"Hold on." Ken shimmied past Nicky, into the closet. He started knocking on the walls, starting with the right one. It made a hard sound as his knuckle clacked against it. "Concrete," he said to himself. Nicky stood back and watched.

Then, on the back wall, the sound became more hollow.

Ken looked back at Nicky. "Drywall."

Nicky's heart rate picked up. This was it. They must have put the drywall up to conceal the basement. But if it was just drywall, then--

"We need to break it down," Nicky said. She looked over her shoulder, into the warehouse. This place was huge. It had to have some tools around.

Then, Nicky saw it: across the room, embedded into the wall, was a glass box. It contained a fire extinguisher.

This would have to do.

"Hold on," Nicky said to Ken. She dashed across the warehouse, broke into the box, and took out the fire extinguisher. Ken was standing there with his arms crossed when she came back, fire extinguisher in hand.

"Stay back, Walker," she said.

Ken laughed and shook his head, then stepped away. You sure you dont want me to handle that?

Ive got it, Nicky said. Then she smashed it into the wall.

The fire extinguisher made a loud noise as it slammed into the wall. It also left a sizable dent. But no drywall broke away, no entrance. Nicky hit it again. This time, the drywall cracked, then broke apart. Nicky looked at the wall, then took a step back and hit it again. And again.

The cracks spread, and the wall became more porous. Eventually, a dark gap appeared.

And with it, the most pungent stench Nicky had ever smelled.

She immediately covered her nose with her shirt. "What the hell?"

It was like rotten eggs mixed with a dumpster that had been simmering in the sun. Ken pulled his shirt over his nose too. Nicky kept on hitting the drywall, over and over again, until she created a gap big enough for them to squeeze through.

Ken, still covering his nose, came over with a flashlight. They peeked inside the hole.

And there were the stairs. Old, metal, rusty stairs.

"Jesus," Ken said. "There's definitely something dead down there. We should call backup."

"They'll take forever to get here," Nicky said. "Let's check first."

She couldn't walk away without finding out. She had to know.

It looked like it was a standard old basement, with stone walls and wooden floor. It was damp, with reservoirs of water on the ground. Cobwebs stretched across the ceiling.

It was a mess. But it was nothing terrifying, at least on the surface.

"I don't know what's causing this smell, but it's unreal," Ken said as he shined his flashlight around the room.

"I know," Nicky said. "Whatever's causing that can't be good."