55 pages • 1 hour read
Don L. WulffsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Russian soldiers carry X on a stretcher to a cart bearing four identical-looking soldiers in mummy-like wrappings, who are all chatting jovially. A soldier notices X’s water bottle and asks for it since the flash burns have made him extremely thirsty; X shares it willingly. The bandaged soldiers ask X personal questions, but he struggles to remember the right words and does not know how to answer; he finally decides to pretend he has amnesia. The soldiers understand, even joking that they don’t know who they are, either.
The next thing X knows, he is on a bus with an IV and bandages on his wounds. He wakes up next in a schoolhouse with boarded windows, feeling little pain; the schoolhouse has been transformed into a hospital and is filled with wounded soldiers. X is greeted by a cheerful man with a shaved head and his waist and legs in a cast, who introduces himself as Nikolai. X wallows in fear and semi-consciousness, suddenly realizing that he has caught himself in a terrible charade and could be caught at any time.
X asks for water but learns that there are too many patients and not enough nurses or doctors to keep them all cared for constantly.
Action & Adventure
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Coming-of-Age Journeys
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Friendship
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Guilt
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International Holocaust Remembrance Day
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Memorial Day Reads
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Memory
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Military Reads
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Safety & Danger
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The Past
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War
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World War II
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