The guerrilla soldiers fire their rifles blindly
into the jungle. They don’t know what exactly they’re shooting
at, but something is out there among the trees. Something they can’t see. Something that’s killing them. One of the young soldiers, barely more than
a boy, stops to reload. As he pulls the magazine from his rifle, a
blur passes by. The soldier next to him suddenly drops to
his knees clutching his neck, blood pouring out between his fingers. A hand grasps the boy’s shoulder and he
spins around, nearly opening fire on his commander. The older man tells him they’ve got to go
and the boy joins a small group of soldiers who start running through the jungle, trying
to get away from whatever this thing is. As they run there’s another flash of movement
and one of the soldiers is pulled into the trees. He can hear his screams mixed with the otherworldly
shrieks but there’s nothing they can do, it’s already too late for him. Another soldier disappears into the trees
with a blur. It’s just him and the commander now. They emerge from the jungle into a clearing
that contains a small, abandoned farm. The commander motions for them to head towards
the old farm house and the two take cover around the corner of the home. They crouch with their guns ready, peeking
around the corner, looking for any sign of the monster that’s killed so many of their
comrades. The boy wants to know what they should do. He opens his mouth to ask the commander but
he puts a finger to his lips and motions for the boy to keep watching. The boy peeks around the corner of the house
but he doesn’t see anything emerging from the treeline. It’s quiet, until the commander begins to
scream. The boy turns to see a point forming on his
chest. It’s a black circle, no not black, something
darker. It’s like it is the absence of any and all
light. The commander screams louder as the point
of darkness grows. The commander's screams fade out even as it
looks like he continues to yell. The boy watches as the commander seems to
be collapsing in, sucked into the dark orb in his chest. The commander’s body folds in on itself,
growing smaller and smaller until it disappears completely into the black hole, which vanishes
along with him. The boy doesn’t know what he just saw but
he doesn’t have time to think, because emerging from the forest, is the creature. The boy has never seen anything like it and
runs into the farmhouse. He locks the door and pushes the old kitchen
table in front of it, trying to barricade it as best he can. He looks around and spots a bed against the
wall. It’s the best hiding spot he can find so
he runs and slides under the bed, pulling himself as close to the wall as he can. The boy watches and waits, unsure of what
he should do. It’s quiet. There’s no more screaming of soldiers being
killed or any more of those guttural, animal-like squeals. Maybe it decided to go back to wherever it
came from. The boy doesn’t dare come out from under
the bed though. As he watches the door, waiting for something
to burst through, he sees something else. Another of those black points appears in the
middle of the room. It looks like it bends the light around it,
distorting the room nearby. The boy watches from under the bed as out
of the point, a thin black limb emerges. First one, then another. He can see its strange pointed legs with no
feet standing just in front of the bed now. With a high pitched cry, the creature effortlessly
tosses the bed aside. The boy is left exposed, cowering against
the wall. The creature screams, opening its wide mouth
that seems to split its eyeless face in two, revealing two rows of jagged teeth. The boy screams back, crying in fear, and
sees that the creature isn’t eyeless after all. Inside its grotesque mouth, a milky-blue ball
appears. There’s no iris, but the boy knows whatever
this thing is, it's looking at him. The boy feels his chest grow tight. He looks down to see that one of the black
points is forming on his chest. He can feel himself being squeezed and crushed,
pulled down into this singular point. All noises, including his screams disappear
as he is pulled into this soundless void. But then he hears something again. He looks up to see that the creature is being
riddled with bullets. It turns to escape and bursts through the
wall of the farmhouse. The dark orb on the boy vanishes and he sees,
standing in the doorway, his friend and savior. He clutches his bleeding throat with one hand,
holding his rifle in the other. The boy rushes to him as he collapses to the
floor. Blood is pouring out of his neck and he can
no longer speak, but he dies knowing he saved his young friend. The boy starts to feel very tired, and he
sits down next to his dead hero. He’s all alone now, his entire group of
freedom fighters now wiped out by this demon. The boy feels nauseous and dizzy. He coughs into his hand and looks down to
see that it’s covered in his own blood. A group of boys run down a jungle path, laughing
and playing when they suddenly stop and grow quiet. There’s something up ahead of them. It’s a man, lying on the side of the road. The boys look scared, unsure if they should
check it out, but then the smallest of all of them emerges from the group and bravely
marches up to the man. Not wanting to let the youngest of their friends
make them look like cowards, the rest of the boys soon follow. The man on the side of the road is moaning
and looks to be in pain. As they get closer they can see that he must
have been in a terrible accident. His skin is gray, and it looks like his long
thin arms only have three fingers. What should they do? The small boy picks up a stick and reaches
out with it to poke the man, not wanting to touch him with his own hands, but before he
can the man rolls over, opening his mouth with a horrible shriek to reveal the glassy
blue eye inside as the boys turn and run, hands over their ears. Several weeks later, the small Guatemalan
town holds a meeting. The crowd of people in the room are angrily
