Who is Jeremiah Renway, and why is he living in the woods?

In Chapter Eleven, the reader is introduced to Jeremiah Renway. Jeremiah had been involved in a group that set off an explosion at Eastern State University's chemistry lab. The group had been convinced that university professors are creating napalm. The four had scattered, though three were captured, either immediately or in the years after. Jeremiah alone had escaped. He'd gone into hiding and ended up in the woods near Lake Charmaine.