It’s never easy being the new guy. You keep forgetting people’s names, you still need to
get to grips with office politics, and the senior staff keep eating your pudding cups out of the
office fridge – even though they were clearly labelled with your name. And if you thing being
a regular new guy is rough, then you can only imagine the terror of being the greenest employee
at The SCP Foundation. As a humble research assistant, you feel like you’re basically one
rung above D-Class. You’re itching for a chance to prove your mettle and climb the ranks, and
lucky for you, you’re about to get that chance. Okay, well, lucky may be a funny way of putting
it. You were so wrapped in mourning the pudding cup that you’re pretty sure you saw Dr. Dan eating
earlier that day that you didn’t even notice the alarms for a containment breach going off.
You also barely registered the faint hiss, like a chemical burn, as a black scorch-mark begins
to spread across the wall behind you. It’s only when you can smell the unmistakable stench of
rotting human flesh that you put down your empty pudding cup and turn to see something
horrifying standing right behind you: It’s the yellow-toothed grin of a decaying old
man oozing his way through the wall. That’s right – you’re face to face with SCP – 106.
One of two things can happen right now: Uncle Larry here can grab you with his dirty,
grey fingers and introduce you to the kind of pain that would make Pinhead from Hellraiser blush. Or,
you can think fast, remember your Foundation training, survive the night, and perhaps even
help your co-workers get this wall-walking monster back into containment. Then, you
might finally get the respect you deserve around here. You swallow your fear, steel your nerves,
and try to recall everything they taught you about this creep during orientation.
Keep your wits about you and keep your eyes on the walls: This is You Vs SCP – 106, aka The Old Man.
Theoretically, you have all the knowledge you need to survive this containment breach,
but while we were reading the intro, the Old Man managed to fully seep in through the walls – and
now he’s heading right for you! Our first piece of advice for you is to turn tail and run like hell,
putting some major distance between you and him. SCP – 106 has proven pretty much immune to all
physical damage, so even if you’re packing knives, guns, and a Bruce Lee level of combat efficacy,
it’s better to just not engage. Despite its appearance as a frail old man who’d
been left dead in a ditch for two months, this creature is incredibly strong. He’s dealt out
massive physical trauma to victims in a matter of seconds once he’s gotten his hands on them,
and what comes after is even worse… But we’ll get to that later. For now,
you run out of the room and bolt around a corner. You realise security has probably been deployed
elsewhere, and just hope that they can get to you in time. Though seeing as SCP – 106 can shrug off
machinegun fire like spit balls, they’re probably more the illusion of security than the real thing.
You don’t even bother closing the doors behind you as you run, because it’s not
like this thing even uses doors. There’s almost no physical barrier that can keep the Old Man
from getting his hands on his favourite prey: Terrified, running humans. For example, you.
While you’re putting the pedal to the metal and trying to get away from this sadistic
freak as quickly as possible, here’s a little background on what you’re up against. SCP – 106
is an extremely dangerous Keter-class anomaly that’s operated as far back as World War One,
when he’s believed to have been created. For the uninitiated, the Keter class is reserved for the
anomalies that are exceptionally hard to contain and require complex and extensive methods to do
so, and SCP – 106 earns that classification with its truly exceptional skills as an escape artist.
It’s believed to be capable of, if given enough time, passing through any form of solid matter.
Doors? No problem. Walls? Forget about it. Think even a ten-foot-thick brick of concrete can keep
him away? You’re in for a world of pain, my friend. In terms of its ability to walk
through solid matter, there are only three things that may work to your advantage here.
Tests on SCP – 106 have shown that it has a certain aversion to lead. Lead won’t hurt it, or
entirely stop it, but it’ll slow him down for long enough to formulate a plan of action. SCP – 106
also appears to become confused when it’s required to pass through more complex physical structures.
For example, it would be far easier to pass through a simple wall than, say, a car – where
there’s a variety of shapes and materials at play. The Old Man has also shown a pronounced aversion
to liquids, which also cause it to become confused. It’s for all these reasons that its
containment area is comprised of sixteen spherical “cells”, each filled with various fluids and a
random assembly of surfaces and supports, to keep the capricious Old Man too confused to attempt
regular containment breaches. 106 is an ambush predator at heart, sometimes waiting completely
motionless months at a time. But it only needs a few key seconds to turn the tables on its captors.
Its attacks are most likely to occur just after the people observing it let their guard down…
Again, we have to reiterate, there is no way you can fight this creature. You have to play
defensive, or you’ll end up as a plaything to one of the most sadistic creatures under the
Foundation’s lock and key. Despite its rotted appearance, the Old Man is no mindless zombie.
He’s one of the more intelligent and cunning creatures you’d be unlucky to run afoul of
while working on a Foundation containment site. There’s a killer instinct behind those black,
shark-like eyes and that toothy, lipless grin. Before you’re ready to survive this nightmare,
you need to first understand all the numerous ways the Old Man can murder you.
