Gonzalez sat back and grinned. "But if you could make it quick, 
that'd be great. | ain't got all night here." 


Lakshmi surprised herself when she told him she was perfectly 
capable of staying quiet, thank you very much. 


"All right then, Agarwal - we've got a deal." 
End Part 3 
<< HUB >> 


| Keep The Wolf From The Door 


“This was...surprisingly nice, 5760. Though you've provided me with 
a particularly low standard.” 5760’s ears perked in happiness. 
Despite the flickering candlelight making 5760’s various bony 
protrusions cast ominous shadows, Lakshmi had to grudgingly admit 
that 5760 looked kind of adorable. 


“I’m glad you liked it. | remembered you like lobster, so | asked if 
they could whip something up for you. It’s your birthday. You 
deserve something special.” 5760 propped its face in both hands 
and leaned forwards. 


“Well, if this is an attempt to get back in my good graces, consider it 
failed. So don't get any ideas.” Only Reynolds, Meyers, and 
Gonzalez had remembered. Reynolds had stammered out a happy 
birthday and promptly disappeared. Meyers had brought in 
cupcakes. Gonzalez had presented her with the paperwork that 
Officially raised her salary. 


“| almost forgot! | have a present for you,” said 5760, producing a 
brown paper package from under the table. “Open it, will you?” 


“It's not going to work.” 
“It's not meant to endear me to you. Now open it.” 


“| don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but...” Lakshmi 
grumbled as she opened the package. “You shouldn't have. You 
really shouldn’t have.” 


“Put it on.” 


Lakshmi did, and the candlelight made the intricate detailing on the 
bone of the bracelet come to life. 


“| made it. Just playing around. Carving things. Manipulating things. 


It's not romantic or anything. More like a make-up gift for putting you 
through all of this.” 


They were interrupted by siren klaxons, followed by the metallic 
clank of the multi-lock security system fitting into place. 


“Attention,” said a male voice over the speakers, “SCP-8004 has 
breached containment. Please proceed in an orderly manner to your 
designated checkpoints. Security personnel are to proceed to the 
rendezvous point designated for Scenario 8004-Delta. Remain calm 
and proceed to your stations." 


"Which one is 8004?" 5760 asked quietly, after a long silence. 
"I'm...I'm not sure." 
"Hey, Agarwal. You and the skip okay in there?" 


"Yeah, we're all right. We're locked in here, but there's nothing else 
getting in or out." 


"You stay there. You're probably safer than the rest of us. Keter cells 
should work as well from the outside as they do from the inside." 


"Okay. Will do." A pause. "Gonzalez?" 
"Yeah?" 
"What is 8004, exactly?" 


"It's the hair and nails one. It's gonna be a bitch to get back in its 
box." 


"Ugh. That. Well, | won't keep you." 

"See you on the other side, kid." The voice in her ear went silent. 
5760 laid down next to Lakshmi, ears perked. 

"You okay, Shmi? You're trembling." 


"Yeah. I'm fine. Just...Keter breaches. Rarely fun. Someone usually 
dies. More than one someone." 


"This one doesn't seem too bad, It's a mass of keratin and chitin, 
right?" 


"That eats people." 


"Okay, so it's like ten of those hair things you pull out of your shower 
drain with a couple bug legs and fingernail clippings added in." 


"Bigger." 
"I can still take it." 


Lakshmi laughed, voice trembling. They waited in silence, the quiet 
scraping of the spinal vines against the femoral trunks oddly 
soothing. The bone forest, for all its horror, was a quiet sanctuary. 


Until. 


"Do you hear that?" 5760's voice was terse and hushed. The fur on 
its hackles was rising slowly, spines at attention. 


"Hear what?" 


"Listen." At first all she could detect was the ambient chattering and 
creaking of the skeletal woods. And then. 


Drip. Drip. Drip. 

"That dripping noise?" 

"That's all?" 

"Your ears must be better than mine. What are you hearing?" 
"| think it's -" 

"Wait. | think | hear it too." 