yelling at the mayor who stands at a podium, demanding answers from him about what happened
to their dead or missing loved ones. A series of photos are hung on the wall behind
the mayor in remembrance of those who have disappeared into the forest, or mysteriously
died from a rapid illness, including the brave young boy. One man shouts at the mayor, wanting to know
where his daughter was, another asks how her healthy husband could drop dead from an illness
after being perfectly healthy only days before. The mayor tries to calm the frustrated townspeople,
telling them that he knows there have been rumors of a demon out in the forest, but that’s
all they are… rumors. The mayor warns them though that something
is out there, though he doesn’t know what. There is an animal or man that is making people
sick. It may also be hunting people, neither he
nor the police know exactly what is going on. But there is good news, a group of men have
come to help them. The mayor points towards a stern looking man
in a military uniform who is standing with a small group of other soldiers and a scientist
off to the side of the stage. The mayor explains that this man, General
Machoi, is from America, and that he’s going to help them. The crowd doesn’t cheer in the way that
the mayor seems to have expected, but they at least stop their yelling as the General
steps to the podium and thanks the mayor for the introduction. The general looks over the crowd who are waiting
and hungry for answers about the monster that’s suddenly begun plaguing their town. He tells them that it is true that he’s
been sent here by the US Government in order to investigate what’s been happening, and
stop whatever threat is out there in the jungle by any means necessary. He can’t promise that he’ll be able to
bring back any of their missing loved ones, but he can at least prevent whatever this
is from taking any more. He then gestures to the rest of his group
and tells the crowd that the men he has brought with him have been specially trained to deal
with this exact type of situation, and that they don’t need to worry any longer. The only thing everyone needs to do is stay
out of their way, and all will be taken care of. With that, he walks off the stage as the crowd
erupts into more shouting. General Machoi stops at the scientists waiting
next to the stage. “Well Dr. Keter, what do you think?” The scientist adjusts his glasses and answers
“This is what we’ve been preparing for. The Overseers kept telling us this day would
come. It looks like it finally has.” The group of soldiers led by General Machoi
make their way through the dense forest. Dr. Keter is just ahead of them, using a Geiger
counter to follow the creature, the audible clicks of the radioactive entity telling him
which way it came. They track the source of the radiation to
a clearing in the jungle where a small village once stood. Most of the buildings are overgrown with plants
and thick vines, but with it growing dark, this seems as safe a place as they will find
to make camp for the night. The soldiers fan out to search what’s left
of the town as Dr. Keter continues looking around for where the radioactive trail might
lead them next. As General Machoi is checking out one of the
many dark, old buildings, one of the other soldiers cries out. “Hey General! It looks like this generator still works!” With the sound of an old diesel motor coming
to life, lights in the village suddenly flicker on. They now have fortifications and light. Though he’d never admit it, General Machoi
was feeling nervous about spending the night in the jungle, but now at least some of those
nerves were being washed away by the old, flickering yellow lights. Later that night, the General is questioning
Dr. Keter on where the creature went. Dr. Keter is confused though. His readings showed high traces of radiation
leading into this village. The creature came here, he was sure of it,
but now he can’t figure out where it went. It’s as if it came into the village and
then simply vanished. Outside, one of the soldiers on watch tells
the rest of the group who are sitting around a fire to shut up, that he thinks he saw something
in the woods. Everyone immediately springs into action,
taking defensive positions and aiming their rifles into the dark treeline. “There it is again” he says, as a flash
of darkness moves just beyond the clearing. “No, it’s over here” says another soldier
on the opposite side. How could the creature be moving so fast around
them? Are there multiple of whatever this is out
there? The soldiers form a circle to make sure that
the thing can’t get behind them. What they can’t see, is the point of darkness
forming behind all of their backs, and the thin, pointed legs stepping out of it. The general’s radio comes to life. “I think we’ve got something out here
Gen - “ but his message is cut off by screams and the sound of gunfire. General Machoi tells Dr. Keter to stay inside
and runs out of the building, where he finally gets a glimpse of the “demon” that they’ve
been tracking. The tall, thin creature is massacring his
squad. It dashes between them at an inhuman speed,
using its three fingered hands to rip the limbs off of some soldiers and slash at others
with its razor sharp claws, opening up their necks or disemboweling them before moving
on to the next. The General fires his rifle at the creature
and misses, but it’s enough to get it to retreat. General Machoi runs back inside the building
where Dr. Keter is waiting. “What was it, what did you see out there?” The General doesn’t know how to begin describing
the monster that just killed all of his men. It’s like nothing he has ever seen before
and something that no amount of training could prepare him for. As the two men ponder what to do next, the
Geiger counter on the table suddenly starts to click, softly at first, but then more and
more, as if a huge amount of radiation has suddenly flooded the room. The General grabs the Doctor and drags him
out, leaping out of the building just before it collapses in on itself, disappearing into
