Chapter 1

Fallen Kingdom

Echoes of footsteps soared through the underground red-lit hallways, a small squad of soldiers rushed towards a metal door at the end that led to an open room with a large series of screens and computers lined against the walls; soldiers lined in single file columns filled the room.

Facility's Hallway [https://i.imgur.com/1Bubcyq.png]

The group of soldiers and I lined up in front of the screens as the General of the Mobile Task Forces took a step to the front, his hands crossed behind his back and a serious expression on his face.

“We now stand at the brink of war, the end has started and all of our families, friends and innocent people are our responsibility to defend. I will not stand here and do nothing while the fierce creatures we swore to destroy are out there! Slaughtering everything in their path and causing the harm they always cause. It is our duty to contain these creatures and do as necessary to keep peace. Will we be confronted? Perhaps, not everyone understands the risks that the world is at, no puny cults nor unorganized armada can prevent what will happen, only us, only the SCP Foundation can stop this. So go out there and do what you do best. Dismissed” said the General with his usual harsh tone.

The troops in the room began pouring out of the room into the loud hallways, the rumbling of the nearby tanks’ engine revving up in the garage was heard, the footsteps of platoons of troopers rushing echoed through the hallways. I was left there in the room, alone, putting my bulletproof vest on, its SCP Foundation logo glaring in the powerful lights.

SCP Logo [https://i.imgur.com/gEwpGDk.png]

I rushed out the room and through the hallways passing multiple marching soldier units and metal doors adorned with the same logo of my vest.

As soon as I saw the door that read -Garage- I turned and went through it. When I got into the garage it was full of armored vehicles including tanks and Armored Personnel Carriers with soldiers getting into them, ready to move out.

I could see my T-90A main battle tank, coated in a field gray paint and decorated with SCP logos on the sides of the turrets, the cannon had “ликвидатор” written in russian, meaning “Liquidator” and had an old style, soviet gas mask painted beside it.

The side skirt armor had a large 112 painted on its side with another gas mask next to it.

112 Gas Mask [https://i.imgur.com/ajuXzAX.png]

I ran over to the tank and hopped on top of it, scaling the turret and finally landing in an open hatch on top of the turret. I sat down on the brown seat and could see the Gunner, Rose, sitting to my left and Martin seated in the main part of the chassis in front of my feet.

Rose had the same smile she always had, her brown ponytail poking out from under her black helmet and she wore the same black camouflage uniform as Martin and I did, Martin on the other hand had his usual serious expression on his face, since I had met him he always had a short brown beard, his hair was also nicely cut short though it was barely visible because of his helmet.

A voice shouted from outside “Alright let’s move out!”

I quickly scrambled for my earmuffs, helmet and bottom half skeleton ski-style mask and put them on as I pulled down the gray-lined silver lens goggles I had, fully covering my face.

Soldier [https://i.imgur.com/r3jcVvr.png]

“You can’t go out without that mask can you?” Asked Rose in a joking manner. I simply chuckled lightly.

“Are you ready commander?” asked Martin looking over his shoulder and up at me.

I gave him a thumbs up to indicate I was.

The engine roared and made the entire vehicle shake lightly before finally going to a steady pace.

“Then let’s get this show on the road,” he said as he made the tank move to the exit of the garage.

We got onto a large tunnel that headed to the surface, as we made our way up a large metal door started to open, an alarm blaring as each of its halves slid to the side, letting in a small slither of sunlight that expanded slowly as the doors opened up.

A voice came in through my headset. “Alright everyone we are approaching surface level, get ready to head West and follow my lead as soon as we come out.”

We continued going through the tunnel as the vehicles in front of us were heading out and turning west. After a few seconds we exited the tunnel and turned west, following the lead vehicle in a wedge formation, like geese flying on the blue sky.

As we exited I could see multiple cages and containers being carried by dual rotor CH-47 Chinook helicopters. The initials SCP followed by numbers dotted different containers, presumably transporting anomalous entities and materials that if uncontained could cause further havoc all across the globe.

Chinook [https://i.imgur.com/ZqnoEKW.png]

Dirt and snow was being lifted by the fast moving tanks, painting the tracks a pure white. As we marched towards the horizon MiG-35 jets flew overhead and multiple troop helicopters shortly followed.

Tailing us where white snowmobiles, driven by soldiers in white uniform, to their flanks snow camouflage painted humvees followed.

Snow Mobile [https://i.imgur.com/2q5yp9y.png]

As we kept marching I could see buildings on the horizon, the multiple groups of soldiers began to separate in groups and march down adjacent roads with vehicles following behind them.

Moments later we entered the city, the engines and footsteps soared through the interjecting maze of roads. As we passed through the streets the helicopters overhead transmitted an evacuation message, telling all civilians to exit the city and to line up at the highway exits to be taken care of by our soldiers.

