Your Demise Explained
rating: +36+x

by Ethagon

Scott Wilkins was chewing on his fingernail in one of the panic rooms of the Site like it was expected of a Junior Researcher during the apocalypse. He flinched when another tremor shuddered through the Site.

He took another quick glance at the terminal, even though he knew it had been in an anti-cognitohazard lockdown for the last thirty minutes. Still, any moment it could update to announce that help had arrived to save the Site from outside.1

Damn it.

Another tremor, stronger than before, went through the panic room2, which he had intended to stay in, but just changed his mind about.

Wilkins took a last look at the terminal, unlocked the door and rushed out of the panic room before the next tremor hit. He stumbled before he found a hold on the wall. Where to next?3

As if they'd let a junior researcher know where to go. How was Crystal speaking to him anyway? SCP-54764 was only supposed to work on Foundation-Database outputted files5. He shivered. Then another tremor. Right, the situation6. Not helping. In lieu of other options, he picked a direction at random and run.

Right. Then left. Straight ahead. Another tremor. Then left again. This section seemed familiar. Now right again- The hallway Wilkins just wanted to step into suddenly extended itself, until some outside force broke it away entirely. Maybe he should go back to the panic room7 or maybe take another left turn. If he wasn't totally of, that should lead him to a higher clearance sector, which tended to have more escape options.

He ended up in front of a locked gate. Okay, this was still salvageable, after all, Crystal could just tell him the password8. Well, screw you too. Wilkins hectically looked from one end of the gate to the other. What did he remember about his credentials? He began to navigate through the terminal-options. Lower clearances - wider containment breach - command compromised, or so he thought, - individual password. The terminal asked him a question:

Does the Black Moon howl?9

He never heard that question before, but the response just came natural- The tremor was stronger this time. Wilkins barely held on to the terminal. What did he do just now? It didn't matter, the door was open.

Okay, he got this. Just continue through the new sector. Another left turn. On the next occasion, he should turn right, so he'd go away from the centre of the site. He stopped. In front of him stood a 1-meter tall crab10. He went left instead. Then another right turn. A long corridor. The tremor-

The floor the wall and the ceiling gave in and something hurled him away from the corridor into the air.11 He fell on his shoulder at least two floors beneath the now shredded corridor.12

Wilkins tried to ascertain if anything was broken when he saw the thing that broke the corridor. Just a few meters away was a giant crab punching into the walls of the facility with its claws.13 Okay, his best bet was to slowly crawl away into the other direction14 Bullshit15

Without looking up16 He lied down17 He barely breathed18 He started silently sobbing19

He should have just stayed in the panic room20

Why, Crystal?21

Was that really it? A lesson in how he should have sanitized his database three years ago? Well, it was a lesson wasted on a dead man22… or not.

With his last effort, he slowly crawled toward his escape. To his luck, the former ladybug was still too distracted by the wall to notice him. Just a little buried under debris he found the gate. And again he didn't know the code23 He entered the password.

From the tunnel, a surge of fresh air came towards him.24

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