Chapters 11-End

Roberto and the boy are traveling. They have to worry about food, since they are sharing it with each other and the animals. They also come across a blown up jeep with 4 dead German soldiers in it. Roberto thinks that the villagers did it and that is why they were killed. Once they get to the end of the forest Roberto decides to camp out, but the boy tries to keep going. It is cold so Roberto goes to look for some dry wood to start a fire and trust the boy to not runaway with the supplies. It gets really dark so Roberto turns around and finds the boy gone with all the stuff. Fortunately the sled left marks, so he follows the boy all the way to a town. The town actually looked alive. Roberto sees a stable and starts running toward it until he gets shot.

Roberto wakes up with pain in his arm. He is also tied to a chair without his clothes on in a house. There are 2 men in the room talking about Roberto's clothes, but they are mainly talking about his German boots. Then a woman walks in and takes out the bullet in Roberto's arm with a knife and pours vodka on it. His arm is in great pain and his stomach, but they don't feed him. Instead they give him his clothes and Roberto quickly falls asleep.

Roberto wakes up and is fed goat milk and bread and so is the boy. While eating the men in the room talk to him in different languages. Roberto pretends he can't understand any of the languages and finishes eating. The men get annoyed so they make him walk to an official building. At the building he sees a man, women and children. Around lunch time the boy comes in with a sticky bun so the man leaves. After the man disappears the boy helps Roberto escape and gives him some boots so he doesn't have German ones. Then the boy disappears and Roberto decides to climb in the back of a truck to escape.

The truck stops and Roberto is discovered so, he runs away while 2 people follow him. He hides behind some bushes and bumps his head. Once the 2 people are gone he sees that he hit his head on a boat. Roberto decides to take the boat so that he can go to Italy. He travels on the shallow river and passes some villages. He hopes that no one will try to stop him or kill him. Roberto sees a village and he gets scared so he paddles toward shore and stops for the night. When Roberto gets out of the boat he gets hit on the back of the neck.

Roberto falls, but he stays conscious. The soldier that hit him is Roman and he thinks Roberto is Ukrainian. The soldier speaks Italian so, he ponders telling the Roman that he is Italian. Roberto is to afraid that he will be more punished as an Italian that escaped then a Ukrainian. So he doesn't say a word. The soldier gives Roberto some food and a piece of cloth for his head. Then he forces Roberto into the boat to paddle him to Romania. The soldier lays flat as Roberto paddles.

While Roberto is paddling he is sweating like crazy even though he should be freezing. He also has to worry about the gun pointed at him. To make matters worse, he runs into some Ukrainians. The soldier says don't let them kill me. So Roberto knocks the gun out of the soldiers hands and grabs it. Then he shows the gun to the Ukrainians and smiles and waves. The Ukrainians let him pass and Roberto keeps paddling till he passes out onto the soldier.

Roberto wakes up and is being taken care of by the soldier. He is being fed and cooled down. Roberto has a fever from the bullet wound. The soldier thinks about turning Roberto in as a prisoner of war at Romania so he is taken care of. Instead the soldier cuts the infection and Roberto starts to get better. Roberto finally talks and tells the soldier about himself. The soldier also talks about himself and tells Roberto that his name is Maurizio.

A storm hits while they are out at sea so they go to shore. When they reach the shore they hide in some bushes under their boat. Then some Germans come, but they are not discovered. In the morning they talk about their plans on where they are going. They decide that together they will join the partigiani. The partigiani is a group against the Germans who try to sabotage the war. They bomb bridges and kill the Germans. They also help Jews escape.

Roberto says to Maurizio that we are all stones building a new city just like the stone the girl gave Roberto. Then the boys set out on their journey. While leaving, Roberto starts telling one of Samuele's stories.