Zoe was born the oldest of three children in a suburb of Las Vegas known as
Silverado Ranch. Her early childhood was happy as the family grew, first with
her younger sister Lori, and then baby brother Jordan. Zoe particularly loved
performing, first putting on puppet shows for her family and then in drama
classes and local theater productions. She won praise from her teachers and
directors but knew it was a long road to working as a professional she was more
than aware of how competitive and seedy things could get from simply hearing the
stories of the local showgirls who worked in Las Vegas.
In high school, Zoe was a balance of both pragmatic realist and vivacious,
outgoing party girl. She kept her grades up, though never as high as her folks
would have liked, but her grades in Drama and English were excellent. Math and
Science seemed to only serve the purpose to drag down her GPA.
Zoe's family supported her efforts in drama, but her parents also encouraged her
to find a trade she could fall back on something to pay the bills once college
was done. She applied to the Julliard School and New York University, but was
hit with a dose of reality when both turned her down and she ended up having to
go with her back-up plan: Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas.
She completed her AA degree but never got the chance to transfer to another
school by age 20, she was working as a cocktail waitress on the strip and an
office job for the City of Las Vegas as an intern and office assistant for the
City's Communications Department. Her hopes for breaking into show business
hadn't completely faded, but she found herself more and more embroiled in
learning about the City's public relations issues.
Eventually, by age 23, she moved from waitressing to performing in the pirate
show in front of the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino. That seemed to at least
temporarily fulfill her yearn to perform, while her days were filled with her
new position as PR Assistant at the City of Las Vegas Communications Department.
On the home front, her father - a security officer at Treasure Island - suffered
a heart attack, dying suddenly just after Zoe's 24th birthday. It was
completely unexpected and a terrible shock to Zoe, who'd thought of her father
as one of the wisest men she'd known. She moved back in with her widowed mother
to help out with managing the household her kid sister, Lori, was just
finishing up college and her little brother was just going into college.
Before her father's death, she'd had her share of relationships, but none ever
got terribly serious. The most involved she'd become was considering moving in
with a boyfriend when she was 21, but her habit of thinking too far ahead made
her think there was likely no real future in it and thus, no point in continuing
the relationship. When she moved back in with her mother, her mother had
pointed out that it was a dangerous trend to think so negatively. "There's life
after the honeymoon phase," was a favorite saying of Maddy's, but Zoe never
cared to listen too hard.
Then Captain Tripps came to full bloom, and Zoe's remaining family were all
taken from her in less than a week. She clung to her family's home in Silverado
Ranch with all her might, burying her mother, sister and brother in the back
yard. She became more and more fearful of venturing outside the family
property, as the world had become nothing more than a stagnant graveyard and
reminder of how little she had left.
She very seriously considered killing herself, but that was when the dreams
began. She dreamed of a man, fearsome but welcoming, telling her that she was
important to the survival of mankind. If she had been meant to die, the man
whispered to her sleeping ear, she would have. No, she had a role in the future
society, and as one familiar with Las Vegas, she was urgently needed. She would
be loved and appreciated in the new society. Her efforts would be rewarded if
she came back into Vegas. Look for Cassandra, she was told by the man, whose
name she knew to be Flagg.
And so, she finally convinced herself to leave the family home for now, and
venture into Vegas.
