 Item Number SCP-420 Object Class Safe Special Containment Procedures SCP-420 is to be contained in Storage Locker 1014-420 at Site- Level 3 Clearance is required to remove it from storage. Samples of SCP-421 not in use for testing should be stored in the container marked SCP-421 Decon in Locker 1014-420 until they lose potency, at which time they can be disposed of as biohazardous liquid waste. Please make note of the time and date in the attached log when samples of SCP-421 are added to the Decon container. Samples infected with SCP-422 are non-contagious and should be contained in Standard Solitary Declass Secure Confinement. On reaching Phase 3, infectees rations should be doubled. Phase 4 infectees should be kept under constant surveillance for signs of advancement to Phase 6, in which case the infected must be destroyed by high temperature incineration. Description SCP-420 is a dirty bottle of whiskey with no lid. When emptied, a small amount of whiskey-like liquid, SCP-421, remains in the bottle, appearing as liquid adhering to the sides. This liquid pulls back into a few millimeters of SCP-421 over time. Drinking SCP-421 will cause SCP-422, a non-fatal but consuming degeneration and mutation of skin and keratinous tissue, hair, fingernails, etc., in the infected. Cases of SCP-422 should be contained for further study. Early cases can be treated. SCP-422 has only been shown to affect humans. SCP-420 cannot be washed out. Liquid added in turns into SCP-421. When poured out, SCP-421 retains its properties for up to 48 hours. Chemical analysis shows no anomalies in SCP-421 before or after loss of potency. It is identical to brand whiskey when potent, and has all the same effects in addition to causing SCP-422. When it loses its potency, the chemical structure changes to that of concentrated urine. Your analysis of decontaminated SCP-421 shows that it belongs to a human male, approximately age 50, with severe liver degeneration. Further analysis using data expunged shows that the urine contains trace quantities of data expunged, consistent with SCP-422. SCP-422's infection progress varies somewhat from patient to patient, but can be described in several phases. Detailed descriptions for therapeutic purposes can be found in Medical Document 420-A4. Brief descriptions for containment purposes follow. Phase 1 Immediately, to 12 hours after consuming SCP-421, the infected's mouth becomes dry and swollen, leading to slurred speech. Note that this slurred speech is NOT consistent with intoxication. Recording 420-C004, attached, contains a comparison of speech patterns, resulting from intoxication compared with SCP-422. Within 24 hours of consuming SCP-421, the infected's finger and toenails become extremely brittle, cracking up the finger and bleeding. Fingernail growth is at the same time accelerated. Ingrown nails are an inevitability. Infection of these ingrown nails and open sores is identical to uninfected subjects. The infected's hair exhibits similar characteristics. Phase 2 One to two weeks after Phase 1, the infected's skin becomes brittle and dry, cracking and sloughing off. Like nails and hair, growth is also accelerated, replacing lost tissue and growing more in heavy, thick folds. Genetic analysis of keratinocytes shows mutations, similar to skin cancer. The tissue undergoes additional vascularization similar to cancer cell metastasis. Though apparently cancerous, these cells have not shown any tendency for detachment, resulting in systemic spread. Thus, Phase 2 is not malignant. Even if Phase 2 keratinocytes are injected into the blood, they will reattach to the skin layer or die. Intervation of the site is fully functional. Growth of the skin folds inside the infectee's mouth prevents communication. Although, growth progresses such that the infected can still breathe and eat. Infectees show a complete disregard for what they eat. Only one post-Phase 2 infected has been observed outside laboratory conditions. The majority of SCP-422 infectees die due to malnutrition or food poisoning, infection of open wounds, or alcohol poisoning from overconsumption of SCP-421 in this or earlier phases. Phase 3 3-6 weeks after Phase 2 The infected loses innervation of the skin and other keratinous surfaces. Nerves in the skin layer grow uncontrollably, but no longer send signals back to the central nervous system. Genetic analysis of skin samples from this time shows mutations in keratinocytes so severe as to no longer resemble human DNA. Though individual samples suggest the mutations are random, analysis of samples from different infectees shows a consistent mutational path leading to a final genotype with relatively little variation. In other words, the skin of the infected is a different organism entirely, possibly a different species, related only to other infectees' skin. At this stage, tumors may form inside the skin layer, analogous to several types of tissue, including muscle and secretory cells. Also at this stage, the skin slows its cracking and falling apart, although it never stops entirely. It becomes a thick series of leathery folds with exposed, bloody tissue beneath. Fingernails and hair grow out from the skin at apparently random locations. Phase 4 3-7 days after Phase 3 The skin begins to twitch and writhe on its own in apparently random patterns. Differentiated tumors develop into whole surfaces of contractile and other tissues. Small throats begin to form, leading from the outside of the skin to the circulation of the host, but are mainly non-functional at this point. The host's mouth still does most of the eating, although the host itself doesn't appear to be eating now. The mouth is instead working on its own. Cat scans of the host's brain activity show panic and fear as the only dominant thoughts, and motor groups in the jaw-muscle area are not recruited. Rather, chewing and swallowing are forced by the motions of the mutated skin. Phase 5 1-2 days after Phase 4 Phase 4 and 5 may overlap significantly, with different portions of the skin entering Phase 5 faster than others. The twitching, writhing skin activity gives way to organized motion. The skin can now be considered a separate organism from the host. It moves the body like a puppet, albeit slowly, and exhibits extremely rudimentary intelligence. It is a scavenger organism and opportunistic predator. The skin digests food by excreting a clear enzymeaceous fluid onto proposed food, leaving it to digest, and then folding the food into itself. Ingested food is taken into folds lined with thick, heavy hairs, and keratinous plates leading down into the throats. Inside this mouth, a grinding net of keratinous plates breaks down food, which is then filtered and absorbed into the host's blood. Activity scans of the brain show many hosts at this stage have gone insane. Some, however, seem relatively calm and are processing input from eyes and ears normally. Phase 6 Most of the infected remain at Phase 5 indefinitely. The trigger which causes a shift into Phase 6 is unknown. The skin begins rapidly growing hair and keratinous teeth, increasing in mass, and data expunged. Infected patients who appear to be entering Phase 6 should be destroyed immediately by total incineration. Treatment SCP-422 can be treated in Phase 1 by aggressive radiation and chemotherapy, coupled with constant intravenous administration of Formula 420-A090-T174B. This treatment has a 73% success rate, full removal of SCP-422, and 21% fatality. From Phase 2 onward, constant administration of 420-A090-T174B will slow the progression by 2 to 10 fold, but rarely removes it entirely. Success rate at full removal of SCP-422 drops by about 25% per day after the onset of Phase 2. Additionally, 420-A090-T174B appears to be at least part of the trigger to entering Phase 6. 420-A090-T174B treatment should be halted in Phase 5. Recovery log, 420 SCP-420 was found in the possession of an unidentified vagrant in the United Kingdom. Agents had been sent to investigate reports of a bridge troll, which was revealed to be the aforementioned vagrant in Phase 5 of SCP-422. The vagrant's skin appeared to be using SCP-420 to create and drink SCP-421 constantly through its mouths, although its primary sustenance came via refuse, local pets, and...expunged. The vagrant was collected and designated SCP-420-A. SCP-420-A perished during experimentation on 2010 and was incinerated after autopsy. Lesson complete. If you missed the previous orientation, go watch SCP-419, Window to the World, right now. Or for the complete course, watch this playlist.