community-reluctance

In this chapter, Gordon flees a violent ambush with a young boy named Mark, evading pursuers through the ruins of Eugene and eventually reaching the walled village of Harrisburg. Despite his warnings about the dangerous Holnist raiders and the theft of mail bags, the townspeople are initially skeptical and reluctant to act until Gordon asserts his authority as a federal postal inspector, rallying a militia to pursue the bandits. The chapter ends with the militia arriving too late to catch the raiders, discovering the aftermath of the massacre and the damaged mail sacks, underscoring the fragile state of post-apocalyptic order and the symbolic importance of the mail.