Between Shades of Gray 241-336

Lina, Jonas, and their mother find out that they are for sure on the list and that they're going to be taken away. Before they leave, Lina says goodbye to Andrius and he gives her a stone and tells her to keep it and think of him when she looks at it. He also tells her that he will find her soon so they can be together. When Lina and her family leaves, all Lina wants to to do is find her Papa and be with Andrius. Once they leave, they are taken in trucks and not told where they are going. People in the truck claim that they think they are being taken to America. After riding in the trucks for weeks, they finally stop at a harbor. Everybody is singing and joyful when they see an American ship docked at the bay. The ship however started to pull away, and one of the officers began to laugh at all of the people because they thought they were going to America. Disheartened they all load back into the trucks and start to drive away again. After a few weeks the trucks stopped again, but this time for good. All of the prisoners were loaded onto ships and sailed off to a vast island of nothingness. All of the people were told by the officers that they had to build a quarters for the officers using supplies, but had to build their own huts using anything else they could find on the island. They had to build their huts out of logs, twigs, and rocks using moss to connect everything together. They also realized they had to work very fast because winter was about to set in. After a few weeks, they had gotten everything built, but knew they wouldn't survive through the winter unless they could figure out a way to stay warm. Soon after they had gotten everything built, an American ship sailed to the island and gave everybody hope. The NKVD officers however, made everybody hide in their huts to make the Americans think it was just a military fort for the officers. After about five hours, the ship sailed away leaving supplies for the officers. The officers made all of the prisoners carry the supplies, but did not give them anything in return. A week later, winter set in. Everybody began to freeze and became sick. Luckily, Jonas found an old barrel that washed ashore and fashioned a makeshift stove out of it. Although they had to walk far into the island for wood, it was well worth the little bit of warmth it gave off. After being there and working in the freezing weather for a month, Lina and Jonas's mother became ill. She had also found out from an NKVD officer that her husband had died. This sent her into a depression and Lina and Jonas did everything they could to help, but it wasn't enough. She died a few days later. Lina and Jonas knew it was coming, but couldn't stand knowing they'd never see their mother or papa again. They kept trudging on however, and doing whatever they could to survive. A few weeks later, Jonas became very ill. He had the same illness his mother had, and was doing worse much quicker than the mother had. Lina helped him in every way she could, not wanting to lose him. A few days later while Lina was consoling him, she heard some noise outside. A doctor from Germany was here trying to help people. The reason why he was there was because he was an inspector and the NKVD officers didn't want a bad report, so they let them help the prisoners. Lina got him to help Jonas and he gave him some medicine that made him better within a couple weeks. Joyous and excited, Lina left the hut to go get some more fire wood, knowing that everything was getting better very slowly. As she was walking to find wood, she reached into her pocket and fingered the stone. As she did, she knew she was going to see Andrius again some day, and hopefully very soon.