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trees broke over the pool and the sun was merciless. It felt like staring into a light bulb. The water dropped five metres off a cliff into a pool about two metres deep. From the pool, it trickled into a shallow channel a few metres wide. Bushes branched over the pool and brightly coloured birds perched in the trees overhead. It looked like something out of a shampoo commercial.
    I swam into the middle with my clothes on. Tepid spray from the falling water misted my face. Two days of grease and sweat soaked away. Beck stayed close to the edge, he couldn’t swim. ‘Look out for water snakes,’ Beck shouted. ‘They get crazy when they drop over the waterfall.’ After a minute cooling off, I swam back to the edge. Beck waded in up to his thighs. Becky was
    splashing about at the edge. ‘Want to swim?’ I asked. Becky put her arms out for me to pick her up. I swam into the spray with her and she started to giggle. Then she slapped her hand against the water and splashed my face, which she thought was the funniest thing in the world. Beck had started washing the clothes. I couldn’t let him do all my work, so I swam back to the edge. Becky wanted me to carry on playing. She gave me an evil look when I dumped her back on the edge.
    I rubbed the soap flakes in and scrubbed the stinking clothes underwater. It was hard getting the blood and filth out. Even when we finished, the clothes looked like stuff my Mum would have thrown in the bin. On the way back to camp we passed Sami. She had two empty plastic cans in her hand. ‘Morning traitor,’ Sami said. ‘Feeling better?’ ‘Head still hurts,’ I said. ‘But nothing like yesterday. Thanks for sticking up for me last night.’ Sami shrugged, ‘If I left you to die, that would make us as bad as the army. Help me carry the water.’ ‘I would,’ I said. ‘But my feet are killing me.’ I showed Sami my bloody heel. ‘I wasn’t asking,’ Sami said nastily. ‘I was ordering you.’ ‘I can help you Sami,’ Beck said. ‘Jake can take Becky and the clothes.’ Sami grabbed my nipple and twisted it hard. I yelped in pain. ‘Traitor will learn to do what he’s told,’ she said. I grabbed an empty can off Sami and started back towards the stream with her. ‘How did the boys treat you last night?’ She asked.
    ‘Really bad.’ ‘Good,’ Sami said. ‘What’s so good about it?’ ‘Captain has to be a politician,’ Sami said. ‘He keeps his position by making everyone happy. Don didn’t want you here, but he’ll be fine as long as he can bully you. And you’re a soft, rich boy. Don and Amin will make you a man. If you’re not tough, you’ll be like Beck: another useless mouth to feed.’ ‘Great,’ I said. ‘But what if I’m not happy?’ ‘Nobody cares about you,’ Sami laughed. ‘If you work hard and become useful, you might start to matter.’ ‘What’s with Amin?’ I asked. ‘He never says a word.’ ‘He’s deaf. He speaks a little, but it comes out weird and only Don can understand him.’ We’d reached the stream. Sami waded into the water in her boots and camouflage. ‘Take drinking water from the middle,’ Sami said. ‘If you get it from the edge it’s all cloudy.’ The can held about twenty litres. Once it was full it weighed a ton. The extra weight made the ground
    even more brutal on my feet. We struggled back to camp; at least I was struggling. Sami didn’t even slow down. ‘Move fast,’ Sami shouted. ‘You see what I mean about you being weak? I was going to carry both cans.
    You struggle with one.’ I was too out of breath to answer. When we got to camp, we took the water inside the main building
    and poured it into a plastic barrel. ‘Do you know your way back to the stream?’ I nodded, ‘Yes.’ Sami dumped her empty can at my feet. The plastic boomed. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘It will take three more cans to fill up the barrel and it’s your job to make sure it’s
    always full. If I catch Beck helping you,