Jed is Mary’s older brother. He is married to Beth, whose miscarriage early in the novel saddles Jed with grief that compounds his existing anguish over his mother’s loss to the realm of the undead. Because of these events, Mary shows more understanding in the face of Jed’s harsh actions when he turns her away from her own home and forces her to join the Sisterhood. He also avoids visiting her when he brings the wounded Travis to the Sisters’ hospital.

Later, after he and Beth take refuge in the fenced paths with the other survivors in the wake of the village’s destruction, Jed tries to confide in Mary when he admits that Beth has been bitten and will soon turn. However, in a fit of pique later on, Mary betrays his confidence and tells the others about Beth. Despite these complex conflicts in their sibling relationship, Jed ultimately realizes he wants to protect Mary in her attempt to survive in the Forest. He is the only one of the remaining survivors to follow her, and he bravely fights the undead at her side. At the end of the novel, Jed’s fate is uncertain, as Mary cannot find his body after he falls into the river.

Travis is the young man whom Mary loves. Although Travis loves Mary in return, his brother Harry has claimed Mary as his own betrothed, and under the moral code of the village, Travis cannot speak out against the wishes of his elder brother. Ironically, Travis and Mary get a chance to experience a domestic life together when they barricade themselves into the brick house in Gabrielle’s village. However, this unofficial “marriage” leaves both of them unsatisfied because Mary believes that they should leave the village and try a new path. Though Travis once told Mary to hang onto her hope of finding the ocean, he now admits that Gabrielle told him the ocean and shore have been dangerously overrun with undead and pirates. Later, as he prepares to sacrifice himself to the undead in order to save the others from the fire that Jacob inadvertently starts, Travis urges Mary to seek her dream after all.

Harry is a static character who remains a consistent source of strength, courage, and protection for Mary and the other survivors. In the novel’s early chapters, he “speaks for” Mary and intends to wed her, but he also listens to her dreams of escape and sincerely wants her to find happiness and fulfillment. He shows his bravery when he saves Jacob from the invading undead and takes a leadership role in the survivors’ journey along the fenced paths. Notably, he never faults Mary for loving his brother, and he later acknowledges and cares for Cass and Jacob in the tree houses when Mary and Travis have been separated from the group. However, rather than making a conscious decision to love Cass rather than Mary, Harry simply acquiesces to the circumstances of their plight, passively adjusting his actions to fit external pressures. Despite his tolerance, he does have one bad moment in which he calls Mary “selfish” for wanting to go into the Forest at Gate 1. Faced with what he sees as her abandonment of the group, he is angry to realize that his attempts to persuade her to stay will ultimately fail. His reaction further demonstrates his inability to embrace change, and it is clear that cannot understand a world in which Mary controls her own fate.

Cass is Mary’s best friend. The two of them are the only young women of their age in the village, thanks to an epidemic that took the lives of many children when they were young. The novel’s exposition thus emphasizes the social pressures that interfere with Cass and Mary’s well-being, for they are the only two young women who are slated to marry this year. Cass takes this responsibility seriously and refuses to defy the moral code of the village. In her mind, she resolves to be content with Travis because Harry, the one she truly loves, has chosen Mary to be his wife. Cass insists that she and Mary refrain from challenging the status quo, and her passivity demonstrates her broader willingness to submit to authority in this oppressive religious system.

At Cass’s words, Mary feels an emotional gulf opening between her and her friend, and matters between the two remain strained until Mary escapes from the brick house. By that time, Cass has overcome her inner conflicts and jealousy over the fact that both brothers favor Mary. Now, Cass’s new role as Jacob’s caretaker has shown her a more important path. These changes emphasize Cass’s maturation as the group travels along the fenced paths, and she emerges as a dynamic, complex character who serves as an ally to Mary.

Sister Tabitha is a complicated antagonist. She threatens Mary’s life in order to force her to acquiesce to the Sisterhood’s vows, and she then repeatedly badgers Mary about the necessity of conceding to the scripted life that the Sisterhood has laid out for all young women in the village. However, just before her death, Sister Tabitha shows that she is caring and generous, for during the breach, she sends the other Sisters inside the safety of the Cathedral while she stays outside to fix a barricading shutter. She also keeps the Cathedral door open as Harry and Mary desperately try to reach it, and this self-sacrificing choice ultimately leads to her death at Gabrielle’s hands. Sister Tabitha therefore symbolizes power and oppression, but her efforts to save the Sisters from Gabrielle shows that she also possesses a willingness to atone for her past wrongs by sacrificing her own safety to protect others.