As we approached an intersection I signaled to the driver to stop the tank and I proceeded to get out of it and head to a nearby olive colored tent, surrounded by crates and guarded by two soldiers.

When I entered I could see a man standing next to a table, his vest had a large gray star, indicating he was ranked as a major. I turned my body towards him and saluted as he returned the salute.

"Lieutenant'' he said, referring to me. He pulled out a map of the city and extended it on the table “This area right here is your new objective” he added as he pointed to a small junction of roads that made a gridlike pattern around buildings, “Your mission is to extract and guide any civilians out of there, then escort them to the north to one of the city exits and let the other MTF Units handle them from there, now go, time is of the essence”.

I began making my way to the exit of the tent when the Major turned and said “Oh, and if it sees you, shoot”. I stopped at the doorway and just nodded, after which I continued moving towards my tank, my crew were waiting outside of it, Martin was seated on the tank and Rose was standing next to him.

As I approached they turned towards me. “So, are we finally gonna take the fight to those… Creatures?” said Martin sarcastically.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Radio and map [https://i.imgur.com/KqoL17m.png]

I took the map of the city and gave it to Rose, out of the blue my radio came to life.

“Lieutenant, our current recon team has given us new intel, there are unnamed soldiers in the area, the mission has not changed, extracting those civilians is our top priority but be careful of your surroundings once you get to the designated area.”

“Well I guess we know what we will be doing” said Martin as he sighed.

“Hey don’t get down big guy, we might get to see some real combat after a while” exclaimed Rose, “Some real action finally!” she added.

Martin proceeded to get into the T-90A through the hatch on the frontal slant as Rose and I went up the chassis, onto the turret and down onto our seats.

The tank started up and we began heading a few meters down the road until we were met with a chain link fence and sandbag barricade set up by our forces.

“This is T-90A, turret number 112, requesting 10-44 at the northern barricade for civilian extraction” said Martin through the radio to the outpost’s security.

We waited a few seconds until a voice went through the radio. “10-44 granted, you have permission to exit, good luck”.

The two guarding soldiers went over to the chain link fence and opened the sliding chain link gate. We proceeded through the gateway and began heading down the maze of junctions and roads, we could see damaged buildings, trash litter and the beginning of nature’s takeover on the city with vines coming down from unattended trees, grass growing between the space of the road and the sidewalk was seen and trash littering all of the road.

As we quickly soared down the roads I could not stop thinking of what would happen in the near future and of how people’s lives have changed, I could see soldiers escorting civilians out of the city, look at refugee camps nearby and how the people there had families, friends, a job, daily lives and all of it had changed because of this event but us being there gave me a sense of hope that we may help those people, we could make a change and that’s why we were there, to give aid and return everything to its former self. Even that sense of hope could not draw out another feeling in the back of my head, a sense of dread. These monsters might’ve been here before us, some want to exterminate humanity using their many unnatural abilities.

“Thinking about the world again aren't ya?” asked Rose in a serious but light empathic way. I simply nodded as I had my head poked out, “Hey don't get it too much over your head, we are here to help” she added.

We kept rushing down the roads towards the street we had to evacuate, I could still see the damage this entire situation had done to people and to the city.

A few minutes later the engine finally ceased and it was quiet once more, only the causal gust of ice cold wind could be heard.

We quickly got off the tank at the intersection between four roads and we began to head into a nearby convenience store. We quickly piled on a single file column and I kicked open the door.

[https://i.imgur.com/0laMkZl.png]

As we rushed in, Martin yelled. “Government Officials! Everyone come out with your hands over your head!” but there was silence. 

We began moving in holding our rifles at our ready and checking every corner but there was nothing, not a single soul emitted a sound. The eariness of the silence inside the shop was unnatural.

As we were searching the shop I headed to the door which presumably led to the back storage room and proceeded to kick it open. I quickly went in and looked opposite to where the door opened. The darkness in the room made me only be able to look a few meters in front of me. I put my hand next to the handguard in my rifle and turned on my flashlight which glimmered on the gray painted walls of the small room. I began heading towards the back wall looking over my shoulder and to my flanks constantly.

As I was walking I kicked up dust making visibility even harder. The further back I got I began to stumble upon rubble, presumably from the caved in ceiling. When I finally reached the back wall I could see a large metal door with a tall but slim glass window that presumably led to a walk in freezer.

I began to reach down for the handle when I heard a crack from rubble being kicked and saw movement off the corner of my eye. I turned facing to my right, the metal door to my left. I headed towards the area I saw the movement with my rifle ready, my finger rested next to the trigger ready to move downwards and pull it.

As I walked over I could hear a faint but panicked breathing coming behind a crate. I headed towards the crate and pushed it out of the way. I was shocked when I saw a mother and her kid tucked away in the corner of the room.

I reached a hand out to them and signaled with my head to follow me. The woman hesitantly grabbed my hand and I helped her stand up. We headed through the ruined backroom back to the main shop and out the front door.

