50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, SCP Edition

There are things lurking in this world that would rob you of ever getting a good night's sleep again. Creatures ripped from your nightmares, holes in the world that devour anything that comes near them, and cosmic secrets lurking just out of sight, biding their time in the darkness of the void between worlds.

The only thing standing between those things, and us, is the SCP Foundation.

All of the money and prestige, the scientific know-how, and the experience and grit of the organization's soldiers, though, is just barely enough to hold back the darkness. And sometimes that darkness still bleeds through the cracks, escaping containment to wreak havoc.

These are some of the tales one might come across, if they rise high enough to read the Foundation's unredacted files.

If you enjoy this format, then make sure you check out the original 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, as well as 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, Warhammer 40K Edition!

Edit: As with the previous 2-sentence installments, there is now an audio version of these stories! So stop in and have a listen if you'd like a dramatic version of the following incidents. And if you want to help me keep making stuff like this, consider following my Rumble account The Literary Mercenary!

Incident Reports

1. "Attention all personnel," an unfamiliar voice said over the loudspeaker. "Nine-Tailed Fox has entered the building."

2. When you're on death row, you take any line you're thrown to get out. When I heard the roar from behind the steel door, though, I found myself wishing I'd just taken the needle.

3. "I read your report on the subject," the site director said, steepling his fingers. "It was so thorough that I'm appointing you to personally oversee the care and... feeding of this anomaly."

4. My team was dead, I was too far underground to get a signal out calling for exfiltration, and I could hear those things coming down the hall toward me. Bullets hadn't had much of an effect on them, but I checked my magazine, and found I still had one left for myself.

5. From the desk of Dr. Jack Bright: It's after a great deal of consideration that I have personally chosen you for the following assignment...

6. I told myself that it wasn't the same ordering online; I just had to go to the real IKEA store to pick out my shit. That was three years ago, and I'd give anything to have problems like that again.

7. "I need a doctor," I murmured, holding the wound in my side and trying to stay on my feet. "You are in luck, my friend," the figure in black said, turning and looking at me through its long, bird-like mask.

8. I was putting files away when something fell out of what was supposed to be a sealed folder. The photograph was disturbing, but not as disturbing as the wailing shrieks I heard in the distance that were getting closer by the second.

9. The new coffee machine really did have everything. When I typed in my order one morning, though, Joe doubled over in agony as a hot, steaming glop started pouring into my cup.

10. My friend told me I'd never be lonely again once I downloaded this app. He was technically right, but now he won't tell me how to get rid of the thing that's living in my phone.

11. I took a picture of my new lab mate with SCP-978. Once I got a good look at the desire that developed I excused myself, and put out a silent Code Omega alert.

12. I ran out into the freezing cold, the wet, enraged sounds of the town of hateful flesh falling further and further behind me with every step. Men stepped from the tree line ahead of me, and three of them raised their rifles as their leader shouted, "Turn around now, or you will be shot!"

13. We all called out our turns blinking while we stared at the statue. Then Jenkins sneezed, Haroldson turned to look at him, and it was all over.

14. I'd read the D-Class's file, and I had seen in intimate detail what he'd done. Nobody, not even him, deserved what was happening in that observation chamber.

15. The amnestics were supposed to wipe my memory. I keep waking up screaming, though.

16. I said I didn't recognize the bodies in the water. But I did, and I had to get closer to that lake if I was going to help them.

17. The cage of the Clockworks closed behind me. Before I could cry out for help someone turned the dial, and the gears sucked me in.

18. The butler was as chipper and professional as always, appearing promptly after I rang his bell. I looked for any sign of the wounds I'd given him, or the slightest hint of resentment, but if they were there I couldn't see them.

19. I had just moved in yesterday, but a package was waiting on my doorstep this morning. I hadn't ordered anything, but the envelope on the box was addressed, "To current resident, from Marshall, Carter, and Dark."

20. I screwed the new lock in place, along with the sign plate next to the stairwell. I told myself the muffled screaming noise I heard was just the whine of my drill.

21. The mask was cool to the touch, and smelled musty. I didn't remember picking it up, and my muscles trembled as I fought against a desire to put it on that wasn't mine.

22. I was on clean-up detail when I heard my friend Charlie's voice coming from down a side corridor. I'd already taken two steps before I remembered that Charlie had been killed three weeks ago, and that was why I had to finish cleaning these cages.

23. People always ask why I listen to audio books on my break. I told them that if they looked up "gout" in that misplaced encyclopedia someone had left in the break room, then maybe they'd understand why I wasn't as big a reader these days.

