CHAPTER 09: The Old Dump

Last week on APOCALYPSE ROCK, Doug met a founder of the new age retreat that recently opened on Mount Costo. THIS WEEK: Doug’s friend July has been doing ‘research’ in the woods near the retreat, and there’s secrets buried up there, she’s sure of it.

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THE RAIN HAD EASED INTO AN IRRITATING DRIZZLE, AND THE SKY HAD TURNED A BLAND HOVERING GREY THAT CLUNG TO THE HILLS ABOVE STERNUM VILLAGE.

Doug gathered his things from the car, and walked up the gravel lane toward his office. July’s cabin looked dark. He checked his phone to see if she had responded to his message, but nothing.

“Shit,” he muttered into the trees, digging through his jacket pockets for the small cylinder. He turned back toward his car.

Doug rummaged through the glove compartment. Bits of string, some cloths and a bouquet of rubber bands, a flashlight, old batteries, a box of matches, Doug’s dog-eared business cards, a crumpled nautical map, and two emergency flares bumped around.

But no little cylinder.

In his mind’s eye Doug could see it gleaming in the junk. He searched around the footwell and under the passenger seat. Under the driver’s seat, and then the back seats. But still nothing. He checked the trunk, with the same result. He emptied the copious contents of the glove compartment onto the passenger seat and sifted through it all, like panning for gold. But the cylinder was nowhere.

“Dougy! Is your hand okay?”

He jumped. It was July standing behind him. She was wearing a heavy rain jacket, a pair of large, muddy hiking boots on her feet. She clasped Dora’s see-through umbrella, her head ensconced in the deep dome, bright eyes peering at Doug through the plastic.

“Hey… July…” Doug raised his right hand.

“Ah, Damn it. I’m so sorry, Doug. I really don’t know what to say.”

The bandana was now filthy, its delicate textile beginning to fray. “It’s okay. Just a small nip. I’m gonna clean it properly when I get to the office.”

“You should go see Dr Hubble,” July replied. “It’s bad enough Ramses bit you. I’d hate to see it get infected.”

Doug nodded, “It’s no problem, July. I was gonna get Hubble to look at it anyway. You had any luck finding Ramses?”

“No. No luck. I just swept the village for him,” said July, dejectedly. “Sorry about not getting back to your message. I was out of range. It was urgent that I finished my research today. Anyway, I’ll give it until the end of the day. If he’s not back, then I’ll start worrying. But I really don’t know what’s got into him!”

July peered past Doug. “You cleaning up?” she asked.

Doug sighed. “Nope. I’m looking for that little cylinder thing. I lost it.”

“Ah,” July tilted her umbrella back and poked her head out. “Boy in the woods got it, eh?”

Doug laughed, “Wow, I haven’t heard that one in ages. Yeah, well, maybe another kid got loose from Leek Point and decided to do the most specific car burglary in history,” joked Doug.

July raised an eyebrow, “This is less a car than it is a black hole, Dougy!”

Doug laughed.

“Isn’t it interesting how this little cylinder specializes in getting lost?” July continued. “It had to be lost by someone else for you to have found it. And I lost it a couple times this morning. And now?”

“The only thing I can think of is a couple hitchhikers from this morning,” Doug replied. “I gave one of them my business card, and opened the glove compartment to get it. Could’ve fallen out then. But it would have to be on the car floor somewhere if that happened.”

“Or else one of the hitchhikers stole it. I mean, you could probably drive across the island with your eyes closed, Dougy. But dammit if you ever take them off the road, you’re so careful! You wouldn’t notice an elephant sitting next to you!” July winked.

“Well, both of them were from that retreat,” Doug explained.

“Ah-ha!” July jumped, “now we’re talkin! This is directly related to my research. What were they like?”

“Not really the stealing type,” replied Doug. “I mean, they were a bit odd, definitely new agey, but I wouldn’t guess they’d do something like that.”

“You just can’t tell with people. But, Sherlock, let’s follow a process of elimination,” July stuck her pinky finger up in the air, “One: you blacked out and only dreamed that you put the cylinder thing in the glove compartment. But in reality it is somewhere else: back in your office, lost along the road, whatever. Maybe you’ll find it. Maybe not.” She raised another finger, “Two: it somehow fell out of the glove compartment, and unbeknownst to all present dropped into the pocket of one of the hitchhikers. Then they wandered off with it.” Her third finger shot up, “Or three: one of them stole it. Whether for kicks or some other reason that we cannot, as yet, or potentially ever, ascertain.” July stared intensely out from her umbrella, her three fingers now pointing at Doug.

“If it was stolen it couldn’t have been the first guy. I saw it in the glove compartment when I gave him my card. It was definitely still in there,” said Doug.

“What was he like?” July asked.

“He was a bit younger, I’d guess in his late twenties. Looked trendy but outdoorsy, if you know what I mean. He gave me this,” Doug handed Shining Wind’s business card to July.

July gave it a grave look. “Well, Mr Shining Wind, you’re not exactly suspect number one… yet. What about the second one?”

“If we think it was stolen, then it’d have to be Marcus who did it,” Doug replied. “She was the only one who might have had a chance to take it. But then, I would’ve had to be so focused on the road that I wasn’t aware of anything else. But we chatted the entire journey. I would have seen her do that”

“Her?” asked July.

“Yeah, she inherited her name from one of the retreat’s founders after they died. Her name’s Elisabeth…”

“Right. Marcus. Presents as a she. Birth name, Elisabeth. Check,” July’s glare pierced through the warped plastic of the umbrella. “What kind of vibe did she have?”

“Friendly. I mean, she’s a bit odd. The first guy had a similar vibe, but more like a salesman.”

“I wonder what they really get up to on the mountain?” July drifted a bit, “No one even knows how many people are living there. There could be hundreds of them. Even thousands.”

“Marcus did ask me to look at their internet tomorrow. So I guess I might see what it’s like.”

“Right,” July continued, “From a distance, it looks like a military installation, or goddamn prison. But it’s big. And they’re making it bigger.”

“You’ve been up there?” Doug asked.

“Research,” July said in a hush then smiled and winked, putting a finger to her lips. “I climbed Arbiter’s Perch last week. Then made a detour on my way down. If you do it right, you can see the plateau clearly.”

Doug smiled, “Secret ops again?”

“Just you wait until the town hall meeting tonight,” July whispered. Her eyes narrowed. “You remember the old dump?”

“Yeah,” Doug whispered back.

“And how a landslide blocked it off in the 80s?”

“Yeah.”

“What if told you that there was a hidden trail leading up there? And, what if I told you that to access that trial you had to come up the steep incline from Leek Point?”

“Okay?” Doug nodded. “I’d say… and?”

“And what if I told you that this hidden trial is quite busy these days?”

“Okay… I guess I’d ask you who was using it?”

“Exactly.”

“So you’ve seen people using it?”

July nodded. “Then you’d have to ask me why they’re using it.”

“Okay So who’s doing what at the old dump? And why?”

July put a finger to her lips again. “It’s about who buries what in the old dump. But I can’t say more. Not until I’ve got the story right. Gotta get all the words in the right order, as they say.”

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