One Second After

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.