The SCP Experience - The Anomalous Pool of Red Liquid | SCP-354

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

SCP Foundation KETER class object, SCP-354: The Anomalous Pool of Red Liquid. This story was derived from https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-354, and is released under Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ #scp #drscp #scpstories #scpexplained Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Veighi to pay responsible. The conditions apply. I hate these patrols around the shoreline. The Red Lake, Blood Lake. Whatever the nicknames are, I still get edgy walking patrols around it. I don't feel the protection that the surrounding 20-foot wall of concrete is supposed to provide. I've been here two and a half years and seen things smashed through the wall like Legos.

Things that are honestly so difficult and alien to describe, they can hardly be comprehended at all. The newer guys on the security detail don't know any better. They won't know until they have. their first breach. I'm leaving soon enough, but the person who will replace me will have to learn just as fast as I did. There will be entities crawling out of the bloody lake that will be fairly easy to deal with, small to medium-sized creatures that are susceptible to gunfire, or things that like to climb out and fuck with your mind. Then there will be up close and personal encounters that leave scar tissue on your memories. Give you a reason to be scared of crossing over the catwalks

above the lake. I've had at least three of those since my assignment here. The first one, was literally on my second day on the job. I was shadowing one of the older security team sergeants. He was going on and on about the tours he did, the medals he received, and how this current work is really beneath him considering his past military record. We all start from the bottom when we joined the foundation. He was in the middle of his rant about how he has more experience than his CEO when something crawled out of the lake. It was a pale woman with jet black hair. Her face, though, it haunts me whenever I think about it still. I can see it so. clearly when I close my eyes. No eyes or nose, just a huge mouth from her hairline to her chin,

a mouth with rows of thin teeth like ivory pencils. The legs were unnaturally long and ended in silvery metallic spikes. How she was able to walk and balance, I can't figure out. She only had one speed, a dead sprint. She was so quick through the snowy ground and up the concrete wall that we barely had time to sound the alarm. Some of the other guards were able to get off a few bursts, but none of them hit. She leaped straight into the air and landed right in front of us along the catwalk and mauled the sergeant in front of me. Just pulled them apart to pieces like a soft slice of bread. The blood speckled my visor and gear as it roared. She roared as if in the throes of some kind of personal pleasure. I held the trigger down the entire time, emptying

the whole clip in one go. Thank God I remembered to flip the safety in my surprise and terror. Between the spattered blood and the muzzle flashes, I could almost see a smile across her face. I riddle the thing with so many holes, but she was not affected. She backhanded me in the chest and I went flying off the catwalk. This was a good thing, because another security detail that came running up was prepared with a javelin rocket launcher. That did her in. Just completely blew her away with one direct hit, something she couldn't walk away from. Thankfully, I landed in a snowdrift for my fall and only suffered a concussion. What a hell of a welcome that was. A week later, I was promoted to Sargent. The second breach I was part of happened on Christmas Day of that year.

It was in the evening when some kind of gas bubbled up from the lake. It started as only a fizz, but then worked its way up into a hot boil. The gas was nebulous and crackled with static that made my hair stand up on end when I got close. It moved like an animal, like a snake if I had to compare it to anything. I couldn't pinpoint the color because it shined with a strange iridescence that changed in the cold moonlight. What I do remember vividly is that when it touched a person, they'd burst from the inside. Just pop and leave nothing but skin and blood. Later reports detailed that the gas was able to flash boil all the liquid water inside a person, like they were getting microwaved down to the bone marrow in a sudden flash. I saw 10 or 12 guys blow apart. Their gear and guns

flying in all directions. I remember they'd make a quick gurgled yelp as steam escaped their throats before popping at the seams, leaving only a red splatter in the snow, and their black boots with steam rising out of them. I was able to scramble across the top of the wall, as a smoky tendril reached for me. I have never run so fast in my entire life. Things were getting seriously out of control as the situation progressed. Pretty soon, all hands were outside fighting the cloud.

Bullets were completely useless. It had its attention on those who were scrambling to the armory for something that would actually work. It wasn't until it went through an entire squad, that we figured out how to beat the living death cloud. We had some flamethrowers that were collecting dust in the armory, and thank God someone remembered how to use them. Too bad we only had four of them,

but it was enough to fight it back into the lake from four sides. It almost seemed to moan back at us as it recoiled from the flames. Four 30-foot cones of liquid fire were just too much for it. The bright orange fires lit up the surrounding pines in a radiant light. The dark Canadian winter was lit with one small spark of bright orange, as helpless men and women fought off something terrible coming into this world. Just a bright pixel on a black satellite photo of humanity, trying to resist a cruel and indifferent universe.

Finally, it went back under the red surface with only a few wayward bubbles here and there. The teams refilled and stayed along the wall for the rest of the night, with flamethrowers ready to burn anything that dared show itself. Nobody slept that night. That was the most fatalities area 354 saw. That really screwed with all. lot of heads. I still get really nervous whenever I see a bubble pop on the surface of the lake. That's also why we have double patrols on Christmas now. Hardly anyone wants to talk about it,

and it's best not to, as most of the folks lost at least one friend or acquaintance that day. We now have eight flamethrower units. The third incident was the worst for me especially, not because it involved a lot of fatalities, but because of just what it was. I was on the last patrol shift of the night when the alarm was sounded. It was a security agent. one of us. He slowly crawled out of the lake. I was one of the first individuals to reach the person. They looked scared out of their wits and immediately put their hands up. I nearly shot them then and there because why take a chance? To my regret, I didn't take the shot. I had them lie in the snow and wait till I called for backup. When the team got there, they asked him questions. Who was he?

