The Fallen - Ch. 4

The Distillery

“No freaking way! You found it?” Jack’s eyes opened with wonder.
“Yep! There’s a hidden passage in the back.”
They hurried into the much larger, yet still relatively familiar hiding spot of the refugees. There were many beds here, plenty of discarded as well as unopened cans of food, and of course- the obligatory coffee cans. Though there was no smell, (besides that of great age) so nobody even bothered to check it out. You see one, you’ve seen em’ all. Sure enough in the back of the concrete room there were boxes that had been piled against a wall, pushed aside revealing a small square opening.

“Rosie spotted it.” Ben said.
“Yeah there was a crack between the boxes, and that wooden pallet was keeping it hidden.”
Jack shone his light into the newly reveal passageway. “Oh cool!” The light revealed a few barrels, a couple more beds, and empty bottles and jugs lining the walls. Without even bothering to ask, he was the first one through; oddly enough, Prudence held back and let the others make their way in, listening to their gasps of amazement. She took one last look around the room at the little scraps of history lining the walls and then followed in after.

The entrance was at the top of the room so she landed on her feet, kicking up a cloud of dust. Even though the others had done the same, there was enough dirt to keep the trend going. This room was more full than any they had seen so far. Boxes were stacked up, there was a desk littered with papers and notebooks, the mattresses actually had blankets on them rather than being bare, and of course, barrels with series of hoses and funnels attached. The distillery.


“Oh man, there’s still stuff in this one.” Lee said, shining his light into the barrel.
“This place is so packed, it would seem like they just up and left.” Ben noticed.
“Yeah dude, once prohibition was over, bootlegging came to a grinding halt, many of them were still criminals and it was no longer profitable to keep up their operations- they may as well go legit.” Jack said confidently. They all looked at him with surprise. “What? Not all history is a drag.”
“Oh yeah,” Lee said, remembering “This was the one section in class you didn’t crib off my notes.”
“Bravo Jack.” Prudence said with a smile, not even picking at him.
“Ah thank you.” He said with a bow.

Rosie began at the desk, fiddling over the papers and the notebooks. One was obviously their recipes, different ingredients and steps filled the pages; some of the others looked like journals. Ben kept looking over the barrels, his curious nature was trying to make sense of how they worked. Lee was with Rosie and Jack kept bouncing all over the room shouting “Cool” and “Rad” and “Bitchin” at nearly everything he saw.

Prudence hung back by the wall, watching the gang as they were absorbed in their wonder. She was happy to see them all so excited, it truly was the adventure she was hoping for, yearning for. Even though she was hesitant about the trip, she had been the most bored out of all of them this summer, even Jack seemed to settle down into routine and that was surprising to her. They were always in direct competition for who was braver, who was funnier, who would jump first into the unknown; it felt weird to see him calm down and leave her without an opponent. Even though now he was being a jackass, at least it was familiar.


They were in there for longer than they had been in any other room, wandering around checking out the things, trading places and theories about the people that once lived there. The back wall had two doors, one that lead straight into a brick wall- boarded up so whatever was behind it was inaccessible. The other opened up to a divot with a ladder running straight up; a wooden cover at the top. Ben climbed up and tried it. “It won’t budge.”

Meanwhile- Jules was stocking items in the back-of-house storage area and heard a few bumps from the long-since-sealed wooden panel in the back corner. She paused as she tried to place it, but soon it stopped so, leaving her in silence again so she pushed it out of her mind.



Lee pried open one of the boxes, releasing another cloud of aged air. “Oh man, check this out.”

They gathered around, shining their lights into the box to reveal a bunch of straw packaging nestling a few bottles. They were a deep mahogany and held black labels with hand drawn info in white chalk. “Duuude.” Jack’s eyes opened with delight as he pulled one out and read it.
“This is like, a hundred year old bourbon. Still sealed and everything.”
“Gross.” Said Ben.
“No man...this stuff only gets better with age.” He cracked it open and took a whiff.
“You’re not planning on drinking that, right?” Lee said nervously.
Jack merely smirked, winked, and took a swig. “Ohhhh god that’s good. Here.” He offered it around but there were no takers. “Really? Come on this is like a once in a lifetime chance.”
He took another swig and showed just as much pleasure as before, “Normally something like this would cost a couple grand! Hell we could even take a few of these with us and make serious bank!”
Lee declined, Rosie crumpled her nose, and while Ben seemed intrigued, he glanced over but her eyes told him don’t do it. So he too was out. Jack was left looking at Prudence with a smile.
“What’ll it be Prudie? Wanna take a sip of the devil’s milk?”
She actually did, but let a little hesitation leak out for appearance. “Why not, hand it over.”
“Yay!”
“If nothing else to keep you from drinking alone, that’s just depressing- even if it is fine whiskey.”

