The moment we cracked open the hidden basement door, a smell assaulted my nostrils and holy shit was it unpleasant. It was a smell reminiscent of rotting meat mixed oddly enough with some weird fruity undertones.

Now, I wasn’t exactly an expert at smelling things. To be honest, I wasn't even sure that was a real thing, but I did have what Murph referred to as a super sniffer, and I knew for a fact that smell wasn’t in the room a few hours ago.

Against my better judgement, I moved into the room. At first glance, everything looked the same, albeit it was quite a bit darker for some reason. Once inside the room, the smell was somehow even worse, and yet, I still didn’t see any obvious signs of a source.

Naomi followed a few steps behind, but she halted immediately once she finally caught a whiff, “Eww, what in God’s name is that?” she asked, pressing her forearm to her nose.

“I don’t know, it definitely wasn't here earlier.”

I took a series of sniffs, trying my best to track down the smell. The pungent odor caused my eyes to water, but through the tears I did catch a few important details during my search.

The first was that Nurse Asshole’s cell was cracked open. Well that sucked, but it was also not completely unexpected. All I had done to keep someone out of there was to smear some burn cream on the control panel.

But that did mean someone else had most likely come through here. Someone that either dealt with intense torture to open the cell door or someone that didn’t have the same weakness as the nurse and doctor.

The second detail that caught my eye was a pile of what I could only describe as dirt in the corner of the room, but it seemed like Naomi had already beaten me to it.

“Looks like we found the source,” she whispered. She pulled out a small flashlight, then aimed it at the pile. On closer inspection, it wasn’t dirt at all. Instead, it looked more like a pile of skin with bits of bone protruding out of it.

I tried to hold back the sudden urge to vomit, but the combination of skin and smell got the better of me and I puked all over the ground. It was embarrassing to do that in front of another person.

Luckily Naomi, the constant professional, pretended not to notice. Instead, she continued to inspect the pile.

“These piles of skin were in the warehouse you took me to,” she said, her voice calm and steady.

Oh man, she was right. I had tried my best to forget the memory of what I saw in that building, but it was all flooding back now. The gross odor in the air, the hanging bodies, and the piles of decomposed skin on the floor. My body shivered uncontrollably.

“Did you find out what they were?” I asked, trying my best to regain my composure.

“I had them examined by the lab, but we’re still not sure what could have caused something like this.”

Naomi nudged the pile with the toe of her boot, revealing what appeared to be a severed finger, nail and all.

I felt my stomach start to turn again, and I bent over expecting the worst.

Naomi, on the other hand, squatted down next to it, her face unreadable but her posture rigid. “Yeah. It’s definitely the same gunk.”

After feeling the nausea slowly subside, I reached up and wiped the leftover chunks of vomit off my face. Between these flesh mounds and the binder, the connection between the two locations was undeniable.

I had plans to tell Naomi about the binder, but before I could get the words out, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.

Josiah stood at the far side of the room, near the cell where Nurse Asshole had been kept. He waved his hand in an exaggerated motion, like a small child trying to get a parent's attention.

“Why do you want me to go over there?” I asked.

Naomi turned and shot me a confused look. “Who are you talking to?”

“Josiah,” I said, as if that clarified anything. “Oh I’m sorry, you probably don’t know who I’m talking about. He was the patient you found dead upstairs. I think he wants me to follow him into that cell.”

Josiah continued to wave, trying his best to get my attention. There was something over there he was desperate for me to see. I had yet to see a ghost this animated before.

“Ok fine, I’m coming,” I said.

Naomi tensed, her hand twitched toward her holster. “No! Stay put. Do not move until I say. Where is he?”

I pointed toward the cell. “There, by the door. Wait, why do I have to stay here?”

“It's my job to keep you safe,” she replied, as if that answered everything.

She moved toward the cell door as if she was approaching a wild animal. Each step slower and more calculated than the last.

I stayed where I was to appease Naomi, but I had my doubts that Josiah would have led me into a trap. He had been nothing but helpful to me during his time alive.

Naomi’s steps slowed, her shoulders stiffened. “Wait… Oh no. Oh God. No, no, no,” she cried out.

She broke into a sprint, holstering her weapon and dropping to her knees, hovering over something I couldn't quite see. I leaned forward, straining to see, but all I caught was the lower half of someone's legs.

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“Naomi, what’s going on?” I asked frantically, though I wasn’t sure I was ready for the answer.

Naomi turned, and that's when I saw what happened. On the floor of the cell was the unconscious body of Aubry.

My first reaction, and I wasn’t too ashamed to admit it, was joy. Now we knew who let Nurse Asshole out of her cage, and after what she had done to Courtney and I, she frankly deserved it.

But then I saw the look on Naomi's face, a look that told me she cared deeply for the girl. I didn’t understand the connection there, but if Naomi knew Aubry, I had to be missing something.

No, she was one of them. Even if she wasn’t a monster herself, she was working with them. I saw the photos myself.

Naomi lifted her fingers to Aubry’s neck, looking for any signs of a pulse, “She's alive. Her pulse is weak, but she's breathing. Stay with me Aubry, Nomis got you.”

Naomi grabbed the girl, pulling her in close. I wanted to ask Naomi how she knew the girl, but that story would have to wait. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what happened to her.

“Hey, you should check her arm,” I said. “and see if there are any signs of an injection.”

Naomi rolled up Aubry’s sleeve, revealing a small red bump just below her shoulder. The sight of it made my skin crawl.

She had been drugged, at least that much was clear. But why? My eyes darted around the room, frantically trying to put all of the pieces together. I felt like the answers were right there on the tip of my tongue, but I was clearly missing something.

