An Unholy Smell

A giant shuddering sound escaped from deep within the bowels of the great industrial machine. In the pin-drop silence that followed, an ominous hiss could be heard far below the iron gangplanks where the night crew plied their trade, feeding a constant stream of waste into the ovens of the thermal plant, the engineering marvel whose energy output fed the ever-hungry city.

"Sulfur leak," bellowed the shift manager, the panic rising in his voice as he dropped his clipboard mid-check. His cry had barely subsided before the general shock gave way to panic, shift workers jostling over each other in a frenzied rush for the ventilation shaft.