Chapter 1 : Doomed to live - Part 1

73 3 2
                                    


  Everything starts with a death and a governmental world secret organization.
Two pretty banal elements of our modern world.
Few people could brag about not being under the influence of one or the other.


  You certainly never heard of the SCP Foundation.
SECURE. CONTAIN. PROTECT. is the motto they live under.
Their scientists, army personnel, and agents hide in every branch of our society.
Their task : removing all anomalies from our lives so we, humans, can live in peace.

  Three months ago they found a new one. A new specimen to put under the SCP denomination. And today the French subdivision hands it reluctantly to their rivals. A measure taken in a hurry in an attempt to keep the anomaly under control.


  Anomalies are not rare.
And things that cannot die are way more common than one could expect.
Some live incredibly long lives, untouched by time or illnesses. Some heal so fast that no wound could ever be fatal. And some simply reappear next to their deceased body, like a clone, being born from the void.
Those anomalies can be as challenging to contain as they can be practical in certain domains.

  Only a handful of the anomalies discovered each year are kept in the Foundation's many facilities. After all, despite the Foundation seemingly having almost endless resources, keeping all those objects and creatures would be a task bigger than our planet itself.
They must be either dangerous for those around them, or useful for humanity or their research.
Most of everything else is discarded.
Destroyed or tossed to one of their field search groups to use.


  In this case, the specimen didn't seem to have any particular trait beside that third category of endlessly coming back from the dead, and so, for a moment, its fate was sealed.
As I've said before. Something that cannot die can be very useful. Especially if it can't run away.

  The specimen was tested, just the right amount and put aside to be picked up by one of the autopsy teams that next week.
But something else happened. Thus why the specimen was reclassified as SCP and moved again to its new destination.

  Faye was just eighteen when she died for the first time. She barely knew anything about the world. Or about herself.
Even after three months being under those people's control, she was still in a state of shock.
No one took the time to explain anything to her. And she herself had a hard time understanding anything that was happening to her.
Not a day passed without her being inspected, tested, locked into a dark cell.
Killed and killed again.
But now she could feel that they were afraid. Afraid that their control was broken.

  A few things changed after her first death and even more after her many other ones.
The most notable change was her body.
The body that appeared after her death was marked by white spots. A loss of pigment on every part of her that was torn apart by the fall. Her skin, her hair. Even her eyes lost their colors, now displaying a pale pinkish glow.
It was also noticed that the tiny scar she kept from her childhood was no longer there. She looked as brand new as if her past life never affected this new form of hers.
There was a long dialogue in her head, about whether or not she was still herself.
It was not her body, after all. Was she now a demon ? A ghost ?

  A ghost would certainly be the closest answer.
Since the thing that happened, that thing that made the Foundation change their mind about her, was her body reacting almost by itself in self-defense. Phasing through the tool used against her and through the table she was attached to.
It happened a second then a thirst time. And in four to five days only, Faye understood how to use that ability at will.
Then she became dangerous.
Now that she knows about the Foundation and can run away. They couldn't handle her so carelessly anymore.

  They suddenly became nice and apologetic.
Faye knew it was just a facade to make her feel empathetic to their cause.
And it was exactly what it was.
After a short deliberation, it was decided by the 05-council that she will be kept in the most gentle way as an SCP in one of their facilities accommodating safe humanoid SCPs until they can decide what to do with her more permanently.

  So today she was transferred there. Accompanied by only one scientist and two guards. It was decided to refer to her past treatment as a mistake, an aberration, something shameful they regret.
And that's why the french subdivision had to hand her down, making amend from the past.

  To be honest, Faye was more afraid than empathetic.
Those places, those people, all those things they put her through.
No one said anything, no one would have helped her, if it wasn't for that ability to escape. Like a hand stretching from the skies to give her a last good chance. To save her one last time. This ability was the only thing that kept her from a possible eternity of pain and despair.
Everything that she tried to run away from.


  Dr. Salvor was the one assigned to the newly SCP, Escorting it to its new place of containment and dealing with its file and the report that would be submitted to the French subdivision's head group.
He was still fairly inexperienced with humanoid anomalies and couldn't help but to feel pity for the creature.

  Any personnel dealing with humanoid SCPs had to learn to avoid seeing them as "Humans". It may seem cold but in this job, some choices have to be made and feelings such as pity and mercy could compromise the safety of the personal or even humanity itself. On the other hand, forcing yourself to do unspeakable things to someone you perceive as human, even for the greater good, can severely damage your psyche and lead to guilt and self hatred.
People with a greater empathy often have to resolve to take amnesiacs to erase the memory that troubles them, and rely on their trust in the Ethic Committee to make the right decisions for them. But most people simply learn to bury their emotions, becoming machines made of only logic and obedience.

  The Foundation has an important role, the most important certainly, in the survival of humanity and everything that is dear to us.
Shielding us from inexplicable beings who want us gone, terrible truths that could turn anyone insane, chaos and enslavement by things that can't even be comprehended, even after years of studies. Every personnel dealing with the Foundation has a different degree of knowledge of what was happening around them. And the more you know and the more your life is restrained. Of course no one outside of the Foundation could know anything. People who would speak were severely punished or "disappeared". The use of amnesiacs was so common that they had to find solutions for all the personnel who would start to lose their mind, damaged by their powerful side effects. Some of them would be grounded to their facility, unable to leave for any reason, often presented as dead to their relatives, living in the real world. But most importantly, everyone there, accepted and reminded themself each day of their own soon to come death. Because at any moment and for any reason, one of those beings could escape and kill them all. But not a lot of them will be discharged and return to their past lives, as the Foundation needs them. And if not enough people would sacrifice themselves for the world, they will make them do.

You've reached the end of published parts.

⏰ Last updated: Feb 18, 2023 ⏰

Add this story to your Library to get notified about new parts!

ContainedWhere stories live. Discover now