I escorted the mother and her child to the tank where Rose and Martin were at.

“We didn’t have much luck on finding people, either they have left already or are missing. But we did find this little guy” Said Martin playfully as he moved a cloth he had over his arms revealing a white cat with brown back hair. “Did you have any luck?” asked Rose

I quickly stepped aside to show the mother and his child. “Hey there big guy, this won’t hurt at all” Said Rose as she crouched down in front of the kid and opened her medkit to treat a cut on his left cheek.

“We need to get them out of here,” said Rose as she stood up.

“Here take him, you’ll take more care of him than I” Said Martin giving the cat to the kid trying to cheer him up.

[https://i.imgur.com/WBbEP72.png]

“There ya go, see you are stronger than me” said Martin as he patted his shoulder and the kid chuckled softly.

Rose promptly picked up her radio and began calling for evacuation methods for the civilians. As she called in, a loud metallic screech was heard followed by the cracking of nearby buildings and the split of the ground, causing everything to shake, slowly moving more violently.

Slowly buildings began to have pieces fall off, lifting up dust. I turned to the tank and began heading to it but I stopped as a piece of rubble fell on top of it, immobilizing it.

I signaled my crew to follow me, the civilians following along. The ground slowly began to crack open, causing more rubble to fall, lifting up more dust.

The group and I began to rush down the street to the nearest outpost, our radio picked up as a voice began to call “All units in the city evacuate immediately, an unidentified large anomalous entity has caused a major shift on subsurface depths all across earth, I repeat, evacuate immediately-”.

We began to rush past falling debris until we reached an open park where other MTF personnel were arriving. Helicopters sore overhead, a pair of them diverged and landed in the clearing, moving dust around it with the powerful wind from its propeller, its indicator lights lighting up the ground and dust in a green and red color.

The group and I rushed to a helicopter, helping the kid and mother up into the vehicle, then jumping up ourselves, pulling up other soldiers, civilians and wounded people.

[https://i.imgur.com/3zlEBsv.png]

The helicopter took off without a hassle and rose high over the shaking buildings. We began to fly towards the site I was dispatched from; I could see parts of the city collapse as the ground shook under it, lifting up dust and beginning fires, making smog cover the city underneath.

A bright blue light erupted from the ground, lifting up all ground around it before making the horizon bend upwards, making the world and possibly reality bend upwards and fold into itself, mirroring up in the sky and shining blinding lights like an optical illusion.

The bright light grew bigger, consuming anything in its shine and pulling things towards its source. The helicopter struggled more each second, eventually giving in and slowly beginning to get pulled.

I looked upwards at a long green crate tucked away in a compartment on the roof. I undid my seat belt and pulled myself up to it, fighting the strong force that was pulling everything like a large magnet.

I reached for my knife and cut off the straps that held the crate in place, making the text “Mk. IV Miniaturized Portable Scranton Reality Anchor” be visible painted in bright yellow. I pulled the crate down to the seats in the center and opened it, revealing a handgun sized device and a single use Scranton Fluid cartridge, beside it was a blueprint of the device and all of its parts, explaining how it made a personal force field that prevented reality from being changed by constantly traveling back in time, making the area always stay the same.

Bluprints [https://i.imgur.com/dtcSgEX.png]

I picked up the device and reloaded it from a slot in its underside, activating it. I made a few adjustments in the round screen on its back; by this point the helicopter was turned to the side, making the right side face the light.

I turned towards Rose and Martin and reached my arm out to give the anchor to them. The pull got strong enough to pull us all to the side, making the pilot smash through the window and into the blue mass. The door on the right side began to shake, slowly being torn apart from the force.

Martin reached out for the device but was stopped by the pull, missing a few centimeters to reach my hand. I tried to stretch out even more but the effort was futile. I grabbed a nearby handle and fought against the pull, keeping myself on the left side, away from the light.

I began to grab crevices on the back wall, trying to get closer without being fully pulled. The door caved outwards and got torn in half pulling Martin full force towards the light; I had managed to reach near Rose and tried giving her the device but she closed my hand and moved it away as a tear went down her face before she and the door were finally pulled.

I looked at her in despair before snapping back to reality and aiming the device at myself and pulling the trigger, firing a blue field that surrounded me, like a bubble.

The helicopter’s tail was finally torn apart making it shake and begin to spin before turning sideways and finally ceding and being fully pulled. As the light grew brighter I closed my eyes expecting the worst.

The light was at a full white in its core, even visible with closed eyes. I could feel some force pulling and pushing me around, eventually making me be flung away and through a window, sliding through the ground and finally stop moving.

I opened my eyes, feeling lightheaded and seeing everything blurry. I tried to move but was unable to, my vision slowly fading away, tunneling into a single point.

Black was all that was seen before I passed away, not knowing what had happened to the world, to those civilians and to my crew.