24. The man in the black suit hadn't been sitting in that chair a moment ago. I asked what he wanted, and that was when he lit up a smoke and said, "Nobody should die alone, friend."

25. Mole Rats had an open position after the last mission. It looked like I was getting a promotion... whether I wanted it, or not.

26. They sent me in to see SCP-847. As the manikin's head whipped around, and it let loose its screeching cry, I found myself thinking this was the worst way to be outed for being trans.

27. I bolted into my superior's office, heart hammering and breath wheezing as I panted out, "Sir, it's 055... it's... it's..." I didn't know what it was anymore, but the fear and dread surrounding the hole in my mind painted a picture that left me shaking.

28. I wondered why that patch of mulch didn't have anything planted in it. Until I saw it rear up, snatch Dan, and tear him to bloody pieces.

29. I was working a double shift, and decided to get something from the vending machine. I was so focused on the file I'd been reviewing that I didn't look at where I was, or what I'd bought, until it was already in my mouth, and the alarms were going off.

30. I took my father out to a nice dinner. It was almost a year to the day that I'd gazed into the eyes of that black devil dog, so either I'd never see my dad again, or pretty soon the credit card bill wasn't going to be my problem.

31. My assigned mission was to advance until my team lead told me to stop. I don't know what the towering figure holding the sword of fire was, but when it told me to leave I decided that a bullet was preferable to whatever that thing would have done to me.

32. Six dead mothers gave birth to six living monsters. One chain remained... or so the bedtime story said, at least.

33. People kept asking me which Portland I was moving to, and eventually I just started telling them, "Yes." I couldn't even give them that much of an answer to the questions that came after, though.

34. The body looked fine, at first. When I opened it up and saw it was filled with thousands of teeth, though, I reached for my camera, and settled in for another long night.

35. First Born Son the alert on my screen said. I was about to ask what it meant when I heard gunfire, rending steel, and what sounded like battle cries coming down the hall from the vault.

36. The target was thrashing and screaming, staring at the Guest as it shuffled closer under its sheet. "It's gonna be okay," I lied, pushing the tranq into the target's neck," just go to sleep."

37. The shadow man was standing there, practically vibrating in the confluence of the bright lights. Something was off, but before I could say anything there was an explosion, and the lights went out.

38. The thing wasn't a woman. Even though she'd told me so herself, I hadn't believed her until I was close enough to see those empty, doll's eyes staring knowingly into my own.

39. "She didn't mean to hurt me." I kept repeating those words while I got used to the heavy prosthetic that had taken the place of the arm I'd lost to the swamp girl.

40. I tried to scream, but my throat wouldn't open. "You have been blessed," the Beautiful Person said, slipping out of its natural form and giving me a wink, "now, remember, keep this between the two of us."

41. The patchwork bear tilted its head, staring at the hysterectomy scars on my stomach. "No," I tried to say as I started to pass out. "I had it all taken out for a reason..."

42. "Apart we are broken, but united we are god," we intoned. We were truly connected by heart and soul, by mind and purpose, by our spinal chords and nervous systems as we sought to reconstruct that which was now broken, but had once been whole.

43. The roars of nightmares echoed through the halls, accompanied by the whispers of living blasphemies, and the shrieks of horrors beyond comprehension. "Prepare," the angel had said... and prepare we had.

44. I smelled the odor of rotting eggs and decaying things. Before my brain could process what I was smelling, though, the Old Man wrapped his claw-like hands around my throat and dragged me into his personal hell.

45. Dr. Gears listened to the screams as they rose in pitch, and watched the carnage as the subjects splattered across the view screen. "Interesting," was all he said, making a few notes on the page in his clipboard.

46. Rodriguez was firing controlled bursts down the hallway when his skull exploded in a shower of gore. It wasn't until his weapon went silent that we heard Cain shouting, trying to warn us that he was behind the creature we'd been shooting at.

47. "Just stay calm, Jerry," Mark said as he picked up the red jasper with a pair of tongs. I put my hand on my weapon, curling my much fuller lip, pleased at the noted change in my voice as I calmly told him, "You even try to undo this, Mark, and I'll blow off something you really want to keep."

48. Jenkins' last words before he dropped dead and the naked doll reappeared were, "Where have you been all my life?" I made a note in the file to check his brain for abnormalities that may have caused the unexpected response, hit a button to summon the cleaners, and did my best to scrub the image of what just happened from my mind.

