The church and ruins appear to be uninhabited, and exploration of 
the church proper is uneventful until the clock tower bell tolls. This 
tolling triggers a shudder in the building followed by human screams 
from the ceiling. Lights shone upon the ceiling reveal a large mass 
of SCP-610 from which descend a series of six wooden circles. 
Strapped to each circle is a living human coated entirely from neck 
to toe in SCP-610, but having an exposed head which appears 
uninfected. These human captives scream as the bell continues to 
toll and the circles move to the ground. The team begins to move 
toward one to investigate, when an unknown creature cries from 
outside the building, prompting them to take cover in shadows near 
the pulpit. Light sources are extinguished, pitching the entire area 
into darkness. Night vision is left off to avoid revealing the team's 
location. 


Sounds continue to emit from the outside of the church, drawing 
closer but lower than the frantic screams of the captive humans. At 
least one noticed the team, as the captive humans often call out to 
be saved. From the entrance to the church, a candle lights on the 
side of the doorway, then one on the other side. A figure is seen 
holding a small torch and moving back and forth between a series of 
candles to light the doorway. The flame is then applied to a rope 
coated in SCP-610 which quickly ignites and spreads up to a 
peculiar chandelier system at the church entrance. The light from 
this system illuminates most of the crosses but does not reach the 
team's hiding place. Those captives who appear in the light do not 


POSSIBILITY. LOVE IS THE OPENING OF THE 
CHEST AND BARING OF THE HEART BEFORE AN 
EVER-PRESENT KNIFE. THE ENTRY OF THE KNIFE 
INTO THE CHEST WAS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY. THE 
PAIN WAS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY. YOU FEEL HATE 
SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU FORGOT THIS." 


| had no response. | could not conceive of this. It all had 
the feeling of truth to it, but it was a truth | wasn't really 
prepared for. 


"YOU CAN HATE HER. YOU ARE FREE TO DO THIS, 
JUST AS SHE IS FREE TO HURT YOU. THIS IS THE 
FREEDOM OF CHOICE, AND CHOICE CAN BE 
PAINFUL. | MUST WARN YOU, JUST AS HER CHOICE 
MAY COME BACK TO HAUNT HER, THE DECISION 
TO HATE HER WILL DAMAGE YOU WITHOUT DOING 
ANYTHING GOOD FOR ANYONE. IT REMAINS YOUR 
CHOICE, HOWEVER." 


| lost my balance on my knees and fell onto my hands 
then. The pain in my chest was blinding, the ache around 
my solar plexus or so. | looked up to see the creature in 
the light was descending toward me. | saw her reach out 
toward my face. | was frozen, completely unable to 
comprehend what was happening. 


"THIS IS THE PAIN OF LOSS, CHILD," the being of light 
said. "ONE OF FEW SENSATIONS ALL CREATURES 
IN ALL OF CREATION SHARE IN COMMON. 
WHETHER YOU REALIZE IT OR NOT, EVERY PRION 
FEELS THIS WHEN ITS OFFSPRING ARE 
STERILIZED. EVERY COCKROACH FEELS THIS 
WHEN ITS NEST IS POISONED. EVERY HUMAN 
FEELS THIS WHEN THEIR BELOVED FINDS 
ANOTHER, AND EVERY GOD FEELS THIS WHEN 
THEIR CREATIONS TURN SOUR AND ROT ON THE 
VINE. YOU WILL HAVE THIS TO SHARE WITH MOST 
EVERYONE YOU MEET, AND YOU WILL HAVE THIS 
TO TRY TO PROTECT THOSE FEW WHO HAVE NOT 
FELT IT YET. AND YOU WILL FAIL TO PROTECT 


THEM, BECAUSE THEY WILL BARE THEIR CHESTS 
AS WELL, AND THE TIME WILL COME FOR THEM TO 
FEEL THE KNIFE." 


She caressed my face. "THAT IS WHAT | CAN TELL 
YOU. YOUR PAIN WAITS FOR EVERYONE, AND 
EVERYONE CAN WALK AWAY FROM IT WHOLE, 
AFTER A TIME. AND FROM WHATEVER 
PERSPECTIVE I CAN HAVE OF YOU, AND YOU OF 
ME, | WISH YOU THE BEST." 


The light before me faded into the dark night. After a 
time, | stood. 


"The Assassination of Pilot Bandreeisis by the Coward David Carter" t 
Dear Bakaututuuae-16688468, 


| regret to inform you of the loss of your 
betrothed, Pilot Lieutenant 
Bantreeisis-28388852. | have been her wing 
commander for the past six months, and have 
personally flown with her on not fewer than 
fifty-four attack missions. | can assure you that 
she gave the greatest possible sacrifice for the 
defense of her fellow pilots and in the defense 
of our Collective allies against the High 
Menace. 


We had been performing standard combat air 
patrol around a base we had established 
around a High Menace colony. A Collectivist 
base was expanding in the area, and their 
government had been hoping to establish an 
aerial presence in that sector. Our air wing had 
established two major aerodromes in an 
elevated position relative to the Collectivists, 
as per standard protocol. 


