Peter and Amy Leave the Garrison for the Mountains is the quiet departure that turns Peter’s resolve into action: after choosing not to leave with his companions, Peter sets out with Amy to continue the mission they came to undertake. Its decisive movement is both outward and inward—away from the garrison, and toward the truth Peter believes he must pursue, even as he gives up the life and relationships he might otherwise have kept.

The Decision to Continue

Peter’s choice takes shape through what he refuses to ask of others. As he speaks with Hollis, he urges him to take the convoy with Sara and Michael, recognizing that Sara is unlikely to go without Michael. He makes clear that this is not reluctant permission extracted from him but what he wants for them. Hollis, in turn, explains that he loves Sara and invokes Vorhees’s account of the oath taken by his men: he is no longer suited to the task, if he ever was. Peter accepts the change in their companionship without asking Hollis to defend it further.

The question of what Peter himself will do receives an answer he already knows: he will do what they came to do. That answer follows a night of inward reckoning. Remembering Theo’s account of their father’s final ride, Peter understands that his father went because he could not bear not knowing. The recollection gives Peter a way to understand his own decision: he feels sadness, but also peace, as though the decision has freed him from the uncertainty that preceded it.

Remembering and Choosing

Before leaving, Peter visits Major Greer, who shows him drawings the general had kept so as not to forget them. Greer gathers the drawings into a cardboard folder and places them in a trunk, then tells Peter that a part of someone lives on as long as another person remembers them. By showing Peter the private images, Greer passes their memory to him as well. The exchange makes remembrance part of the departure: Peter is leaving the garrison, but not without carrying what others have entrusted to him.

Greer recognizes that Peter has made his decision and asks whether he will leave with all five companions or alone. Peter confirms that he will leave in the morning. The choice is therefore not a sudden escape but a decision stated openly to Greer after Peter has considered what it means for the group. He does not resolve the separation by pretending it costs nothing; rather, the scene places his departure beside the acts of memory and acknowledgment that make it consequential.

The Farewell to Alicia

Peter’s departure also requires him to give up Alicia. He understands what they mean to each other, and the recognition brings neither surprise nor regret so much as gratitude and clarity: he knows that he is giving her up. He draws her into his jacket and holds her, reversing the earlier goodbye in Vorhees’s tent, when she had held him. The repeated gesture turns the earlier scene around; this time Peter is the one who offers the embrace, and Alicia is the one who grows still within it.

Alicia recognizes what is happening. Peter says that she has looked after him long enough and that he wanted to thank her. He then walks away, leaving her alone in the icy wind outside the silent barracks. The farewell is not presented as a quarrel or a repudiation of their bond. Its force comes from Peter’s gratitude and from the tenderness with which he makes a choice that separates them.

Preparing to Leave

Peter does not sleep well. In the final hour before dawn, unable to wait any longer, he rises and packs with the cold in mind. He takes blankets, extra socks, sleeping sacks, ponchos, and a tarp with sturdy rope; on his way back from the barracks the previous night, he had also taken an entrenching tool, a hand axe, and two heavy parkas from the supply tent. The inventory makes the journey tangible: Peter is not simply declaring an intention but equipping himself and Amy to travel through winter conditions.

Hollis is still asleep, his bearded face buried in blankets, when Peter leaves. Outside, the cold takes his breath; the garrison is quiet, though a few men are moving, and smoke and warm food drift from the mess. Peter does not stop to eat. In the women’s tent, he finds Amy alone on her bunk with a small pack on her lap. He has told her nothing beforehand, and Sara is still in the infirmary with Sancho and the others. When Amy asks whether it is time, Peter tells her it is.

The Ride into the Breaking Day

At the gate, Peter turns to Amy, who is sitting above him, and asks whether she is ready. She nods, snow caught in her hair and on her lashes, and gives him a faint smile. Eustace helps Peter up onto the horse. Peter gives Eustace his blade and asks him to deliver it to Major Greer, trusting Greer to understand the gesture; the weapon remains behind even as Peter leaves.

The gate opens. Peter takes one last look toward the barracks, which remain quiet and unchanged, and silently says goodbye before urging the horse forward. He and Amy ride out into the breaking day. The unchanged garrison emphasizes the finality of the movement: no alarm or confrontation drives them away. Instead, the departure completes Peter’s decision, carrying him and Amy from the safety and relationships of the encampment toward the mission still ahead.