Summary

Chapter 39, “In Which I Have Regrets and Count My Blessings,” is from Jane's perspective and opens with a quote from the Western Tales. The author writes that the “West is a bloody, brutal place” (441), as is the Devil's Bride. Jane and Katherine pass through an abandoned town. When they settle down to camp, they begin to talk. Jane says that if she had found Katherine wandering around Nicodemus as a shambler (instead of Miss Duncan), “I would've just laid down in the middle of that snowstorm and waited to die” (440). She could only imagine that the others – Katherine, Sue, and Lily – had become shamblers, so did not allow herself to think about it. Katherine understands and pledges to stay with Jane.

Katherine wakes Jane early the next morning, showing they are surrounded by shamblers. Just as was the case in Summerland...