the micro-singularity that formed inside. The two men look up to see it standing right
in front of them, its huge mouth open to reveal its glassy blue eye. “Look out!” Dr. Keter cries, but he isn’t talking about
the demon as he and the General roll to the side, just avoiding the power line that has
been cut loose by the destroyed building. The power line hits the ground and immediately
begins to spark, sending out bright pulses of white, electrical light. The creature cries out with a gut wrenching
scream and collapses to the ground, huddling up into a ball as it tries to cover up its
mouth with its thin arms. “Is it the electricity?” the General asks,
confused about what suddenly stopped the killer’s rampage, but Dr. Keter realizes it isn’t
the sparking power line that the creature has been immobilized by, it’s the flashing
lights. The General doesn’t wait for his answer
though, and fires the weighted net from his gun, trapping the howling creature. Dr. Keter examines the creature at the field
research center that has been set up several miles from the village. A strobe light has been affixed to the inside
of the creature’s cage, but even when the doctor turns the light off, the grayish brown
skinned entity still remains curled up in a ball on the floor. The doctor wonders if perhaps the creature
is hungry, but it shows no interest in any of the various meats, fruits, and vegetables
they’ve presented to it. The doctor stands in the doorway of the tent
that has been up to house the creature’s cage and gives an update to General Machoi,
who is anxious to get the creature moved to the United States and a more secure containment
environment. Dr. Keter stresses that he fears the journey
might kill this creature though, and put an end to the incredible research and testing
they can perform on this amazing living specimen. The General turns to leave but stops to salute
the body of one of his soldiers being carried by on a stretcher. Dr. Keter himself turns to go back to his
research when he notices something. The creature’s mouth is ever so slightly
open. Dr. Keter has yet another idea. That night, Dr. Keter enters the temporary
morgue and takes a severed arm from one of the dead soldiers. Back in the research tent, he presents the
arm to the creature, sliding it through the cage bars. The creature doesn’t react, but Dr. Keter
continues to watch and wait. After a time, the creature finally stirs. It’s the first time he has seen it move
since it was captured. The creature reaches out with its long, three
fingered hand and grabs the arm before starting to feed on it. “You like that, don’t you?” Dr. Keter asks, and bizarrely, the creature
seems to respond, giving an almost baby-like coo. “There’s lots more of that if you behave. All I want to do is study you, learn how you
work.” The creature continues to feed, starting to
crunch on the bones now that all of the meat is gone. “Yes, I believe you’ll be good” the
doctor says as he approaches the cage. “You’re going to make me world famous. Soon everyone will know the name Hermann Ket
-” The creature’s hand shoots out from between
the bars so quickly he never even saw it. Dr. Keter starts to scream as it grasps and
claws at him. A soldier standing guard outside runs in but
a black point of light immediately appears on his torso, causing him to fold in on himself
into the singularity. The creature drops the bloodied Dr. Keter
to the floor, who reaches for the emergency strobe light activation button as another
singularity opens up inside of the cage. The creature appears to willfully step into
it before emerging out of another just outside of the bars. More soldiers rush into the tent in time to
see the creature feeding on the still living Dr. Keter. One presses the button to activate the high
powered strobe lights which cause the creature to start screaming and thrashing about, trying
to escape the flashing lights. Multiple nets are fired onto the creature,
pinning it to the ground as its screams slowly fade back to whimpers. On Overseer orders, the creature is moved
to ADRX-19, a secure base located somewhere in North America. The site’s director gives a presentation
to a group and explains that thanks to the work of the late Dr. Keter, they now know
that the creature exhibits signs of fear and sickness when in the presence of strobing
lights, and that it is unable to produce the microsingularities that it uses for defense
and teleportation when it is in this sickened state. When healthy though, the creature is extremely
dangerous thanks to its superhuman speed, strength, and cunning. It was also discovered that it is unable to
teleport through lead, which its new containment cell has been lined with, and extreme security
procedures have been implemented including the installation of a reinforced steel blast
door and constant patrols of the outside of the cell by armed guards who are equipped
with high-powered strobe lights. The site director leaves the room and the
Overseers discuss the fate of the creature which has been given the designation number
86243AR-001, though most have taken to calling it simply 001. One of the Overseers argues that the creature
must be secured and contained in order to protect humanity. Who knows how many more of these might be
out there. They now know that the rumors of these types
of entities aren’t merely isolated events, and there could be countless more of these
anomalies. Hundreds, maybe even thousands. The rest of the Overseers unanimously agree. One of them picks up the report that was left
behind by the site director. “Redact this report immediately and start
a new document archive. This is only The Prototype. I have the feeling there will likely be many
more of these… “ I hope you enjoyed this special exploration
of an SCP-001 proposal. Let me know in the comments if you’d like
to see more like this and make sure you subscribe and turn on notifications, so you don’t
miss a single anomaly, as we delve further and further into the SCP Foundation’s classified
archives.
