Per 
Chapter 1: Inaugural Address
Ah yes, I called for you Doctor. No, don’t worry, you weren’t intruding on anything. I daresay this is this first time you ever stepped foot in the Head of Ethics Committee office? Excuse the mess, I rarely have visitors. Coffee or Tea?
Sit down Doctor and listen carefully to what I have to say because one day you are going to lead one of the most powerful department in the foundation.
I’m sure you’re aware of the department capabilities. We have the power to demote, reassign and sometimes even kill members within the foundation for crimes against humanity.
Ever wondered why so few files are tied to the Ethics Committee? Or how very little is known about what we even do? Well, yes. Part of the reason is because every department is shrouded in mystery. A necessary precaution. Never let the left hand know what the right hand is doing and all that. However the largest contributor to the lack of information tied to the Ethics Committee is simply because we are one of the newer department within the foundation.
Yet our new department has enough jurisdiction to dictate even the actions of an O5 member. SCP Foundation may guard against the world of monsters, but we guard the Foundation from itself. Every crime, every abomination and every action that breaks the law of morality goes through us. No one, not even the ones sitting at the very top are exempt from our judgement. If need be, we will tear down every single O5 member from their throne and bring them down to earth. If need be, we will wipe the foundation from the face of the planet if it means stopping all future evil.
Are you alright? You seem a little pale. Don’t worry, you’re not going to be taken away or be terminated.
After all Doctor, I am the 14th O5 member.
Allow me to fill you in on the history of the Ethics Committee.
Chapter 2: A Site To Behold
December █/██/████
Site ██
Off the coast of the [REDACTED] peninsula lies a city state of population █ Million. Although it’s position is not well suited for commercial trading, the island is rich with resources and a city state has since been created out of this prosperity.
This was a location prime for a research facility, far away enough from any mainland to minimise damage, and close enough to a city to mask any ground activity.
Date: [REDACTED]
Time: 14:08
Dr Knox: Bloody, bloody hell. You mean to say they’re transferring it right here?
Dr Ethel: Apparently management viewed this area as optimal for on site testing. Not sure if I’m all too excited for this but what can we do.
Dr Knox: Still, just having SCP 008 around is…unsettling to say the least.
Dr Ethel: Oh relax, it’s not as if this is the foundation’s first time doing this sort of stuff. Just do it by the book and we’ll be fine.
Dr Knox: I suppose. The transfer is today right? If so it’s going to get a whole lot busier around here. Just the logistics alone must have taken weeks.
Dr Ethel: Yep, Sector 4-█ will be housing SCP 008. From what I gather, they’re planning to run a 4 week long test involving around ██ D-class personnel. I don’t envy the poor devils.
Dr Shell: Hopefully we actually get something useful out of this round of testing. I’ll hate to be the one conducting the research on SCP 008 again
The sounds of hasty footsteps and muffled mumblings filled the corridor as researchers and on site personnel alike rushed to the facility’s shelters. Today was to be the day that the foundation conducted a mass testing of SCP 008 and every single precaution was to be taken. Overhead, alarms and horns blared glaringly across the facility. *TESTING AND RESEARCH IN PROGRESS, ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO REPORT TO THE SAFETY SHELTERS* as the announcement boomed above them.
Facility guards stood at attention and waved the crowd into the shelters as gates and checkpoints were systematically placed in lockdown. Only a handful of the personnel in the crowd knew why they had to be in shelters, the rest merely followed the instructions given to them. Over at Sector 4-█, 3 senior researchers stood stone-faced at their consoles and monitors. The ██ D-class personnel being funneled through a narrow tunnel led by a handful of facility guards. They were told they were going to go through a series of examinations. Done a hundred times, completely safe. Yet the atmosphere was practically dripping with blood and malice. They could feel it, the guards could feel it, even the senior researchers with their many years of experience could feel it. The D-class personnels shuffled uncomfortably in their cuffs, they felt many emotions, but perhaps the biggest one that stood out was dread. Dread of death, the same dread that a lamb has before slaughter. No one dared to break the uncomfortable silence for fear of attracting attention. Anxious gaze were casted around the room they were in. There was nothing in it, just a room with 4 walls painted white.
