New Bern is a city near Jericho. The town manager is Phil Constantino, who is also the sheriff. New Bern's land is mostly clay, so its citizens have no way of growing crops. After the attacks, New Bern asks for ten percent of Jericho's spring crop, along with salt, in exchange for ten wind turbines. Ten Jericho men are taken to New Bern to help make the turbines, a gesture interpreted by Jericho's mayor, Gray Anderson, as a passive hostage-taking as collateral for Jericho's fulfilling its part of the deal.