Janine (Coda)

"***Much** better than packaging food and supplies for all these people, tell ya that.*"
—Janine to Theo about being on guard duty.[src]
**Janine** is a main character and former antagonist, as well as a survivor of the outbreak, in Coda. In between the first two seasons, she redeems herself and becomes a trusted member of the group.

## History

### Season 1

Her group of bandits attempts to have Harper's group join them. When they disagree, her group threatens to kill Harper's unless they give them all of their belongings. After they seemingly agree, Matt shoves Tristan into a pack of walkers as he's distracted, causing his death and a shootout ensues. Janine is hit in the shoulder and leg and retreats into the bar. She, along with Shelley, does not appear with Roger, Clay, and Terry to take out the rest of the group, and her fate is unknown. However, Clay states that the group killed two of their members (Tristan and Rachel) so this confirms she was not killed by the gunshot wounds.

Janine was later lost on the road, searching for her group, confirming that Shelley had abandoned the bar, for the time being. She is taken by Renee, who is looking for her sister, and taken back to Ben's survivor camp. Unconscious, Janine remained in captivity as the walkers accidentally led to camp by Kevin and Lauren emerged from the forest. They attempted to break into the car Janine was being kept in, frightening her. After failing to remove her restraints, Janine is rescued by Renee after Matt insists on abandoning her. Renee comes by later to give Janine food and water, and despite putting up a cold front, Janine thanks Renee, showing some care for the woman who's been kind to her, while the rest of the group plans to leverage Janine to find Shelley and kill her in revenge.

After Ben's camp finally fell, Janine was taken with Renee, Cheryl, Avery, and Robbie. Exhausted from constantly keeping herself on watch, Janine fell asleep. After awakening, oblivious to the fact that the camp had been overrun, Janine seemingly attempts to defend herself, causing their car to flip into a ditch. Following this, Janine is once more knocked unconscious. While the group insists on abandoning her once more, Renee disagrees, and she's able to convince them to get Janine. In the RV, reunited with the other members of the group, Janine remains unconscious for the remainder of the episode.

### Season 2

Eight months later, the group, minus Renee, who decided to leave on her own, have reached Savannah, Georgia, in a small community called Crawford. Janine, in this time, despite Renee's absence, has become able to prove herself as a valuable member of the group. Despite initially using Crawford to gain her own advantage over Harper's group, Janine found herself growing to care about them.

Janine was on watch duty when the Welles family arrived, calling to Amelio for assistance with dealing with them. Janine watched as Amelio denied the family's advances to join the community. Janine later came to check on Amanda after she was knocked unconscious by Jonathan, where she learned a bit of Jonathan's history with violence from Theo. Later in the infirmary, she came to check on Juanita, a member of the Welles family who had earlier crashed into the wall on accident. They were oblivious to the fact that Juanita had died, and she reanimated, forcing Janine to bash her head in, putting down her zombified corpse.

When a protest broke out in Crawford's walls, Janine attempted to help calm the crowd down alongside Theo, however, when Theo was rushed by concerned citizens, Janine lashed out at them due to his twisted ankle, before helping the man into the infirmary. There, Alexa enters to check on Theo, clearly upset. Riley follows, and tells Janine it's obvious she has a thing for Theo. Janine begins recalling her time with Shelley's group, wondering if she even deserves to feel happy in the first place. Riley cheers her up, and the two hug.

Despite this, Janine returns to her home, secluding herself to her thoughts, remembering a certain time where she attempted to leave the Tuckson Bar, abandoning the bandits, however, she was tracked down by Shelley and forced to return, being told "this is how we stay alive" by the leading woman.

After Nea's escape from Crawford and accidentally killing of Bruce, Janine met up with Declan and Riley, with the former insisting that they find and kill Nea for her crimes. Janine shot back, telling Declan that that's exactly the kind of thing Shelley would've said as the group became bandits, claiming the best option was to find Nea and bring her back to Crawford.

