SCP-436

Item #: SCP-436

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-436 is to be kept in a standard containment locker in Site-77's Safe SCP wing. Standard Foundation issue Class 3A gloves and a mask are required for any testing or handling of SCP-436; only personnel with prior experience with contagious diseases may handle the object.

Personnel suspected of carrying the disease are to be quarantined for 28 days immediately upon exhibiting symptoms of SCP-436.

Description: SCP-436 is a leather-bound book with approximately 150 pages in size; all pages are written in a futhark runic alphabet. The book's binding, made of a mixture of animal hide and metal, is believed to be from the area around ████, Italy.

The book's contents are not understood by any known language or code. The only word legible on the first page is "Shoot", next to an illustration of what appears to be a firearm (designated SCP-436-1). All text carved into the rest of the book is impossible to make out without special visors and/or ultraviolet light.

SCP-436's anomalous effect occurs when two people standing within 10 meters of one another read from or even handle the book in any way. The infected will then begin to act as if they have contracted a contagious disease, becoming violent, irritable, and paranoid. Unless given amnestic treatment, they will attempt to spread the disease to others through bodily contact or verbal communication.

The symptoms of SCP-436's infection include:

Cases of SCP-436 infection appear to be more common in areas where firearms are dominant (such as rural areas). Infected persons will initially deny having read or handled SCP-436; however, upon being questioned by Foundation personnel, they will answer truthfully. When questioned further about the source of their infection, they will state that "God gave it to me".

Addendum: SCP-436 was discovered in the home of a previously healthy elderly couple in Volusia County, FL. After initial containment, the couple was found to be dead from natural causes, and the house was searched. The bodies were found to have been shot in their beds with SCP-436-1 recovered from each body. A letter was found on the kitchen table, written in a crude futhark runic alphabet. All words were either incomprehensible or gibberish.

My dearest loves,

I do not write to you as a husband or a companion. I write to you as a man who has lost his cattle and his oxen. I write to you as a man who has lost his family and his home. I write to you as a man who is dying.

I am dying, and my time is running out. All these years I have stood behind your backs, watching you grow old and die while I remained unscathed. My wife is dead now, and my children are dust; all that remains of me are my children's children and their children's children, but I cannot leave them alone like this. They must know what it is like to live, even though I am gone already.

This world has grown cold and lonely around me, and I cannot bear to live in it anymore. When you are lonely enough, when you are cold enough, when you pray for death enough times, then the house of God will open for you and He will give it to you.