You were at your temporary desk with full view of SCP-072. It had been a couple weeks now and your time shadowing Dr. Phillips was coming to an end. Not that you were complaining though, the thought of seeing another D class get their feet mangled by that translucent, shadow hand was more than you could handle. Thankfully Dr. Phillips could only get one more D class authorized to get their foot torn apart. So you really only had to watch the nightmare experiment twice, but seeing someone go through such a terrible agony would never get easier for you.

Dr. Phillips was consistently late each day which baffled you to no end. You would think that the foundation would fire him after being late so often, but nope. Instead they had appointed him as a level 4 researcher.

"Looks good to me." Dr. Phillips commented standing behind you with your notes in his hand.

It had been painstakingly tedious to write each and every detail you watched from SCP-072. Even when the entity was 'dormant' underneath it's possessed bed you still had to take note of everything. By the end of each day your hand had an all too familiar cramp from frantically writing.

"Is there any other questions you have for me before I cut you lose?"

"No, I think I'll be able to do this right.." You started until you noticed the uneasy look in his eyes. "I mean, I know I'll be able to do this right." You corrected obviously giving him what he wanted to hear.

"Ok, good. Then you'll be moving onto your own project. Go ahead back to Sullivan's office and he'll give you your assignment. Good luck kid." He waved you away.

With that you were off, and officially starting your new job at the SCP foundation.

---

The solid grey hallways surrounded you with an occasional door sliding past in your peripheral vision. You stared hard at the ground almost oblivious to your surroundings. You had gone back to Dr. Sullivan as instructed. And now couldn't begin to describe the pit of anxiety bubbling up inside of your stomach. You only got to glance at the heaping stack of files once and that was enough for you. The first three words you read was "sentient and violent." The exact opposite of what you needed after being scarred from that nightmare inducing hand.

You arrived at a small study room. You finally noticed it a few days after you started shadowing Dr. Phillips. You had passed by it each day until the light grey interior finally caught your eye. You took note of it since you hadn't noticed many other rooms like this. The room was empty as usual and perfect for you to read through all these files. Dr. Sullivan couldn't have stressed enough about the importance of reading these reminding you that, "knowledge is the only thing that will keep you alive."

You plopped down the huge stack and picked the first and largest yellow file to start. The first thing your eye was drawn to was a small picture printed on the top left of the document. The picture was almost completely black, but what really caught your eye was the white plague doctor like mask. It shown through the shadows and reflected against an unknown light source. You could barely make out the rest of the creature's body since it seemed to blend into the darkness surrounding it. You shivered at the picture, something about the plague doctor like creature gave you the chills. Maybe it was the look in his eyes. They were hard to make out too. But once you noticed the bright yellow irises it was hard to look away. A chill went down your spine. You kept reading.

SCP-049

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-049 is contained within a Standard Secure Humanoid Containment Sell in Research Sector-02 at site 19. SCP-049 is to be sedated before any attempts to transport it...

----

Your eyes were weak after you finished that last folder. Your mind raced between what you read and the looming possibility of your own death. After You had read all of Dr. Ham's files you had an ominous feeling that, that was going to be you next. That you were going to share his fate. Death from the hands of a monster.

Your head began to pound. Ever since you arrived at the SCP Foundation your anxiety had spiked again. Now with the thought of facing this thing it was worse than ever. The image of SCP-049 staining your mind. The fact that it can kill you in one touch then bring you back as a zombie was enough to make you feel sick.

A quiet beeping was apparently enough to break you away from your nightmarish thoughts. The clock seated beside you showed 4:00. The day had gone by fast. Too fast. Your fingers tapped absentmindedly on your desk. The paranoia returned to attack your stomach and sending a bubbling feeling throughout your body.

Closing the folder in front of you and standing quickly from the metal chair. Apparently too quickly. The floor seemed to wobble beneath you forcing you to grab onto the table for support. You cursed yourself when your floundering sent a few of the large folders into the floor. Spilling all of their contents across the room.

You sighed. Bending over you began to collect the never ending pages.

"Look at you, I left you for a day only to find that you had already made a mess of things," a familiar voice rang in startling a couple pages out of your grasp.

Your head snapped up the see Chloe staring down at you with her usual cocky expression. She laughed before she bent down to help you with your mess.

"Thank You," you said while she only nodded in response.

Unsurprisingly she seemed to take interest in the documents. Reading little segments and adding them back into the folder. Thank goodness the pages were numbered or else these files would never be the same.

"So you got 049? I've heard a little about it. But not too much," Chloe had his document in her hands and was quickly flipping through.

"Yeah. I did." You said quicker than you had meant to.

Chloe gave you a sideways glance which softened after she recognized your expression.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok. I know you got a little startled after meeting 072, but I'm sure this one won't be as horrible. At least this one can actually talk to you. It will probably be a lot more fun. I mean think about all you will get to learn."