Janine later joined Ben, Declan, and Raven in searching for Nea in the forest, and despite her best attempts, Declan was still dead-set on killing Nea. The group, however, became separated, with Declan joining Janine in the forest on an escape attempt from a large pack of walkers. In the forest, the pair attempted to return to Crawford, however, they ran into Lilly, Laurel, Luke, James, and Maria, soldiers for the omniscient Delta. The soldiers took Janine and Declan captive.

While in the captivity of the Delta team, Janine and Declan bonded. Janine lived through flashbacks of her time with Shelley's group, and as the team arrived at the Delta outpost near Crawford, they forced Janine and Declan into separate cells. There, Janine learns of the Delta's plans to recruit her and Declan into their ranks. Noticing Maria's naivete, Janine tells her they won't resist as long as they're kept together. Agreeing to these terms, Maria brings Janine to Declan. Once Luke and Maria return to interrogate the pair, they spring into action, knocking the two out. Declan is able to take Luke's gun, and he and Janine escape down the long corridors. Janine is able to get a gun, and fires shots at Lilly and James, who are advancing on the two. Declan is able to shoot James in the neck, buying himself and Janine time to escape. Declan then informs Janine about Laurel's plan to help them escape.

Eventually, they are tracked down by Laurel and Maria. Laurel holds the two at gunpoint, as Maria insists they kill Janine and take Declan only. Janine appeals to Laurel, reminding her of when Laurel promised to help them escape if the chance presented itself. Laurel feigns disagreement, however, she strikes Maria on the side of the head, and urges Janine and Declan to escape. The two reach the outside, ready to steal the 8-wheeler truck, however, Declan wants to turn around and finish off Lilly and end her reign. Janine, annoyed, tells him they can't risk their lives anymore. He disagrees, and recedes back into the building, as Janine hesitantly follows.

Back inside, Janine barely makes it in time to save Declan, as he rescued Laurel from Maria, who had attacked her. Just as Maria is about to kill Declan, Janine fires her gun, killing the woman. As Declan informs Laurel on his plan to kill Lilly, Laurel draws her gun, refusing to help, despite Janine agreeing with her. She then tells the pair that Lilly is her sister. As Lilly and Luke arrive, Janine pleads to let them go, as Laurel is finally forced to make a decision. Lilly tells Laurel to kill either Declan or Janine, however, Laurel chooses: she tells Lilly they're gonna let the two go and return to Cliffside. Lilly disagrees, however, is forced to stand down when Luke sides with Laurel on the matter. Lilly hesitantly agrees to let the two go, seeing that one soldier isn't worth the trouble anymore.

Finally escaping, Janine tells Declan he's been too reckless, and that Lilly isn't even dead, but Declan disagrees, telling her they were able to save Laurel's life. As the two reach Crawford, they see the Magenta herd has finally breached the walls - and Crawford has fallen. Hearing screaming from nearby, the two rush into action to rescue any survivors, finding and rescuing Kari. Now on the road, the three decide to head toward the boating exhibit rendezvous. There, they find no one but the undead feasting on Tara's corpse. They fight back, and are forced to retreat, just as Tara reanimates and Declan puts her down.

Some time passes, and Janine runs into Riley, Brandon, Ben, Avery, and Carley while searching for supplies, bringing them back to Declan and Kari. After waiting around, Janine heads to Wilkerson with Ben, Kari, and Carley to try and find more survivors. Janine attempts to calm Carley down, who's visibly having anxiety. Janine finds a note on the ground directed to a woman named Mimi, and said woman arrives, aiming her gun at the group. Mimi happily informs the group that Steve killed their friend, Amanda, much to Janine's disappointment, having been fond of Amanda in the past. The group, thanks to a distraction by Carley and Alexa, is able to get the upper hand on Mimi, and escapes from her. Finally deciding that ending the battle is the right thing to do, Janine sides with Alexa and Carley, ready to take the fight to the Delta instead of running and hiding. Later, the group realize they're being followed. Carley and Kari decide to lag behind, seeing if they can get the upper hand on the Delta in a surprise attack. The Delta, however, is successful in capturing Janine, Declan, Riley, Brandon, Avery, Ben, and Alexa.

