Nicolás boards a bus back to Chalatenango. He chooses a seat next to an old woman because they usually keep to themselves. He notes that young men are too dangerous as they are often dragged off of buses by the soldiers of the National Army (el Ejercito Nacional). An overwhelming presence of men with guns surround the people, from the National Police to the Treasury Police and the National Guard. The narrator explains that the common people are trapped amidst all the fighting: “On one side was the right, claiming it fought against the tyranny of communism. On the other side, the left, struggling, it said, against the injustice of oligarchs and militarists” (18). The novel makes it clear that both sides claim to fight for the good of the common people, yet the common people are the ones suffering the most.

Nicolás notes that over the last year, since the war began, he and his grandfather’s lives have changed greatly. His school is destroyed by the Popular Liberation Forces, there is hardly any food available, and church is so dangerous that no one attends. The bus climbs on through pastures and past the Sumpul River, the air growing hotter and Nicolás drenched in sweat.