In the Wake of K/O - SCP Foundation

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Aiden ran as fast as he could.

The water was up to his knees now. The horrible eyes cut deep into his soul. A million teeth threatened demise. He didn't know what it was; it just didn't register. All he knew was he needed to run.

The drowning roots that stood in his path went unnoticed, sending Aiden tumbling to the concrete. The same roots that he used to jump over when walking this path, something he had to do quite often. This was his way to school, after all. Where he was headed now, that was unknown. But it didn't matter; he just had to run.

He faceplanted into the cold water. The splash would certainly draw the attention of more of them. When he turned around, there were not two eyes but four. The beating of his heart was even louder than the splash. He was going to die here. This was his grave.

No. He was going to make it. At least, that's what he told himself. It might not have been true, but belief goes quite a long way. The raw determination would help him trudge this hellscape. Death was not an option. He reached his arm from out of the water, clinging onto the weathered fence he had passed a million times before. Blood flowed from his hand, as the flesh got caught on a rupture in the metal. The break in the chain-link fence felt like barbed wire. But after a few moments, he barely noticed it at all. The adrenaline thankfully numbed the pain; he needed to focus on staying alive.

Aiden leaped over the fence, once again landing face first in the freezing saltwater. But it was different this time. Now those things, whatever they were, couldn't get to him. Not yet, at least. When he turned around, he now saw ten eyes, floating in a pool of water and blood. A chain-link fence was the only thing standing between him and his death.

The million teeth darted right at the barricade, leaving an obvious dent. Only now did he realize whose teeth it was. The darkness had obscured his vision, and he had dropped his glasses in the coffee shop. He had left everything there, consumed by fight or flight, and Aiden was no fighter. But with the threat of death just slightly further, he could somehow see more clearly.

They were sharks.

Or something quite similar, at the very least. There was certainly something off about them, but he couldn't quite tell. It didn't matter for now. He just had to get on land.

Aiden knew there there were still sharks on this side of the fence. It's not like it stretched on forever. Even if it had, they could certainly break through the thin wires of steel, already falling apart from exposure to the harsh New England elements. He rushed towards the house closest to him, but only for a few seconds. Running in water is not particularly fast, and there were sharks on his tail.

The water was at Aiden's waist when he dived in headfirst, swimming to the porch of the long-gone neighbors. No one had stayed around after… after that thing, whatever it was, had fallen through the firmament. These were things Aiden didn't want to think about. It was just all too real.

As he reached the dilapidated wooden planks that stretched across the porch, he heard a sound from somewhere above him. Turning his head to the sky, he saw the maws of death's angels, heading straight for his face.

"Motherfucker," he whispered under his breath, darting to the door. Billions of teeth, thousands of eyes, filling up the blood stained skies. Every single one of them was headed his way.

Aiden locked the door the second he could. His ice-cold palms drowned out the cries he screamed into them. Tears rushed down his covered face as the images rushed through his mind. The cute girl who'd just made his coffee, torn to shreds by the jaws of ethereal devils. The municipal building where he'd just gotten his license, leveled by ungodly tendrils stretching down from the heavens. A blazing fire ignited the clouds that he used to look up at in class, bored by the calculus teacher's endless rants of curves whose slope he didn't know. The poltergeists spanned his whole view. The screeches were louder now. He could feel that wretched sound shaking his bones as if they were tuning forks. They were in his mind.

Removing his hand from his eyes, Aiden could now see a hole in the ceiling. On the other side, the face of death stared right back. There was no time for him to grab his bearings. He just had to run.

The door was locked, and he did not have the time to change that. Another route was essential. As the celestial demon soared into the building, Aiden took a leap through the mesh of the window screen. His arm too now had bloody marks, imprinted on his skin by the fiberglass which pierced it. He didn't care. He just kept running.

The water was now at his chest. Luckily this road was on a slant. He'd be back on land soon, but not for too long. The water was rising quite fast now; that hill would certainly be obscured by the ever-growing ocean quite soon. Even if the rising did stop, it's not like he could have stayed at the summit for long. He was the prey, and his hunters were fast.

He swam forward, putting all his force into each stroke. Aiden was honestly quite fast for someone lacking formal training, but with reapers in the skies and seas alike, it surely wouldn't make a difference. The weight of his impending doom was Atlantean, his shoulders breaking under its titanic pressure.

From under the flooded pavement ahead, something began to emerge. The quaking of the earth around him made his whole body shake. Aiden stared at the mound of displaced rubble as two massive glowing red eyes emerged from the depths. So many teeth. More teeth than he had ever seen before. The aquatic colossus had only one purpose, and that purpose was to kill. But as the beast's eyes made contact with his, they began to change. They no longer looked at Aiden, they looked up at the sky. The gargantuan fish collapsed suddenly to the pavement from which it had just emerged. It was only then that Aiden noticed the telephone pole, digging into the scales adjacent the wretched beast's dorsal fin. He thanked whatever act of God had just saved his life, and continued on. There wasn't time to revel in his survival, but he did take a quick look at the base from which the pole collapsed. Floating there was… well it's hard to really tell. It was gone within an instant. Whatever it was, Aiden was sure it had been smiling at him.

Leaping from the river which the highway had now become, Aiden landed painfully on the shore that had been a hill just hours prior. It seemed the specters of doom had finally lost sight of him, but he still wasn't safe here. He needed to get to shelter as quick as he could, preferably somewhere quite far above sea level. It was evident he'd be staying there for quite a while.

Aiden stared out the window, gazing his eyes upon the brumous calamity that had once been his hometown. The spiritual despots that controlled this world floated in the aether, looking for more prey to obliterate. They had won.

A gloomy expression filled his face as he closed the curtains. He turned to look at the dusty bookcase on the wall adjacent the entrance. The books were old. The weathering from age and use had clearly taken its toll. Some of the books had covers so worn down that the text was virtually illegible.

Aiden had walked for nearly ten miles before finding this place. Everywhere else was already half flooded. It stood at a peak, looking over the Atlantic. It would take quite a while before sea level reached him. Sure, the ghosts that haunted the horizon, which he had come to call "Screechers" inside of his mind, were always a risk. He didn't feel too worried though; they hadn't noticed him so far.

The structure Aiden sat in had been there for at least 300 years. The maple wood had rotted past the shellac finish. The poorly made nails that dug into the planks were barely clinging to the ancient timber. It was clear that no one had been here in quite a long time. At least, no one who cared about appearances.

Aiden took the ladder to the floor above. A table sat in the center, a large lamp lying on top.

"This is a lighthouse," Aiden thought to himself. He had read about them before. They had gone obsolete well before his birth, 2050's, if he remembered correctly. This was a rare remnant of the past. It was quite surprising that no one had torn it down for scraps by now.

Through the poorly made glass, Aiden could see all that was for miles. There wasn't much left, at this point. A few rooftops, poking through the endless seas. Streetlights, floating like driftwood. A million "Screechers," enveloping the dark clouds. What had happened to this world? Aiden took a seat, staring at the darkness beyond. He couldn't help but wonder if he was all that remained.

"Surely not," he tried to convince himself. If he'd made it through, others must've too, right? He pinched his own side. This was no dream. This was real. They were all gone. He had to accept it.

Looking into the distance, Aiden saw something. A great wave was forming, and on that wave was a ship.

The poor beasts, they've been tricked. Their minds torn from their bodies, left to rot above the sky. Their bodies left to haunt us as He wields them like a blade. We are merely counting the days until that evil corrupts us all. I pity them.

-Anton the Pugilist, 627 BCE

Part 2 Coming ???