- Mercedes delivers the men food. The Captain, whose name is Vidal, is planning on bringing the guerilla fighters out of the woods by hoarding supplies.
- The doctor comes and gives Carmen some medicine in order to fall asleep.
- When he leaves, he and Mercedes talk privately about someone who might be a guerilla fighter in need of treatment. The doctor offers Mercedes a package—he explains it's all he could get.
- Mercedes turns and realizes Ofelia has seen all of this, and is frightened.
- Ofelia's scared by the different night sounds, and by the creakings of the house. Her brother is also scared so Ofelia tells him a story about a rose on a mountain.
- The rose promises eternal life but is guarded by poisonous thorns. Men talk about life and death but never about what the rose has to offer as it slowly wilts away, untouched.
- It's actually a pretty depressing story.