Zhen is the hero of the novel. While Martha appoints herself the moral arbiter of the apocalypse, Zhen is swept along and caught up in Martha’s plans. Her tragic background—losing her mother as a child, and interned in a refugee camp for years—prepares her for the survival role she expertly plays. By choosing to support the hoax concocted by Martha and her cohort, Zhen actively commits to—and sacrifices herself for—the betterment of the planet and humankind.

When Zhen is introduced, she is all hustle: “Zhen was thirty-three years old, and an increasingly survival-focused world of constantly unfolding crises was eager for what she had to offer” (25). From the beginning, Zhen separates herself from the other survivalists in the novel. Of the Enochites, for example, Zhen notes that “they were survivalist adjacent but not her brand of tech survivalism” (65). In contrast to Lenk Sketlish, the most extreme survivalist among the CEOs, Zhen believes “survival had always included more banding together than murdering” (46).

Most characters in the book see the future as a source of opportunities, whether for profit or positive change. For Zhen, however, thinking of the future induces anxiety: “She could always see a thing in her mind right through to the hideous conclusion […].