Scp-298 Novels & Stories

Now she was a pile of mangled flesh lying in the morgue. I turned and went back inside, locked the door, and slid down against it until I was sitting on the floor. My phone vibrated. "Backup slots are full. In the next cycle, death cannot be transferred." The next day, the sun came up, and the world went on as usual. Except for Unit 703. There was still no movement. I washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror. The scratch at the corner of my eye was still there. It was thin, narrow, and capped with a faint scab.

I turned the tablet toward him. On the screen was a photo of a glass incubator. Inside, a tiny, translucent shape was floating in amber fluid. PROJECT HARBINGER: SUBJECT 02. STATUS: VIABLE. "She has another one?" Richard’s voice was a whisper of pure horror. "She has a lab in the city," I said. "And Richard... according to the timestamps, Subject 02 is due to wake up tonight." The ground beneath the estate began to rumble. A low, vibrating sound—not a wolf, but a machine.

One that had ties to illegal experiments, psychological conditioning, underground corporate testing programs. My stomach twisted. Lucien had been there. As a child. There was a single line that chilled me to the core. Subject: Vale, Lucien. Unfit for adoption—non-compliant, unstable emotional patterns. Terminated from program following Incident 9. Incident 9? I clicked. The file was redacted, but a fragment remained. “Subject reacted violently to caretaker’s removal of personal attachment. Full psychotic break recorded. Escaped facility perimeter for 48 hours before being recovered and restrained.”

“Trying to control something that doesn’t want to be controlled.” Adrian stared at him for a long moment. “That makes two of you.” That night, Evelyn couldn’t sleep. The mark pulsed too steadily, like a metronome counting toward something inevitable. She opened the folder again, tracing the name R. Draven with her finger. Below it, a half-faded note: Subject exhibited secondary resonance. Suggest containment before phase two. Her phone buzzed. Unknown Number: Containment failed before. It will again. Her fingers tightened. Who are you? she typed.

“But once you start, there’s no reversing it.” Mom laughed softly under her breath. Broken “There hasn’t been a reverse button for a very long time.” The house lights flickered violently. Then every screen in the kitchen lit up again. WARNING: TERMINATION THREAT DETECTED. The voice returned immediately “Preservation protocols activated.” The stranger’s face hardened. “It knows.” Mom grabbed the drive with shaking hands. “Where’s the core?” “Basement server room.” Tomás looked at me instantly. “You stay here.” “No.”

Somewhere high above, Maddox bellowed: "Security breach in Sublevel Nine. Contain the asset." Asset. That was all she was to them but to me, she was everything. The final door required biometric access. I grasped the guard I'd released a second ago and pressed his palm on the reader. The lock closed. It was colder in here and darker. Monitors lined all four walls, with images of brains and heat maps. She lay on a metal table now—bound down, wires on her temples and an IV delivering who-knew-what into her veins.

N Protocol - Subject 07" Her hands trembled as she opened it. A series of medical reports filled the screen growth charts, DNA enhancements, emotional suppression records. And the she saw it. Subject Name: Aurora Collins Status: Contained - Relocation initiated Located: Facilty Delta - Sector 9 Jessica covered her mouth, tears flooding her eyes. Aurora. That was her baby's name. The one she'd whispered before the world burned. Behind her, the faintest creak of floorboards broke the silence. She spun, weapon drawn but her breath hitched when she saw the figure emerging from the shadows.

The alarms blared. Red light swept across the lab, painting the glass walls in flashes. Dr. Hattie Quinn's hands shook as she typed into the terminal. “No, no, no, containment was secure.” Her throat felt tight. “It was secure.” A shadow moved beyond the glass in a predatory movement. Then he stepped into view. Subject X-9. He shouldn’t have looked so… human. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with silver veins glowing faintly under his skin. His eyes were wrong though, they were a burning gold and were locked on her as if she were prey.

His eyes were empty. I walked past the second cell. Empty, except for a chair in the center of the room with leather straps. I checked the clipboards hanging next to each door. Subject 892. Reconditioning Complete. Subject 411. In Process. I walked faster, my breath misting in the cold air. Then I saw it. Room 404. The clipboard was older than the others. The paper was yellowed. Subject: Elena Thorne. Status: Permanent Resident. Notes: Memory wipe successful (1998). Personality graft stable. Do not engage in discussions of the past.