Item #: SCP-610
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: The affected region in Siberia has been quarantined under the guise of a toxic spill. No personnel are to enter the quarantine zone without Level 4 authorization and full biohazard containment suits. Any personnel who experience skin contact with SCP-610-infected matter are to be terminated immediately. There are no exceptions. Decontamination has been attempted; it does not work.
Description: SCP-610 is a contagious condition affecting organic tissue. Infection occurs through skin contact with any SCP-610-affected matter. Progression is rapid: within hours of infection, the subject's skin begins to change — becoming red, inflamed, and producing growths. Within days, the subject's original form is subsumed. The subject becomes part of the SCP-610 biomass.
The SCP-610 biomass is not a collection of separate infected organisms. It is a single organism composed of the merged bodies of all infected subjects. It continues to grow. It continues to absorb.
The biomass demonstrates collective behavior. It moves. It has preferences — it moves toward uninfected organic matter and away from fire, which is the only known deterrent. It has been observed arranging itself into configurations that researchers have been unable to explain in terms of simple growth patterns.
The biomass appears to have an intent. Researchers who have studied it remotely describe a sense of purpose — not random growth but directed expansion. The direction is consistently outward, away from the Siberian origin point.
Exploration Log 610-3: Mobile task force entered the quarantine zone for reconnaissance. Video feed maintained for 4 hours. What was observed during that period is classified at Level 4. The task force was not recovered. Their equipment was recovered. The video from their final hour has been reviewed by three personnel; all three requested immediate transfer. One subsequently resigned.
The quarantine perimeter is currently adequate. Foundation models suggest it will remain adequate for approximately 14 years at current growth rates.
Foundation models have been wrong before.
SCP-610 by Doormouse, SCP Foundation, CC BY-SA 3.0