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After escaping the orphange, Felix finds a house that has a Jewish symbol on the door. Felix notes it appears the people living there left in a hurry because there is half-eaten food on the table. When he hears gunshots, he decides that the people saw some rabbits and left in a hurry to hunt them. Felix drinks some water and eats some of the food on the table. He changes into a set of man’s clothes and shoes. Felix writes a note apologizing and stating that he knows stealing is wrong, but has no money.

Felix knows that the rabbits probably live near the river, so he leaves the house and walks in the direction of the gunshots. Felix hopes that a cart will pass so he can ask for a ride. The first truck does not stop even though Felix is standing in the middle of the road. There are soldiers sitting in the back of the second truck. One aims a gun at Felix. Felix believes the man is just trying to give him a thrill. The gun fires just as the truck hits a bump, causing a bullet to whip just past Felix’s head. Felix believes the gun went off unintentionally and that the solider will feel guilty because he almost killed a child.

When Felix reaches the river, he gets a drink. He hears loud gunfire and is glad he is not going in the direction of the sound. He is surprised when the river turns blood red. Felix decides that it must just be the setting sun playing a trick.

When Felix reaches his town, he notices that there are clothes instead of books in his parents’ store. When he hears voices in the apartment where he lived with his parents, Felix believes it is his mother and father. He goes upstairs and discovers it is not his parents. The voice are from Wiktor Radzyn’s parents who are there. As Felix runs away, Wiktor yells to him to leave now because the house now belongs to Wiktor.

Felix is grateful when the people stop chasing him. He wonders why people hate him so much and reasons that they could not have all bought books they do not like. He wonders if the hate even has anything to do with books because Wiktor did not like books and treated them disrespectfully.

Felix feels better when he comes to the conclusion that his parents are probably gone because they got visas to go to America. He imagines they are on their way to the orphanage with the books to see if Mother Minka wants to buy any. When Felix leaves his hiding spot in the woods, he sees two small children who claim they are playing Nazis and Jews. They suggest to Felix he can join them, he can be a Jew, but he has to be sad because the Nazi’s took his parents away.

Felix goes back to the village after dark in an attempt to talk to one of his Jewish neighbors. Mr. Kopek, another neighbor, catches Felix and warns him that all of the Jews are gone. He explains they have been taken to the city and warns Felix he does not need to stay there. Before Mr. Kopek walks away, he gives Felix a bottle of water and a loaf of bread. Felix wishes he had asked Mr. Kopek what is happening, why some people are so angry with him while others are so nice.

Felix decides to go to the city. He stops only when he sees a house on fire. Felix walks toward the house in case anyone needs help. He sees the family’s chickens have all been shot and thinks perhaps they were killed to put them out of their misery. Closer to the house, Felix sees a man and woman shot dead as well. When part of the houses collapses, Felix is showered with sparks. When he rolls on the grass to put the fire out, he rolls into a young girl. He wonders who would kill a girl because of books, and realizes for the first time the killings might not be about just books.

The girl is breathing so he carries her piggyback away from the fire. When he sees a haystack, he makes them a bed of hay. As soon as he lays the girl down she starts to cry for her parents. He tells her they are going to the city to look for their parents. He assures the girl that he is scared, too. He begins to tell the girl a story. She finally tells him that her name is Zelda.