Isabela Keyes

"You're the ones who caused this nightmare! You ruined Santa Cabeza and started all this!"

- Isabela Keyes Isabela Keyes a key character in Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2: Case West. She is also mentioned but does not make an appearance in Dead Rising 2 and is revealed to also appear in Dead Rising 3.

Isabela is the younger sister of Carlito Keyes, the mastermind behind the Willamette Incident during the events of Dead Rising. She helps her brother infect the population of Willamette as an act of vengeance for the destruction of Santa Cabeza. After seeing what her actions have caused, she has a change of heart and helps Frank West stop her brother from infecting the entire country.

She also creates the first zombie inhibitor using Queens in order to slow the zombification process. This idea was used by Phenotrans in order to market Zombrex. She is working for Phenotrans, trying to develop a cure for the zombie pandemic during the events of Dead Rising 2: Case West when she acts as Frank's source.

Her whereabouts remain unknown after the explosion at the Phenotrans Facility at the end of Case West until she resurfaces ten years later in Dead Rising 3. She is searching for Nick to use his blood to create a permanent cure for zombification.

Dead Rising (72 Hour Mode)
Note: To better follow Dead Rising's main story, see 72 Hour Mode and case files for more information. This article only covers Isabela Keye's role in the story.

Introduction

Isabela is seen in the Entrance Plaza with the other survivors before the zombies breech the barricade. Frank gazes over at her and meets her stare, but is unaware of her true identity. She is not seen with the other survivors when the zombies break in.

Case 2-3: Medicine Run

An unconsious Isabela is being held hostage by Steven Chapman in Seon's Food & Stuff. He accuses her of being a thief and apprehended her when she attempted to get medical supplies to treat the injured Carlito. When Frank tries to help Isabela after Steven's defeat, she makes it very clear that she doesn't want help from one of the "enemies" who ruined Santa Cabeza.

Case 4-1: Another Source

Jessie McCarney notices Isabela on the Security Room monitors riding her motorbike in the North Plaza. Frank goes to find her in hopes that she has information.

Case 4-2: Girl Hunting

A hostile Isabela attacks Frank as he shows up to confront her in the North Plaza. After her defeat, Frank finally gets Isabela to speak after telling her that he's a reporter. She reveals that both her and her brother want revenge for what happened at Santa Cabeza.

Frank wishes to speak to Carlito, but Isabela insists that he's injured and in a bad mood. She says that she will attempt to bring Carlito to the empty store next to Pearly White's Photos in the North Plaza at midnight, so Frank should meet them then.

Case 5-1: A Promise to Isabela 

As promised, Frank waits for Isabela in the North Plaza. Isabela, late to their meeting, suddenly bursts into the door trying to escape the clutches of a zombie. Frank defeats the zombie, saving Isabela from becoming infected. She appears to be injured, and when questioned, explains that Carlito accidentally shot her after refusing to meet with Frank. She then faints, falling into Frank's arms.

Case 5-2: Transporting Isabela

After Isabela faints, Frank decides to bring her to the safety of the Security Room. He carries her on his back to safety. At the Security Room, Frank explains to Jessie and Brad that she is the "bad guy's" sister. Brad insists on interrogating her when she wakes up and places her under official DHS custody.

Case 6-1: Santa Cabeza

When Isabela wakes up, she is immediately interrogated by Brad. She tells the truth behind Santa Cabeza. When she says that Dr. Barnaby was in charge of the research facility there, he suddenly bursts from the closet attacking Jessie, his zombification process starting.

As he lays dying, Dr. Barnaby maintains his innocence, although he confesses to discovering the bees that now carry the zombie virus while trying to find a way to mass produce cattle. Isabela now sees the error of her ways, and offers to help by looking at Jessie, to make sure she wasn't bitten by Dr. Barnaby.

Case 7-1: The Last Resort

After hearing an intercom message from Carlito talking about the "last resort," Brad asks Isabela what Carlito is planning. Isabela reveals that Carlito has plans to blow up the mall, which would send the parasitic larvae into the atmosphere, turning people nationwide into zombies. She reveals that Carlito plans to fill the Maintenance Tunnels with gas.

Case 7-2: Bomb Collector

Isabela will inform Frank where the five bombs are located once he reaches the Maintenence Tunnels.

Case 8-1: Jamming Device

Frank returns to the Security Room and questions Isabela about anything else that Carlito may be planning. She suggests that they look on Carlito's laptop located in their secret hideout. She volunteers to take Frank there.

Case 8-2: Hideout

Frank escorts Isabela to the secret hideout in the North Plaza. She manages to find Carlito's computer, but is unable to input the right password. Frank notices a strange cable, which is apart of a jamming device. Isabela says that she will be unable to disable it unless she can log in to the computer.

Frank tells Isabela that he is heading back to the Security Room after getting a call from Jessie.