She grabbed the bottle, looked over the label, took a breath and knocked it back. “OH wow.”
Looking at Jack with the same wonder as he looked at her with she said, “You weren’t kidding. This is so freaking smooth. No burn, no aftertaste, just pure unadulterated booze.” She took another sip and handed it back.
Lee found something else and said, “Hey guys, check this out.” Which was soon becoming the catch phrase of this excursion. He held up a deck of old playing cards. “Cool.” The consensus.
“Man, they’re nothing like the ones we have. Check out this Ace. Oh man and these face cards!”
Ben smiled with delight, “Wanna play the game?” Lee returned the look of joy. Rosie whined.
“I thought we were done with that for now...”
“At the coffee shop maybe, but this is like, a whole new arena!” Ben was ecstatic.
“There’s only one deck, we can’t all play with just one deck.” Prudence pointed out.
“I’m out, I’d rather check out these notebooks.” Rosie declined.
“Me too, I’m gonna rest these feet and enjoy this ambrosia.” Jack took a seat on the box.
“You know what, that sounds like a good plan.” Prudence popped down next to him and took a swig. Lee and Ben looked at each other with giddiness.
“Hey guys, I think I found something that’ll help.” Jack held up an oil lantern, shaking it to find it still had fluids. He pulled out his lighter and lit the wick inside casting a golden glow throughout. They could finally turn off their flashlights.
Lee and Ben returned to their giddiness.
“Down?”
“So down.”
“Let’s do this.”

They pulled out three boxes, one for each of their seats and one for their table. The ground was coated with a layer of dust so thick that even dragging their finger across wouldn’t reveal the concrete underneath; there was no way they were about to sit on it.




They were in that room for well over an hour, bringing their one to two hour journey well into its fourth. None of them minded, or even really noticed, they were all too busy enjoying themselves. Lee and Ben played game after game seeming to even out the score every time. Rosie dove into the journals and was fiercely reading; absorbing the history like a sponge. Jack and Prudence sat on that box, closer than they had been in a long time, chatting, drinking, and commenting on the game before them. Prudence had lightened up considerably; though a century old bottle of whiskey will do that to nearly anyone.
She giggled after another swig, the softly said to him, “It’s kinda like our first date.”
He laughed, “Except we’re not pounding peach schnapps and Jägermeister.”
She kept giggling as she leaned into him. “True, and Mackenzie isn’t here to give us dirty looks.”
He smirked at her, “So does this mean you wanna fool around?”
“Oh god, please don’t.” Cried Lee.
“Yeah take it somewhere else. Lord knows there’s plenty of beds around.” Ben laughed.
Prudence blushed hard, not saying yes but not saying no either. “Stooop.” She pushed him.
“Hey, ya can’t blame a fella’ for askin’ right?”

Rosie broke the mood, “So I figured out where that blood came from…”
“Oh yeah?” Lee was curious. Ben was nervously holding his breath.

Without pulling her eyes from the page, “Yeah it turns out there were three of them, partners. Though one happened to be undercover, waiting for the right time to bust them. The other two figured this out...or maybe they just assumed he was. Either way they took him to that room and shot him six times, which would explain the splatters and they left him to bleed out, which would explain the handprints.”

“Damn…” Ben whispered.

“So crime pays, but being a narc sure as shit don’t” Jack joked and drank. Prudence laughed wildly at this and then tried to take the bottle back but he held onto it, taking another sip. “Nooo.”

She whined causing Lee to look at her with uncomfort. He knew how she got when she drank and he certainly didn’t want to see her being frisky with him; not after they had both sworn each other off as no good for themselves. It hurt his heart every time.

“C’mon guys, don’t you think it’s time to put that down?” He asked, Ben agreed.
“Yeah, y’all don’t want to get sloppy now.”
“But sloppy is fun!” Jack whined. Prudence agreed, “Yeah!”
“Don’t be a wet blanket man.” He added.
“I’m just saying, eventually we’re gonna have a long uphill trek back, are you sure you wanna be stumbling through the dark?” Ben threw down a card forcing the pile into Lee’s hand. “Damnit!”