Ok, so Aubry was working with them. She had to be, right? I mean I saw her in those pictures, and the notebook, and on top of all that, she was down here in this hidden room. So then why would they have just left her here to die? Why not take her with them?

No, there had to be more going on here. That rotten pile of flesh didn’t just magically appear. It had to be linked, a clue of some sort. Ugh, come on Joe, you can figure this out.

Naomi had reminded me that the same pile of flesh we found here was also at the warehouse that we tracked civic man to. But he was dead when we showed up.

There was also that little girl. She had those dark creepy eyes. The same eyes as the woman named Wyatt who seemed to be in charge of the doctor.

I looked over to Josiah, remembering back to the drawing he made for me. The drawing with the man that Aubry had referred to as Wyatt.

She must not have known about his true role. Or at least his importance in all this. If she did, there was no way she'd have willingly told me that information. Especially if she was working for the doctor.

Still, how were the two Wyatt's connected? That part still confused me.

Hold on, what if Wyatt was all of them. What if he was the man in front of Walmart, and the little girl, and the woman in my room the other night.

Shit, what if Wyatt was some sort of shape shifter? He could have easily killed the man in that warehouse and taken his identity.

One by one, I started to feel the puzzle pieces snap together, creating a clear picture of what was happening.

When this all started, I didn’t know monsters were real, that’s why none of this made any sense. In normal reality, none of this could have been possible, but if Wyatt was all of them, the puzzle pieces all fit snugly together.

I looked down at the pile of rotten flesh that lay on the floor. That pile must have been what was left over after he shifted form.

Alright, So Aubry came into the room, most likely in an attempt to find the missing nurse. When she found out she was locked in the cage, she quickly ran over to release her.

What if Wyatt showed up and interrupted everything? If he had any reason to believe Aubry couldn’t be trusted, it would have made sense to eliminate her. Or in this case, have the nurse wipe her brain.

“Earth to Mr. Raymond, are you still there? You zoned out.” Naomi asked, pulling me back to reality.

I hesitated, then pointed at Aubry. “Will you check behind her ear? Look for a small incision point, like the one I showed you.”

Naomi didn’t argue, instead she knelt over Aubry. Then she carefully tilted her head to the side. Naomi’s reaction told me all I needed to know.

“There's two marks,” she said. “What does that mean?”

Two marks? Either the nurse wasn’t as skilled as the doctor, or she was trying to perform under duress. Wyatt might not have cared about the girl, but maybe the nurse did.

“Ok, I have good news and bad news,” I said, trying to sound optimistic. “The good news is I think Aubry is going to live.”

Naomi crossed her arms. “And what's the bad news?”

“There’s a good chance the Aubry you knew is no longer in there. The people that were in this room wanted her silenced.”

She knelt back down beside Aubry, gently rubbing her hand through the girl's curly black hair.

“I’m sorry Naomi,” I said, seeing the pain in her eyes.

Naomi patted the ground, trying her best to hold herself together. “She’s going to be ok, she’s a fighter,” she replied.

“I know you want to believe that...”

Naomi bit her lip, then cut me off. “May I tell you a story, Mr. Raymond?”

I nodded, eager to hear what she had to say.

“My first week as a young beat cop, I had received a call about a young girl found alone behind a small bakery. Unfortunately, that same week I found out that due to a genetic abnormality, it was going to be impossible for me to ever have children of my own. Selfishly, I wanted to avoid the call, but I had taken this role to help people and that's exactly what I did.”

She wiped away a small tear that had formed in the corner of her eye, gathering herself before she continued.

“Anyway, when I arrived on the scene, I found a girl, she couldn't have been more than four at the time. She had scrapes and bruises all over her body, and that hair, oh my, that hair was a tangled and matted mess.”

Naomi continued to gently stroke Aubry’s hair as she continued to talk, “But when I walked up to comfort her, she wasn’t crying or upset. She was sitting there, clothes covered in week old stains, eating a bagel she found out of the trash. When she first noticed me she broke a piece of that bagel in half to offer me a piece. She smiled, telling me her name was Aubry, and when I saw that smile, I felt the world around me melt away. That girl had the prettiest smile I had ever seen.”

She fought back the tears, small red circles formed around her eyes as they puffed up, “We never were able to find any parents, but I had her placed in a foster home with a lovely friend of mine. I wanted to take her home with me, but my situation at the time wasn't exactly child friendly. Still, I checked on her every chance I got. I was there for the first day of school, the first boyfriend, and the first breakup. I knew I'd never have a child of my own, but in a way, she almost felt like mine. I knew she had her struggles, but given where she came from, I was so proud of the woman she had become.”

She reached down, gently kissing the girl on the top of her forehead, “After all she’s been through, don’t you dare doubt her. She’s strong, and like you, she’s a fighter. She’s going to get through this.”

“You’re right,” I replied.

Of course I didn’t believe she would be ok, but saying that out loud helped no one. That must have been why Alex hadn’t told her that her nephew's ghost was stuck under that bridge. What good would it have brought to the poor woman after everything she'd been through?

Assuming I was right, whatever relationship Aubry had to the nurse and doctor was lost forever anyway. I doubted I would ever find the answers I was searching for. As much as I wanted to tell Naomi what Aubry had done, bringing it up now would have only made everything worse.

All we could do now was sit and wait to see what was left of her when she finally woke up. I wheeled over, putting my hand on Naomi's back. When I did, I caught faint movement coming from Aubry's fingers. It wouldn't be long now. We were about to find out how strong she really was.