SCP-3760

Fig 1.1. SCP-3760 mutation 10 days after inciting injury (hangnail). Fig 1.2. Advanced SCP-3760 growth. Fig 1.3. Subject's ocular cavity in early stages of conversion into jaw (prior to eye's consumption).

Fig 1.1. SCP-3760 mutation 10 days after inciting injury (hangnail).

Fig 1.2. Advanced SCP-3760 growth.

Fig 1.3. Subject's ocular cavity in early stages of conversion into jaw (prior to eye's consumption).

Item #: SCP-3760

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Subliminal Memetic Agent Kappa/Omicron ("SMA-K/O") is to remain in global circulation, propagated via a fabricated "scientific fact" that acts as a carrier. The Department of Misinformation is to suppress any notion that SMA-K/O's carrier may be untrue.

If an individual ceases to believe that the carrier information is factual, they will lose the effects of SMA-K/O and become susceptible to SCP-3760's anomalous properties. To prevent a potential End-of-World K/O Failure Scenario, all records regarding the nature of SMA-K/O's carrier have been restricted to Level 5 access.

Description: SCP-3760 is an anomalous mutagenic phenomenon which affects the regrowth of human tissue in response to injury. Humans within proximity of a subject afflicted with SCP-3760 run an ongoing risk of infection; however, SCP-3760 does not appear to be microbial in nature. Due to the circumstances of its containment, the vector for transmission of SCP-3760 has yet to be conclusively determined.

Injured tissue in affected subjects will anomalously develop various forms of nonhuman biological features associated with members of the clade Selachimorpha. Such features most commonly include (but are not limited to):

Dermal denticles

Benign cartilaginous growths

Eyes (with nictitating membranes)

Nasal ducts

Teeth and/or jaws

Sensory organs grown by affected subjects appear to be functional and respond appropriately to stimuli, but these sensations are not directly experienced by the subject themselves. Other organs demonstrate similar independent functionality, including mandibles capable of mastication. Involuntary self-injury from bites are frequent. Any matter consumed by an SCP-3760-grown oral cavity will vanish despite a lack of observable connection to a digestive tract.

These aforementioned orifices will repeatedly seek edible material for consumption; this behavior intensifies in the presence of blood, and may even include acts of autocannibalism. A failure to consume edible material at regular intervals will result in necrosis of the affected tissue. In turn, this necessitates the removal of the necrotic tissue, which consequently leads to the emergence of additional SCP-3760 mutations and orifices.

Precise epidemiological statistics regarding the spread of SCP-3760 are currently impossible to ascertain. Estimates by Foundation researchers have placed the saturation rate of SCP-3760 to be between 71% and 92% of the global populace. SMA-K/O has proven capable of suppressing symptoms in most affected subjects, with only 2,785 recorded cases of SCP-3760 activity observed between 1958 and 2016.

Addendum: The following is a series of journal entries made by Dr. Keith Woodward, Ship's Medical Officer aboard the USS Kirby. His patients are believed to have been the first victims of SCP-3760.

