Magnificent Bastard: Compton Dawes is the realtor of a town called Dark Falls. The town was normal until a chemical leak killed the entire town and resurrected them as zombies. The citizens were now immune to aging but needed to feed on fresh human blood once a year to maintain their existence. Using his business skills as a realtor, Dawes began luring families into Dark Falls once a year by tricking people outside the town into thinking they inherited a house in the town from a relative of theirs. After the family moved in, the town would feed on them, preserving their undead existence for another year and turning the families into more zombies. During the book, Dawes lures the Benson family into the town, tricking them into thinking they aren't zombies, and then captures the children, Amanda and Josh, after the parents are captured. Dawes was able to escape the sunlight that killed off most of the town, and plans to repopulate it one family at a time.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: In the end, Amanda sees Dawes ready to feed on the new family. Instead of trying to warn the family or stop Dawes, Amanda just brushes it off, assures herself it couldn't be Dawes, and leaves the family to their fate. While she had been understandably terrified of the zombies and wanted out of the town, she and her family together with the new family had Dawes vastly outnumbered, meaning it would be easy to deal with him. This makes her come off as a Dirty Coward, since she potentially condemned the new family and numerous future families.
