[Book Plot Summary]
Chapter 20
Jane takes Katherine to the white church with white people and the pastor is a complete bitch and HELLA rude to her carrying on about how racism was God’s destiny for black people
She then goes to the house with the Duchess who gives her a tour of the joint which is slick a mess
We learn that the sheriff’s wife turned into a shambler and so apparently the bitch is hella unreasonable in his requests
Also, Gideon invented everything, but we lowkey all knew that
Chapter 21
Jane gets food at the cafeteria joint and the preacher approaches and talks to her super intimidatingly and creepily
She meets a girl named Ida who was sent from a compound with a few others for being misfits essentially
The deranged preacher then gives this racist ass sermon about God’s order and was inches away from catching these hands. Like my nigga I WILL jump into these pages, don’t try me ho
Shiiiiiidt “and then Jane met a bitch named Marci that suddenly appeared and merked preacher bitch across the face and everybody lived for it. THE END!”
Chapter 22
Jane awakes to morning running drills with all the teens her age
They’re basically being herded like cattle by the sheriff, bitch ass Bill, and somebody else girl idk
Along the way, all the teens sing this suicidal song that’s awful
They get to a literal feeding ground and Jane gets no food because white people are the worst
Cora, the sheriff’s favorite, shadily eats and is weirdly comfortable with this bullshit
They’re then taken to their posts and Jane complains about how the weapons are shitty and will get her killed
She’s then attacked by these grown men
Jane got up and was like “everybody gotta die”. I’m HERE 🏽 FOR 🏽 IT 🏽
Chapter 23
So Jane is on patrol duty with dude, I think his name is Alfonse
They’re just walking around the top of this mud wall built by people who didn’t live to tell the tale
Alfonse talk too much lmao
Two other patrols fall on the other side of the wall and are nearly attacked by shamblers
Jane, again saving everyone, jumps down and saves them from the shamblers
One of the shamblers was an attendant she used to know named Maisie (who was the only real one when Jane asked her question during dude’s lecture back in Baltimore)
Another shambler was the attendant that left that white woman for dead lol
Anyways, the girls make their way to the top of the wall again and bitch ass Bill SHOOTS one of them cuz he THOUGHT she turned into a shambler
The other girl did turn into a shambler tho and Jane had to kill her on the spot
She then almost killed Bill and then went back to her post
Chapter 24
Jane keeps working the walls and hates everyone for being bitch ass niggas
She eventually gets some coin and decides to get clean sheets and her hair braided by the one black sex worker, Nessie
Apparently, the sheriff took a liking to Nessie so spared her a life of patrolling
Later Jane, while in bed, remembers when the major almost killed her at Rose Hill and the shit sounded horrible
Jane is full of rage and needs some semblance of freedom so she attempts to leave the sleeping quarters
Cora tries to rise up, but immediately gets her shit rocked
Jane decides she’s Spider-Man and jumps across a roof onto another building and ends up swinging inside the room
Mr. Gideon, half naked, is inside perched with a gun pointed at her. Jane seems strangely aroused during this
Bro, is Jane really bout to fall for this white boy? Lmao
Jane asks him questions about what’s up and he agrees that the survivalists are going about this all wrong and all shit will crumble
Jane then asks about Jackson and it’s implied that he was either killed or allowed to turn into a shambler. The sheriff has a thing for watching people turn into shamblers after all....
Jane is pissed and is literally going to murder everyone. I just feel it in my bones lmao
Chapter 25
So Jane just frfr don’t give a fuck no more
They’re all being fed less because rich white people are moving in all of a sudden
Jane is also blown that Jackson is probably a shambler now
So, one night, she decides enough is enough and literally sneaks to the rich, white part of town in the darkness
She breaks into some houses and finds Lily (Jackson’s sister) after ALL this time. The convenience!!!
Lily assures her that Katherine is lowkey spreading Negro truths, but that otherwise everything is a mess
Turns out they had to move out of Baltimore cuz they couldn’t afford it anymore and they owed the mayor a loan
Lily is like “dog, this shit ain’t safe” and shows Jane a ,like, haunted house basically
Chiiiiile what is Miss Jane finna do?!
Chapter 26
So Jane predictably goes into this dangerous ass house
She descends the stairs to see a, like, metal ball full of shamblers running aimlessly to make it rotate, but not necessarily moving forward. There’s an old black man sleeping just beyond their reach
Mr. Gideon literally emerges from the shadows since I’m pretty sure all these hoes are cartoon characters
He then takes Jane to a lab where he goes on and on about how he wanted Summerland to be a haven of racial harmony and for shambler labor to power not only electric lights, but also the border wall
But then other white people decided to be racist and illogical
He also gave Jane peaches lol
Anyways, he, like Lily, implies that shit’s about to get WAY worse before it gets better.
