5 January 1942 – Slim River
By the time Aman and Mei Lian reached the outskirts of Slim River, the sun was already dipping low behind the thick canopy of the Malayan jungle. They stood silently atop a hill, the dense brush parting just enough to give them a view of the British defensive position below. Sandbags, trenches, and rusted barbed wire marked the landscape an attempt at fortification, but in Aman's eyes, it looked less like a stronghold and more like a desperate barricade.
"The Brits actually prepared this place, huh?" Aman muttered, squinting as he adjusted the stolen binoculars.
Mei Lian didn't answer. She stood close to him, arms wrapped around herself, eyes scanning the distant figures in khaki uniforms. Her silence wasn't unusual these days it was becoming her default state. After everything they'd seen, what else could she say?
Aman lowered the binoculars, exhaling through his nose. "You think if we walk in there, they'd be suspicious? I mean… we're just kids. You're what, twelve? You look small. Weak. Maybe they'll assume we're harmless."
"Or maybe they won't," Mei Lian said quietly.
The thought hung in the air. They didn't need to say it aloud. Carter still haunted them. The stench of his breath, his hollow smile, and the madness in his voice the kind of madness that lingered in places long after the man himself had disappeared.
"What if... what if we meet another Carter here?" Mei Lian's voice trembled slightly, her concern barely masked.
Aman forced a smile, though it lacked warmth. "Yeah... I nearly forgot about that. If there's another nutcase like Carter here... I might actually start missing Henry more than I should."
They both went quiet, gazing down at the British lines. The soldiers looked tired. Some stood idly, some cleaned rifles, others just stared into the trees like they were waiting for ghosts. Aman wondered if they were already seeing them ghosts of friends lost at Jitra, Kampar... Kampar nevermind that pure everyone was mad or even further north.
"This place…" he muttered, "feels cursed. Like it's just waiting for something to go wrong."
It was jungle all around them thick, hot, and humming with insects. The kind of oppressive heat that felt like it melted into your bones, refusing to let go. Somewhere nearby, a village lay nestled against the trees. Smoke from cooking fires curled upward into the sky.
"I need food," Aman said suddenly. "I don't care if we have to rob someone. I'm done pretending we're above that now."
Mei Lian just nodded. She hadn't spoken much about hunger these past few days, but he could see it on her face hollow cheeks, pale skin, that constant distant look in her eyes. Starvation didn't always scream. Sometimes it just whispered and waited.
They made their way down from the hill cautiously, sticking close to the undergrowth. Aman could see the villagers in the distance some were cooking, others tending to livestock. And nearby, a group of Japanese soldiers stood in polite formation, trying their best to look non threatening. Smiles on their faces, arms folded behind their backs, they looked like visiting bureaucrats instead of invaders. But Aman wasn't fooled.
"They need collaborators," he said flatly. "Trying to win hearts and minds before the next offensive."
He could probably get by. His features were ambiguous enough. But Mei Lian? They'd probably drag her out and beat her before she got a word in.
They didn't approach the village. It wasn't worth the risk.
Everywhere they went, something terrible followed. It was like the war left footprints bloody ones and they just kept stepping into them. Jitra, Kampar… and now Slim River. Always marching forward, always pretending they had somewhere better to go.
Sighing, Aman leaned against a tree and rubbed his face. "Sometimes I wonder what's happening to the people already living under occupation," he said quietly. "Like... are they okay? Or is everything we're seeing just the surface?"
Mei Lian sat down beside him, curling her knees to her chest. "We won't know. Not unless we survive this."
Survival. It had become such a loaded word. It no longer meant just staying alive. It meant staying human. Staying sane. Staying together.
"Remember that officer?" Aman whispered after a while.
"Huh?"
"That Japanese one. The Kodoha guy. Thought we might run into him again here."
Mei Lian didn't respond. Aman wasn't even sure why he brought it up. Part of him wanted to see that man again. Maybe for answers. Maybe just to prove to himself that not all monsters wore the same uniform.
By the time the sky turned a deep orange, they knew they couldn't keep walking. Not in the dark. Not with both sides British and Japanese ready to tear each other apart at dawn.
"We'll sleep here," Aman said. "Wake up early. Leave before it starts."
The "it" didn't need to be explained. It always started the same way distant gunfire, then shouting, then chaos. And after that, silence. And bodies.
All that mattered now was getting away. Just far enough to not hear the screams.
Aman stared up at the sky, watching the stars begin to poke through the dusk.
"After Singapore... I'll find my siblings. Get out of this place. Leave it all behind."
His voice was steady, but his hands trembled slightly as he spoke.
The British Empire… that so called indestructible force, the one they'd grown up hearing about the empire on which the sun never sets. What a joke that was now. The jungle didn't care about empires. Bullets didn't care about flags. And hungry children didn't care about national pride.
"To be blown away by an Asian power," Aman said quietly, "they must never have expected that."
"But in the end," he added, almost to himself, "everyone just dies, right?"
Mei Lian didn't argue. She lay down on the forest floor beside him, her eyes wide open, staring into the canopy.
No birds chirped. No wind blew. Just the endless buzzing of insects, and the low, humming dread of another morning waiting to bleed.
They didn't cry. Not anymore. They just listened to the quiet, to the breath of the jungle, to the war that never seemed to end.
Tomorrow would come.
But tonight, they were still alive.
And that was enough.
For now.