From somewhere within the room, a voice spoke to them through a speaker.
Dr Knox: *Tap* *Tap* Alright I want all of you to space yourself. Make sure you’re not within arm’s length of each other. Once you’ve done that we’ll be ready to begin.
I will be spraying a harmless perfume in the air, I want you all to describe to me what it smells like. You might get a slight itch and a rash, but that is completely normal. D-4471, go ahead.
D-4471: Errr, smells normal I guess? It’s got like this sort of metallic-ish smell to it. I don’t know. It’s weird.
Dr Knox: *The sound of scribbling was audible* I see, very well. Next and keep going. Once you’re finished describing the next person can go on. Also, I would like to add. All of you might feel dizzy after a while and get cravings. That is alright, this new perfume was designed to erm…stimulate hunger. Don’t be too surprised if you suddenly feel hungry. Carry on.
D-1293: Well, what [REDACTED] said. It just smells metallicy. I honestly don’t know why you want so many of us just to smell a fucking perfume. What? You guys don’t have noses?
Dr Ethel: Please keep all unnecessary chatter to a minimum. Next, carry on please.
This round of testing went on uneventfully. Each of the D-Class personnels gave more or less the same remark save for the last individual. D-1202 was the last to speak. He was the quietest out of all of them. His hollow eyes staring at nothing as he sat perfectly still.
Dr Knox: Alright……D-1202. You’re up, tell us what you smell and describe any feelings you have for it.
His eyes slowly shifted up to the hidden camera. He paused for a moment and cocked his head slightly to the left.
D-1202: Smells…….Smells like death in the air. *His voice raspy and crude*
All eyes were on him, even the other D-Class personnel and facility guards stared wide-eyed at him.
D-1202: You…You can all smell it too can’t you. *He egged on them mockingly* But you’re too afraid to admit it, too afraid to acknowledge it. Try to pass it off as a bad dream. But no, Death is knocking at the door and you know it. *He murmured softly as he rocked back and forth, like a small child trying to hide from the monsters in the dark.*
No one said anything, the room was silent save for the tense breathing. The other D-Class personnels sat down by themselves, trying to digest what he had just said.
Dr Knox: *A long pause* That is…most interesting. I’m sure whatever D-1202 is feeling can be passed off as anxiety. Please, do not worry. Now before I let all of you go, there is a good amount of paperwork to be done before your release. Please be patient with us and we thank you for your cooperation.
The voice was cut off with a click and the D-Class personnels were left alone in the room. Each of them still pondering over the words of D-1202. Some tried to dismiss what he said as crazy talk, saying how he isn’t right in the head. Others were just trying to be optimistic about their release. But even they don’t seem very sure of themselves. The rest just sat alone, trying to let it all pass. Hoping beyond hope that someone would walk up to them and say this is all a bad dream.
As for D-1202 himself. He hasn’t moved or said a single word. He just sat idly in the corner, knees tucked and eyes staring down. It was as though he had accepted what was about to happen despite not knowing anything.
Seconds felt like minutes and each passing hour felt like an eternity. Despite the lack of updates from the researchers, none of them seemed to notice at this point.
Slowly, the changes occurred so gradually none of them even noticed what was going on. Their eyes dilated, they stopped talking altogether and just like that, they were rendered walking corpses. Husks of their former selves. Everything they stood for, everything they wanted to do, their hopes of ever being free crushed brutally by SCP 008.
Chapter 3: They Who Shall Not See
Even with the most laid out of plans, things can go wrong. Unfortunately for Site ██, the worst that could happen did.
The 3 senior researchers had it all covered. Logistics, security, manpower, every conceivable threat SCP 008 had posed was accounted for. There were quarantines and remote triggered kill switches installed in the room and even the rooms adjacent to it. It was paramount that nothing should go wrong. One small misstep meant jeopardizing the safety of the hundreds of thousands of personnel working in the facility.
‘Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot.’ [Henry V, Act 3 Scene 1]
An error no one could have foresaw. A mistake no one could have seen coming. It was as if fate itself was against the foundation that day.