Jane’s like “okay bet, but I gotta go back”
On the way, however, she’s caught by the sheriff who knocks her unconscious
Chapter 27
Bruh, idk if I can do this
*sighs*
Okay so like
Basically, Jane was tied to a whipping pole by the sheriff and bitch ass Bill
They decide to gather everyone and whip Jane publicly because they’re white demons
Halfway through, Katherine steps in and uses passing privilege to BEG for mercy on Jane since they’re literally killing her
Gideon was there but markedly less helpful
The sheriff agrees and the duchess takes Jane and Gideon to her quarters to heal her while Katherine prepared for this lip sync for Jane’s life with the sheriff
At the saloon, everyone talks about how fucked up this is and Jane comes up with a plan saying that the only way they gon take these niggas down is if the sheriff falls in love with Katherine and they strike when his ass ain’t expecting it
Then she makes up this whole lie saying the reason Katherine is there is because the mayor of Baltimore was in love with her and the wife got jealous
So here we are I guess
Chapter 28
Katherine breaks into the room and is like “JANE WHY TF YOU LYIN ON ME?!”
Truth be told, she don’t really give a fuck, but she’s hootin and hollerin to mislead the folks listening in
But, super lowkey, Jane’s like, “yeah girl you gotta bait this sheriff bitch”
And Katherine’s like, “yeah boo, I got you, don’t worry”
Jane basically wants to drug and kill him
Also, Jane told Katherine that Jackson is dead :(
Chapter 29
So Jane is allowed to heal for a week with Katherine which thank God
She talks to the duchess to see if they’d had any luck securing drugs to drug the sheriff, but no dice
Katherine and Jane have a meeting with the sheriff where Katherine is able to convince him to give Jane her sickles (to fight shamblers) back
All the men in this scene are true mothafuckahs
The sheriff is gross and slobbering all over Katherine and is inches away from catching Jane’s hands—or, in this case, blade
Luckily for him, some disturbance erupts and he and his friends have to leave
Jane and Katherine use their departure as a chance to snoop
In doing so, Jane finds nothing, but Katherine finds a MAP
Someone walks in on them, but it’ssssss....JACKSON!!!
Chapter 30
So Jackson’s back, look at God!
Jane lowkey feelin him, but that ain’t none of my business
Turns out that Daniel Redfern was instructed to kill Jackson when they first got there, but instead gave him a knife and instructed him to escape to an Egalitarian town called “Nicodemus”
Turns out that Miss Duncan (the white woman we like...I think) is there too with a bunch of girls from Miss Preston’s. They’re a pacifist town so Jackson is tryna get ammunition at Summerland and find Lily!
ALSO, apparently Baltimore was overrun by shamblers...?!?!?!
Anyways, the pastor is rolling up, so Katherine and Jane buy some time to distract him while Jackson searches for whatever he’s searching for
Katherine reflects on how growing up in a brothel has made her a next level type of liar and Jane’s like, “damn”
Chapter 31
Jane and Katherine return to Katherine’s bougie ass house and Katherine admits how she lowkey hates this white passing nonsense—having to turn on her own people etc.
Katherine laments that her future seems to be having to entertain men when she’s honestly, probably, asexual
Jane, at this time, hints at some sexual fluidity in the past with Merry Alfred, which thank God
Jane tells Katherine that her beauty is just as much a weapon as it can be an inconvenience
Gideon rolls up and Jane sends him away, but before he leaves he asks that the 3 get lunch the next day
Jane is definitely falling for this white boy lol
Chapter 32
Thirsty niggas give Katherine rabbits and she and Jane eat them sans paying these thirsty hoes any mind
Jane reflects on just how hard all this is for Katherine
Sheriff rolls up talmbout he needs Jane to help fight a horde of shamblers who BREACHED the fence!!!
So everyone and they mama is gathered outside to fight
The black people were really out here unarmed until Jane was like “bruh...”
So they get access to hella good weapons and everyone’s blown that they’ve really been out here fightin shamblers with spoons and forks
Jane meets a similarly over it boy named Lucas and they bond about how much they wanna kill all the whites
Jane wants her penny back from Bill and she FINNA get that shit back
Oh yeah, Bill had taken her magic penny from Aunt Aggie lol
Chapter 33
YOOOOOOOOO
SO, aight, so boom
Basically everyone goes to battle the shamblers and it’s easily HUNDREDS of them meanwhile their team is like 40 ish hoes
The white guys with rifles don’t know wtf they’re doing
Hoes with lanterns are also fuckin up
So Jane TAKES OVER and starts giving out commands and actually setting them up to survive!
The sheriff with his fragile ass masculinity is in his feelings about it but fuck him, who cares!!!
They literally fight for their mf lives
A lot of white guys that didn’t know what they were doing died
But ultimately, they took down the shamblers like wow
Chapter 34
So Jane’s lowkey nervous that she’s gonna be punished for being logical and saving everyone’s lives last night because white people
She and Katherine approach the sheriff and apologize “for her behavior”, but the sheriff is surprisingly pleasant about it and is like, “Oh, we needed Jane’s leadership, it’s fine”
Surely, however, NOTHING is fine
The two then meet with Gideon in his lab
Come to find out Gideon is the Mayor of Baltimore’s SON?!
