The SCP Foundation

Chapter 90: SCP-023

As Morrison and Ash went ahead to retrieve the rampaging athlete, Ant and Freddie helped an injured Drista to regroup with the rest of the force in the archives room.

"Just keep holding on, Drista..." Freddie reassured the tomboy. "You can make it and you're gonna be fine, I promise..."

"Th-Thanks... Freddie..." the tomboy responded.

"Are we getting any closer to the archives room, Frederick?" the strike leader asked. "I don't know how long Max can hold out."

"We should be almost there, Anthony..." Freddie answered.

"Is there a faster way that we can get there?" the strike leader asked. "Like a shortcut or a secret passageway?"

"I don't think so..." Freddie answered.

"Guess we're taking the scenic route." the strike leader responded. "Let's just hope Max and Matsumoto are still alive when we get there."

The three walked down further into the hallway. They noticed that the hallway had stopped, however it connected to two doors on either side.

"Alright, Frederick, pick a door." the strike leader commanded as he set down the injured tomboy near a wall. "I'll watch our six for any more of your friends."

"Right."

With that, Ant had watched the far hallway that they had walked through. Freddie then dug his hand in his pocket to get his keycard to open the left door. He used the keycard to open the door and looked ahead.

He didn't step into the hallway, as he immediately saw the danger that was present there.

There was a dog, its fur coloured pitch black, currently eating a corpse, which had belonged to a Foundation personnel. It had growled and snarled as it consumed parts of the corpse.

It seemed to be a normal dog, apart from its extremely dark colour, but there was another detail that the peacekeeper saw which differentiated this dog from the rest.

He saw that it had orange-red eyes, something he knew wasn't natural. After a few more seconds of observing the dog, Freddie decided to close the door again and to leave it alone.

"Why did you close the door, Frederick?" the strike leader asked the peacekeeper. "Something wrong?"

"Umm... we can't go that way..." Freddie answered, still shaken at what he saw. "It's occupied by a dog, it seemed hostile."

"Dog?" the strike leader tilted his head. "What did it look like? One of yours?"

"No, at least not that I know of..." Freddie shook his head. "It had pitch black fur... and it was eating a Foundation guard's corpse."

The strike leader seemed to be deep in thought, as if trying to remember something, then he suddenly realised what the peacekeeper had described.

"Is something wrong, Anthony?" the peacekeeper asked, noticing the strike leader's behaviour.

"Guys... I'm... I'm feeling woozy..." the injured tomboy spoke up.

"Look, I'll explain it later..." Ant then helped up the injured tomboy. "Right now, we need to regroup with the others and get Drista some help. She's getting a bit pale and she might pass out any minute."

"Alright, I'll lead the way for us." Freddie said, opening the other door.

"Let's be quick about it."

With that, the three started to briskly walk in the next hallway, that it would lead them towards the other strike team in the archives room.

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