*Click*
The lights, rooms, monitors, screens abruptly turned off all at once. A power outage. Deep within the facility’s generator room,a malfunction in the circuit breaker single-handedly shutdown the entire power in Site ██. Such a small and insignificant event on any other day but today.
With no power, the doors hissed opened. A failsafe the engineers designed to ensure that all foundation personnel could evacuate should a power outage occur. While it’s true that D-Class blocks had doors that stayed locked even without power, the same could not be said about the many testing rooms that filled Site ██.
Dr Knox blinked dumbfounded. The sudden shock of the entire facility going dark wearing off as he peered around him cautiously.
Dr Knox: Ethel? Shell? You guys alright?
The general murmurs of agreement came from somewhere within the room.
Dr Ethel: Damn, I can’t even see my spectacles in front of me. Hold on, let me get some light from my phone.
Dr Ethel held his phone cautiously in front of him and scanned the pitch black room to make sure his colleagues were alright.
Dr Knox: Hell of a blackout. Hey, at least the doors work right. I’ll hate to be the poor sucker….stuck…in…his…room……
As though a sudden realisation just suckered punch the air out of his lungs, Dr Knox scrambled towards the phone with wild abandonment. He mashed the number pads in front of him only to find silence on the receiver.
Dr Knox: No….NO! ETHEL, TOSS ME YOUR PHONE RIGHT NOW. RIGHT GODDAMN NOW!
The two other researchers, still not sure of the implications of the blackout scratched their heads in curiosity at their frantic coworker.
Dr Ethel: Huh, what’s up? Oh ugh…err…sure. *As he stepped nonchalantly towards Dr Knox and held out his phone*
Dr Knox practically snatched the phone from Dr Ethel’s outstretched hands as he attempted to contact the facility guards.
Meanwhile in the testing room, the change was phenomenally quick. As soon as the doors opened, the affected D-Class personnels snapped out of their trance and dashed out of the room. The facility guards standing at the doorway stood little chance as they were ripped from limb to limb. Blood and guts covered the hallway as the infected rend and tore the two guards with savage viciousness. The sounds of screams echoed the hallway as the infected ran rampant inside the facility. They were not content with just killing the two guards. Now that they spilled blood, they want more, much much more.
Driven by the lust of blood, they ran every which way, hoping to look for a potential victim.
Although the infected individuals possessed inhuman strength, speed and agility, they were not particularly smart. They were simple beasts in the form of a human turned feral. With the absence of staff and foundation personnel, the facility guards were free to place the infected as priority number 1. The on-site facility captain having just got the gist of the situation from Dr Knox regrouped the few facility guards littered throughout the site’s perimeter.
They were given one order, kill anything that moves.
As his fellow inmates were being gunned down by facility guards systematically sweeping the area, D-1202 stood face to face to the wire fence that separates the facility from civilisation.
Perhaps it was instinct to run towards the woods, perhaps it was compulsion to escape the facility from when he was human, no one could say for sure. With a guttural grunt, D-1202 shambled towards the fence and climbed over it effortlessly, at long last granted the freedom he so desperately wanted.
Chapter 4: Hell Hath No Fury Like An Overseer Scorned
It all turned to shit faster than anyone could have anticipated. By the time the facility guards noticed one D-Class personnel was missing from the row of bodies being incinerated it was far too late.
Facility Captain: The fuck you mean we got one missing? ‘His eyes glaring at the lieutenant with such intensity it seemed to burn right through him* Are you sure? Completely sure? 100 fucking percent sure we got a drugged up asshat missing?
Lieutenant: *Nodding frantically* Completely sure sir. We counted the bodies and there’s one D-Class personnel unaccounted for. We got cameras and facility guards looking around the entire place but….
Facility Captain: But he’s not there. *The captain’s eyes narrowed and stared off in the distance.*
Dr Knox: It doesn’t add up, infected individuals have no sense of self preservation. They don’t just *hide* just because there’s people around. Hell, with all the noise and commotion he should have appeared by now.
