SCP-610/THE FLESH THAT HATES

Class: Keter.

Type: Entity.

Initial reports of SCP-610 came direct from the Russian government through undisclosable channels. These reports consisted primarily of disappearances of farmers in the region and were not considered until the local police, followed by the regional police, and finally a government dispatched agent all failed to report in within a 72 hour period. A small military contingent was dispatched to the area and quickly withdrew at which point The Foundation was contacted to investigate.

The area SCP-610 affects is close to Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia. Areas of known infection are marked on a map provided to us here. Containment perimeters are marked in blue surrounding these infection areas and as of present no further locations have been identified. Incursions into the perimeter must be reported prior to conducting, confirmed during exploration, and debriefed on immediately following return.

SCP-610 appears to be a contagious skin disease at first with symptoms including rash, itching, and increased skin sensitivity. Within 3 hours the disease will cause blemishes resembling heavy scar tissue to form in the chest and arm areas, spreading to the legs and back within an additional hour, consuming the victim completely within five hours. Exposure to higher temperatures vastly decreases the time for the contagion to spread and complete infections have been recorded occurring in as little as five minutes.

After the completion of the infection occurs the victim's life functions will cease for approximately 3 minutes after which time they will restart at 2-3 times the activity rate of a normal human. Following this, the scar tissue on the victims will start to move of its own accord and grow at a rapid rate. Normal human features start to disappear at this point under the infection and the path of mutation appears to be largely random. Subjects observed in this stage of infection have been recorded as growing three or more limbs of a type such as arms or legs, the head may become misshapen and elongate or widen out, and parts of the subject may split open from which additional branches of flesh will grow. The duration of this stage of infection is unknown and not all subjects appear to progress to the later stages.

Under unknown conditions an infected individual will cease moving and place itself in a location it deems suitable where it roots itself. The fleshy growth on the victim will then begin to spread itself across all surrounding objects and consume them. Such objects do not spread the infection as living creatures do, however, and the effect of prolonged contact with these objects is recorded later in this document. It is assumed that this behavior is to create an area hospitable to continued growth of the other infected.

Observation of life infected by SCP-610 by staff is impossible. Those infected with the disease immediately seek out aid as natural human impulse resulting in unintended infections. Those infected past the scar tissue phase actively and aggressively attempt to infect anyone approaching them within an undefined area. It has been established that should an infected be capable of sight and observe an uninfected, it will proceed toward them. If the infected has lost the ability of sight, a range of approximately 30 meters is considered safe.

Observation of SCP-610 infected settlements has been established using artificial methods such as remote robots. The data returned from these observations coupled with the openly aggressive nature of the infected to attempt to spread SCP-610 has resulted in the Keter classification, however so long as nothing is allowed to enter or leave the infected areas it is considered a neutralized threat. Of concern are the cavernous areas beneath the infected settlements that were discovered during the exploration and attempts to get research personnel into these areas are underway.