Our CAP had noticed increased High Menace 


activity around their colony that day. 
Bantreeisis, another pilot, and myself flew to 
the Collectivist base to meet with their 
commandant and agree on a strategy. While 
attempting to access the base, we were 
detected by one of the High Menace 
massgrowths at the base, which let out a 
distress call. Bantreeisis attempted to disable 
the massgrowth with multiple attacks to its 
exterior while we allowed the third pilot to 
escape, but she was only able to strike twice 
before she was hit. We were able to evacuate 
her to the principle aerodrome and begin 
Rejuvenation. 


| would like to point out that while Bantreeisis's 
actions were not technically authorized by me, 
she was acting in accordance with the finest 
tradition of bravery our Force can know. Her 
efforts allowed myself and the escort pilot to 
escape with our lives, much as she would 
have survived had the counterattack not taken 
place. 


In the process of escaping the attack zone, the 
High Menace apparently suspected that the 
entrance to the Collectivist base was a Task 
Force aerodrome. Additionally, an erroneous 
navigational maneuver by another pilot 
allowed the Menace to locate the site of our 
principle aerodromes above the Collectivist 
base. Multiple massgrowths converged on 
both locations with immense quantities of 
chemspray and devastated both bases before 
we could lift off. While our allies in the 
Collective have developed methods to survive 
exposure to their chemsprays themselves 
(without the knowledge of the High Menace, 
who seem to believe it to still be lethal in itself), 
the spray reduces our maneuverability in-flight 


and renders us susceptible to other attacks. 


Bantreeisis was attempting to evacuate the 
now-uninhabitable aerodrome when she was 
hit by a chemspray blast and was forced to 
make an emergency landing. While grounded, 
a massgrowth targeted and destroyed her. Our 
methods of Rejuvenation, while powerful and 
far in excess of that of the High Menace's 
knowledge, could not restore her. However, | 
can say that in distracting the High Menace 


| am very sorry to give you this news, but 
please know that your mate was killed fulfilling 
the highest calling of our people. The Red 
Force will salute the name of 
Bantreeisis-28388852 and her sacrifice now 
and forever, unto the Rising of our people and 
the destruction of the High Menace. 


Yours in sorrow, 

Isiwilllanu-13335157 

Commander, 2888592th Wing, 6993295th 
Division, Red Air Force 


FROM THE DESK OF CHARLES 
GEARS: 


Jack, 


Hearing rumors about unusual Vespidae 
activity around the 1006 enclosure. Please 
investigate at earliest convenience. 


— Gears 


"Country Road" by Gaffney 


I've always loved driving at night, especially down a 


country road like this. There's something about it that's 
so serene, like it's just you and the inside of the car and 
what's in your headlights. Everything else just fades 
away. Just you and your thoughts. 


Tonight was a night where | needed a good drive. Jacob 
had gotten sloppy and forgot to clear his text messages. 
While he was in the shower, | looked through them. | 
know it's kind of gross, but | needed to know. Like how 
when you watch a scary movie, you peek through your 
fingers. He'd been texting other people. Some men, 
some women. It didn't matter, really. | was mostly just 
mad at myself for being so stupid, for thinking that 
someone as magnificent as him could ever want 
someone like me. 


But it wasn't until | saw him step out of the bathroom that 
it hit me. His perfect body, no sign of age or trouble. His 

beautiful hazel eyes. His being with other people scared 

me. 


| showed him the messages, and he tried to give some 
half-ass excuse. Tried to tell me that it didn't mean a 
thing, that | was the only one for him. 


A few minutes later, | was on the road, trying to see 
through the tears. 


It's been two hours of driving on country roads now, just 
me and my thoughts in the car. Thinking about how 
many times this has happened before, how many times | 
said that this was the last time, that we were through. But 
not this time. This time it's for good. 


It's been ten minutes since | last saw the sign saying | 
was leaving Pollensbee. | see the old empty field, the 
one with the crooked almond tree in the center, and | pull 
over. The car jerks to a stop and | get out and pop the 
trunk. 


| see his hazel eyes looking up at me. His arms and legs 


are bound. He tries to plead through to duct tape, but all 
that comes out is muffled shouting. | pick up the shovel 
resting behind him. 


| raise it high above my head and bring it down on his 
neck. 


He gurgles, and the muffled shouting becomes frenzied. 
There's a dark purple splotch rising where the bones 
have broken. 


| hit him again and again and again. He stops making 
noise. 


Pretty soon, there's nothing left of his head but crushed 
bone and pulped meat. One of his perfect hazel eyes 
looks up at me. 


Taking him by a leg, | drag his body to the hole. The six 
foot deep one | swore I'd never need again. | dump his 
body into the pit and start shoveling dirt. 


He's not even halfway covered when | start hear 
groaning and see that his head has already started to 
knit itself back together. The muffled screaming starts 
again when there's a foot of dirt over him. It doesn't stop, 
just gets more and more muffled. 


As | pat down the last few shovelfuls of dirt, | see a 
stream of blood slither from the the trunk and disappear 
into the soil. 


