It was nighttime. At some village the smell of fire was strong
...
"Did you burn it?"
"Yes."
"Did it smell good, at least?"
"Yes."
"So? What's the problem?"
"The problem?"
"You came to me to ask what to do?"
"... We burned them, right... It feels wrong..."
"Yeah?"
"Should I abandon you here? Or better, execute you? For cowardice?"
"No?"
"Good. Don't mind that. Just do whatever it takes... Well, some of our soldiers are just animals in the end... Funny, we act like animals... And for all this, we get praised and rewarded. You should be the same animal."
The officer smiled toward his subordinate, and the subordinate walked away to continue his job.
The officer looked at what was in front of him... It wasn't a pretty view for most, but to him, it was beautiful a spectacular view.
The officer smoked his cigarette while his men, the soldiers, razed the entire village to the ground. And the people in it? Killed or taken as slave labor or comfort women.
...
Aman walked with Mei Lian. His injury wasn't bad anymore, but he was clearly slow.
"We need transportation. You know, my leg's killing me!" said Aman.
"You should man up, hehe," Mei Lian replied mischievously. She had, after everything with Carter, basically started gaslighting herself at least she didn't feel guilt.
"Yeah, yeah, easy for you to say. You're not the one with flesh exposed on your leg! And I need a stick just to walk around, damnit!" shouted Aman.
Mei Lian just chuckled. She was changing a bit her attitude, at least but Aman didn't seem concerned. If that made both of them less depressed about whatever had happened and whatever was going to happen, then so be it.
They both continued walking their little adventure.
They knew how to get to Slim River. It wasn't difficult, but yeah, they really needed something with wheels now.
... They kept walking forward and forward, based on the map.
"There should be a village around... A Malay village. At least they can be more dependable than those Brits. They're my people... Yeah, I forgot something, but what ah?" said Aman.
"Don't worry about it. You think too much, you know?" said Mei Lian.
"I'm trying to keep both of us alive! You know? Safe path and we need to think one step ahe nope! Ten steps ahead to survive!" Aman started nagging.
"Yeah, I appreciate that. You're really a nagger like my mom, honestly. And that's coming from a girl."
"What? Sigh... Just walk. It's not too far from that village..."
... What?
... This is worse.
Both of them saw something that made their stomachs churn.
The bodies... The problem was, they weren't even in soldier uniforms...
The village had been totally razed and torched.
Aman just looked around. Mei Lian got a bit scared but tried to give herself some courage.
Aman wasn't shocked not after what he saw, what they did to his village.
The Japs had been here... And they were already gone.
Aman looked around. The village had really suffered burned down by the Japs. He looked at the Rising Sun flag still standing.
He looked at the bodies and turned one over, searching if they had anything on them.
"Hmm..." Aman removed the plank covering the man's head... there was nothing.
"Well... beheaded." Aman stood up and started searching around the village to see if there was anything useful.
Meanwhile, Mei Lian stood and looked around. It didn't take her long before she puked.
"Ah... ahh, sorry... I wasted our lunch, I guess." Mei Lian tried to appear stronger, and Aman approached her.
"You okay? Must feel sick watching this, huh? Ahh, for a murderer like you, this still seems too much," said Aman.
"Murderer, huh? That what you're gonna call me from now on?" replied Mei Lian.
"It's a joke, okay? Sigh... Don't take it seriously. You were the one with the ability to pull the trigger, not me... Just remember Carter."
"Joke, huh? What is there to joke about? And what about Carter?"
"They're already dead... That's the fact. We can't do much about them except well, they're already dead, and we just watch this, and we're gonna turn a blind eye. We're here trying to survive."
"Hmm... You're pretty selfish, huh?"
"That's what keeps us alive, after all selfish or not." Aman's eyes turned to Mei Lian as he kept searching through the ruins of the village. "My selfishness, fortunately, is selective. If not, I'd have already left you... And you're also a great help," said Aman.
"You're a pretty sick bastard. Both of us... we're... just lucky to survive, I guess. We've got each other's backs," said Mei Lian.
Aman just smiled at that and kept digging through the ruins.
Aman looked in a hole someone had dug a hole and left it. Aman took a look and fell back after seeing what was inside... This was too much, even for him.
"What happened?" Mei Lian came over to Aman and looked inside the hole. She was in a state of shock.
... They had put all the villagers' heads inside. The bodies? Just left behind. They had taken the heads and placed them there...
There were infant heads... inside that hole. Heads of infants. Aman fell back down and started to puke, trying to grab something to stay balanced. Mei Lian just watched Aman lose it.
Mei Lian walked slowly and noticed a picture on the ground.
A group of soldiers stared at the camera. There was writing: Kōdōha 25 February 1936...
"Hey, Aman, look at this. I think it belonged to the soldiers who were here last night... those Japs," said Mei Lian.
Aman snatched the picture and looked. He noticed one particular soldier... He recognized him... That same face.
Round glasses... The same person... That same person he met... Was here last night?
That officer the same one he saw at Kampar...
He did this, huh... Or maybe someone else did. Someone else in the unit.
If he was capable of doing this... No, if his unit was able to do this... Aman thought if they got caught, they'd end up like those villagers.
... It was a scary thought.