Reconsolidation

Zeroc was in a good enough mood to let Coyote and me have our private chat while he waited on the ground floor. I was once again in Coyote’s room, sitting next to her on the bed. Her side profile really made her look like a young boy.

“What do you want to talk to me about?” I broke the awkward silence with a question.

Coyote had avoided eye contact since I had come back, adding to the uncomfortable atmosphere. She whispered, “When would Lyla be back?”

Great. I got to experience the feelings of a divorced parent. From Coyote’s interlocked hands and fidgeting fingers, I could tell speaking up took all her courage, so I was obligated to at least give her an answer.

“Lyla went to a faraway place, but she is now happy with her new life on a farm.”

Wait. What was I saying? In my frantic grasp for a response, I borrowed a common lie that parents would use to protect their children from the harsh reality.

“Is… is she dead?” The lie was less effective than I thought. Watching Coyote’s tearful eyes, I threw away my pride and came clean.

“No. No. I promise, but I don’t know where she is. She left with her family, so she should be back at her home now.”

Coyote nodded and wiped her eyes. Then, she clenched her fist and put on a brave face. Her eyes finally met mine. “There are secret tunnels under the city.”

That wasn’t quite what I expected her to say; to think that she kept this to herself for so long. Still, I couldn’t be angry at her, because I saw her hands trembling as she spoke. The trauma she went through must have led her to keep to herself. One day, maybe she could tell us about that too. For now, telling me this secret was a huge step forward.

“I’m glad that you trust me enough to tell me this. Thank you.” My true feelings flowed out without much thought. It was a first-hand experience, letting me fully understand what the social psychology theories meant when they said that disclosure builds trust. I wouldn’t mind if right now her thoughts linked with mine, when her pain would become my pain. I only wished the psychic link wouldn’t intrude on her privacy, so her inner world could still be wholly hers.

I took her hand and put it on my forehead. Coyote chuckled, and with that, the cloud in her heart seemingly cleared. She still had information that could be useful in solving the city’s problems, but I wanted her to feel comfortable sharing it.

“Coyote. If you feel safe to do so, can you tell me more details of what happened?”

Coyote retracted her hand and clutched her chest. “I snuck into one of those food houses one morning. We aren’t allowed to get into the basement, but that day, no one was watching, so I got curious and went down. And I saw a man wearing armor and other men in normal clothes carrying out boxes of food from a secret passage. They saw me and started chasing. I escaped onto the roof of the buildings and leaped over the backstreets, but then I slipped and ended up on the platform where you found me four days later. I was too scared to ask for help. At least I had a water bottle on me.” That must have been horrible for a young girl to go through. Besides the sympathy I felt, one detail in her story stood out to me.

“The man wearing armor? Do you mean a soldier?”

Coyote nodded to confirm my suspicion. This was a dangerous development that I had to discuss with Zeroc soon after. My instincts told me that Zeroc already knew, and maybe even found the traitor, but it would be better to double-check with him.

“Any other details you can tell me?”

“Sometimes they give out extra supplies to people who stay on the streets and to informants. Not just food, but sometimes clothes, and even money. Don’t trust anyone.”

“What’s the point of giving them money if they will just lose it? Isn’t the city cursed?”

“I don’t know”

I bolted downstairs to relay the information to Zeroc, who was snacking on dried apple chips. He seemed to have expected a traitor, but the part about the secret passage was news to him, so he rushed out to gather the soldiers.

…

It was the first time Coyote had gone out of the store since we met. She disguised herself as a boy once again to make herself feel safer (whereas in the shop, she sometimes wore the skirts and dresses that she found lying about), and she took every step with caution. With the directions from Coyote, the commander, whose name I learned was Kieran, led the soldiers to a building in the back streets. It was three blocks away from the food-distributing place we raided last time.

