The characters in Dry are a cross-section of Southern California thrust together by the catastrophic Tap-Out. Through their choices and clashes, the story probes Survival and Desperation, The Breakdown of Social Order, and the full range of Human Nature: Civility vs. Savagery. As water vanishes and fear spreads, each person must decide where their humanity ends and their survival instinct begins.
Main Characters
Alyssa Morrow
Bold, practical, and fiercely protective, Alyssa emerges as the group’s moral center and de facto leader after her parents disappear, leaving her to safeguard her younger brother, Garrett. A typical suburban teen on day one of the Tap-Out, she hardens into someone capable of terrifying choices—stealing water from a dying woman—to keep her family alive. Her steadiness creates a natural partnership with Kelton’s survival know-how, even as she pushes back against his prepper fatalism, and her wary friction with Jacqui evolves into mutual respect. Constantly tested by Henry’s manipulation, she learns to balance compassion with ruthlessness, becoming the story’s clearest lens on what it means to stay human when survival demands otherwise.
Kelton McCracken
A thoughtful, awkward prepper raised for disaster, Kelton begins the crisis almost vindicated—until real loss shatters his textbook certainty. His father Richard’s doctrine of suspicion and dominance saves the family on paper but destroys it in practice, culminating in Brady’s death and forcing Kelton to question everything he’s been taught. Loyal to Alyssa and grounded by her pragmatism, he grows from a theory-driven “Herder” into a survivor who understands fear, grief, and sacrifice, even taking lives to protect the group. His rivalry with Henry exposes his blind spots, while his uneasy respect for Jacqui and devotion to Garrett show him the limits—and necessity—of trust.
Jacqui Costa
A sharp, cynical loner with razor-edged instincts, Jacqui joins the teens at Laguna Beach out of necessity and keeps them alive with her streetwise realism. She challenges Alyssa’s optimism and punctures Kelton’s prepper idealism, yet her prickly independence gradually gives way to loyalty as the group becomes her “pack.” Beneath her barbed humor and hair-trigger temper lies a code: she won’t be prey, but she won’t abandon people who’ve earned her respect. Her sprint through wildfire toward the reservoir crystallizes her transformation from self-preservation to self-sacrifice—and marks her as the group’s most unlikely hero.
Garrett Morrow
A ten-year-old thrust into catastrophe, Garrett embodies the story’s stakes: if he cannot survive, none of it matters. His early mistake—contaminating the family’s water—sets the plot in motion and stains him with guilt, even as he proves brave and stubbornly resilient. He idolizes and then despises Henry, a painful lesson that hastens his loss of innocence; Alyssa’s protection and Kelton’s mentorship help rebuild his trust. Through Garrett, the novel gauges the cost of the Tap-Out, showing how quickly a child learns the language of fear, bargaining, and revenge.
Henry Groyne
Charming, calculating, and utterly self-interested, Henry turns disaster into a marketplace and people into leverage. He insinuates himself into the group by trading Uncle Basil’s truck, stoking rivalries—courting Alyssa’s attention, flattering Garrett, and provoking Kelton—to fracture their cohesion. His empty-box con and abandonment expose the danger not of thirst but of opportunism, the kind that feeds on chaos and calls it savvy. Reemerging as a media-anointed “hero,” he becomes the novel’s most biting commentary on perception, privilege, and the profits of disaster.
Supporting Characters
Richard McCracken
A prepper patriarch devoted to control, Richard believes compassion is a liability—and the Tap-Out seems to prove him right until his rigidity destroys his family. Refusing to help neighbors, escalating every threat, and ultimately killing Brady in panic, he embodies survivalism without empathy. His collapse forces Kelton to reject fear-as-policy and to seek a kinder strength within the group.
Uncle Basil (Herb)
Well-meaning but unprepared, Uncle Basil represents the ordinary person outmatched by crisis. He leaves to avoid burdening Alyssa and Garrett, yet his truck becomes the bargaining chip Henry uses to infiltrate and destabilize the group. Through Basil, the story highlights how kindness without readiness can still matter—even as it’s exploited.
Charity
Known as the “Water Angel,” Charity organizes a freeway commune that rations aid by need rather than force, proving order and empathy can coexist in chaos. Her ad hoc community stands as a foil to the McCrackens’ fortress mentality and the HOA’s impotence, offering the teens a glimpse of collective survival. She is memorable for her authority without cruelty and for challenging the group’s assumptions about power.
Dalton
A teenager marked by a biohazard tattoo, Dalton reappears at Laguna Beach as a desperate attacker, a chilling early “water-zombie” whose thirst erases restraint. His violence is less villainy than a symptom, illustrating how quickly civility collapses when the body’s needs overrun the mind. He warns the group—and the reader—what they could become.
Minor Characters
- Brady McCracken: Kelton’s estranged brother who secretly drains the bug-out stash; his accidental death at Richard’s hands detonates the McCracken family and resets Kelton’s beliefs.
- Marybeth McCracken: Kelton’s mother, who challenges Richard’s extremism and chooses compassion, sheltering Alyssa, Garrett, and Jacqui when it’s most dangerous.
- Mr. Burnside: HOA enforcer turned supplicant, emblematic of how brittle suburban authority becomes when rules meet real need.
- Hali Hartling: Alyssa’s teammate whose bargain for water exposes the predatory economies born of scarcity.
- Max: Charity’s gentle, biker-like ally whose kindness within the commune subverts stereotypes and underscores the power of community.
Character Relationships & Dynamics
At the heart of the novel is the sibling bond between Alyssa and Garrett: her every choice is calibrated to keep him alive, and his fear, courage, and mistakes sharpen her resolve. Alyssa’s partnership with Kelton evolves from neighborly convenience to a mutual reliance—her moral clarity tempers his survivalist reflexes, while his skills give her plans teeth. As a foil, Jacqui grinds against Alyssa’s compassion and Kelton’s manuals, but their clashes forge respect; together they balance heart, know-how, and grit.
Kelton’s family fractures under Richard’s ideology, contrasting sharply with the teens’ emergent micro-community. Richard and the HOA represent brittle, top-down control that fails under pressure, while Charity’s freeway commune models bottom-up cooperation that actually functions. These competing systems frame the group’s choices: fortify and isolate, submit to hollow authority, or participate in cooperative care.
Henry operates as an internal predator, preying on trust to destabilize the group from within. He courts Alyssa’s attention, patronizes Garrett, and challenges Kelton’s competence, turning scarcity into leverage and friends into marks. The teens’ eventual recognition of his methods solidifies their alliance, proving that survival is not just about water and weapons, but about choosing whom—and what—you will be to one another.