Jane is a seventeen-year-old student at Miss Preston's School of Combat for Negro Girls, where she trains to become an Attendant. Born to a wealthy white woman on a Kentucky plantation, her dark skin caused an immediate scandal at her birth. She is highly intelligent, pragmatic, and willing to bend the rules, preferring practical combat gear over the restrictive corsets demanded by high society. Her ultimate goal is to finish her schooling and return to her childhood home at the Rose Hill plantation.

Katherine is a beautiful, light-skinned student at Miss Preston's School of Combat. She adheres strictly to the school's etiquette rules and frequently wears forbidden corsets, finding a sense of personal expression in high fashion. Her exceptional beauty attracts unwanted attention, making her anxious about her future prospects and independence as an Attendant.

Jackson is a handsome and impulsive young man who runs various schemes throughout Baltimore County. He shares a complicated romantic history with Jane, often exchanging favors and smuggled goods with her. Despite his reckless nature and lack of planning, he is deeply dedicated to the safety of his younger sister.

Gideon is an intelligent and mild-mannered tinkerer who designs farming equipment, electric lights, and weapons. He holds a vision for a more equal society following the shambler uprising, though he finds himself surrounded by people who do not share his ideals. He treats the Black workers he encounters with a baseline level of respect that is rare in his environment.

Sheriff Snyder enforces the law in a fortified western town, operating with cruelty and a deep-seated prejudice against the Black workers assigned to patrol the walls. He carries physical markers of spending long days in the harsh sun and relies on violence and intimidation to maintain control over the populace.

Pastor Snyder provides spiritual direction for his frontier town, using his religious authority to reinforce a strict, racially divided social hierarchy. He preaches that the shambler plague is a divine punishment for challenging the natural order, effectively weaponizing his sermons to control the laborers and justify their harsh working conditions.

Miss Preston runs the School of Combat for Negro Girls in Baltimore, where she oversees the training of young women preparing to serve as Attendants. She prioritizes high society manners as heavily as combat skills, demanding strict obedience from her students to maintain the school's reputation.

Miss Anderson is a severe instructor at Miss Preston's school who displays active hostility toward her students. She intentionally makes her examinations harder for certain girls and uses demeaning language when reprimanding them, operating with clear racial bias.

Mayor Carr leads Baltimore County and belongs to the Survivalist party, a political faction focused on maintaining power for wealthy white citizens. He publicly insists that the county is completely safe from shamblers, attempting to project stability while privately managing numerous security breaches.

Mr. Redfern is an Indigenous man who works as an enforcer for the mayor of Baltimore. Stripped of his heritage and original name by the government at a young age, he maintains a stoic, scowling demeanor and frequently handles the violent or unsavory tasks required by his employers.

Lily is Jackson's younger sister, a light-skinned girl who is hidden away with a white family in the woods to avoid the education officers. Her disappearance sets off a chain of events as her brother attempts to track down her whereabouts.

Aunt Aggie is a house servant at the Rose Hill plantation who primarily raised Jane. She possesses a pragmatic understanding of the world and acts as a grounding force in Jane's life, providing her with a lucky penny before Jane departs for combat school.

The mistress of the Rose Hill plantation in Kentucky, Jane's mother raised her daughter in a complex, high-stakes environment. She taught Jane how to read, an illegal act, and maintains correspondence with her daughter while managing the plantation's remaining workers.

Miss Duncan is a teacher at Miss Preston's school who oversees the girls during public outings. She attempts to enforce polite conversation and discourage political talk, adhering strictly to societal expectations for young ladies.

Professor Ghering is an academic who promotes racist, eugenics-based theories regarding the shambler plague. He claims to have invented a vaccine based on his belief that people of color are closer to animals, dangerously prioritizing his political ideology over actual scientific safety.

Othello is Professor Ghering's assistant. He participates in a highly dangerous public demonstration to prove the efficacy of the professor's supposed shambler vaccine.

The Duchess operates a brothel in a western settlement, managing a group of working girls who entertain the local drovers. She possesses a shrewd understanding of the town's power dynamics and recognizes the danger posed by the local authorities.

Ida is a laborer from the Deep South who now works on the wall patrols in the West. Having survived regions completely overrun by the undead, she understands the lethal consequences of speaking out against the white authorities and attempts to warn others.

Cora is a worker on the barrier wall patrols who has aligned herself with the local authorities to secure better treatment. She actively mocks those with formal education or refined manners, viewing them as a threat to her established position.

Major McKeene is the wealthy, volatile patriarch of the Rose Hill plantation. A veteran of the Years of Discord, he commands absolute authority over his household and reacts with intense anger at the discovery that anyone in his home has breached the strict racial laws of the era.

Mr. Spencer is a white man who lives in an isolated home in Baltimore County. He and his wife take in a young girl, passing her off as their daughter to protect her from the truancy officers until the family mysteriously vanishes.

Zeke is a young boy who lived on the Rose Hill plantation during Jane's childhood. Adventurous and prone to getting into trouble alongside his twin brother, he attempts to attack a trapped shambler with tragic results.

Joe is Zeke's twin brother, a childhood friend of Jane's who lives on the Rose Hill plantation. He bravely stands his ground when a shambler breaks free from a fence, relying on his brother for protection.

Maisie is a former student from Miss Preston's School of Combat. She possessed an inquisitive mind and frequently asked questions about the establishment, a trait that ultimately led to her disappearance from polite society.