"Yeah, you're probably right, Thank you." You forced a smile. It would be impossible to learn anything if I'm dead. You thought incredulously.

She seemed to accept your fake smile and scooped up the rest of the papers.

"Of course I am! And anyway you gotta tell me about what you find out too. I think how cool it would be to know how it can kill with only a single touch! And then bring people back from the dead!" She paused for a moment to stare down at SCP-049.

"Or why it's all dressed up like that." She laughed. You smiled back at her, for real this time.

---- Time Skip---

The air was still around you on your way down the elevator. SCP-049's containment cell was deep within the basement of the facility and apparently not only that but he got the entire basement to himself. The elevator dinged before it's doors hissed open.

The basement was a darker grey then the rest of the facility. In fact most of heavy containment was significantly darker and bland. Lacking the familiar yellow stripes that traced all of the previous levels of the facility.

You took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator. The hallway was short and before you knew it you were facing a large room with one other doctor inside. There were three guards one standing outside the room and the other two blocking the entrance of the containment chamber.

The containment chamber. It was huge and dark with one of its walls completely glass and the other three were painted white. You didn't think it was the best color choice because it only highlighted the red stains that spattered near the bottom of the walls. Your stomach dropped. You could only assume what those red stains were.

"Good, you're here. Go ahead and get settled over there." Your heart jumped when voice echoed beside you.

Another scientist was there with you, he was a older man probably late 50s. He had thick eyeglasses and aloof expression behind them. His hair was short and balding. He pointed to a desk on the far right side of the room.

Setting down your things you glanced back in the containment chamber. It looked empty. Other than the one metal table in the middle of the room, a small bed, and a chair.

A flicker of silvery white caught your eye. Your breathing hitched. In the far left corner of the room you finally noticed it standing there. It stared in silence through the glass. You feared that it's eyes were on you.

You quickly turned your attention to your desk ignoring your urge to race out of the room while you still had the chance.

"Here, when you interview SCP-049 ask these questions. If you come up with your own confront us about them first." He said placing a clip board in your hands.

"SCP-049 has already been sedated and will be ready to be transfered in a couple of minutes. Do you have any questions?"

"Uh, yeah. Where are we transferring it to?" You asked watching the creature from corner of your eye.

"To the conference room. It's still in the basement so it's not far. You'll be able to question it face to face in there."

You're heart sank. "But, didn't the files say that interactions between SCP-049 and researchers were prohibited?" You questioned your anxiety taking hold.

"Yes. They do. But that has recently been changed. It has been very difficult to get any response from SCP-049 since we put that ban in place. And not only will few guards be watching and myself be watching, but SCP-049 will also be restrained the whole time. So you'll be fine." He said his voice cold.

------

Your heart raced when the guards brought SCP-049 into the room. They had two long polls connected to a chain around SCP-049's neck, SCP-049 had hand cuffs that covered both of its hands making them look as if they were only nubs. They had a chain connecting both the hands together and connecting up to it's neck.

The guards the attached the chains onto the table and the metal chair that had screws attaching it to the floor. Securing SCP-049 in place.

Although there was no way that SCP-049 could escape you could still feel your stomach drop and your eyes burned when the guards gave you a nod, signaling that everything was ready for the interview.

Ok, it's gonna be ok. Its all going to be ok. I can do this.. Don't be scared. You repeated in your mind over and over until you were already in the room. With SCP-049 chained to his seat. You took a deep breath.

Sitting down across from SCP-049 you held the clipboard tight until your hands hurt. You glanced back at the one way mirror, you imagined the guards waiting on the other side for any signs of hostility from SCP-049.

"You may begin your interview with SCP-049, Dr. (Y/N)," a voice echoed through the intercom.

_________

Date: XX/XX/XX

Interviewer: Dr. (F/N) (L/N)

Interviewee: SCP-049

"Hi SCP-049, how are you today?" You asked awkwardly avoiding it's piercing gaze.

"Hello. I am doing fine." SCP-049 replied. It's deep metallic voice made you finally meet it's... Or his gaze. He had a mans voice and now that you could fully see his form it was harder for you to keep calling SCP-049 an it.

"That's good. Umm, I have a few questions for you today." You paused looking over your list of questions.

"You're new aren't you?"

Your eyes snapped back up to his, "Oh. Umm yes. I'm Dr. (L/N)." You replied.

"Hmm." SCP-049 nodded. "I believe they mentioned you when they decided to permit me to interact with the staff again. I do hope this means I will be allowed to continue my work as well."

"Your work?"

"Yes, my work. My cure. I want to continue my experiments. It's been too long," he said restless.

"Your cure. I was meaning to ask you about that-" you started.

