Chapters 1-4 Summary

In Chapter 1, Buck braces himself against the platform. Chaos ensues as two million people stampede and rush to get away from the area in which Supreme Potentate Nicolae Carpathia has just been murdered. Thousands of people rush by Buck who struggles to find safe ground. Buck had heard a gunshot 100 feet to his right. It sounded like a rifle or perhaps the small gun Carpathia had used when killed Moishe and Eli at the Wailing Wall three days before.

Buck searches frantically for his friends Chaim and Jakov. Buck climbs up onto a crossbar to see the surrounding area and to avoid the stampede. A large speaker falls from its stand. A woman nearby is crushed to death. No one can hear Buck calling.

Carpathia is surrounded by guards. There is an argument about what to do to try to save...