Dread Nation

Jane McKeene came into the world two days before the dead started wandering the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, an event that upended the Civil War and reshaped the country. Decades later, the United States has adjusted its laws to keep people safe. Under the Native and Negro Education Act, many young people must attend combat schools, where they learn to destroy the undead.

Jane is training to become an Attendant, a guardian skilled in both fighting and social graces who protects wealthy families. For a Black girl, the role offers a rare path toward a better life, though Jane, the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman, has no wish to live by the expectations placed on her. She is nearly done at Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore and plans to return home to Kentucky, paying little attention to the eastern cities' talk of restoring America to its pre-undead glory.

That plan collapses when families in the Baltimore County area start disappearing. Jane finds herself drawn into a conspiracy and must fight for her life against powerful enemies. The walking dead turn out to be the least of her worries.