How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
These new highwaymen were ruthless and evil men who lately had been choking the thin trickle of communications and trade between towns and villages. (8.265)
Nukes would be bad enough. Rampant starvation would be bad enough. No electricity would be bad enough. But now we have to deal with gangs of roving thugs? That's just too much. These highwaymen do serious damage to any community they touch, as we see when they assault the noble Dan Gunn, stealing his equipment and leaving him for dead.
Quote #8
"I think of smallpox as something out of the Middle Ages, like the Black Plague. [...] What happens now without vaccine?" (9.191)
Did we mention that Fort Repose is also is the crosshairs of some fairly brutal diseases, including smallpox and typhoid? It's getting medieval up in here. Once again we're reminded that the suffering of Fort Repose doesn't decrease as time passes—it only gets worse.
Quote #9
He could easily have switched gears and gone on, but he was a physician, and he was Dan Gunn. He turned off the engine and got out of the car. (10.39)
Dan is an empathetic guy. He has to be, otherwise he wouldn't be good at his job. Unfortunately, that empathy bites him in the butt when he's tricked into stopping by a group of highwaymen, beaten, robbed, and left for dead. Even after this brutal attack, however, Dan refuses to lose his compassion for those who suffer.