This chapter opens with a flashback to the previous chapter, in which we learn that Sergeant Brown has been in the middle of a battle and is about to be killed. The flashback reveals that the officer has come back from the battle in tatters, and that he has been looking for his own death. The officer tells the reader that he was certain that he had been killed, but that he came back in "tatters" because he was "one crazy bitch." The flashback also reveals that, at the time of the incident, Sergeant Brown had been worried about the officer's safety, and he had asked the officer to take care of him. This incident, the flashback reveals, has made the officer realize how protective he is of the officer, and it has also made him realize how foolish he is in his behavior.