In the second section, Quan starts his leave by exiting the jungle and contemplating the difference in how he feels. He avoids a bombardment and arrives at a shelter maintained by a woman named Vieng. She cooks dinner for the two of them and they make small talk over the meal. While Quan is asleep, Vieng attempts to wake him up and seduce him, hoping to quell her loneliness. Quan refuses her, citing impotence.

Afterwards, Quan wrestles internally with his refusal, as he is not actually impotent and merely uninterested in having sex with Vieng. He then leaves the shelter while she is still asleep. While lost in the forest, Quan happens upon the skeleton of a dead soldier and has a lengthy internal conversation with himself about the soldier, how he died, and the meaning of his death. Quan leaves the dead soldier and continues to wander before eventually collapsing of hunger, thirst, and fatigue.

A little girl rescues Quan by bringing him to a shelter and forcing him to eat and drink until his strength starts to return. The next day, her grandfather returns to help care for Quan. Quan realizes that there are others in the shelter with him.