Dry

Kelton McCracken is a Junior at the same high school as his longtime crush, Alyssa. He’s a point-of-view character and one of the main protagonists of Dry. As a member of the McCracken family, Kelton considers himself a “prepper”—someone who’s ready and equipped to survive any disaster, including the Tap-Out. As preppers, the McCracken family is relatively isolated and inwardly focused for their neighborhood. However, during the Tap-Out, Kelton breaks ranks with his family and especially his father, both because he doesn’t possess his father’s willingness to kill and because of his strong interest in helping Alyssa. Early in the conflict, Kelton stops his father from shooting the head of the neighborhood HOA by shooting him with a paintball instead. Kelton thinks, “I’m glad I did what I did. Not just because it has always been a fantasy of mine to blast our neighbors with my paintball gun—but because whether my dad knows it or not, I saw what was coming next” (71).

Although Kelton feels somewhat comfortable with weapons and annoyance at many of his neighbors, he’s perceptive enough to realize that his father’s willingness for violence far exceeds his own. Just as he must face the realization that he fundamentally disagrees with his father on some issues, Kelton must face the difference between being a prepper and being truly prepared to deal with a disaster when it comes. Despite his comfort with weapons and desire to help Alyssa, when a teenage boy grabs her and Kelton pulls his gun, he can’t shoot. Later in the novel, however, he musters the ability to kill to protect the others in his group from two dangerous men in the forest with a camper. Afterward, Jacqui notes “how different this kid is now than the Kelton I met on the beach” (345), where he couldn’t shoot the teenage boy. Although it took him some time to adjust to real rather than theoretical dangers, Kelton remains both devoted to those he cares about and willing to do whatever’s necessary to protect them.

Jacqui Costa is a 19-year-old girl who serves as a point-of-view character in Dry. She’s an outsider, having lived on her own for some time before the Tap-Out. Even though she reluctantly joins Kelton and Alyssa’s group of kids trying to survive, she remains an outsider, always at the edge of or in conflict with the group dynamic. She takes pride in her self-sufficiency and initially considers herself emotionally prepared to deal with a disaster like the Tap-Out. When she first meets the other kids, she thinks:

Book smarts are nice like heelies are nice: They’ll only get you so far, until you have to use your freaking feet. In fight-or-flight situations it’s street smarts that will get you out alive. I’m exceptionally lucky, because I have both (129-130).

Because of her experience taking care of herself from an early age, Jacqui has developed a hard and difficult-to-penetrate exterior. However, occasional cracks show her softer inside. For example, although Jacqui originally saves Alyssa and Kelton from the gang of teenage boys at the beach for self-interested reasons, she stays with the group for most of the novel. When the group travels to Dove Canyon, Jacqui leaves her bottle of antibiotics behind for Alyssa and Garrett’s sick Uncle Herb even though he’s a total stranger to Jacqui.

The frequent conflicts and dangers of the Tap-Out eventually wear away Jacqui’s hard shell, and she finds her humanity. When Alyssa steals a cup of water in the woods in a desperate attempt to save Garrett’s life, Jacqui briefly considers stealing the water for herself. However, she decides not to “because even though I’ve seen everyone around me lose their humanity today, I realize that in this moment, I have finally found mine” (352). By this point, Jacqui’s more humane and compassionate feelings come to the forefront, and she sacrifices her own comfort and well-being for that of Garrett, a young boy.

Garrett Morrow is the 10-year-old younger brother of Alyssa. As a character, Garrett fulfils the typical role of annoying younger brother. At first, he doesn’t realize how serious the Tap-Out is. However, in the absence of his parents and after beginning to be exposed to real dangers and weapons, Garrett quickly and surprisingly turns to violence. When Alyssa is caught by a dangerous teenage boy at the beach, Garrett yells at Kelton to shoot the boy. Later, after Henry betrays the group in the forest, Garrett demands that Jacqui shoot Henry too. In response, Alyssa thinks, “Are you broken, Garrett? Has all of this broken you worse than it’s broken the rest of us? And if the gun was in your hands, would Henry be dead now?” (316).

Although Alyssa worries that the Tap-Out has irreparably damaged Garrett’s morals and sensibility given his new propensity for violence, how well Garrett understands death is unclear, and he remains essentially a scared young boy. In his only point-of-view chapter, Garrett’s thoughts are consumed by fear, his desire to see his parents, and his extreme thirst rather than any thoughts of violence or murder.