The UnLondon Account (SCP 1678)

Chapter 5 | Begging of the Wretch

The exposed inner workings of my radio, glistened in the dim light from my lamp. The other radio, Aiden's radio, meanwhile laid in pieces, torn apart by my hands in an effort to repair my own radio. I worked my hands around the parts trying to dry them out, but nothing was working.

Aiden walked in, carrying a bag of supplies. "Elise- honey I'm home!" He exclaimed comedically. I stuffed a small chuckle as he walked closer. "Any progress in fixing the radio?" He asked.

"Well, from what I can tell, my radio is just water logged. Meanwhile yours is completely broken, with no hope of fixing it. However, I did use the compatible parts of your radio to replace any broken parts in my radio. But" I paused, sucking in a deep breath.

"But what?" Aiden urged me to continue speaking.

"But it's still going to take time for the radio to dry out. So that really all we're waiting for." I explained.

Aiden seemed a little disappointed at first, but his eyes flickered to me and his face changed. His face morphed to smile, "it's better than nothin'. Hey I did get some food while out." Aiden then sat about retrieving the food he'd collected from his bag.

"Thank you, Aiden. For getting all this" I motioned towards the food he'd collected.

He smiled then he led down on the ground, sighing heavily. I kept my focus on the radio, using a pen to try and fix all the inner workings into place.

I didn't know much about electronics or how to fix them, I just remembered how to use and fix a radio from foundation training. Although that did make me wonder why Aiden hadn't offered to fix the radio. Nonetheless I pushed the thought aside and returned to fixing the radio, eventually fastening the back onto the radio.

"Hey, Elise." Aiden called across rolling on his side to face me. I looked up at Aiden giving him my full attention. "Do you know what SCP-1678 is? Like what's apart of it?" He asked him.

His question struck me as weird, up until this point I had assumed that Aiden was foundation personnel, but, how did he not know about SCP-1678?

"Why do you ask?" I questioned back to Aiden's question.

Aiden hesitated for a moment, "well it's just when I was out-" he paused again. This pause however seemed like Aiden was considering his nexts words. "When I was out I saw this woman dressed in rags. She was sat on the side of the road, hunched over with her hair black as night, draped over her face, like a curtain. She looked up at me, showing me hungry eyes and asked for food. I was going to stay away at first but when she asked for food- I just couldn't refuse. So I grabbed an MRE from the bag and handed it to her, but she started crying. But what she— she disappeared, like she became thick black smoke. What was it?"

I thought for a moment. Aiden had described a woman dressed in rags, sat on the side of the road, begging for food only to disappear when receiving the food. Finally I replied, "I think you encountered an instance of SCP-1678-C or the Wretch."

"So it's apart of UnLondon?" I nodded in response. "Thank god, I thought I'd done something or- or" he choked on his words, maybe he couldn't think of any other situation in which he'd face anything like a Wretch.

Still I sensed Aiden's lingering apprehension. "What if we saw another Wretch? Would that make you more comfortable?" I asked.

Aiden looked to me for a second, as if he were contemplating my suggestion. "Yeah, I think I'd like that." He smiled and I smiled back.

I grabbed an MRE and ushered him to follow me as we exited the base. We walked the streets of UnLondon for about twenty minutes, dodging any Bobbies and eyes in the skies. Eventually, we spied a Wretch, hunched over on the side of the road.

The Wretch seemed to be young, maybe in her mid-thirties. The Wretch's long black hair hung over her face, as she sobbed slightly.

"Alright" I started. "Let's approach slowly, the Wretch should beg for food. When we give her food she should disappear in a cloud of black smoke. Do you understand?" I asked Aiden.

He nodded as we moved closer to the Wretch, as I had expected the Wretch lifted her head as she sensed our presences. "Please help," the Wretch spike up holding out a beggar's dish. We stayed silent for moment, both of us were assessing the situation. "Please I'm so hungry, please sp- spare some food!" She pleaded clutching her stomach in obvious pain.

"So do we give her food?" Aiden questioned, moving closer to me.

"Yeah" I confirmed as I held out the MRE to the Wretch. She looked at the food as I placed it in front of her, she stared intently with hungry eyes.

The Wretch started to sob uncontrollably, her tears flowed faster until her body started to dissipate. Her body started to fade away in a thick black ash, the type of ash that belonged in a volcano rather than an underground city. Her sobbing grew louder as her body completely disappeared.

Aiden and I were in utter silence for a few seconds. I was stunned, I knew about SCP-1678-C but I had never witnessed it in person. Eventually, I spoke up, "we should go."

Aiden looked to me, his eyes redeemed slightly, "yeah we should." We both turned and returned to our base.

•••

"Alright, I think we should get some sleep" Aiden was the first to suggest going to sleep. It was the first time Aiden had suggested sleeping, up until this point, I couldn't remember him sleeping.

After I was completely sure that Aiden was asleep, I took the opportunity to snoop. I moved silently across the floor, trying to not disturb Aiden who was sleeping silently.

I searched through his bag of personal belongings. At first I didn't find anything out of the ordinary, but after a while of searching I found a few sheets of paper and a ID badge. Upon further investigation the sheets of paper contained information relating to two SCP's. The two SCP's were SCP-217 and SCP-500. Meanwhile the badge had on it: SCP-217 Subject 187, it also had a picture of Aiden's face and his full name.

Confusion took over and questions ran through my head. But, most pressingly one question needed an answer: was Aiden infected with SCP-217? Also known as the Clockwork Virus.