Part of me wants to dig him out, hear him say that he 
loves me and that I'm the only one for him. That we'll be 
together forever. But fool me once, shame on you. Fool 
me twice, shame on me. 


No, this time, I'm going to bury him and leave him here. 
Let him scream here forever under six feet of soil. 


"Gnats" by CryogenChaos 


The hot summer sun beat down on Victor as he stood 
impatiently at the edge of the slope of the woods. His 
fiancee, Jessica, had once again dragged him out to her 
parents farm to gather the annual "crop" of black 
raspberries, but Victor, being more used to city life than 
rural life, could only daintily pick the outermost berries. 
Frustrated, his fiancee told him to stay behind with the 
big bucket as she disappeared down the drop-off to find 
the bigger, better berries. 


Victor slapped the back of his neck in frustration. These 
god damn gnats were out in full force today, swarming all 
over his face and neck. He couldn't even stand still for 
more than a millisecond without a gnat flying into his eye 
or buzzing loudly into his ear, and since they were so 
small there wasn't much he could do about it. Victor's 
mother told him once that his family's blood was 
generally sweeter, so bugs were more attracted to him 
than his fiancee. Whether or not that was true was up for 
debate, though the constant cloud of insects floating 
around him supported that theory somewhat. 


The suddenly loud buzz of a gnat flying into his ear 
caused Victor to jerk sideways suddenly, nearly falling 
over. Infuriated by the heat, the bugs and the general 
discomfort, Victor started flailing his arms desperately 
into the air, trying to swat away the cloud. His struggles 
were in vain as the gnats continued to surround him, 
frustrating him even further. He tried ducking down low to 
get out of the cloud, but the gnats followed him down to 
the ground. 


At his wits end, he started pacing back and forth, getting 
a slight reprieve from the gnats as he moved. The cloud 
seemed to grow more aggressive, though, as the gnats 
began to match his speed and attack his face and body 
in much fuller force. Victor sped up, desperately trying to 
keep the gnats away from him. He eventually began 
sprinting in a circle, barely paying attention to his footing 
in his efforts to keep the gnats away. He tripped ona 


raised bit of dirt and felt a sharp pain in his arm as he 
landed. He raised his arm to find a moderately deep 
gash from a rock, and only had a moment to register 
what had happened to him when the gnats started 
swarming into his wound. 


No longer caring about the berries, Victor screamed as 
he tried swatting the gnats away from his cut arm. 
Dozens of gnats parted with every swat but returned in 
full force almost immediately, and Victor could feel the 
gnats entering his bloodstream through his cut, and 
swore he could feel the bodies of the gnats pumping 
through his system. He flailed about in an effort to keep 
the gnats away, edging closer and closer to the drop-off 
of the woods. He lost his footing, and fell. 


Victor landed in water, a small runoff from the nearby 
creek. His body felt bruised and scraped from the fall, 
and tried to pick himself up when he heard a very loud 
buzzing coming from above him. He turned and looked 
to see an enormous cloud of gnats, mosquitoes and flies 
hovering above the water. All at once, the swarm 
descended onto Victor, his screaming and thrashing 
drowned out by the buzz, the deafening, unbelievable 
buzz of hundreds of bugs eager to investigate the sweet 
blood of the intruder. 


Jessica made her way out from the woods, her 
minuscule bucket almost overflowing with berries. She 
walked over to where she left Victor, but he was nowhere 
to be seen. Confused, she walked around the area, 
trying to find any sign of where her fiancee had gone. 
She looked over the edge of the drop-off to the bottom, 
and only saw the last few ripples of a splash in the runoff 
from the creek, probably from a fallen branch. Annoyed, 
Jessica concluded that Victor had abandoned her and 
was waiting inside her parent's house. She began to 
stomp her way back up to the house, only stopping to 
swat away the advance of an unusually fat gnat. 


"They're There" by Zyn 
They're always there, you know. 


In the cracked fissures of forgotten sidewalks 

Lying in wait with pointed tails ready 

Unbalancing the unwary and in the moment of resulting 
confusion 

Slithering towards ankles, to veins 


Beneath the shadowed sheen of leaves 

Brushing the crown of your head 

As you pass by, unknowing of the hurried scuttle of legs 
Crawling from stem to hair and through to scalp 


Within the space between sheet and skin 
Creeping through cotton threads 

Picking through dead discarded flakes 
Burrowing into nail, cracking open bone 


On the inside lining of your lashes, 
Waiting patiently to dig pincers into your eye 
Should a blink be inopportune 


In the dainty capillaries of your lungs 
Clustered and clamping 


In the air, in your breath 
Everywhere, to your death 


They're always there, you know. 


"Insecurity" by FaustoV 


| live in a rather dangerous nation. Our goverment is 
more busy dealing with wealthy people and blaming 
foreign countries for the current economical shithole than 
taking care of the huge deliquency issue. Whenever | 
see the news, there's at least two or three people who 
got shot for an overpriced Iphone, or just because they 


were in the wrong place at the wrong time. | always 
watched those news with a blank mind, trying not to 
empathize with any of them. And at the same time, 
believing that if | went undernoticed, nothing like that 
would happen to me... 


By this time is obvious that | was pretty much wrong.