39 pages • 1-hour read
One Second After
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Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “Day 64”
The chapter opens after the battle with the Posse has ended, and John is surveying the burning mountainsides that surround the town. He contemplates how the residents of Black Mountain emerged victorious, after boxing in the Posse and massacre them:
The fight at the bridge had almost been like something from the Civil War, hundreds of men and women rising up from concealment, leveling rifles and blazing away, shredding everything in front of them (295).
The cost of victory was high, though. Washington died during the initial assault while protecting one of his recruits, and Don died when his plane crashed. The battle “turned into seven horrid hours of taking ground back, a step at a time, a bloody step at a time” (296).
The leader of the Posse, a drug dealer from Greensboro, was taken alive. John briefly talks to the man, who rebukes his followers for their lack of faith in Satan: “He had a tremendous command presence, his voice sweet, rich, carrying power. So strange how some had that, and could spout utter insanity that others would follow blindly” (302).
John is infuriated by the carnage the leader caused and orders him to be hung from a traffic light crossbeam. As John calls for more of the survivors to be lynched, Makala stops him, warning that such behavior will make him no better than the enemy. Recovering himself, John ends the lynching, orders several gang members to be shot, and frees some of the youngest. He tells the surprised townsfolk, “‘I hated that bastard hanging there more than I’ve ever hated anyone in my life. … But I will not become him. … I will not let us become them’” (306).
Exhausted and suffering from a concussion, John tours the hospital where the wounded are being tended. There, he learns that Charlie and Ben died during the battle. Returning home, he tells his family about the victory and the tragedy of Ben’s death. Elizabeth, devastated by the news, “nestled against his shoulder, and cried herself to sleep” (316).
Chapter 11 Summary: “Day 131”
Four months after the EMP strike, Black Mountain is still suffering the effects of the battle with the Posse: “The casualties had indeed been high, over 700 dead, 120 of those students, and 700 wounded. Of these a third had died, and some were still dying, even now” (318). The number of disease-ridden corpses strewn around the area created an epidemic that killed even more people in the community.
Since Charlie’s death, John was put in charge of the town. He and Makala, who he has entered a relationship with, go to his office at the police station to call a hospital in Asheville. An emergency supply truck is expected there by the end of the week, and John asks the hospital director if he can have a few vials of insulin for Jennifer. The doctor seems genuinely regretful but says giving her the insulin will only postpone the inevitable. John is devastated; Jennifer does not have long to live. When he and Makala return home, they find the girl in a steep decline. John reads to her from her favorite childhood storybook until she passes away. Then, they bury her in the garden.
Later that evening, Makala tells John she is worried about Elizabeth’s condition. In the third month of pregnancy, nutrition is critical, especially protein. John looks at Ginger, his remaining golden retriever who is only skin and bones at this point. He decides to sacrifice the dog to help his daughter’s baby: “‘Come along,’ he whispered. ‘You can still save a life, my dear friend. And besides … Jennifer wants to play with you again’” (330).
Chapter 12 Summary: “Day 365”
A year to the day after the EMP strike, John rousts Jen, Makala, Elizabeth, and baby Ben and takes them to the center of town. Ironically, because the mortality rate has been so high, Black Mountain now has enough food to last all summer: “A thousand, or 960 actually, was the number of survivors now, at least as of yesterday afternoon. The starving winter, as Kellor had predicted, had taken down most of the rest of the survivors” (333).
When John and his family arrive at the police station, they are greeted by the sight of an army supply caravan on its way to Asheville. The commander, General Wright, informs the townsfolk that he was appointed military governor of western North Carolina. The army will remain in the region and set up its headquarters in Asheville: “‘We are here to reunite you with your country’” (336-37).
While the soldiers hand out food and supplies, Wright and John talk privately about the state of the country. Wright marvels that as much as 20 percent of the people in Black Mountain survived when other parts of the country lost 90 percent of their population.
The source of the EMP blast was never determined. Wright says, “‘We’ve retreated from around the world, trying to save what’s left, and for those that hated us that’s victory enough even if we flattened their country in retaliation’” (342-43). Both men lament America’s unpreparedness for the disaster when it struck.
Later that day, Elizabeth is overjoyed with the supplies the soldiers provided. She tells her father she is relieved that “‘it’s really over’” (346). However, John does not believe that anything will go back to the way it was before: “The world had changed forever, the America they knew … never to return” (346).
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
The final section of the book focuses on the aftermath of the town’s successful battle against the Posse. Even though it is not explicitly stated, this segment emphasizes the lessons of history and society’s collective refusal to learn from them.
John is a military historian, and his conversations throughout the book are peppered with references to past civilizations that thought they were unassailable. The veiled implication is that the EMP blast and its horrific consequences are simply the latest example of the same mistake. General Wright says:
‘There were no red meatballs, swastikas, or red stars on planes dropping bombs this time. Just three missiles launched from freighters out in the ocean, which were then blown up […] We were so damn vulnerable, so damn vulnerable, and no one did the right things to prepare, or prevent it’ (343).
The novel suggests that arrogance prevented the US government from recognizing the threat because its source was so militarily deficient compared to America. The novel also concludes that revenge is a sufficient motive for a weaker foe to take a course such as the EMP attack, even if it means annihilation for the aggressor. By the end of One Second After, some technology has been restored. Communication and supply lines have reopened, but this does not mean that the world will return to normal; history teaches that every great civilization inevitably falls.
John’s personal world has certainly collapsed. Jennifer died because of a lack of insulin, his two dogs were killed for their meat, and his town barely made it past the brink of starvation.
While it may be possible to scrape out a living going forward, the power and prosperity of John’s town and American as a whole has vanished forever. When Elizabeth celebrates that the crisis is really over, John half-heartedly agrees, knowing that history says otherwise: “He went into the house, picked up Rabs, then went outside to sit by Jennifer’s grave. The world had changed forever, the America they knew … never to return” (346).
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