In a particular scene. Lev and Kolya are in the whore house. The sex slaves tell a story about Zoya; she is a young girl, the Germans rape her, and at that moment she ran off. The Germans caught her and cut her legs. The Germans assist themselves to stay in the whore house usually at midnight. Kolya is determined that they should stay and wait for an attack on the enemy. Lev is terrified. While they wait, Kolya once again displays his usual cheerfulness and preoccupation with sex because of how Lev is a bit afraid to fight off the enemy. According to Lev, “He looked like he was worried about me, and all at once I felt like crying. The only one left who knew how frightened I was, the only one who knew I was still alive and that I might die tonight…my last friend”(137).