Part 2: Chapters 8 through 11 Summary

They hanged and buried Charlie and move on with life, though each of them apparently carries the burden of having made the decision. Later, Ish and Joey look over the box of corn kernels brought back by Robert and Richard. Ish explains that they didn't try to raise anything for many years and that there were now no usable seeds. He says that they'll now find a spot and raise corn. They parch two dozen kernels and even Ish admits that it's not very good. Corn and wheat, like other cultivated plants, are being pushed out of the places they were once raised by the more hardy weeds.

About a week later, Robert takes to his bed, ill with fever. Ish doctors with sulfa drugs but Robert gets worse. Soon Joey and Josey are also ill, and there's a...