The drip was increasing in speed, but that wasn't all. She could just 
barely hear the click-tick, clack-tack of a thousand insect legs and 
shells skittering through the pipes. The gritty scrape of keratin 
spears like foot-long fingernails dragging themselves forward. And 
faintest of all, a low moan of agony. 


Dr. Mirth: Very well. | have another request. 
Mr. Deeds: As you wish. 
Dr. Mirth: | would like a bar of gold. 


Mr. Deeds: What percentage of pureness would you 
like? 


Dr. Mirth: 99.98 percent if you please. 


Mr. Deeds: That may be possible, let me see what | can 
do. 


Dr. Mirth: We'll disable the cameras in the hall outside 
and Agent Graves will wait in the interrogation room with 
me to make your trip a little faster this time. 


Mr. Deeds: Very much appreciated, shall 1? 
Dr. Mirth: Yes. 


Mr. Deeds exited into the hallway, where — despite what 
Dr. Mirth claimed — the cameras were not turned off. He 
paused for a moment, looked up at the closest camera, 
shook his head, and began traveling through the 
hallways of the complex as before. In corridor 2B, he 
paused, and once more all cameras, hidden or visible, in 
the corridor malfunctioned. Exactly ten minutes and 
thirty-seven seconds later, the cameras began 
functioning again, to show Mr. Deeds once again in the 
same position, with a bar of gold in one hand. He then 
returned to the interrogation room. 


Dr. Mirth: That took a bit longer than last time. Any 
reason? 


Mr. Deeds: Well, it seems that the cameras in the 
hallway remained on, so | had to find a suitable way out 
again. | apologize for the delay. Also, | was not able to 
acquire a bar of gold to the pureness that you requested, 
but | assure you that this bar is 99.14 percent pure. 


SCP-8004 is composed of five substances: keratin, chitin, an oil- 
based compound it uses to aid locomotion, a corrosive slurry used 
for digestion, and a paralytic toxin for incapacitating prey. The 
sentence flashed through Lakshmi's mind, word for word, in the 
crystalline calmness of terror. 


5760 paced and stalked, growling and lashing its tail. Gonzalez's 
voice crackled to terrified life. 


"The thing's coming your way, Agarwal." 


The scraping sound grew louder. Lakshmi could tell that there were 
two separate victims whimpering in pain. 


"| can hear it. It's in the pipes." 
"We're sending people your way. Hang in there." 


"| can smell it," snarled 5760, "I can hear it, | can't see it. But it's 
coming closer." 


"Stay with me, kid." Lakshmi could hear him grind his teeth. "Now, 
the thing's hard to kill through brute force, but once you cut 
something off, it can't reform. Keep it away from you, crush the 
pincers and shells if you can. Watch out for the hair. It'll tangle you, 
and it'll burn like hell if it touches you." 


A slithering, oozing, chittering cacophony filled Lakshmi's ears. She 
could smell it, too - an awful, sour, corrosive smell. Hydrochloric 
acid, and something else - something like copper and loose teeth 
and parking garages. 


"You still there?" 
"Yeah, I'm here." 


"Stay close to 5760. Dog, if you're hearing this, keep her safe. Is it 
coming from the ground piping, or the vents in the ceiling?" 


"Both. We can't get up a tree, but the ground won't be safe, either." 


Click-clack, tik-tik-tak. Closer. Closer. 5760 prowled in close, 


protective circles. 
"Now, I'm gonna need you to -" 


Lakshmi didn't hear what Gonzalez wanted them to do next. A 
flaming, incessant pain shot through her legs and rocketed down 
every neuron in her body - a thousand tiny bright pinpricks of 
venom. Her muscles began to spasm uncontrollably, and her legs 
collapsed out from under her. Clawing incessantly at the ground, 
she was dragged through the calcified underbrush, a burning, 
viscous pain oozing up her leg. Her glasses and earpiece were 
knocked off, her limbs twitching and heart racing. 