Everyone’s gagged but like meh I see why he lied
Anyways Gideon’s like, “yeah highkey shamblers are starting to gather from all over andddddd they’re gathering in bigger and bigger groups andddddd they lowkey can communicate with each other like insects ANDDDDDD we’re basically fucked if we don’t get tf out of here”
So Jane’s like, “yeah the sheriff’s gotta go sis”
Chapter 35
Oh girl...
So basically Jane and Katherine make their way to the outer wall to see what’s going on
Along the way, the run into a drover (think like the white version of attendants) named Alan who sucks but all the men in this book do, so no surprise there
He spills some tea saying that Maryland AND Delaware have been overrun by shamblers AND they’re going to Pennsylvania next. It’s a HUGE horde taking out the Eastern Seaboard
He hints that some folks are looking to relocate to Nicodemus
Anyway, they make it to the wall and the sheriff asks that they get supper with him and also find out that there’s still 2 big ass holes in the wall
Also, like half the fence team died including Cora, who we didn’t like, but it’s still sad
But weirdly there are like wealthy white folks here who turned shambler, so it’s like wtf is going on?
Maybe the sheriff brought them to the wall to show them it was safe and then shit went left? Like all those loitering bodies caused the breach? Unclear
Katherine suggests that they ask the sheriff to consolidate everyone and defend themselves from a smaller focal point
Jane thinks it’s suicide, but is there REALLY another option?!
Also, girl, this book is almost over, like WHEN are these white people dying?!
Chapter 36
So Jane and Katherine are walking to the sheriff and run into Ida who then tells them that ANOTHER shambler horde is coming?!??
The drovers refuse to fight because they scurred
Katherine is like, “girl, we needa stay and defend ourselves” and Jane’s like, “girl, we needa RUN!”
Jane separates to warn hoes to grab they shit and leave
She runs into the Duchess who got beat up by the sheriff because he found out that Katherine is BLACK
Jane’s like “FUCKKKKKK” and so she makes a run for Katherine, hoping she’s not too late
Chapter 37
Jane runs to the sheriff’s office and, of course, runs into the sheriff, pastor, Bob (WHOM?!), and Bill who are lowkey holding Katherine hostage and want to kill her and Jane
They’re busy being evil cartoon villains when Jane sees an opening and essentially kills all of them with a gun. Like she used one bitch as a shield and used her momentum to do all the work, it was wild!!
Before the pastor dies, she tells him how she was the one who killed the major (her mom’s shitty ex back at Rose Hill Plantation) when he got back from the war
We also find out that Jane’s mom was a passing black woman and used her mistress’ death to assume her identity
Katherine and Jane grab weapons and are like, “bitch, wtf is finna happen sis”
Chapter 38
So basically, Katherine and Jane leave tranquilly after murdering 4 white men
All of a sudden, the shamblers ENTER town and ALL hell breaks loose!!!!
Everyone’s running for their lives and Katherine and Jane decide to grab Lily and co. before leaving town
The Duchess and all the other women of the saloon join them
They’re wearing corsets, which like whet?!
They all make it to Lily’s house and grab her and baby Thomas (Lol)
They then all try to prepare a horse for escape when these white guys try to steal the horse
Jackson shows up out of NOWHERE and murders one of the white guys without giving even a sliver of a fuck
Lily, Baby Thomas, Duchess and co., Katherine, Jackson, and Jane then all hightail it tf out of town
During this, Jackson gives Jane a letter from Big Sue (her alleged best friend we ain’t heard about since Chapter 1 lmao) that basically is the last letter from Jane’s mom where we learn that Rose Hill is no longer cuz her new husband BETRAYED her and now she’s seeking refuge in California at a survivalist camp thing
So Jane comes to the epiphany that her life goal is to stop the survivalists wherever they are
So everyone makes their way to Nicodemus to presumably link up with Preston girls, Miss Duncan, Mr. Redfern, and make their way to California
[Book Thoughts and Feelings]
Okay so like, I feel like the pacing was HELLA weird at the end. Like the climax and escape all happened in like 3 chapters. I kinda wish it was bit more fleshed out
Even Lily’s reunion with Jackson was HELLA rushed
Lol I feel like it all got a little superhero cliche-y at the end. Like even the banter was just very like weirdly casual given the extreme severity of the situation
Pacing aside, I am curious if a sequel is coming, there are definitely still SO many questions and loose ends
WAYUR tf is Gideon?!
Real tea tho, like what is the future of the US frfr with this plague? Like I don’t foresee this terror truly ending
What does it mean for a shambler to become intelligent? What does that symbolize?
Katherine and passing privilege—I really enjoyed the exploration of the psychological toll of having to betray your own people
Also, would have LOVED for Katherine’s implied asexuality to be explored more. How does that intersect with this role she’s been placed in? The role of the well put-together, presumably heterosexual white woman?
I loved the intersection of sex work and blackness--how their mutual social subjugation allowed them to exist in closer proximity with one another and like really slay at the end
White male egos...I can’t lol