“Forty-two days ago, I was a regular Jack Sullivan: thirteen years old, living an uneventful life in the uninteresting town of Wakefield. I was totally not a hero, totally not a tough guy, totally not fighting monsters. But look at me now.”

The introduction to our protagonist in the opening lines of the book establishes him as a character with a past. He wasn’t always the tough hero fighting monsters, but he strongly implies that his fortune has reversed and that now his life has changed drastically. Rather than being “uneventful,” his situation is now perilous and he must fight for his survival. 

“It’s time to stop being this monster’s punching bag. See, I’ve kind of been the world’s punching bag for a while and y’know—it just ain’t a whole lotta fun. So I’m fighting back.”

Once again, Jack’s past subtly emerges to develop his character as someone who has endured a history of being overlooked and picked on, but who is now determined to find his resiliency and literally “fight back.” Jack’s past life of being the “punching bag” of the world has turned him into a tough kid who can now handle the horrors of a zombified world in which he must learn how to throw punches back. Furthermore, from a literary perspective, his voice as a confident and casual adolescent is established by his use of informal phrases like “lotta fun” and “y’know.”

“I’ve encountered other freaky beasts over the last forty-two days, but none like this. None that examined me: looking over me, smelling me, studying me. None that felt this terrifyingly smart.”

Blarg’s presence in the narrative is a constant threat. This moment highlights how formidable the antagonist is. The emphasis on the intelligence of the beast indicates that it isn’t an ordinary monster like those Jack normally fights.