Facility Captain: Which means there’s only one possibility doc. He ain’t here.
January ██/█/████
City state [REDACTED]
The scene that unfolded in the city could only be described as hell on earth. Screams of both the infected and living filled the smoky skies. Muffled gunfire and explosions dotted the city as the entire place descended into utter chaos. The police and military, having no experience with SCP 008 could do very little to prevent infection from spreading throughout the city.
Dr Knox: I don’t fucking care. We started this mess, we should damn well clean it up.
Site Director: You and I both know the facility barely have any resources to contain this scale of threat.
Dr Knox: Well we can’t just leave them all to die! At the very least we should be on the ground helping the government deal with this. Look, I know it ain’t easy but we have to do something.
Site Director: We ARE doing something. I contacted HQ already. The entire island is quarantined off. Even the airspace is restricted for the time being.
Dr Knox: Well that’s not stopping 5 million people from getting che-
Facility Captain: Sir? *The captain announced with a brief salute* I got a message for the both of you. Direct from the overseer council.
January ██/█/████
HQ: East Wing
Meanwhile, both men and women in smart office attires hurriedly moved aside as 2 rows of armed guards moved down the hallway. Anyone caught in their path were shoved aside coldly as they marched towards the meeting, an air of menace hung around them.
Hushed whispers and muffled gasps of surprise filled the hallway as an overseer stomped his way towards the meeting room. No one wanted to look or get in his way, no one in their right mind is that suicidal to piss off an already angry overseer.
Coming to a halt at the entrance, the overseer didn’t even have to flash his pass when the doors were swung open by two armed guards. They didn’t need to see his documents, they knew an overseer when they saw one.
The room resembled something that of the white house with it’s banners and logo hung on the side of the walls. 13 pedestals were arranged in a circle with one podium in the centre. There were no windows or any other furnitures. This was a room where men and women of duty came to do a job and nothing more.
The figure in the centre looked at the arrival straight in the eye.
O5-1: You’re late.
Give the man his dues, he didn’t even flinch when O5-1 spoke to him in such a condescending tone with 12 other gazes on him.
O5-14: I was under the impression that the P in SCP stood for protect. So why the hell are we not already on the ground helping out?
O5-1 raised an eye at his comment but said nothing.
O5-14 looked around the room cautiously, some of the figures on the pedestals looked impatient, some had a look that resembled bemused, while the others just looked indifferent, as though this happened everyday. A few figures on the pedestal flickered occasionally, holograms.
O5-14: *He gestured towards the holograms* What could be more important than the 5 plus million of lives at stake?
O5-2: Some of us has more urgent matters to attend to. A city at stake isn’t a reason to leave the world vulnerable.
O5-1: Hush you two, we’re not here compare how much more important our roles are. We are here to discuss the course of action to take. The city state is already at a 36% infection rate. Given how quickly it is spreading, the city will fall within a day.
O5-14: All the more we should be acting now. I already have transport planes and heavy lift choppers ready to take off at a moment’s notice. We can start an evacuation plan from the north-east of the city and try to lim-
O5-2: With all due respect 14, evacuation is out of the question. With what little asset we have in the region, even getting transport units down there is a threat to the evacuation crews. No, we need to focus on eliminating the threat.
O5-13: I’m sure we can do some damage control. Maybe even an evacuation. The situation on ground zero isn’t exactly unsalvageable.
O5-4: You’re forgetting foundation policies. We’re not even supposed to be doing evacuations of G2 sites, much less the general populace.
O5-14: Policies that we set? Yes, I’m very clear. I was there. Is that any excuse to let an entire city fend for itself? What we need to be doing is try saving as much as we can. We can establish a safe zone perimeter, get our men down there and start getting people out of there. You know as well as I do we’re the only ones capable of pulling off such a large scale operation.
O5-2: And risk spreading the infection further? I propose we aerial bomb the affected areas and limit the damage from there.
O5-7: I’ll have to agree. Right now, our biggest concerns are not in the citizens of the city, rather the threat it poses.
O5-12: Aerial bomb civilians? Surely there must be SCPs we have at our disposal that can remedy the situation.
