Cilka's Journey

Content Warning: This study guide contains depictions of genocide, rape, sexual assault, suicide, and drug addiction. 

This winter is particularly harsh, leading to numerous frostbite amputations and pneumonia. Workplace injuries also increase because the prisoners’ fingers are freezing. These conditions and Josie’s leaving increase Cilka’s depression. She forces herself to work on the ambulance without breaks as a distraction.

One day, Cilka, Kirill, and Pavel go to a mine explosion. One of the supervisors tells Cilka the explosion has trapped at least 13 men, including an explosives expert. He also says she can’t enter the mine yet, but she goes anyway, convincing Pavel to go with her. The pair find six of the men, and Cilka begins examining them. She stabilizes the explosives expert, and a guard tells her the rest of the men are on the other side of the blocked tunnel. He says they wouldn’t have survived, as they were carrying the dynamite and took the brunt of the blast. Cilka organizes the survivors to help each other out of the tunnel. Pavel carries an unconscious man as Cilka moves ahead of him. Once at the mine’s lift, she turns to watch Pavel when the tunnel collapses, knocking her unconscious.