The last thing she said was "AVERY!" before her jaw locked 
altogether. 


Out of the corner of her eyes, she could detect a hint of neon 
orange, blurred but highly visible. As the tendrils of hair and pincers 
dragged her around a shrub, she got close enough to see what it 
was. 


A neon orange watchband, still fixed to a slowly dissolving wrist. 
Reynolds. 


As she was pulled away by the rough spears of keratin embedded in 
her leg, Lakshmi came face to face with Meyers. Neither could 
speak, but Lakshmi had just enough control of her limbs left to move 
her hand over Vera's own, and squeeze. 


A bristling, clicking noise. Lakshmi guessed it was 8004 moving its 
chitinous parts to its outside as a defensive shell to protect against 
outside attack. 


Which could only mean - 


A scream that turned Lakshmi's spinal fluid to liquid nitrogen pierced 
the air. 


5760 was a white flash of teeth and claws, cutting the tendril of hair 
that ensnared Lakshmi with one quick swipe of its claws. Lakshmi 
felt a scuttling sensation, and saw dozens of the tiny skeletal 
creatures that lived the forest racing over her to defend their creator. 


Rodent skulls fused to lizard bodies chewed through insect pincers. 
Bird-squirrel hybrids pecked away at clumps of hair and chitin. The 
fight was punctuated by 5760's haunting yowls and the scrape of 
bone on keratin. The earth itself began to split, and a wall of bone 
rose in front of Lakshmi's eyes. The protein mass was beaten back 
by a monolith of porous calcium. 


C'mon, Avery. Hang in there. 


The wendigo creature's blows sounded weaker, and its yowls had 
changed to whimpers of pain. She could see 8004's iridescent 
blackish ooze burning through 5760's pelt. 


All at once, there was a crash and a storm of heavy-booted 
footsteps, and the staccato shouts of security forces. Gunfire, and 
the hiss of chemicals. 


5760 made its way over to her, limping heavily. 


Gonzalez knelt beside her, presses a syringe into her neck. "Don't 
worry, kid," he murmurs, scooping her up in his arms like a bride, 
"we've got you. You're going to be just fine." 


Gonzalez was waiting in the chair in the infirmary when she woke. 
His left eye was covered by a bandage, and his left arm was ina 
sling. 


"Hey, Agarwal." 
"How long have you been here?" 


"Eh, just a few hours. | was asleep for most of it. The doc told me 
not to do anything too strenuous, so | figured I'd check in on you, 
and the chair turned out to be really fucking comfy." Gonzalez 
grinned, looking a little ghoulish with his bruises and eyepatch. 


"Is your eye okay?" 


"Oh, yeah, it'll be fine in a week. Got a shard of keratin or some shit. 
Hurt like hell, but nothing time won't heal." 


Lakshmi sat up. "Was anyone else hurt?" 


Gonzalez's face went stony. "Yeah, actually. Three guys on security 
got liquified by that goddamn hairball. All good guys. Meyers and 
Reynolds both got caught. Meyers'll live. Reynolds died two hours 
ago. Barely recognizable. All that acid shit, you know? We sent his 
money to his mom back in Harlem. She thinks he died in a car 
crash. He died getting everyone else out of the wing. Couldn't 
fucking look me in the eye or speak a goddamn word to me without 
stammering, but..." 


They sat in silence for a minute. Reynolds, dead. 

Lakshmi couldn't decide whether or not to ask him about 5760. 
She rescued you. You owe it to her to do this, at least. 

"How's -" 


"5760? Doing all right. Clever - she noticed the thing couldn't 
dissolve bone, so she managed to cover the thing in bone and trap it 
against the wall until we got here - like holding a cup over a spider. 
Came out of it pretty beat up, but nothing a good rest won't fix. 
Wanna see her?" 


"I'd...I'd rather not." 


"The thing saved your life, Agarwal. You owe it to her to go check 
up." 


"Fine. But | don't have to enjoy it." 


