The UnLondon Account (SCP 1678)

Chapter 2 | Scratching on the Sill

I waited, silently in my hiding place. I waited for the Bobbies to leave, to finish dragging the corpses of my former colleagues away. The waiting wasn't what scared me, but the cries and whimpers that I so desperately tried to block out. I knew deep down that if there were whimpers then, that would mean that my colleagues were alive but doomed to whatever fate the Bobbies had in store for them.

I blocked the thought out avoiding the horror that was unfolding, people I knew were dying and I let it happen.

After about two hours of waiting UnLondon fell quiet. The Bobbies had vacated the camp and the bodies surrounding the exit door were gone. Slowly, I creeped out from my hiding place within the research tent and rushed over to the exit door. I pried at the gap in the door and slammed my fists against it. There was no response, I tried unlocking the door at the control panel but everything I tried, failed.

Eventually, I gave up trying to open the door and moved back into the research tent. Searching through the tent I immediately found a small pocket sized radio. I extended the antenna and tuned to the emergency broadcast frequency used by the foundation in emergency situations. All I got on the other end of the radio was static, after waiting for a few minutes I carried on searching.

While searching I found: a black backpack, a wind-up flash light lamp, two blankets, some emergency rations and three filtrated canteens of water. I packed all of the supplies into the back pack with the radio and threw it over my shoulders, just as I was about to leave I noticed something. I noticed a small black pistol under a desk, I presumed it had been lost by someone in the Bobbies's attack. I picked up the placed the pistol in my pocket, ready for use.

Keeping my head low I made my way out of the base camp away from the devastation. The streets of UnLondon were illuminated by gas street lamps and occasionally a lone Bobby would walk by, terrifying me.

Thankfully, I made my way into a nearby building, the inside was dimly dark and barely illuminated by the sparse light from the gas lamps outside. I retrieved the wind-up lamp from my back pack and wound it up until it illuminated the entire room. The room had a wooden floor that creaked heavily with walls made of wood and lined with brass pipes and a staircase in the far right corner leading upstairs. The entirety of the room was damp and the wood in places was broken and delicate.

I made my way upstairs and placed the lamp down on the floor, I retrieved the two blankets from my back pack and rolled one of them up to make a pillow and placed the second below it to make somewhere to sleep. Next I removed my black blazer and flat shoes then placed them on the floor next to my makeshift bed. After that I placed everything from my pockets next to my bed, including: the radio with its antenna extended, my mobile phone (quickly losing battery and almost useless due to a lack of signal), the pistol and a black marker pen.

After the trauma I closed my eyes and led down in my makeshift bed and forced myself to go to sleep, after the attack I couldn't eat. I just prayed I could sleep and I slowly drifted off.

•••

I awoke to the sound of scratching. My eyes lids slowly opened, as my eyes scanned the area. I quickly noticed the origin of the scratching.

Perched on a window sill was a singular case of SCP-1678-B (also known as Eyes in the Sky). SCP-1678-B was a bio-mechanical construct that resembled a bird (probably a pigeon), the main body of SCP-1678-B seemed to be a mass of red organic matter surrounded by a faded copper exoskeleton.

The case of SCP-1678-B was scratching the sill with its metal talons. The head of SCP-1678-B (which has been proven to be a camera) seemed to be scanning the room. It's lens scanning the room rapidly as if assessing what it could see.

My heart rate increased. I could feel my heart thundering in my ears as my blood ran cold in my veins. My blonde hair fell in front of my eyes, sticking to my forehead with sweat. Fear gripped me like a rabid assailant. I couldn't bring myself to move, instead I just stayed still waiting for my heart to calm down.

The eye in the sky suddenly jumped down from the window sill, landing softly on the wooden floor. It's metallic talons tapped on the floor almost rhythmically as it wings flapped slightly. As it moved the SCP's metal joints occasionally squeaked.

Steadily, my heart beat slowed once again. I assessed the situation. The eye in the sky stood about five feet from me. It hadn't realised that I was awake yet, so I had the element of surprise. Unbeknownst to the eye in the sky, my hand snaked across the floor towards the pistol. My fingers wrapped around the pistol.

I took one final look back at the eye in the sky, it was preoccupied with my other belongings. I steadied my breath ready to spring into action.

Without warning, my arm sprung to life. I immediately aimed the pistol at the eye in the sky, aiming it right at its camera lens. The eye in the sky looked towards me and reeled back in surprise, however it was too late. I pulled the trigger and a bullet flew out of the barrel and straight through the lens.

The eye in the sky was shot backwards, it crashed into the wall. The SCP was instantly still, it was dead.

I sprung up from my makeshift bed and raced over to the SCP. Using the barrel on the gun I rolled over the body of the SCP, it was definitely dead. Curiosity over took me, using the end of the marker pen I examined the body. The SCP was obviously biological in origin, it's biology was akin to that of a pigeon. The metallic areas of the SCP were integrated directly into the organic areas, as of the metal had become its skin.

Before I could continue my examination of the SCP the radio crackled into life. I raced back over to the radio. I tuned the signal slightly as a voice echoed statically from its speaker.

"H-" the interference was immense. "Is- is- anyone- out there?" Words crackled from the radio as my spirits lifted.

"Yes!" I shouted into the speaker, "this is Elise Bernard. Where are you?" I asked the voice.

"Hy—" the voice crackled out of existence. The radio's light slowly faded, and with it so did my hope of ever being rescued.