Why do the 9V batteries immediately deplete on connecting to this circuit?
Your breadboard circuit has pins 2, 4, 6, 8, and red LED all connected together. I can't see if Cap +ve is connected to the orange wire. If it is then that's merrily in the circuit too.

I think you don't realise that the edge strips (top and bottom of your photo) run the full length of the breadboard. Normally we use one on each side for ground and the other for V+ as these are used in multiple places on a typical circuit.

Note that the 555 pins are numbered anti-clockwise from pin 1. Pin 2 is beside 1 and not across from it.