SCP - 022 "The Morgue"
Object Class - Euclid
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Site-██, SCP-022 Containment Chamber – November 5, 2025
The vault door hissed shut behind Security Officer Mara Cole, sealing her into the dimly lit observation room. On the monitors, the morgue's cold storage drawers gleamed under sterile white lights.
"First night?" asked Tech Specialist Raj Patel, not looking up from his console.
Mara adjusted her earpiece. "Yeah. They said you've been here six years."
"Seven," Raj corrected. He tapped a screen, pulling up logs. "Nothing's happened in months. But when it does…" He trailed off as a metallic clunk echoed through the speakers.
Drawer 14 slid open. A shrouded figure lay motionless on the slab.
Mara leaned forward. "Is that…?"
Raj's fingers flew over the controls. "SCP-022-1. Timer starts now."
Six minutes later, the corpse twitched. The sheet fell away, revealing a woman's bloated face, her skin mottled with decay. She sat up, joints cracking, and swung her legs over the slab.
"Automated incinerators armed," Raj said calmly.
The corpse shambled toward the vault door, leaving wet footprints on the tile. Mara's hand hovered over the emergency trigger. "Why don't we burn it now?"
"Protocol. It has to cross the threshold."
The corpse reached the door. Its fingers brushed the steel—
WHOOSH.
Flames engulfed the figure, reducing it to ash in seconds. The vents hummed, sucking away the smoke.
Raj stood. "Cleanup crew's up. Boring night, right?"
Mara didn't smile. "Where do the bodies come from?"
"Stolen cadavers. Missing people. Don't ask why."
A week later, Drawer 29 opened. This corpse was fresher—a young man with a jagged chest wound. He stumbled forward, faster than the others.
"Incineration system offline!" Raj barked. "Power surge tripped the circuits!"
Mara grabbed her rifle. "Response team, move in!"
They burst into the morgue. The corpse lunged, snarling. Mara fired, shredding its legs. It crawled toward her, fingers clawing the floor.
"Aim for the torso!" Raj yelled, tossing her a flamethrower.
The blast ignited the corpse, but its severed arm kept twitching. Mara stomped on it, grimacing. "Why won't it die?!"
"Only total destruction works," Raj said, kicking the smoldering torso into a disposal bin. "And we still don't know how."
Interview Log 022-751
Subject: SCP-022-1 (Instance #312)
The corpse sat strapped to a gurney, its jaw hanging loose. Mara hesitated. "Can you… hear me?"
It nodded, milky eyes fixed on hers.
"Who are you?"
"N-no… name," it gurgled. "Cold. So cold."
Raj leaned in. "Where did you come from?"
The corpse's head lolled. "Taken. Dark… room. Drawers… screaming."
Mara's stomach churned. "What's it like? Being… here?"
The corpse smiled, blackened teeth snapping. "Waiting. Always… waiting."
It spasmed, then fell still.
Epilogue
Later, Mara stared at the pile of decayed matter in the room above SCP-022—rusted tools, shredded clothing, everything ever fed to the morgue except the humans.
"Where do they go?" she whispered.
Raj didn't answer. On the monitors, Drawer 14 slid shut with a final thud.