Nicky looked back at the blueprint and frowned. Wait... there was something missing.
"Ken, this place used to have a basement. There's nothing in the report about it."
Ken squinted at the blueprint. "It does look like you could go down to something here."
Nicky pointed to the spot where the basement used to be. She looked at the report, then back at the blueprint. She really didn't know what to think of this.
"Do you think it's possible...?" Nicky began.
"That it's still down there? Of course. We need to check it out."
The map was pretty large, so they positioned it in the middle, on a table. The light from the windows spilled onto the paper, making the lines and writing easier to see.
Nicky pointed at the diagram on the map. "Okay, so according to this, the entrance to the basement used to be here."
They took the map and walked out into the main area. Nicky ignored the stagnant smell as she made her way toward a wall, way on the far side of the building. Sure enough, there was a door there. Nicky exchanged a look with Ken before she opened it.
Only they didn't see any stairs leading down to a basement.
It was just a storage closet, equipped with an old broom. That smell, though, like something rotting, became stronger.
"The blueprint said it should be in here," Nicky said.
"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 don’t want me to handle that?”
“I’ve 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.