The mayor ordered the townspeople to return to business as usual: "Yes, an enormous monster may be just beyond the stones of that wall, and yes, it appears to be lusting for blood, and yes, we know nothing about it and are only barely being rational in believing that the wall can hold the thing indefinitely, and yes, it does dwarf the lives we lead with its omnipresent reminder of death, but please return to your daily routines as if nothing has changed because, if you think about it, besides all that, nothing has." And so, shops reopened, bakeries fired up ovens, people started making purchases.

— That's when the knives come down by Dolan Morgan (Page 104)