From Below Comes the Horde | SCP-2003

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The SCP Experience 26 min 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed 2 hours ago
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Why do the agents suspect something is wrong with the missing operative in Centralia?

James Turnbow 0:07
The dead squirrel's skull is crushed under the front tire of the unmarked black sedan, sending shards and dust spraying everywhere, adding to the various bits of trash and detritus spread across the cracked and weed-choked asphalt. The sedan slows, then stops, both men inside turning their heads to stare at the seemingly abandoned house. Agent Denny, young, fit, and rare to crack a smile, lowers his sunglasses and shakes his head, This is a Foundation outpost? Agent Crawford, older, fit, and always has a smirk lurking at the corners of his mouth, nods. Yep. The point is not to be noticed. The locals aren't exactly friendly. I thought there were only about five people even left in this hellscape. Centralia has five official residents, sure, but they aren't who we have to worry about.
James Turnbow 1:01
Then who? The ones in the mines. Agent Denny retrieves a folder from his briefcase as Agent Crawford studies the landscape surrounding them. Pines and oaks are visible through the ever-present smoke that drifts about in low hanging clouds only inches from the ground. Houses up and down the block sit idle, dark, uninhabited for years. The residential street is nothing but potholes and chunks of asphalt sticking up here and there. I should get a vacation home here. Agent Crawford says with a chuckle. He aims his chin at the folder Agent Denny is studying. Anything in there we don't already know? Not that I can see. It's a pretty straightforward posting, just a watch and listen assignment. Agent Lincoln should be inside, but he hasn't been in contact with the Foundation in over a week, so maybe not.
James Turnbow 1:55
Maybe not. Crawford pulls his suit jacket aside to show his sidearm. It's your op, kid. Go in with guns drawn? Oh, do we feel things out first? Denny glances up from the file and looks blankly out the windshield. A wisp of coal smoke drifts past the hood of the car like a ghost out for a stroll. Drawn, Lincoln doesn't look like a slacker from his personnel file, so my guess is foul play. Around these parts, that's a solid guess. Denny stuffs the file back into his briefcase, draws his own sidearm, checks the chamber, then slides it back into its holster. Crawford does the same. Then the two men exit the car in unison, looking as if they practiced the move. they each turn in a different direction, clocking the street for any movement or for any possible surveillance they may be under.
James Turnbow 2:47
Not that either expects to see a living soul. Not in Centralia. The town is dead, even if the inhabitants, mostly former citizens, seem not to care. Except for the five stragglers who refuse to leave, and refuse to be interviewed or messed with, The entire former population of Centralia is in the coal mine, focused on digging, digging, digging. One of the eggheads working for the foundation joked that the residents were going to dig to China if they weren't careful. The joke fell flat, and the scientist was reassigned to slime duty and Antarctica.
Unknown 3:22
We doing this?
James Turnbow 3:24
Crawford asks. Denny nods, and they both pull their sidearms. There are soot-coated paving stones set in a whimsical pattern, attempting to be a footpath across the lawn. But since there is no lawn, only hunks of dead grass and the dirt, Denny and Crawford don't bother with the stones. When they reach the house's front door, Crawford shields Denny from prying eyes as the younger agent finds the hidden keypad and enters the code. There's a barely audible buzz from the keypad, and a red light flashes three times.

How do Denny and Crawford try to gain entry to the abandoned house?

James Turnbow 3:56
Didn't you look the code up? Crawford asks over his shoulder, his eyes scanning the area constantly for threats. Of course I did. Denny snaps. I literally just looked at it. 8675309. Denny tries again. Another buzz. Three more flashes of red. Here, let me try. Crawford says, and nudges Denny out of the way. They switch positions, with Denny now scanning the street for signs of hostility. Technically, from what the file and reports say, the inhabitants of Centralia are rarely seen above ground. But with Agent Lincoln non-responsive, and possibly MIA, neither Denny nor Crawford feel comfortable giving the place the benefit of the doubt.

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