin standing in the doorway, observing the room. He was carrying a small yellow shoulder bag with the foundation logo on it.
"Hey Kevin," Dr. Bryan said with a self-satisfied smile. "How are you?"
"Can we just get this over with?"
Kevin was clearly nervous. Dr. Bryan toyed with the idea of prolonging his discomfort, but his poor punctuality meant that they needed to get moving.
"Come on then," Dr. Bryan said as he switched off the television.
Together, they both left the break room and headed west through the plain concrete corridors. Kevin was carefully observing where they were headed, trying to figure out where they could be heading to. Eventually, they turned down a larger corridor with large, one meter tall black letters on the wall that immediately filled Kevin with fear.
"Clift," Kevin whispered anxiously. "What are we doing here? Why are we heading towards 002?"
"It's fine Kevin. I just need your help to get a sample from inside and everything will be fine."
"No! It's not ok!" Kevin retorted with a mix of both anger and fear, trying to keep his voice low. "You know I don't want anything to do with these god-damned freaks! I'm not helping you this time; you're on your own."
Kevin turned to walk back the way they came, but Dr. Bryan grabbed his sleeve and yanked him back. He was now face-to-face with his furious friend.
"You listen to me and you listen well. I'm not going to let your pathetic whinging stop me from getting what I deserve! You're going to help me, you're going to keep your mouth shut and you'll get what I promised you. Now, shut the fuck up and move your ass!"
Kevin, slightly in shock from Dr. Bryan's fury, nodded his head meekly and continued down the hall. At the end of the 400 meter long hall was the large containment door, roughly five meters wide and three meters tall, which provided access to SCP-002's containment chamber. Warning signs littered the door and walls all around them, but Kevin didn't get a chance to read any of them.
"Did you bring the EDD?"
"Yes"
Kevin fumbled in his shoulder bag and pulled out a device the size of a large phone. The Electronic Diagnostics Device was designed to alter settings or fix problems with closed-circuit devices. At part of the maintenance crew, Kevin was permitted to check out EDDs from the Maintenance Supply, but he was going to get in trouble for not returning it at end of his shift.
"Get this door open then," Dr. Bryan said with a touch of urgency in his voice, glancing up the hallway.
Just what he needed right now, Kevin thought, more pressure. He pulled off a small cap that covered a port on the side of the keycard reader and plugged in the EDD. He booted up the device and began the system override that would temporarily open the door. It was a complicated process, especially when working with doors to containment chambers.
After a few minutes of entering access codes and bypassing security, the containment door began to shudder and slide open. Kevin unplugged his EDD and put it back in his shoulder bag. Beyond the door was a small room with another door on the far side, Kevin assumed it was an airlock.
"Nice one Kevin, now let's get a move on before security notice."
The two men entered the room and Dr. Bryan started entering commands on a small panel on the wall. The containment door behind them began to close; Kevin was clearly becoming more and more agitated, which was getting on Dr. Bryan's nerves.
"Before we go in, I need you to listen and do exactly as I say."
Kevin was distracted, and wasn't paying attention. He grabbed Kevin's shoulder and shook him strongly.
"Hey! Stop being a god-damned baby and listen to me! It's practically harmless, so all you need to do is hold onto me at all times and keep your eyes on the exit. I'll grab a sample and we'll be in and out in two minutes, alright?"
Kevin nodded sheepishly and Dr. Bryan let him go. Watching Kevin intently, he pressed a final button on the panel and the second door opened. The containment room beyond was much bigger than Kevin expected, as large as a football field. Aside from a few support columns, the room was completely bare, except for the large orb in the centre of the room.
"Is that…" Kevin trailed off.
"That's 002," Dr. Bryan replied. "Now, hold my arm and don't let go."
The two men locked arms, holding each other just above the wrist, and proceeded into the chamber. At they approached, Kevin began to see the orb in more detail. It was blood red in colour and floated oddly a meter or so off the ground with no support wires or anything holding it there. There was a portable staircase that allowed access to a metal hatch on the side of the orb. As they approached the bottom of the stairs, Kevin started getting blurry vision, like a camera out of focus. Dr. Bryan seemed unaffected and pulled at Kevin to make him move faster.
"Clift, something's wrong," Kevin rubbed his eyes with his free hand, trying to clear them.
"Just keep moving," Dr. Bryan said as he started up the stairs, pulling Kevin in the process.
Kevin struggled to keep up with Dr. Bryan as he climbed the stairs, tripping several times much to Dr. Bryan's annoyance. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Dr. Bryan motioned Kevin to grab the other side of the wheel. Together the two men turned it and both were surprised how easily it moved considering its size. The hatch swung open easily with a slight rush of air from the inside. Dr. Bryan looked inside and saw what he expected to, a modest apartment with various furnishings. A window showed the view in the containment room outside, even though no window was visible on the outside. The room looked perfectly normal and it reminded Dr. Bryan of his old apartment back at university. He stepped inside; pulling at Kevin to come in with him, but Kevin refused to move. Looking back at Kevin he saw a look of complete horror on his face as he looked inside the room.
