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from his upper arm all the way down to his elbow.
    I resisted the urge to gag. Running back into the toilet, I brought out the pail of water. I scooped some and poured it on Jae’s arm. He bit his bottom lip and scrunched up his eyes. He looked so cute when he did that, I thought.
    I mentally slapped myself. Stop doing that! But I couldn’t help it. There was just something about him that drew me to him.
    I wiped all the blood and pus away, then wrapped his arm with a new bandage. I hoped it was enough.
    He sighed and sat back. I settled down next to him, careful not to jolt his arm. We sat there in silence. It was nice.

CHAPTER 19
    â€œTell me something, Zee,” Jae said, his face regaining some normal colour. “Where did you learn how to fight like that? You were awesome.”
    He was looking at me strangely, with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. I sighed inwardly. Trust a boy to spoil a perfectly sweet moment!
    I looked away. “Don’t look at me like that. You’re freaking me out.”
    â€œI’m freaking you out?” he said incredulously. “You fight like some martial arts expert and I’m freaking you out? How about you freaking me out? Who are you, anyway?”
    â€œGood question. I wish I knew!” I snapped, my irritation rising. I wished everyone would stop asking me who I was. If I knew, wouldn’t I tell them?
    â€œCan’t you try to remember anything? Where did you live? Were you rich? Did you have brothers? Sisters?” Jae asked.
    â€œTo answer your questions: No. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know!” I said, my voice rising to a screech.
    â€œSome of the other kids are wondering how you managed to survive on your own for so long,” Jae continued relentlessly. “And why you are so healthy. You look well fed.”
    I was stumped. I had no answer to that. How had I survived?
    â€œWe think that maybe there are other groups of kids like us around Singapore, surviving just like us. It would make a lot of sense,” Jae said. “But in the last two months, you are the first kid we have seen around here. Maybe you are a new reject.”
    â€œWhat? A new what?” I said, really annoyed now. Did he just call me a reject?
    â€œA reject. You know, thrown out of Camp Zero.”
    â€œThrown out?” My mind was whirling again. There was too much information to process.
    â€œDidn’t you understand what we were telling you?”
    â€œNo, all I know about Camp Zero is that the people inside were specially selected. They have food and water and beds and everything. Right?”
    â€œYes, that’s right.”
    â€œSo… you mean I could have once been inside? And I was thrown out?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI don’t understand. Why would they throw me out? Was my whole family thrown out?”
    Jae looked at me blankly. “No. They only threw the kids out.”
    â€œWho’s ‘they’?”
    â€œThe adults on the inside,” he said simply.
    â€œYou mean your own parents threw you out?” I asked, horrified. But at the back of my mind, I felt the hint of a memory coming back to me. An image of someone screaming flashed in my mind. I felt a wave of terror wash over me, brought on by a memory I could not grasp.

CHAPTER 20
    I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. Something was familiar; what was it? The idea of being thrown out by adults and soldiers, it triggered a memory. But it was too far away and too fleeting. The more I tried to catch hold of it, the more it faded. I opened my eyes and urged Jae to continue.
    â€œThey must have realised that they were not going to have enough food. So they threw us out. We never knew what was going on, and…” Jae faltered.
    â€œI’m not sure if our parents knew what was happening, but surely they must have been told. One day, a group of soldiers just led us out. They gave us a name