The sun had begun to rise, casting a soft golden hue across the blood soaked earth. It had already been a few hours since the chaos erupted. Slim River was no longer just a fortified line; it had become another graveyard in the making. The jungle roared with gunfire, the air was thick with smoke and ash, and the stench of burning flesh danced with the morning breeze.
Aman and Mei Lian lay silently in the underbrush, their breath low, eyes fixed on the hell unraveling before them. But this time was different.
They weren't watching from a distance anymore.
They had chosen to come here.
To be close. To feel it.
Why?
Even they couldn't answer. Maybe it was madness. Maybe curiosity. Maybe something darker had taken root in them since Jitra and Kampar. They should be afraid. Disgusted. Horrified.
But they weren't.
Aman had chuckled earlier, muttering, "Kill... kill each other more. That's what you all want, right?" His grin was small, crooked, not one of joy but of something twisted by fire and blood.
Mei Lian didn't respond. Her face was pale, her lips tight. Part of her wanted to pull Aman back, to tell him they were losing something they wouldn't get back. But another part? Another part kept watching with him.
The British defense had already been punctured. The Japanese were in full force now relentless, cold, efficient. Aman watched through his binoculars as Japanese soldiers beheaded captured British troops, throwing the severed heads into the trenches like trophies. Screams echoed across the battlefield. Blood sprayed in chaotic arcs. Discipline was gone. This was slaughter.
And still, Aman watched. Mei Lian, beside him, trembled.
"Let's go inside," Aman whispered.
"What?" Mei Lian blinked. "Inside? Are you crazy?"
He turned to her. "We'll pretend we were captured. Escaped. They'll believe it. We look like kids. We are kids."
"And if they shoot us?"
"They won't. You just have to act... scared. Really scared."
Mei Lian hesitated, heart pounding. But she looked into Aman's eyes and saw not madness not fully. Just a sharp, desperate clarity. He wasn't going to stop. And maybe, maybe she didn't want to either.
They moved quickly through the shadows, slipping between bodies, hiding when patrols passed. When they reached a crumbling edge of the British line, Aman pulled Mei Lian into view.
British soldiers raised their rifles immediately.
"Hands up! Who the hell are you?!"
Mei Lian dropped to her knees, her voice trembling, tears rolling instantly from her eyes. "We escaped! The Japanese had us! They killed my family! Please don't shoot!"
Aman, face dirty and blank, just looked at the men with a hollow stare. He didn't need to act much.
The soldiers, already rattled from the morning onslaught, didn't argue. One of them muttered, "Bloody hell, kids... get inside. Quickly."
And just like that, they were in.
They were inside British lines, slipping past the chaos, moving like ghosts. Nobody questioned them again. The line was too busy dying.
But they weren't here to help. They were here to take.
In the supply tent, they moved quickly. Rations, morphine, boots, ammunition pouches. Anything that could be traded, carried, or used.
"You think we're sick?" Mei Lian asked suddenly, clutching a sack of stolen goods.
Aman laughed softly. "Of course we are."
She nodded slowly, as if she needed to hear him say it.
They sat for a moment, hidden behind a stack of crates, the sounds of war echoing around them. The tent shook from distant blasts. Screams pierced the morning air. The world was ending again.
And yet, they were laughing.
Something in them was broken. Or maybe something had been awakened.
"This is normal now," Mei Lian whispered. "Isn't it?"
Aman shrugged. "More normal than peace, I think."
Then, a voice.
Low. Familiar.
Aman froze.
"You two really are cockroaches."
He turned his head slowly.
There, half in shadow, stood Carter.
Bandaged, burned, missing his left eye.
His uniform was torn, his face a ruin. But he smiled. The kind of smile that didn't reach the eye he had left.
"How the hell are you still alive?" Aman muttered.
"That's rich coming from you. Thought you two were done back in Kampar. Looks like rats find their way out of any trap."
Mei Lian backed up slightly, her grip tightening on a wrench she had picked up earlier.
Carter raised his hands. "Relax. I'm not here to kill you. Not yet."
"What do you want?" Aman asked, standing slowly.
Carter laughed bitterly. "Same thing everyone wants. To survive. Maybe make a few bastards bleed along the way."
He limped closer. "You know, you two look like you're enjoying this war a little too much."
Aman didn't deny it.
"You think this is a game, Aman?" Carter growled. "It's not. It's a pit. And every time you crawl out, you're less human than when you fell in."
Mei Lian stepped forward. "Why are you telling us this?"
Carter looked at her for a long moment. "Because you remind me of myself. A long time ago. Before I lost everything. Before I stopped pretending to care."
He turned to leave, limping toward the tent flap.
"You keep watching," he said over his shoulder. "Keep laughing. But one day... the war's going to stare back. And it won't blink."
Carter show his left eye "now we even .... Bloody hell i survived that shot in the neck well i somehow not take that as reason for revenge... Now i have something else more important to do"
Then he was gone.
Silence filled the space he left behind.
Mei Lian sank to the ground. Aman stood still.
"He's right, you know," she said finally.
"I know," Aman replied.
They sat together in the supply tent, surrounded by stolen goods and the muffled thunder of death.
And for the first time in days, neither of them laughed.
Should they care... They really are the one who enjoying here
Aman still had purposes at least get to his little siblings in Singapore alive or not, He don't know
But Mei Lian different she got nothing to lose probably that why she turn like this
"Mei" Aman call her
"Yes?" Mei replied the call
"Maybe"
"Yeah?"
"Nevermind"
"Okay"
.... They both wonder how Carter alive..... Meaning
Mei Lian look at her hand... Her hand not fully dirty... She not a killer