While on the road, caught by the Delta, Janine bonds with Ben, however, when the Delta knocks Ben unconscious and decides to leave him for dead, Janine appeals to Jenn to rescue him. Jenn tells her they have to leave, and that "this is how we stay alive" similarly to what Shelley told Janine long ago. Janine realizes in this moment that Shelley could still be out there, working with the Delta, and that Jenn learned this phrase from her. This causes Janine to decide to go along, trusting that Carley will be able to rescue Ben.

Once the Delta and their captives reach Wilkerson, Janine is interrogated personally by Jonathan, who shows remorse for being forced to leave Ben behind, throwing Mimi under the bus, causing Jonathan to stab Mimi in the leg for her poor decision making. Janine smugly watches on. When David shoots Steve, killing him, Janine takes the opportunity to dive for cover with Alexa. When Brandon is tackled by an undead Steve, Janine rescues him, killing the undead Steve. Janine is forced to escape into an alley with the rest of her group, minus Kari who is killed by Jonathan, and Brandon who is separated and forced to hide in a dumpster. Janine is able to escape alongside, Harper, Declan, Riley, Matt, Avery, David, Alexa, and Theo.

As the group retreats to an old Home Depot, Janine comforts Avery, who is clearly upset about Brandon being left behind. Janine admits to Avery she realizes Avery and Brandon have feelings for each other, and listens to Avery's concern and guilt over feeling for Brandon despite his husband's recent death. Janine tells him his feelings for Brandon started long ago, before Robbie's death, due to Robbie and Avery barely even being in a relationship by the time they settled in to Crawford. Avery thanks Janine, and she gives him some privacy.

Janine is present for Harper's speech to the rest of the group. After finding out Declan is bitten, Janine is devastated, however, is still adamant on securing the group's safety. She talks to Harper, then returns to her post with Matt and David. As David insists on hunting down the rest of the Delta, Janine just wants to find somewhere safe to reunite with the rest of the group before they plot out their next move. Matt sides with Janine, causing David to storm off in a rage. When David once more makes a pitch to her, as well as Avery, she and Avery aren't buying it. They go to Harper, and inform her of David's plotting behind her back, claiming David says Harper only cares about her close family.

Later, Janine comforts Avery once they find out Jonathan had taken Brandon, and that he killed David, not knowing that it was, in fact, Matt who had killed David, however, she has her suspicions. She once again goes to Harper, telling her Matt's story doesn't check out. Despite her feelings about David's impulsiveness, she wonders if David wasn't the only person they needed to keep their eyes on.

When Declan isn't healthy enough to move due to his bite, they're forced to leave him behind. As everyone says their goodbyes, Janine is last, due to him having a special request for her. He asks her to shoot him to prevent him from turning, which Janine hesitantly agrees to. After the deed is done, the group leaves to return to the boating exhibit to find their friends. At the boating exhibit, Janine is embittered by what she had to do, but is still insistent on finding their missing friends. Janine tells Avery they'll return to Savannah, and they'll save Brandon.

## Killed Victims

* Juanita Welles *(Zombified)*
* Maria Gutierrez
* Steve Latvi *(Zombified)*
* Declan Lodge *(Out of Mercy, Before Reanimation)*

## Trivia

* Janine was originally slated to be confirmed dead in Chapter Three, however, a change of plans was made to where she is unknown, setting up her path to redemption.
* Season 2 began with a timeskip, and during this timeskip, and in this time, Janine has redeemed herself to become a trusted member of the group.
	+ This is to avoid dragging out her redemption arc and to make room for more story arcs for Janine's future.
	+ Her redemption arc was inspired by Barbara Kean from *Gotham*, in some aspects.
	+ Her redemption arc will be further explored in the future.

* Characters
* Main Characters

 **Season 5** | TBA