The Facts

Frank returns to the hideout after Carlito's death to deliver the news to Isabela. He hands Isabela her brother's locket, which contains a family photo. Upon looking at the locket, something in her memory triggers, and she inputs the word "pachamama" into the computer, successfully gaining access. She is able to disable the jamming device.

When the Special Forces arrive, Isabela and Frank hear gunshots while in the hideout. Isabela is distraught that the events of Santa Cabeza will be repeated. Before Ed's helicopter is scheduled to rescue Frank, he offers that Isabela come with him, but she declines and stays in the hideout.

Dead Rising (Overtime Mode)
After Ed's helicopter crashes, Isabela comes to the helipad and saves Frank from the zombies, but later informs him that he is now infected. Frank then collects supplies required for the zombification cure. Once Frank has acquired the necessary items, Isabela creates a temporary serum to delay the effects of zombification. She then sends Frank to capture 10 queens, which are used by Isabela to fashion a zombie repellent pheromone. While Frank is looking for the items and queens, however, he discovers that there is a gaping hole in the clock tower, as a result of the helicopter crash. She and Frank then decide to descend into the dark depths of the unknown, as a way for them both to escape the mall.

After long walking through the tunnels, the duo reach a rusted gate, where the military has established a defensive perimeter. Frank activates a lever, raising the gate and distracting the military long enough for them to enter, where they promptly face the commander of the military clean-up operation, Brock Mason. Frank commandeers a humvee while Isabela manipulates the machine gun mounted on the back. After the fight Isabela and Frank's Humvee is tipped over, Frank engages Brock in combat, while Isabela climbs onto the top of the car to avoid the zombies. After Brock is killed, the game ends, with Isabela being stranded ontop of the car, surrounded by zombies. As the camera pans out for one last time, she and the jeep are mysteriously absent.

In the credits, it states that Frank was able to survive and spread the story of what really happened at Willamette and Santa Cabeza. She is one of the very few, besides Frank, Otis, and any survivors Frank rescued, that officially survive Dead Rising.

Dead Rising (Infinity Mode)
In Infinity Mode, she will appear at Al Fresca Plaza on her motorcycle and is armed with a handgun. When killed, she drops cookies, milk and an energizer from 1:00:00 to 1:19:00. She appears again at North Plaza from 6:19:00 to 7:00:00, and will drop the same items as she did before if killed.

Dead Rising: Road to Fortune
Isabela is featured in a flashback recalled by Frank West during his first meeting with Rebecca Chang. Frank mentions that after escaping Willamette, he and Isabela were separated by DHS agents who intercepted them after their escape helicopter landed.

Agent Cornell of the DHS orders his men to take Isabela into custody for her and her brother's involvement in the Willamette Incident. When Frank tries to intervene, Cornell explains that they had been aware of what Isabela and Carlito had been up to for some time, and expresses his thanks for killing Carlito. Cornell also warned Frank that should he intervene, the DHS could just as easily make up a story about him being Isabela's co-conspirator, and arrest him for it.

Dead Rising 2
It is revealed by Stacey Forsythe that Isabela was working on a cure for zombification for those who have been bitten, but not yet turned.

When Chuck Greene confronts Sullivan for the final battle, Sullivan says that Queens are necessary in order to make Zombrex, thanks to Isabela.

Dead Rising 2: Case West
Isabela is shown to be working for the Phenotrans Corporation as a way to atone for her and her brother's crimes in Willamette. Working from a secure lab in a Phenotrans Facility, she attempts to create a cure for the zombie plague, but Phenotrans doesn't mass produce it because they know that it would hurt their profits.

Towards the end of the game, Isabela is knocked unconscious by Harjit Singh, and is taken hostage by Marian Mallon as the facility self-destructs. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.

Dead Rising 3
Isabela has been trapped inside a lab for years and she is finally freed when a zombie outbreak spreads to Los Perdidos. She manages to escape and is searching for a missing element to the cure, a blood sample from "patient zero".

Isabela worked with Marian Mallon to purposely start the outbreak in Los Perdidos. She intended to hunt down Nick to create a cure, and use this as an opportunity to clear her family's name.

After the deaths of both Marian and Hemlock, Isabela destroys the video footage containing the conversation between Isabela and Marian revealing Isabela's plan and leaves the laboratory.

Trivia

 * Despite being pictured with a Barrett M82 in her concept art, she does not use the Barrett M82 anywhere in the game. She does use the Barrett M82 in an old trailer for the game while clearing out zombies in the Entrance Plaza.
 * In Dead Rising 2, her name is spelled "Isabella", this can be seen with the subtitles on.
 * Isabela's nationality is debatable, since the Pachamama term and festivity is celebrated in Argentina and Bolivia.
 * Isabela is voiced by Kim Mai Guest who also voices Xian Mei, a character in another popular zombie video game, Dead Island.
 * She has a new voice actor for every game she has appeared in.