As we mentioned before, while the Old Man isn’t exactly a martial artist in the agility
department, he’s freakishly strong. If the Old Man catches you in his deathly tight grip, there’s
probably no saving you. He’ll likely tenderise your body and incapacitate you by attacking major
organs, muscle groups, and tendons. We wouldn’t advise screaming for help as he does this,
because you’ll probably just excite him. After all, SCP – 106 doesn’t hunt out of hunger – we
haven’t even seen the creature eat. 106 hunts because of desire, and that desire is to cause
maximum pain and suffering in its victims. His entire body is also covered in a kind
of powerful, corrosive mucus that can be dangerous to both objects and organic tissue,
and the burning caused by said acidic mucus won’t abate until around six hours after first contact.
So even touching SCP – 106 is a huge no-no if you want to get out of this containment breach intact.
But the horror won’t end there. No, once you’re in his clutches, it’s just the beginning of your
terrible ordeal. Once you’ve been sufficiently incapacitated, you’ll see that the Old Man is
sinking back through the wall – and taking you with him! And I’m sorry to say that where you’re
going isn’t just the other side of the wall. You’re being dragged into the Old Man’s pocket
dimension. This is SCP – 106’s lair, a little universe of endless dark corridors where he has
absolute control. If you’re in there, and somehow watching this video on otherworldly 5G, then I’m
afraid it’s probably already too late for you. In the pocket dimension, 106 has total mastery
over spacetime. You can be trapped, hunted, and tortured for what feels like centuries on end.
If it’s feeling particularly cruel or bored, it might let you go for a little while, just to
hunt you down and trap you again. People who have finally been released from the pocket dimension
are often dead or on the edge of death, heavily mutilated, with their faces locked into a final,
agonised scream. The only consolation for any of these people is that they probably
lost their minds long before they died. To SCP – 106, it’s all just a sick, twisted little game.
If you want to survive, you can’t play his game. The Old Man wants to be entertained by your fear
and suffering, so if you scream and flail and panic, you’re just gonna encourage him.
As hard as it is, you need to adopt a steely calm if you want to maximise your chances of surviving
the breach. As you run from him, try to stay in the absolute middle of the hallway. When the Old
Man enters his pocket dimension, which must always be against a solid surface, he can re-emerge from
any point connected to the initial entry point. In other words, he can merge into the wall on one
end of a long hallway, and instantaneously appear on the other end, cutting you off.
You’re not even immune to attacks from above, as SCP – 106 is able to walk across the ceiling
for an indefinite period of time. Being 100% aware of everything around you at all times
is the only way to ensure your survival. If you can, get out of the narrow corridors
of the Foundation’s hallways and find your way into a more open area with high ceilings as soon
as possible. 106 is less likely to head you off there, and if you can maintain vigilance, you’ll
be able to see him coming and get a head start. Of course, you can’t run forever, and the patient
Old Man is positively counting on that. Your next mission will be to rendezvous with your colleagues
and commence the grisly containment procedures, but that’s not so easy with 106 on your tail.
One proven method of buying time against the monster is exposing it to extremely bright light.
While, once again, this light cannot cause 106 any actual harm, it may startle the creature and cause
it to retreat back into its pocket dimension. When the Old Man is hiding, that’s when you
have a golden opportunity to grab a member of D-Class personnel and drag them into the vacant
containment chamber. What comes next isn’t pretty, but it’s the only tried and true method of getting
this thing back into containment – so you may need to leave your morals and empathy at the door.
While 106 is still distracted, you’ll need to subdue the D-Class and set up a direct feed to
the building’s intercom. The Foundation has found that the best way to lure the Old Man back into
containment is with the prospect of causing more suffering. In order to do this, you essentially
need to torture the D-Class until they scream into the microphone, showing a certain rotting,
grinning sadist that there’s fun to be had back in the containment chamber.
It’s recommended that you mutilate the D-Class at intervals of twenty minutes in order to give
the Old Man enough time to hear the screams and estimate the location of their source.
Not a natural born torturer? Don’t worry, if you don’t like the idea of slashing a
man’s tendons yourself, you can make use of a special hydraulic press they keep on site,
lovingly nicknamed “the femur breaker”, to wring some screams out of your unfortunate D-Class.
Once the screaming begins, it’s time to vacate the area and wait. When, inevitably,
SCP – 106 returns to enjoy the little treat you left for him, it’s time to seal the containment
behind him. The screams of the D-Class you sacrificed may haunt you until your dying day,
but at least your dying day won’t be today, thanks to the tips and techniques you’ve learned here.
Thanks to your excellent handling of the latest containment breach, you might be lucky enough
to find yourself promoted from assistant to junior researcher – meaning you’ll be
spending even more time with charming creatures like SCP – 106. So just keep the things you’ve
learned here in mind today. After all, you may be needing them again real soon…
Check out our You Vs playlist for more info on battling fiction’s biggest badasses,
and if you want more SCP content, check out our new channel: SCP Explained – Story and Animation!