"What the fuck Kevin? Come on!"
"Don't you see it?" Kevin said, looking at Dr. Bryan in horror and confusion and pointing at the inside of the room. "It's horrible!"
It was Dr. Bryan's turn to be confused. He followed Kevin's pointing finger, which seemed to be pointing at the armchair that sat in front of the television. Was Kevin scared of armchairs? His confusion turned to anger.
"Shut up Kevin! Now come on!" he shouted, tugging at Kevin's arm.
Kevin refused to move and instead yanked his arm away from Dr. Bryan, causing his friend to trip and fall further into the room.
"I'm not doing this Clift! You're fucking crazy!" Kevin turned and bolted down the stairs, leaving Dr. Bryan inside the room. As he ran for the exit, he could hear Dr. Bryan still screaming profanities.
A wave of panic set in as Dr. Bryan realised he was now alone within 002. He knew he should have run after Kevin, but he wasn't going to come this far and leave empty handed. He pulled a small hacksaw out of his jacket and moved over to the couch. His vision was starting to get blurry as he braced against the couch with one hand and began sawing part of the arm off with the other. The saw bit through the soft material easily, but the entire couch seemed to tremble as he cut. He noticed as he cut that there was no stuffing. Rather it was a red organic material similar in appearance to the outside of the orb; it oozed fluid that seemed like blood.
After a few seconds of sawing he had almost cut a slice of the couch up when he noticed the hatch was slowly swinging closed. He ran to it, realising he had mere seconds to catch the door before it closed, but he couldn't. His hand was stuck to the couch as if by glue. He pulled as hard as he could, but his hand would not come free. Dr. Bryan watched the door continue to slowly swing closed while he desperately tried to break free of the couch. He felt a tingling sensation in his hand and he looked down. He saw that his hand was actually becoming fused to the couch, slowly becoming enveloped by the couch's material.
"No, no, no, no, no!"
Dr. Bryan screamed as he realised was happening to him! The room was digesting him and with the door now almost closed, his only chance of escape was slipping away. His hand was nearly completely enveloped in the couch and he began to panic. In desperation, he took the hacksaw with his free hand and put it to his arm, just below the elbow. Closing his eyes, he started sawing at his arm. His ears were filled with the sound of his own screams. The burning pain was so intense that he almost blacked out, but his desperation kept him focused. With his wrist now lost within the couch, he sawed furiously at his arm which was now hacking through the bone. The saw was designed for hard material, and it didn't take long before he was right through the bone and only attached by a few last strings of flesh. With a quick slice, he was free, but the blood loss combined with the room's already numbing effect made him light-headed and he fell backwards. He turned to crawl towards the door, just in time to see it close and the bolts locking back into place, leaving him locked inside.
With a defeated and agonising cry Dr. Bryan fell on his back to the floor, weeping. He watched as his lone severed arm slowly disappeared into the couch. As he lay there, he felt himself slowly sinking into the floor. He sobbed loudly, defeated, with nothing left he could do. He wanted to blame Kevin for leaving him here to die, for not talking him out of it, for something, but this time he knew he couldn't pin the blame on someone else. As the floor slowly digested him, he felt a strange peaceful feeling come over him. It was an alien feeling, as if the room was calming him down. Dr. Bryan continued to sob, but was thankful it was painless. Even his arm no longer throbbed in pain. As his consciousness slowly drifted away, he imagined what his life would have been like if he was rich. A Ferrari would have been nice.
CLOSING INCIDENT REPORT – 33. 221
Despite Dr. Bryan's actions, the review board feels that this is an isolated incident and the likelihood of a repeat of this incident is unlikely. The board has decided that certain data should be expunged from the report, but the incident should be distributed to all staff to dissuade any attempts like this in the future. Staff should be reminded that all SCP are potentially dangerous and should follow orders as directed by senior staff.
Dr. Klein has informed us that the incident has not disrupted SCP-002, but it will be observed closely for the next thirty (30) days. As a precaution, additional security measures will be put in place to deter entry to SCP-002. In a recent examination of SCP-002, it was found that the subject has acquired new furnishings including a small coffee table, another book and a wall ornament of a duck. No further action is required to contain SCP-002.
Dr. Klein has also requested that the accomplice, Kevin Seeve, not be reprimanded and instead be admitted to him for treatment and therapy. The board has granted his request due to his previous history with [REDACTED]. The board has decided that Mr Seeve requires increased monitoring to prevent contact with any subjects contained within the facility, especially [REDACTED].
This concludes the report of incident 33. 221. The review board declares this report to be final and the incident closed.
END REPORT