Chapter 6-11

Now Roberto has been feeding the 2 girls for more than a week. The girls seem to be getting stronger. Both the girls and Roberto need to be more clever so they don't get caught. One strategy Roberto has come up with his own plan to put stones in his pocket. He does this so it looks like he has rocks in his pocket instead of food.

One day a soldier named Arbeiter stops and asks about Roberto's stones. This leads to Arbeiter throwing a stone at a woman. The woman drops her food and Arbeiter takes it away. During dinner Roberto gets frustrated and enters the chicken coop without looking. He then gets caught by Wasser and is taken to a truck. Enzo follows and is also put into the truck. Both boys are given some food and the truck drives away.

The boys end up in Ukraine where it is very cold. They sleep on the ground outside with barely any covering. Many boys die at this camp, but not by being shot. They die from disease or freezing to death. In a way this is a good thing for the other boys because when someone dies their possessions can be taken away by the boys.

The boys at the camp speak in different dialects which makes it hard to communicate. This is hard when they plot to steal food and cigarettes. A couple times the boys have been successful in stealing food, but the boys weren't shot or whipped. 3 boys have even escaped from the camp and were never seen again. Some say they died in the cold and others say they made it home, but the soldiers didn't make a big deal about it.

One morning Enzo and Roberto wake up to find 2 soldiers dead with vodka bottles. This is great because the soldiers have warm boots while the boys have holey shoes. The boys start taking off the boots while a soldier with a rifle runs toward them. The soldier starts yelling at them so Enzo stops while Roberto starts taking the trousers for Enzo. The soldier ends up shooting at Roberto and it goes over his head. Enzo finally grabs Roberto and the boys are given the boots by the other soldiers.

That night Roberto wakes to find his boots and his old shoes gone while Enzo is fighting the thieves. Then Roberto gets in the middle of the fight until a soldiers gun goes off. The thieves end up sneaking away with the shoes and without the 2 boys knowing who they were. Enzo says he is sorry in a faint voice and tells Roberto when he dies he can have his boots. Enzo also tells him to keep fighting inside and to speak Venetian when he is gone. Lastly, he tells Roberto that he is a good friend and that he will always be in his heart.

In the morning Roberto is holding a dead Enzo. Roberto is very sad, but happy that Enzo didn't freeze to death. Roberto didn't work that morning, but he did take Enzo's boots and let the boys take everything else except his underwear and blanket. Roberto buried him under the snow instead of in the frozen ground and said a few words. Roberto saw the boy that stole Roberto's boots and had killed Enzo. He didn't look ashamed at all.

After burying him, Roberto started walking out of the camp expecting bullets. They never came so Roberto started to run until he couldn't here the camp. While Roberto was walking south he was holding Samuele's (Enzo) blanket the only thing to remember him. He walked all day eating the Brot he had saved from breakfast. At night he stayed under the bent over spruces worrying about being eaten by wolves.

The next morning Roberto found a stream and ate raw little creatures. He followed the stream all day. That night he climbed a tree so he could be safe from any wolves. He woke to an owl and decided to get an early start. While digging a latrine a hamster like creature ran out of the hole he was digging and got scooped up by the owl. When Roberto turned around to finish digging, he became face to face with a hurt, lone wolf. The wolf tried to attack Roberto, but it ended up falling onto his blanket and died. Then Roberto ran away as fast as he could.

While he was walking he sees soldiers walking toward him. He thinks about letting the soldiers capture him so he could have warmth and food, but he would be severely punished. So he decides to cover his blanket with snow and crawl with it on his back. After they passed him, Roberto was shivering from the snow that went in his clothes and that was in his mouth. He decides to follow the tracks that the soldiers made back where they came from so he could find shelter. Along the way he sees a burnt area that could have been a field. This makes Roberto wonder what lies ahead. Eventually he gets to a village and decides to go into a house and goes to sleep.

When Roberto wakes up there is a boy with an ax and he is yelling in a different language. Roberto looks at the boy and around the house. The boy looks younger then Roberto and there is an old man dead on the ground. Roberto realizes that those soldiers have been through this village and that they killed the old man. Eventually when Roberto looks around for food and supplies he sees more dead people in the village. He also sees a dog a cat and 2 canaries. Roberto makes a fire and cooks some food for the boy and himself. The boys end up getting along, but don't communicate. The next day the 2 boys leave with supplies, a dog, a cat, the 2 canaries, and a sled.