The procedure was similar, with the soldiers rushing in to secure the interior and the basement first. Werly even got assigned to door duty again. The soldiers quickly took control of the whole place, and they chased out the citizens who were collecting their ration of food. Once the building was clear, Zeroc escorted Coyote and me down to the basement.

This time, Zeroc didn’t force me to take a leap of faith again. He had the same worried expression that I had only caught a glimpse of before. “I have a bad feeling about this,” he said. I swallowed a mouthful of saliva that had been building up since I had stepped into the building.

The basement had some boxes stacked in the corner. The people in charge of the operation were nowhere to be seen. Maybe they slipped out with the other citizens.

Zeroc cleared away the boxes upon Coyote’s request. I could faintly see traces of a small button that had become visible. Zeroc cautiously pressed it. After a deep rumble, a passage opened up in the wall.

“I have to check later if the other place also has this,” Zeroc murmured. He glanced at the soldiers standing guard. His thoughts were obvious to me: the spy among the soldiers must have been keeping the button secret.

Kieran and the soldiers went ahead first into the secret passage with lanterns in hand, their boots echoing in the cramped space. Zeroc kept his distance behind the group, staying close to Coyote and me. I noticed that Werly wasn’t present.

“Kieran told me he doesn’t trust that soldier. I get it. That guy is always hiding inside a suit of armor. Hard to trust someone like that,” Zeroc said after I raised the question. Could Werly be the spy? But he was so old… Wait, I had never seen his face, and I never asked him his age. How did I get to the conclusion that he was old? My memories didn’t offer me any answers. Werly mentioned he hadn’t been sleeping. Then what could he be doing at night?

As my mind raced for a conclusion, Zeroc continued thinking out loud: “We are getting close to the center of their operation. That rat might not act openly, but with more pressure closing in, he will be bound to make mistakes.”

The deeper parts of the passage had slithering air brushing past us from time to time. There had to be a ventilation system built in. Just who built this place? How did they achieve this right under the noses of the city officials?

Next came a descent down stairs leading to an even lower area, and we stumbled into an open space. A sun-like orb, the size of a helicopter, floated in the center, illuminating the entire den. Crates were scattered around in a disorganized mess. The scent of fruits lingered, and it melted away my uneasiness.

The relaxation only lasted for a moment, because I spotted something in the distance that caused me to tense up again. It was a figure sitting with legs crossed on a crate. I recognized her. She was the woman I had met on the street. The person I felt a sense of kinship with. She was wearing another short dress with no sleeves. Her skin was clear of ink, so she must have washed away what she had written.

She noticed our arrival. Her azure lips curved into a smile. “Give me a second here,” she said. Lacking a sense of urgency, she picked up a pile of paper from another crate and sorted through it.

Zeroc leaped into action. He charged at the woman with superhuman speed. The woman didn’t react. Instead, Kieran drew his sword and swung it at Zeroc. Zeroc caught it with his bare hand. The blade grazed his skin, blood trickling out of the wound, and amazingly, the sword didn’t slice his palm in half.

“What do you think you are doing?” Kieran said.

“I’m catching the mastermind. That’s what.”

“She could be a victim.”

Zeroc glared at Kieran. “I don’t care. And the next time you attack me, I’ll break your bones in self-defense.” That sounded like more than self-defense. But I didn’t have the brainpower to worry about justified force. My mind swirled, searching for an explanation to connect all the information I had, and above all, to predict what this woman was planning to do next. She was surrounded by soldiers, yet she exhibited no intention of escaping or fighting.

“Approach her slowly and carefully. This could be a trap.” Kieran said. He slid his sword back into the sheath with a soft clink.

Zeroc let out a frustrated groan. He slowed down his approach to the woman, taking each step with care. The woman ignored Zeroc, immersed in her documents. She picked one sheet of paper out.

“Here it is. Hello, my name is Res. I will be your guide today to a new age. Forget what you think you know, and what you think will happen. Open your eyes to what you see now. This moment alone is real.”