August 5th 1922 Goodness knows I'm the worst at keeping records, but this feels important. Every instinct inside me is saying that something is very wrong. I have to write this all down before I forget. Nobody knows how Willis Riggs ended up in the drink, least of all Riggs himself. Several men saw him heading below deck at 1521. At 1522, we had reports of a man overboard. It was Riggs. Nobody saw it happen. When they pulled him aboard, he said he couldn't remember anything that had happened since breakfast that day. He was also missing a good chunk of his left foot. They ask me to examine him, of course. Sewed up his foot, put a cast on it, and then tried to figure out why he couldn't remember anything. Concussion was my first guess. But besides the lost time, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. I told him to get some bedrest, and when he was gone I called the higher-ups. Only explanation I could come up with was that he had gotten something to drink and fell overboard. But he didn't look intoxicated. It was a strange case. Folks talked about it for a couple of days, but I didn't think too much of it. Things happen. I've seen worse. But then things kept happening. All sorts of accidents here and there. I didn't find out about most of it till later on. These aren't the type of men to go crying to the doctor for any little thing. Worst case I had after the Riggs' incident was some foolhardy kid with a black eye. About a week after he'd gotten his foot chomped, Riggs came stammering into my office. He said he hadn't been able to get any sleep the past few nights because of the noise. I told him that he ought to be used to noisy nights on a ship like this. Then he said it wasn't the loudness that kept him up, but where it was coming from. He propped up his foot on my desk and asked me to listen to his cast. I gave him some pills and kicked him out. Figured his concussion was finally showing itself. And then, just last night, they dragged Riggs into my office. He was screaming so loud you'd think he was on fire. They had to hold him down while I cut off the cast. I expected gangrene. Over two decades, I've seen some serious cases — smelled them, too. You learn to expect the worst in this profession. But the miasma from inside that cast was the worst damn thing I've ever smelled in my life. It was like someone shit in a dead fish and left it in the hot summer sun for a week. The flesh around his foot was all kinds of black and green and maroon. There were these sharp, tooth-like protrusions sticking out of the skin where I'd put the sutures. They'd chewed through the thread in several places, leaving open gaps that exposed more rows of smaller, sharper teeth inside. I told Riggs and the others that his foot had gotten infected. Had to scrap the whole thing up to the knee. Ever since the op, I can't sleep. It's been affecting my work, my judgment, even my eyesight. I've had this dark spot at the edge of my vision that keeps coming and going. Probably just need to stop writing and go to sleep.

August 8th 1922 They brought the kid with the black eye in again today. His right eyelid was swollen shut; blood trickled from it like a leaky faucet. I had to use pincers to peel the lid back. Wasn't just the swelling that kept it shut. It was those little teeth again. They'd grown into the back of the lid and bit in. He started making jokes about the eyepatch right away. Speaking of eyes, my vision has gotten worse. The dark spot's moved to the center of it and won't go away. Even when I close my eyes, the colors don't dance in that one tiny spot. Is it possible that smell burned my corneas? One of the men who'd helped bring Riggs in—Ronnie Gaines, I think—said he'd been having headaches ever since that night. Wouldn't be surprised if whatever the hell Riggs has is toxic.

August 9th 1922 I had three more men in today. No teeth this time, though. One of them had this rash going up his back that he said itched like crazy. It looked like acne at first, and he did have some acne back there, but there were all these bumps, all in neat little rows, all tender to the touch. I gave him some ointment. One of them had a growth on his big toe. Big chunk of something sticking out of the space on the left side where the nail ended. Looked almost like coral, except it was translucent and slightly rubbery. I cut it off. One of them had an earache. I looked inside and saw something look back at me. I told him it was his imagination. The dark spot on my vision keeps getting bigger. It's not even a spot anymore. Its shape keeps changing. Wish we had an optometrist.

August 11th 1922 I told the higher-ups. They thought I was crazy. I wouldn't shut up about it, though, so they locked me away. Rigg's leg tore a man's throat out today. So they let me go.

August 18th 1922 I have a little plate in front of me with bits of meat on it. Every few minutes I hold a piece up to my left ring finger. The nail slides up and it bears its teeth. I push the meat in and get back to taking care of the men. This is how things are now. The higher-ups told me to reassure them that we're going home. They don't want any more men jumping into the ocean. Risks spreading the disease, they said. I followed orders. But I also mentioned that if they felt like jumping, come see me first.

August 22nd 1922 Ronnie Gaines died this morning. There's a hole full of teeth where his face should be. He'd been complaining of migraines for days. I figured something was growing in that head of his. I just didn't think it could bite from the inside. The curious part is that the teeth are still gnashing. Guess it makes sense. Riggs didn't die when his foot died. Why should the foot die if Riggs died?

August 23rd 1922 Riggs died

August 29th 1922 What else is there to say? I don't understand it. I can't heal it. I've already described it. No point in writing now. I have mouths to feed