O5-14: What about our men down there? The foundation facility in the island is the operational and untouched. We can utilise the manpower from there in addition of foreign relief.
O5-2: I’ll like to keep discussing this till the sun rises, but can we hurry this up? We are wasting valuable time here. We could just nuke the island and be done with it. It’s clean and it neutralizes all threats.
O5-14: You’re kidding, what about the people? What about our men down there? I understand desperate times calls for desperate measure but nuking an entire island? Nuking our own foundation facility?
O5-4: Hmmm….you do raise a good point. It would be a waste to throw away so much foundation assets. We could just save foundation assets and nuke the city.
O5-14: Save foundation as-, ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF? People are DYING by the thousands and all you care is foundation assets?
O5-1 raised a hand and the room fell silent.
O5-1: I think we have heard enough. If anything, I agree with 2 that we are running out of time. The measure we need to take to completely neutralize the threat posed by SCP 008 will be to nuke the entire island. Or, we can adopt the measures proposed by 14 to start evacuation process. What we decide to do will be up to a collective vote. Those in favour of starting an evacuation raise your hand.
O5-14’s heart sank as only 3 hands were in the air. A look of utter disbelief as his eyes darted around the room.
O5-1: Those in favour of nuking the city?
8 hands went up in the air. The decision was made and final. There was nothing anyone could do now. Right there in the room, the lives of 5 million people were decided.
O5-14: You’re kidding…kidding. Just like that? We’re going to abandon an entire city just like that? There HAS to be a better way we can do this. Even if I agree that we should first prioritise limiting the infection, what about the men, women and children still trapped in the city?
O5-2: Drop it 14, there’s no point crying over lives we can’t save anyway.
O5-14: NO! UNACCEPTABLE. UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. I REFUSE TO CONDEMN COUNTLESS LIVES TO THEIR GRAVES OVER THE MISTAKE WE MADE.
O5-1: Calm yourself down 14.
O5-14: THIS IS INSANE. ARE WE JUST GOING TO LET THEM ALL DIE? ARE WE JUST GOING TO LET MILLIONS, MILLIONS OF CHILDREN BURN AND SCREAM? WHILE WE SIT HER-
O5-1: That is enough 14.
O5-14 stopped and stared around him. A look of incredulity on his face. He looked down at his laptop, plans detailing the logistics of planes, food, water and ammunition. Silently, he closed his laptop and without a word, he left the meeting room.
A flash of light as bright as the sun could be seen from the other side of the ocean. Fire engulfed the entire island as everything was swallowed and purified by the flame. Every citizen in the city was killed. Every foundation member in site ██ was killed. What’s left of the once luscious and blue island were reduced to ashes and less than ashes. The plan to send an ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) with a payload sufficient to wipe out life in a 1000 KM radius proceeded as planned. The censorship department were already at work when O5-14 left the meeting room. The tragedy of City State [REDACTED] were put down to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. All level 3 and below personnel involved in the incident were administered class A amnestics. All records about the incident were deleted and removed from public.
O5-14 took his time to return to the office. He sat down in the admin area and pulled out his laptop. The hallway was ladened with workers rushing back and forth, curious glances were casted his way but everyone knew well to steer clear of him. O5-14’s eyes just stared at the evacuation proposal. There was nothing he could have done now. Nothing that he could even change. The tragedy that occurred on this day was not the first, and will not be the last. Although he had seen countless of lives being lost everyday, this string of lives being tossed away was starting to get to him. He stared off into the distance, silently counting the amount of lives he had lived to see faded away.
O5-14 sat there for a good while, watching the foundation personnel come and go as he quietly observed them. Wondering if any of them had a family in that city or if they would even remember them to mourn.
Shaking his head slowly, O5-14 raised from the chair. He was finally about to head off to his office when he stopped dead in his tracks. An idea came to his mind, an idea so insane even an O5 member wouldn’t even dream of doing it. In an instant, he made his mind and gave strict instructions to his assistant that he would have no interruptions for the next hour.
If he’s going to hell for the sins he committed in foundation, he’s going to hell trying to save them all.
