Sanitarium Containment Procedures

Genetic Perfection

Shilo Wallace shivered in terror. She could hear footsteps. Lots of footsteps. They echoed down the long hallway in which she stood and they were getting louder and louder with each passing moment. As the footsteps continued to get louder, Shilo felt herself getting dizzier and dizzier. That stupid blood disease of hers was kicking in again. It was the anxiety. It was making her lose focus, and her sense of stability was slipping away just as fast. Now was probably the absolute worst time for something like this to happen.

Unsure of what else to do in a situation like this, the sound of the footsteps about 20 feet away now, Shilo began to hyperventilate. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. The girl reached out to touch one of the hallway's walls and the moment the cold metal touched her fingertips, she was able to gain some semblance of balance again. She began to back up as quickly as she could without her own boots making any noise. Already, her mind was formulating a plan. She had just left her father's office a few moments ago so she wasn't that far away from him and she knew he would still be there. It was her intention to just slow back up down the hallway until she reached his office again. He would know what to do! He was in charge of the Keter Floor here at the SCP Foundation after all. If there was anyone who could help her right now, it was him!

"Holy crap!" Shilo whispered as she finally caught sight of the SCP that was creeping down the hall. She knew this one to be called Changeling. It was a creature that could, as the name implied, shapeshift into anything it came in contact with. All he needed to do was touch someone, or something, then he could take on that thing's form for his own.

Currently, he was masquerading as a long, legged snake. He was something that wasn't exactly a lizard or a centipede or a snake, rather, he was some horrible mix of the three. Now, Shilo had no idea how Changeling could've possibly gotten in contact with any of the three creatures, but he must've or else he wouldn't look like this right now. Somehow, he must've escaped his cell, or had those three creatures accidentally wander in. But regardless of how Changeling had been able to access a lizard or a centipede or a snake, all Shilo needed to know was that he had. Somehow, he had found those three creatures, and this was the nightmarish result. But even scarier than his new physical appearance (his old one resembling an amorphous shadow) was the fact that he was currently roaming the Foundation, free.

Changeling was a very smart and cunning creature, so for him to be on the loose wasn't just terrifying because he was a deadly creature, but because he would be next to impossible to recapture again. And likely, he would try to free all of his other comrades as well, and then it would really be over for the Foundation. So not only did Shilo have to try and recapture Changeling, she had to make sure he didn't free any other SCP, or try and impersonate a human employee. That would make things really difficult...

At last, Shilo stopped backing up. She had reached her father's office and opened the door again.

"Shilo?" Nathan, looking aged with time, looked up at her in confusion. "What are you doing back here? What's wrong?"

"Changeling is out. I don't know how or why, but he's out and alone and currently creeping along these halls in the form of a legged snake," Shilo answered at once, cutting to the chance without a moment's hesitation. If her words seemed strange and sudden, though, Nathan didn't show it. Instead, the moment he heard Shilo saying that something was loose in the Foundation, he stood up and pressed a button behind his desk. It was an alarm system that would alert every area of the facility in a quiet manner. Plans would be made at once to evacuate everyone except for the rescue squad who would be dispatched to the Keter Floor in attempt to put this idiocy to bed before it got too intense. The last time such an alarm had to be raised was years ago when Shilo was still just an innocent student. Now she had matured and was a lot calmer this time around.