Where did he come from? What does he want? Apparently through this line of questioning, he identified himself as a guard who was killed in action a year before I joined the The rumor had it that the guy was killed on his first breach. Somehow, he was killed by friendly fire and fell off the catwalk right into the lake. It was even confirmed by eyewitnesses, but here he was, talking and breathing like nothing happened. Everyone called it a miracle at the time, if they only knew what was going to happen. They held the guy up in the infirmary for three whole months. They did all sorts of tests. Everything came back normal. Eventually, the decision was made to amend the records and put him back into the system. People just considered him real lucky, like he was given a second chance. They even gave him an option to take the amnestic route and leave the foundation forever.

He turned it down. He just wanted to get back to his old job. What a hero, everyone thought. And they gave his job back to him. People willing to do patrols around the lake were hard to find. Everyone got really friendly with him, thought it's super lucky to have him on patrol. He kind of gave everyone a little bit of hope, that people can actually come back from the lake.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that strange thing started to happen. Some of the lights around the wall were found to have cut wires. Another maintenance guy found screws and bolts missing in some of the railing and catwalks. Rumors of sabotage were being whispered around, but nobody actually took it seriously. What evil foundation member would walk around and start messing with the wall? Literally, the only thing that keeps us out of reach from whatever slithers out of that red water. Somehow, we couldn't figure it out on camera either. The data would always be conveniently missing,

where the camera would be stuck in the wrong angle of what we needed to see. It was really getting to us. I remember that some of the guys refused to go out on patrols with others. It got everyone suspicious of everyone else. Then someone went MIA, and that's when shit really hit the fan. That was the worst week since being assigned to Area 354. Literally, nobody trusted anyone, and we couldn't get anything. done. Eventually, everyone was to work in pairs on the patrols. It was either that or you get transferred

out. Nobody wanted that because God knows what is worse than Area 354. You didn't want something like insubordination on your record unless you wanted to try out for D-class. I look back now and think about how foolish I was. I thought my luck ran out when I was assigned to the guy. The guy who crawled out of the bloody lake years later without a scratch on him. Our own little miracle. The security guard who couldn't be killed. We literally turned him into our mascot. This routine of working in twos went on for weeks, and it seemed to be working. Nothing freaky was reported. Nobody else went MIA. A sense of normalcy washed over the entire site, and it was nice for a time. That was until the spring thaw was finishing up. We were walking together, me and the lucky

son of a bitch. We wound up hitting it off. We liked the same music and movies. We learned how to be a decent team on our patrols and all was well. It was just another patrol along the wall when he suddenly stopped. He asked if we could approach the shoreline. I thought he might have heard something splash. I asked if he wanted me to call it in, but he didn't think it'd be necessary. He said he didn't want to put people on edge again after everything finally calmed down. I was inclined to agree with him. We walked right up to the shoreline and listened. It was completely silent. I saw no ripples, no bubbles. I tapped him on the shoulder. I tapped him on the shoulder. to go. He didn't budge, didn't stir. I couldn't even tell he was breathing. I was about to tap him

on the shoulder again when he suddenly dropped his gear, his gun, and took off his helmet. What are you doing? I asked him. He just swayed slightly back and forth like he was listening to music I couldn't hear. Suddenly, he took a step forward towards the lake, then dipped a foot in and proceeded to calmly walk into the red water. Hey, stop! I couldn't do anything. He was waist-deep before I keyed up the radio for help. Code black, man down. If I called in a code red, they would have come in guns blazing. I could have gone in for him.

I could have rushed in and grabbed him and dragged him back to shore. I just didn't. My legs locked up completely. I just watched him walk in and sink, like he was walking home. I was scared of even being this close to the lake as is. Of course, there was a big investigation on what happened. Thank God there was a camera watching the whole thing, or I didn't think anyone would have believed me.

But even though the video clearly showed what happened, everyone on the security details secretly suspected me of some kind of involvement. Investigators searched the guy's belongings and confiscated a lot of stuff. They never really told us what was in his foot locker. Maybe that's for the best. Maybe it's also for the best that I'm getting transferred out of here. I'm supposed to leave in the morning after this last patrol. It's been warm, which is nice.

One last walk around the lake till my transport comes this afternoon. Nobody wants to be paired with me, which is fine. I've made friends, but now superstition has turned them all against me. Even my CO looks at me with a strange, distrustful look. I'm not being told where I am going, only that it's somewhere in South America. That's going to be quite a change compared to Canada. Trading ticks for mosquitoes, I suppose. Frost for sweat.

Coats for rain ponchos. It has to be better than this place. My transport is finally here. I hop in the back along with the other boxes leaving the site. There was no send-off, no cake, not even a goodbye. Just a folder of papers to take with me. As we pull away, I take one last look at the red bloody lake as the gates close. I can see something for a moment.

It's the top of the guy's head poking out of the water, his eyes looking right at me, his hand rising out of the water waving at me casually, like he was expecting me to return one day. SCP-354 is a pool of red-lidly, liquid discovered in northern Canada. The liquid is of a consistency similar to that of human blood, but it is not of a biological nature. The pool does not have definite banks. Soil mixes with the liquid until, at a certain point, there is more soil than liquid, and the ground is mostly solid.

The liquid becomes denser as one descends deeper into the pool. If the pool has a bottom, it is yet to be reached. Periodically, entities emerge from the pool and attempt to escape from the enclosure. Thus far, Nearly all creatures emerging from SCP-354 have been extremely hostile and highly dangerous. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're listening on Spotify, don't forget to hit that follow button to get notified every time a new episode is released. Also, please take a second to leave a rating for the podcast. This is so important to help the podcast grow.

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