As the pair continues digging, it becomes more and more imperative for them to make sure they know their exact location underground. They will surface at some point, they realize, and they can’t get caught in the Death Strip or it could cost them their lives. Fritz tells Gerta she needs to get inside Anna’s apartment to get a better sense of their location, but this is clearly complicated by her recent rebuff of Anna’s attempt at renewed friendship.

Fritz and Gerta are also running out of money. The pair argue over how to spend the very last of the funds their father has sent them. Fritz thinks they need another shovel, but Gerta wants to steal a shovel from somewhere and spend the money on food. Fritz disagrees with this, telling his younger sister, “some of what the state teaches is important […] we do have a responsibility to be good citizens” (190). While the two are disagreeing, they hear footsteps of someone down in the space of the tunnel with them. Officer Muller turns the corner and faces them. Pointing a flashlight into their faces, he says, “the Lowe children are doing something far more than gardening” (192).