Rosie chimed in with “Not to mention you’re driving later…”
“I’ll be fiiiine. We’re not leaving now are we?”
“Well, no. Not right now.” Rosie was almost finished with the book and probably would become bored after that. It had been quite the adventure for her so she wouldn’t mind heading back.
“Plus I’ll have plenty of time to sober up on the walk.” She added.
“Still,” Ben said as the voice of reason, “maybe you should ease up on that.”
Lee added, “Yeah guys, you’re nearly halfway through that thing. Maybe it’s time to stop.”

Jack held it up to the light, “Oh yeah…” but then took a defiant sip anyways and passed it. Prudence did the same and told Lee, “Don’t be such a square. It’s just a little fun. Relax.”
Rosie almost gave up trying to convince her, Prudence wouldn’t budge and she knew this.
“Well at least get some food in your stomachs. Here.” She pulled out two granola bars and tossed them, both of them missed laughably; Jack even got hit in the face which made Prudence laugh and the rest of them smile. She took a bite and lit up with delight.

“Oh Rosie I love you.”
“I love you too Prudie, now please...enough, yeah?”
She mulled it over taking another bite but yielded. “Fiiiine.”
Jack took one last swig, a rather large one, capped the bottle and set it on the ground.
“Lame asses.” Realizing his boredom was coming up quickly, “Well lemme in on the game then.”

“No way dude, we’re on a roll.”
“Yeah this is a duel to the death.”
“Your death.”
“Pfft. As if, you should see the hell I’m about to rain down on you.”

Prudence leaned over, about to whisper something seductively into his ear, but Jack stood up instead so he missed it. His head was light and the sudden rush of altitude had him carefully balancing himself, though no one noticed. Prudence bit her lip, having missed her chance and instead just watched as he walked around the room.
He was looking for something, even though he wasn’t quite sure what yet, he just had a feeling he would recognize it when he found it. He wandered around for five minutes with scanning eyes, trying to see if there was anything here that he missed. Rosie was still buried in the notebook, the boys in their game, and Prudence in her granola bar. Nobody was paying attention as he got down on all fours and began to crawl under the bed. However they did notice when he returned and Lee promptly uttered with concern, “Dude...what are you doing with that?” They all looked at him.

He stood brushing the dust off a turn of the century sledgehammer. All smiles. “I have an idea.”

“Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s a good one.” Ben shared the concern that was spreading to all of them except Prudence; she looked at him with a sense of reverence- even though deep down she was kicking herself for those feelings.

“Relax…I got this.” He strode past them to the brick wall and without hesitation swung the steel into the stone, filling the room with a loud and echoing bang.

“DUDE!”

He swung again, the noise ringing loudly through that room, pieces of brick began to shatter and tumble inwards. “I wanna see what’s behind this wall.” He swung again knocking a clear hole towards the top. “Gimme a light.” He put out his hand expectantly though without taking his eye off the prize. Nobody moved, but eventually Prudence stumbled upwards and held out his flashlight. “Thanks babe.” He said it before realizing it, but it was already out so they moved on.

“There’s definitely something back there, I can’t tell but it looks like more stairs.” His light flickered out again, he smacked it a few times and brought it back.
“Who cares man, we should probably wrap this up anyways.” Ben said, taking the pile of cards.
“I wanna see!” Prudence whined, and then giddily shouted “ADVENTURE!”
“It doesn’t matter man, we’re out voting you.” Ben said but then was forced to turn from the cards when Rosie spoke, 

“Actually, I kinda wanna see what’s back there too.” She looked a little embarrassed but turned it into hopeful expectation.
“Al-right Roswell! That’s the spirit!” He took another swing knocking the hole into a larger one.
Lee and Ben looked at each other with the same disturbed concern. The drunks were leading the way and their only hope to sway them wanted to tag along.
“Well, y’all have fun.” Ben said, “We’ll stay here and finish our game.”
“No way dude. Majority rules. You know how it’s done. We all go down together.”
“Yeah!” Prudence hiccuped.
“You wanna go farther down? It’s already going to be a hassle to get back up.” Lee cried.
“Reeelaax.” Prudence waved at him, “If anything, we’ll just find one of those manholes to climb up, we’ll be in town and I can always go get my car later.”
Jack took a few more swings, crumbling the wall before them. It wasn’t long before it was nothing but rubble at the top of the stairs. “Hand me that lantern Rose.” She did taking the light off their game. “Hey!”

“Well unless you wanna sit here in the dark, I’d say you drop your cards and move your arse.”

He smiled, the three willing standing by his side, Rosie trying to urge Ben to join and Prudence doing the same to Lee. They were powerless to resist their women’s excitement. They threw down the cards, looked at each other and sighed.


“Let’s do this.”

⤝  ⛛ ⤞