City of Thieves: Chapter 21 Summary & Analysis

All 35 of the illiterate prisoners are squeezed into a toolshed with the door nailed shut. Lev is in a corner between Kolya and Vika, and the prisoners discuss escaping.

Kolya whispers to Vika and asks why they didn't shoot the Einsatzkommando who tested them, and Vika admits to being afraid. She tells Lev that anyone the Nazis hate is a friend of hers, and she and Kolya discuss their student lives before the war. Vika says she's from Archangel and was studying astronomy, and Kolya says that since she's from the north she's truly descended from Vikings. He then falls promptly asleep.

Lev tries to distract himself from his hunger and thinks about chess and then Vika, who smells like a wet dog. Lev thinks that his mother never tolerated dirtiness, but he finds himself not offended by Vika's smell; rather he thinks he wants to lick her clean. He tries to make conversation with Vika and wonders if he's a very boring person.

Lev asks Vika his earlier question of why the sky isn't bright at night, and she answers that the universe is expanding. Lev asks for more clarification, but Vika says it's complicated, and instructs Lev to open his mouth. Piece by piece she feeds him a slice of real rye bread. Lev then formally introduces himself and Kolya, and asks how Vika became a sniper. She says that she just started shooting people. Lev abandons the conversation to sleep. When Lev wakes later in the night, he finds that Vika has fallen asleep on his shoulder, and he stays very still, trying not to disturb her.