"Yes. My cure is most effective. It has spread further than I have seen in a long time. I need to continue my work."

He was getting obviously more distressed. You debated wither or not you should cut the interview short.

"But, I suppose as of now there is only so much you can do." He continued softer this time.

His bright yellow eyes caught yours again. They shined bright through his mask, drastically contrasting against the his monochrome attire. They scared you. But at the same time they held an unsettling beauty.

Your stomach turned. Gripping your clipboard you read through the list of questions. Majority were about his pestilence and cure, but that seemed to upset him.

Unsure you finally continued. "Other than that, what are your thoughts on the foundation?"

"It's" he paused for a while, "It's fine. A hindrance to me, yes. At least the foundation, as you call it still carries very little traces of the pestilence."

A loud clinking filled the room when he lifted his hands to rest against the table. He sighed and stared down at them in dismay.

"Do they hurt?"

SCP-049 froze and looked back up to you with his eyes widened. Your heart started to race. Did I say something wrong?

"No. Just uncomfortable." He answered shaking his head and absentmindedly rubbing his covered hands together.

Finally there was a loud buzz. "Times up. Dr. (L/N) a guard will escort you out of the conference room." A voice called through the intercom. The door opened revealing a guard on the other side. He impatiently waved you over.

You didn't have to be told twice. You stood and made your way to the door. Not risking a single glance back at SCP-049.

------- Time Skip-----

"See? It wasn't all that bad!" Chloe exclaimed swinging around her fork dramatically. After you had told her about your experience with SCP-049.

"Yeah," you whispered back. It had gone better than you had thought, but the entity still was in the back of your mind. Sure, today's went alright but what about tomorrow? Or next week? And as far as you knew you will be assigned to SCP-049 for a long while.

"Oh! And here she is! Hadley over here!" Chloe exclaimed. Waving her arm around.

Hadley set herself down next to Chloe. Keeping her head low and focused on her salad. You didn't know Hadley very well but today she didn't seem to be herself. She had dark bags under her eyes and a solemn expression.

"Are you ok?" Chloe asked with an expression that didn't reflect her question. In fact Chloe looked.. different. She didn't seem concerned in the least. Chloe took another bite of her salad refusing to look at her friend.

"I'm alright, today was just a long day." She sighed.

"Do you need to talk about it?" You finally spoke up picking up the slack for Chloe.

She paused for a moment as if she was contemplating telling you or not.

"Not really. I honestly don't even know if im allowed to talk about it. All I can say is that this foundation can be no better than the SCP's it holds." Her voice was bitter and anger fueled her for a moment.

You're curiosity spiked but you decided not to pry. What ever happened to her, it had to have been traumatic in some way.

You stared silently at your own food, an unsettling feeling entered your stomach.

"Anyway! I gotta go, I hope you feel better soon Hadley!" Chloe said with an extra pip in her step.

Hadley seemed to watched Chloe with the same confusion that you did. But she quickly let it go. turning back to her plate full of leaves drenched in ranch. You wondered if she regrets getting too much food when she's upset. If she looses her appetite like you always had.

Your thoughts were cut short when she took her fork and brought out a heaping pile of lettuce into her mouth.

She stayed quiet for the rest of the meal choosing to pretend to ignore you. You thought about leaving as well but, the same time a wave of guilt would hit you if you ever thought about leaving before she did. Leaving her on the verge of tears like so many had done to you.

Minutes passed of you both silently eating before she finally decided to leave. "I'm gonna go. Thanks for hanging out with me, I guess," she mumbled, though you could hear some lingering sincerity in her voice.

"Ok, bye. And you're welcome." You said awkwardly while she had her back turned to you.

Something caught your eye as she was leaving. She had worn bright white shoes this morning. Now they were covered in familiar red stains. Blood stains.

---------

You headed up the elevator with Hadley's words replaying in your mind. The foundation being worse than the SCP's? Weren't they supposed to be protecting humanity by keeping them here? Her bloody shoes came back to mind. What had happened there?

And then Chloe's strange behavior came to mind. Maybe she just had a difficult day too. The elevator dinged releasing you out to your floor.

You opened your door and your tiredness finally hit you when you saw your bed. You locked the door behind you and got ready for bed. Your day played over and over in your mind. So in the end you felt like the day had went by slowly, but fast at the same time.

You finally were able to lay down and get some sleep. Now in your dark, silent apartment you could only think of one last thing. SCP-049 had truly been in the back of your mind all day. He scared you. More than you'd like to admit. He may have been kind to you today, but his files warned you of a powerful and unpredictable entity that you needed to fear.

You tried to relax and close your eyes. Each time you were met with bright yellow eyes that stared deep into your soul. You shuttered. It was going to be a long night.

--------------

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you are all doing well!