49. After the diagnosis I figured I didn't have anything to lose. By the time the titanium arms of the Improver let me go, though, I realized how wrong I'd been.

50. The restraints had appeared solid when I'd checked them, but Beverly tore the antlered skull free, jamming it down over her head so hard that rivulets of blood ran down her neck. The memory of the noise that came out of the thing she'd become still makes me break out in hives.

Would You Like More Stories?

If this little sample was enough to get the blood flowing, but you'd like to see more of my fiction, consider the following offerings! Don't forget to check out the rest of my Vocal archive, and to head over to The Literary Mercenary on DailyMotion for dramatic readings and audio content as well!

And, of course, if you'd like to help support my future endeavors consider becoming a Patreon patron!

If you're a fan of the grim darkness of the far future, then the following Warhammer 40K pieces may just pique your interest:

- Broken Heroes: A young man is sent out to retrieve an experimental weapon. When he tries to save his squad from crawlers, though, he finds something infinitely more dangerous waiting in a sealed hangar, and ready to continue the fight it started centuries ago.

- Beyond The Black: The Emperor's Hand: Gav Smythe has served with distinction for years. The ogryn hates few things more than traitors, though, and when he finds himself on the front lines of another conflict, he hears the voice of the Emperor calling on him to take up a strange, black sword and stop them before they hurt anyone else.

- Field Test: When the inquisitor came to New Canaan just days ahead of the orks, she promised a weapon that would wipe out the greenskins. While eyes turned to the sky, the true weapon she carried was closer... right under everyone's noses.

- Waking Dogs: A World Eaters Tale: Crixus has fought for thousands of years... however, the old War Hound still remembers the days of honor and glory. And that memory breaks through the walls of caked-on blood, waking him to the reality of what he and all his brothers have become.

References and Attribution

This work, as well as works cited below, fall under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. Where the shorts above make specific reference to existing SCP stories, attribution is listed below. If there is a gap you can help fill, please leave a comment with a link to the appropriate works!

1. "Experiment Log T-98816-OC108/682" by Dr Gears, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/experiment-log-t-98816-oc108-682. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

5. "SCP-963" by AdminBright, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-963. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

6. "SCP-3008" by Mortos, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3008. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

7. "SCP-049" by Gabriel Jade and Djkaktus, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-049. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

8. "SCP-096" by Dr Dan, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-096. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

9. "SCP-294" by Arcibi, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-294. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

10. "SCP-1471" by LurkD, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1471. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

11. "SCP-978" by agatharights, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-978. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

12. "SCP-610" by NekoChris, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-610. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

13. "SCP-173" by Moto42, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-173. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

16. "SCP-2316" by djkaktus, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2316. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

17. "SCP-914" by Dr Gears, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-914. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

18. "SCP-662" by Rick Revelry, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-662. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

19. "Marshall, Carter and Dark Hub" by Randomini, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/marshall-carter-and-dark-hub. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

20. "SCP-087" by Zaeyde, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-087. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

21. "SCP-035" by Kain Pathos Crow, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-035. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

22. "SCP-939" by Adam Smascher and EchoFourDelta, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

23. "SCP-1025" by Lasergoose, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

24. "SCP-4999" by CadaverCommander, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

25. Mole Rats referenced in "SCP-184" by Dr Gears, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-184. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

26. "SCP-847" by Xian and WrongJohnSilver, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

27. "SCP-055" by qntm and CptBellman, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

28. "SCP-1609" by Rioghail, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

29. "SCP-261" by Dr Gears, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

30. "SCP-023" by Pig_catapult, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

31. "Dr Clef's Proposal" by DrClef, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

32. "SCP-231" by DrClef, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

33. "UIU Location Dossier — "Three Portlands"" by GreenWolf, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

34. "SCP-478" by Dexanote, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

35. "SCP-076" by Kain Pathos Crow, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

36. "SCP-6096" by Tanhony, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

37. "SCP-017" by Sam Swicegood, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

38. "SCP-032" by Dmatix, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

39. "SCP-811" by Pig_catapult, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

40. "SCP-056" by Unknown author, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

41. "SCP-2295" by K Mota, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

42. "Church of the Broken God Hub" by HammerMaiden, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

44. "SCP-106" by Dr Gears, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

46. "SCP-073" by Kain Pathos Crow, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

47. "SCP-113" by kabu, rewritten by Robin Sure and thedeadlymoose, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

48. "SCP-136" by kabu, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

49. "SCP-212" by Dr Gears, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

50. "SCP-323" by Wilt, from the SCP Wiki. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.