Lakshmi swung out of bed, only to nearly collapse. Gonzalez caught 
her, laughing, and handed her a crutch. 


"Easy, tiger. Easy." 


The walk to 5760's temporary enclosure was far too long and 
strained Lakshmi's already-sore muscles. It was worth it, however, 
when 5760 saw her and immediately started tail-wagging hard 
enough to make surgical equipment fall off tables. It was the first 
time Lakshmi had laughed in quite a while. 


"I'll leave you two alone," Gonzalez said. Lakshmi knelt on the 
jumbo-sized air mattress they'd laid down, across from 5760. 
Lakshmi expected to feel awkward, but instead, it was surprisingly 
easy to be this close. 


Saving someone's life will do that, it seems. 

"How're you feeling?" 

"I'm fine. I've coughed up hairballs worse than that thing." 
"Only cats do that." 

"Killjoy." 

"Really, though - how are you doing?" 

"I'm okay. Sore, though. You?" 

"I'm totally fine. Thanks to you." 


There was something there, on the tip of her tongue, something at 
once fragile and urgent, but Lakshmi either didn't have the words or 
couldn't bring herself to say it. 


She patted 5760's head once, then rose to go. 
"Wait." 
She turned. 


"You - you called me Avery. When we were in the forest. You've 
never done that. Not here." 


"| Pjustat2" 


5760 shifted. She leaned to cup Lakshmi's face, traced her 
cheekbone ever so gently with one clawed toe. 


She should step away. A day ago, she would have stepped away. 
But Lakshmi put a hand over 5760's - Avery's - paw, closed her 
eyes, and held it closer. She stepped forward and leaned so that 
their foreheads were just touching. 


| could stay like this. Touching her. 


She climbed on next to Avery, who put one arm around her and 
pulled her close. Avery smelt like snow and pine needles and musk. 
"| missed lying next to you," she murmurred in Lakshmi's ear. "I 
missed the way your hair feels. The way your skin smells. Are you 
still using the same shampoo from college?" 


"It's good for my hair." 


Avery laughed, and it's the first time Lakshmi wasn't jarred by the 
dissonance of the fanged maw and the bell-like sound. "You're so 
cute when you're defensive," Avery said, ears twitching with mirth. 
Avery leaned forward and touched the very tips of her teeth to 
Lakshmi's lips. "| would kiss you if | could," she whispered, "but this 
will have do." 


But then there are footsteps outside and is that the door opening 
and oh god, what are we doing?"| have to go," she stammers while 
springing away, "thank you for saving me," - don't think of Reynolds 
don't look back at Avery - and leaves in a rush. 


She dreamed, that night, of bone-white fur, and woke up restless, 
frozen and searing all at once. 


After she'd had her morning coffee, though, she shed the dreamlike 
state. 


What was | thinking!? They could have footage on security, Ethics 
could be coming for me right now...Okay. We'll tell them it was just 
weird stress responses. It's just. A natural human reaction. Post- 
traumatic experience, people tend to have great affection for their 
rescuer. That's all. You don't feel that way about her - it. You don't 
actually have feelings for it. 


She would have to be more careful from now on. She couldn't have 


them thinking she had feelings for 5760. Perhaps more importantly, 
she couldn't have 5760 thinking she had feelings for 5760. 


5760 perked up immediately when she entered, and it broke 


Lakshmi's heart just a tiny bit. 


"Hi!" she - it chiroed when she walked in. 5760 rose and hugged her 
tightly. Lakshmi didn't return the embrace. 


"Hello, 5760," Lakshmi replied. 5760's ears drooped noticeably. 
"Everything...okay?" 


"Everything's perfectly fine, thank you. I'm afraid | need to clear up 
some misconceptions. About what may have transpired between us 
last night." 


5760 flattened its ears. "Okay." 


"| just want to make it very clear that any...affection | may have 
shown you was merely a product of gratitude and stress. | have no 
romantic feelings for you whatsoever."