Tracy Dantis

"'If you don’t focus, none of us are gonna make it out of here… and that’s all that matters…'""- Tracy Dantis in Life After: The Basement"Tracy Melora Dantis is a major character in Life After: The Basement and a minor character in Life After: The Void.

By the time of Life After: The Basement, it is implied that Tracy has been held captive in her father's house for several years before Eric Matthews and Mia Muxworthy join her.

Appearance and Character
Tracy has dirty blond hair, and when met by Eric and Mia, she is severely emaciated. In spite of this, she is energetic when it comes to the possibility of escaping captivity, keeping Mia focused on the task at hand even as Eric melts down.

When things go from bad to worse, she remains singularly focused on the health and wellbeing of her son Jimmy, carefully removing him from the situation and going so far as to carry him on foot despite a fatal injury. Though Tracy accepts the terrifying truth of her mortality, her selfless dedication to Jimmy sees her entrenching them in a safe place before she sacrifices herself to an inevitable demise.

History
Very little is known about Tracy's past; it is heavily implied that she has been held in captivity by her father Mason Dantis for several years, and that her son Jimmy is the product of incest. Sometime before the events of The Basement, Tracy was joined in captivity by a young woman named Rachel, who later died and resurrected while chained to the wall opposite. That Tracy doesn't know what year it is and doesn't understand what happened to her is a strong indicator of how little contact she's had with the outside world.

Life After: The Basement
Two months after the zombie outbreak in Newtown Square, Eric Matthews and Mia Muxworthy are ensnared by Mason Dantis, who traps the two in the basement of his house alongside Tracy and Rachel. When pressed by Mia, Tracy indicates that she has no knowledge of the outbreak. Eric quickly comes unraveled despite Tracy's insistence that they plan their escape, descending into a full-blown panic when Mason returns, unlocks his crate, tases him, and drags him into a back room with a furnace.

With Mason distracted, Tracy and Mia try to hatch a crude escape plan: Mia has to upend her crate so she can get close enough to release the zombified Rachel with the hope that she can hold her chain until Mason returns. Though Mia successfully frees Rachel, she fails to hold the chain, resulting in Tracy getting bitten. Hearing the commotion, Mason reenters the room, whereupon Rachel promptly emasculates him. Frenzied, Mason rips a pistol from his ankle holster and fires off two wild shots, the second of which instantly kills Mia.

Before Mason can steady his aim, Eric rushes out of the adjacent room and stabs Mason in the back with a fire iron, quickly executing him with the pistol before taking out Rachel as well. Seeing that Tracy has been bitten, Eric makes an overture at shooting her, but she manages to convince him to spare her life for Jimmy's sake. Eric relents and allows Tracy to free herself, rambling about the futility of their situation before mumbling that Tracy might find sanctuary with an acquaintance of his at the Delaware County Community College. After imparting some basic first-aid instructions, Eric indicates that Tracy has about two days until she turns into a zombie herself. Tracy begs for Eric's help, but her pleas fall on deaf ears once Eric shoots himself in the head.

Tracy frees herself and bounds up the steps to make some food before she rifles through Eric's backpack. Once she's showered and treated her wounds, she begins meticulously preparing supplies, but she's stopped dead by Jimmy. Unable to contain her jubilation at seeing him, Tracy suggests that they take a nap together. When she awakens the following morning, she prepares to leave, treating her wound again, packing food, and taking time to draft a letter.

Upon leaving the house, Tracy quickly encounters a long string of abandoned cars at a major thoroughfare, forcing her to continue on foot. Despite her weakened, emaciated state, Tracy manages to carry Jimmy for large portions of their trek toward DCCC, doing her best to keep him calm in spite of the circumstances. When passing in front of Thomas Massey High School, several people on the second floor shout for her to come inside. Overjoyed by this deliverance, Tracy tells Jimmy he'll be staying with new people before she smiles for the first time in a long time.

Life After: The Void
Colin Mursak awakens Jeff Grey to alert him to Tracy's arrival, conferring with John Anderson before they agree to welcome the two into the building. Karen DeMarco takes Jimmy as Jeff privately welcomes Tracy. She listens to his polite overtures at allowing the two to spend the night, accepting an alcoholic beverage before she produces Eric's gun and excuses herself to the bathroom. Once there, Tracy commits suicide. After Tracy's corpse is dealt with, Karen dictates Tracy's suicide note to Jeff. Shortly thereafter, Althea Luangrath indicates that Tracy would not have killed herself had she spoken to her instead of Jeff.

Tracy's demise continues to haunt the group days later, with several members, particularly Jimmy, lamenting her passage.