Isabela Keyes

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

- Isabela Keyes

Isabela Keyes is the sister of Carlito Keyes, and appears in Dead Rising. She originally wanted to help Carlito take vengeance on what happened at Santa Cabeza, her hometown, but after a few cases, she changes heart and decides to help Frank West and help stop Carlito's plan after seeing what her brother has caused.

72 Hour Mode
Frank West first encounters her in the Entrance Plaza, before the zombies break in, but she leaves before that happens, but not before giving Frank a strange look. Frank doesn't encounter Isabela again until he goes to Seon's Food and Stuff to get medicine for Brad Garrison; when Frank finds her in the supermarket, he discovers that Isabela has been captured by Steven Chapman, and is hinted she was there looking for medical supplies too. Frank is successful in rescuing her, but she then leaves him, accusing him of being the "enemy" and one of the people who ruined Santa Cabeza.

While Jessica McCarney is questioning Dr. Barnaby, Frank sees Isabela on a monitor in the security room, and then sets out to find her, seeing her as a source for information on the Willamette incident. When Frank finds Isabela, she attacks him on her motorcycle. After a long fight in the North Plaza, Frank overpowers her, and she asks him if he is a reporter. After Frank confirms this, she tells him that the zombies were created at the Santa Cabeza Research Lab, and all the people there were killed by the military to cover up an outbreak, and her brother, Carlito, wants revenge. Isabela says she will attempt to bring Carlito to Frank at an empty store near a camera store at midnight; although she tells him he is in a bad mood, she will try to persuade him.

As Frank is waiting at the rendezvous point for Carlito, Isabela bursts through the door, with a zombie attacking her. After Frank kills the zombie, it appears that she has been bitten, but she states that it is actually a gunshot wound, from Carlito. Frank then brings her to the security room, injured and hurt, while Carlito is heard on the intercom, apologizing for his actions.

Although she originally is sympathetic to her brother's cause, after she realizes the mayhem he is causing, she allies with Frank and the survivors. She is interrogated by Brad and Jessie, and her explanation eventually leads Dr. Barnaby to confess what really happened at Santa Cabeza, and what lead to it's destruction as he is turning into a zombie. A while after Dr. Barnaby completely turns into a zombie and is killed, Carlito is heard again on the intercom, pleading for her to return to him, and tells her he is going to his "last resort." Frank confronts Isabela about this, and she reveals that if Carlito was ever backed up into a corner, he would blow up the whole mall using bombs filled with parasitic larvae, which would eventually spread the zombie virus nationwide. Frank then leaves to get the bombs and stop them from detonating, with Isabela telling him where the bombs are located before he heads into the maintenance tunnels. After Frank comes back successfully, he asks Isabela if Carlito has any backup plans. Isabela, unsure, suggests they go check Carlito's labtop, located in his hideout. She then asks Frank to protect her as she leads him to the location of the hideout.

After a series of walking, Isabela leads Frank to the North Plaza, into the hallway leading to the Huntin' Shack, and stops at a few empty stores. She stops, climbs a few boxes, and opens a latch in the ceiling. She discovers the labtop, but finds that it is protected by a password. While there, she also discovers a jamming device which prevents Jessie from contacting her DHS headquarters. Isabela says that she is able to disable it, but only if she succeeds in logging in. Frank then leaves her in trying to crack the password, as he finds out that Carlito has been taken by a butcher. After he defeats the deranged butcher and is given Carlito's locket by a dying Carlito to give to his sister, Frank goes to Isabela and delivers the tragic news and gives her Carlito's locket. At first she seems uncaring to the news, but eventually she weeps over her brother's death, she holds the locket close to her chest, and after seeing the contents of the locket, she discovers the password, "Pachamama", meaning "Mother Earth." She then explains to Frank that Santa Cabeza was a town blessed with nature, and that while her brother's actions were unjust, all he wanted was to live in peace at his hometown.

Eventually at midnight, Special Forces come to clean up the events that occurred in Willamette, and after both Frank and Isabela hear it while in the hideout, both realize that the events of Santa Cabeza will repeat itself. Twelve hours later, at the time Frank is supposed to leave the mall, he offers Isabela to come with her, but she declines, confused and without a hint of hope.

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 several 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 Ed DeLuca's crash, to which he tells Isabela. 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; 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.

Battle Style
Isabela attacks Frank while on her motorcycle, armed with a handgun. If Frank remains out of the open for too long, she will drive away to a hallway in North Plaza, and will only return once Frank steps into the open.

Motorcycle: Isabela will attempt to run over Frank if he is in the open. This attack causes two blocks of damage and will throw Frank into the air.

Handgun: If Frank is in a location that cannot be reached by the motorcycle, Isabela will stop and pull out her handgun. She will fire at Frank in an attempt to hit him, each time causing half a block of damage.

Trivia

 * During the boss fight, Isabela will sometimes become invulnerable to all attacks due to a glitch.
 * Despite being pictured with a Barrett M82 in her concept art, she also does not use the Barret M82 anywhere in the game. She does use the Barret M82 in an old trailer while clearing out zombies in the Entrance Plaza.
 * In Dead Rising 2, her name is spelled "Isabella", which can be seen with the subtitles on. It's also revealed that she and Frank West are hard at work on a cure for the zombie infection (infection meaning before zombification).