Aman looked at Mei Lian, his expression unreadable and cold. His eyes, hollow and deadened from everything he had been through, scanned her face as he stepped closer.
Melati noticed the tension and instinctively stepped forward, ready to warn the girl. There was still time to say something. That Chinese girl Mei Lian, was it? She remembers Aman call her name. looked far too young, and Melati knew Aman was dangerous. Unpredictable.
Aman finally spoke, his voice low and hard. "You escaped?"
Mei Lian's eyes narrowed for a moment, scanning Aman for signs of a trick or lie. But then, all at once, their guards dropped. She rushed into his arms.
"Yes! I didn't stay with that Japanese major. After he sent you here, he told me we lost contact that you'd probably run off and abandoned me... Thank God I was wrong!"
Aman's lips curved into a rare smile. "I'm glad you made it. Carter was here. Probably gone now. He captured me."
Mei Lian blinked in surprise. "What?! Carter was here? Where?"
"I said he's gone. But someone else... someone worse was involved. The bastard who got me caught."
Mei Lian stepped back slightly. "Who?"
"Rahman. He works for the British."
Her face fell. "Rahman... I think I heard his name. Wait does he drive a Ford Prefect?"
Aman nodded once.
"Oh no... He's probably long gone. I saw him prepping to leave earlier. Damn it."
"It doesn't matter now," Aman muttered, fists clenched. It felt like a coincidence too painful to ignore, but there wasn't time to dwell on it.
Mei Lian glanced behind Aman and noticed Melati watching them.
"Who's that?"
"Found her in the same prison. She helped a bit."
Melati silently studied Mei Lian. She looked young. Too young. Melati had just learned Aman was only fourteen. That meant this girl was probably the same age or younger. But the weapons she carried a rifle under a cloth and a pistol tucked into her side made her presence unsettling.
Aman turned toward the smoldering wreckage of the earlier explosion. The smoke still lingered. Scorched bodies lay scattered.
One figure caught his eye.
A boy knelt in front of what remained of a body. Aman walked closer and recognized him. It was Latif, still frozen in grief beside his dead mother.
Without saying a word, Aman knelt down and gently patted the boy's head. Then he hugged him.
Latif didn't react at first. But he leaned into Aman's embrace, trembling.
Aman picked him up. The boy was light, smaller than expected. "Let's get out of here," he said quietly.
Mei Lian stared at Aman, confused by the tenderness in his actions. She'd just met Latif, knew almost nothing about him. Yet Aman acted like he had known the boy forever. Still, she held back her questions. Now wasn't the time.
Melati followed the group in silence, observing the strange dynamic. How could they all be so comfortable with Aman? Did they not know what he was capable of? Or perhaps... they did, and accepted it.
Maybe one of them knew who Aman really was. Maybe the other didn't.
...
They moved quietly through the rubble strewn streets of Kuala Lumpur, careful not to draw attention.
"They'll enter Kuala Lumpur tomorrow," Mei Lian warned.
"Then we leave today," Aman said firmly and he loom around some place being bomb not by Japan army, not from foreign threat but by British itself they give up and rather blew it off than gave it to Japan.
Latif clung to Aman until suddenly, he started coughing violently. His body shook as he struggled to breathe.
Aman stopped and quickly checked Latif's pockets, finding a small inhaler. He helped the boy use it, holding him steady.
"You good?" Aman asked.
Latif nodded weakly. "Yeah... my mo"
"Don't think about that now, okay?" Aman interrupted, voice soft. "You're with me now. We need to make sure you stay breathing. About your medicine how much do you have left?"
"Just this one."
"Then we need to find more. Soon."
Melati watched this exchange, her thoughts racing. After a moment, she spoke up.
"Actually... who are you people?"
Mei Lian turned toward her. "That's a fair question. Aman? You want to explain... all this?"
Latif, now recovered, looked up. "Yeah, who are you two girls?"
For a while, Aman said nothing. But eventually, he sat down beside a crumbling wall and started to talk.
He explained how he met Latif in a village, helping him fight off bullies while traveling trying get to Kuala Lumpur. How he met Rahman, not knowing he was a traitor, and how Rahman's betrayal led to Aman's capture. How the British turned on him. How he was tortured and then forced to work for the Japanese. How Mei Lian had been sent away by the Major, and how Melati had been a prisoner in the cell next to his.
Mei Lian snorted when he mentioned helping Latif. "That was noble of you. Didn't think you had that in you."
"I surprise people," Aman replied with a faint smirk.
Latif, now sitting beside him, looked at Aman with admiration. "You walked all the way from up north? With Mei Lian? Then got caught? Then escaped? That's... that's amazing!"
He pointed at Melati. "And you met her in prison? Next cell? You helped each other?"
Melati gave a half nod. "Yeah. He's kind of... messed up. But I guess we kept each other alive."
She looked at Latif and shook her head. "You're kind of special, huh? Innocent. And you ended up with someone like him?"
Latif shrugged. "He saved me."
The explanation took time, but eventually, everyone understood the full picture.
"So... we're all together now, right?" Aman asked, standing again.
Everyone nodded.
Melati drifted closer to Mei Lian, sizing her up. From what she'd seen, Mei Lian was capable, even deadly if needed. But she wasn't as dark as Aman. She had some line she hadn't crossed yet.
Latif, on the other hand, still had a softness to him. He was young, kind, and clearly viewed Aman as some kind of protector now.
They were four.
Aman. Mei Lian. Melati. Latif.
No one else was coming to save them. If they wanted to live, it would be together. There was only one goal left: survive.
Their next destination Singapore.
But first, they had to escape Kuala Lumpur.