SCP Containment Breach: Markiplier's Escape - chapter 1

Chapter 1

SCP Containment Breach: Markiplier's Escape

It all started with an alarm, but one that sounded very different from the fire alarm in the block of flats where Mark lived.

That said, it was familiar, but for a moment Mark couldn't place it. Instead he looked dazedly at where he'd had a pile of laundry just a second ago, wondering where it had gone. It was meant to be right in front of him, it shouldn't have been able to disappear.

"The site is experiencing multiple Euclid and Keter containment breaches!" said a distorted voice over the speaker system. "Full site lock down initiated."

Oh, that's what it is - it's the SCP Containment Breach alarm! he thought, pleased for an instant that he'd recognised it. But then he looked around as new confusion dawned. "How the hell did I get here?" And why does it look like this? He'd played SCP Containment Breach many times as a video game but this... this was utterly immersive. It looked like he was in it.

Was he hallucinating? Well, if he was, then the pile of clothes was still in front of him. He tried grabbing a handful, but felt nothing. He felt further; the sofa they'd been laid across was gone, too.

Only seconds before this Mark had been in his apartment, folding T-shirts and waiting to go out and meet Wade for a beer. But now? Now, with no apparent transition between the two he was in a high-ceilinged room and surrounded by plain white walls, with everything rendered gloomy from a lack of natural daylight. It looked for all the world like one of the games he played as a Let's Player. He looked up and saw a guard on a balcony shoot at SCP-173, the living concrete sculpture Mark had nick-named Billy in his play-through.

For just a few moments he was rooted to the spot, staring at the scene like a rabbit in headlights. The guard rattled off shot after shot but Billy just stood there, taking it like it was nothing. Then the lights failed for a fraction of a second, flickering and landing everyone in darkness. Mark heard a sickening crunch. He winced and felt his neck twinge in sympathy for the guard. When the lights came back on the guard was nowhere to be seen, fallen out of sight behind the gallery wall, he could only assume. Billy had moved.

Mark looked around quickly. He was the only person left in the room so it was inevitable that Billy would come for him. Go, Mark thought in fear. Just get out of here.

This couldn't be real, but Mark was too scared to stand around thinking about that. He ran to the doorway on his right, slapping the Close button as he stepped through.

He already knew the next steps: grab a gas mask, a walkie-talkie, some batteries, and whatever else he could get from the long storage room with the filing cabinets. Settling into auto-pilot and worried by the realism around him - the quality of the sound of Billy's scraping against the floor, the temperature just nagging at uncomfortably cold, the rubbery smell of the gas mask - he grabbed what he could and turned to leave.

SCP-173 appeared outside the door, blocking the way and watching him with multiple green and black eyes. Its weird three-pointed mouth gaped loosely open and its underdeveloped arms were outstretched as if to reach for him.

"Oh, hiiii!" growled Mark, his voice rough with terror. He hesitated for just a second as the fear gripped him before he squeezed between the doorway and the statue, making damn sure he kept his eyes open and focussed on the SCP the whole time. He reached the door to the next room and closed it, blinked to refresh his eyes, and backed up some more for good measure. Whatever he did, he knew he could not afford to let Billy out of his sight even for the time it took to blink. "Don't you open that door, you a-hole!"

Billy opened the door and froze as it entered his line of sight again. That freezing was its only weakness and his only defence against it, and that was far too tenuous a protection for Mark's taste.