Zoe

**Zoe Muller** is one of the main 8 characters in Road 96. Much like the character you play as, she is a troubled 18 year old teenager trying to get to the border and flee Petria. However, over the course of the story, she becomes a Brigade member and is tasked to get classified government documents to the neighboring country in order to expose president Tyrak for his crimes.

## Appearance

Zoe has light skin with freckles on her face, red hair, and green eyes. She has an eyebrow and ears piercings and at least one tattoo: a bird on the front of her right shoulder. She has a dark green tank top underneath a ragged long sleeve black shirt that has a purple alien head design on the front, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She has light blue ripped jeans with one leg rolled up, and black boots with purple laces and green designs on the boots. She wears a black backpack and always carries a trombone with her.

## Personality

Zoe is a laid back teenager, but with an attitude toward adults and authority figures. She is not afraid to speak her mind when it comes to how she feels towards the cops and the government. Before the start of her journey, she was a close-minded girl, who had faith in Tyrak and her father until she discovered the truth. She is a free-spirit at the beginning of the game, but discovers a passion to help others like her in Petria. Due to her being the daughter of a Minister, she is not used to endure the consequences of her acts, and will often put those around her into trouble without meaning it.

## Role

### Road 96: Mile 0

As the daughter of Petria's Minister of Oil, she used to live in a penthouse at Oasis Villas, a rich private neighborhood of White Sands, where her father controlled her every move with cameras all over the house. Her mother left when she was young, but we know that her name is Sara. All she has left of her is a picture. Her wealthy upbringing has sheltered her from questioning the government's actions and she genuinely believed that they always had everyone's best interests at heart.

When she was eight, Zoe was at the border during the Peak Collapse, and saw people die under rocks. Lupe Florres drove her to the border, which set off everything later on in the story. This gave her PTSD, as we can see in the game that she refuses to talk about it even with her best friend, and starts having flashbacks and hyperventilates whenever that day is mentioned.

At the time, she was the best friend of a teenager named Kaito, who was attempting to flee the country with his parents with the help of John and the Black Brigades. They both steal a classified government file incriminating Tyrak and her father for the peak collapse. However, Zoe refuses to believe her friend and sees the Brigades as terrorists, which leads to them fighting for the file. Zoe then leaves with the file and when she reads it, she decides to try to cross the border, feeling guilty for not believing her friend sooner.

Zoe spends her first few weeks on the road traveling between towns and getting picked up by random drivers until she makes it to the RV Camp, where the character has their first encounter with her. During this time of traveling, she could have met John or Jarod.

### Road 96

Zoe is attempting to leave Petria in the summer of 1996, during a time of great turmoil within the nation as the next election is coming up. She learns the truth about the attack of '86 sometime during May 1996, after obtaining a classified file from Tyrak's office with Kaito. Afterwards, she flees from her home, and sets out hitchhiking across the thousands of roads of the large country to reach the border and reveal the truth about Petria to the world.

Zoe tries to find Kaito during the events of the story so she can talk to him. She almost does, but he either dies or runs away before she can. Zoe is transferred to the pits, but her father gets her out.

During her being transferred to her father, she is freed by members of the Black Brigades, knowing she is in possession of incriminating documents that imply that Tyrak is responsible for the collapse. She goes with them and meets Robert and John, two prominent Brigade members. It is later revealed that she had joined the Brigades to take down the president. She is tasked to get the documents across the border in order to bring it to foreign news outlets.

## Encounters

### Smells Like Teen Spirit

The encounter begins with the character arriving at an RV park at night called the Night Skies Campground. Traveling through the RV park and going up a set of stairs that lead you to the RV park’s office, you can hear an argument between Zoe and the RV park owner down another flight of stair, with Zoe up on an RV’s roof and the guy yelling at her from down below. When walking up to them and asking either what’s going on, the owner claims that Zoe stole his money, to which Zoe denies. The character will take Zoe’s side, leading the owner to storm off back to the office. You and Zoe talk, and you can ask where would be the best place to sleep, free or paid for.

Zoe will either direct you to talking to the owner to rent an RV for the night, or finding cardboard near a character named “Dancing Carl”. Regardless of either option, once you fall asleep and gains back some energy, Zoe will wake you up, asking you to hang out with her. Following her up to the outside of her RV and sitting by the fire, the two of you begin talking about Zoe’s journey to the border. You learn some tidbits about her: when she left home, why she left, small information about her father, the border, and The Pits. After sometime, she’ll stop the conversation and asks you to play Bella Ciao on her trombone. Which leads into a quick rhythm mini game. After finishing it, the owner will yell from below at the two of you, kicking you both out of RV park for making too much noise. Before you leave, Zoe can give you a tape depending if you have not collected all of them. Then you say goodbye and are given the options on how you want to leave, either by hitchhiking, calling a taxi, catching a bus, or by walking alongside the road.

### No Concession

Before the actual encounter starts, the player is given a cutscene of Zoe walking alongside the road, attempting to hitchhike. She get’s pick up by a van with a couple inside. Once the cutscene ends, Zoe begins talking to you, as you have also gotten picked up by the couple as well. Then, she asks if you want to play a game and listen to one of her songs on her Walkman. You agree, and end up playing a mini game of Connect Four, where if she wins or it results in a tie, you can have another rematch. If you win, the game ends. Once the game(s) over, she will take back the Walkman and give you a tape if you have not collected all the tapes.

You then ask her questions about herself and why she left home. After a few questions, she reveals to you that her father is the Minister of Oil. Once after the revelation is made, the man in the passenger seat, Geoff, will ask you two a couple of questions. He asks if you two are political, but regardless if you answer yes or no, he will insists that you are since you are trying to leave Petria. He will then ask what you plan on doing to change the country. After answering him, police sirens can be heard from behind. Pulling over, the couple asks you two to keep quiet. The officer is apart of Petria’s Road Control, doing checkups on the cars on the road. He notices you and Zoe, asks the couple if you are their kids, to which they say no but are offering you rides. The officer then walks up to your window, and says how you look like a recent missing teen, and needs to see your papers. The woman offers to bribe the cop to look the other way, however Zoe gets angry that they would try to pay him off, as she sees it as it only aiding Petria’s corrupted system. The officer pulls Zoe out of the van and arrests her. In About A Girl, it is revealed that she purposely got herself arrested because the cop was from the precinct that she was told by Alex that Kaito was at.

You are given the option to either stay in the car or try to save her. If you stay in the car, she is taken away and the couple will drive you to your next encounter. If you try to save her, you fail, but the cop will not arrest you. You are then left on the side of the road and have to walk to the next encounter.

In between these two events, Zoe is arrested and interrogated by Fanny. After a while, she is taken to a giant convoy full of other escaped teens. The Brigades attack this convoy, getting Zoe out. She finds Kaito and goes to free him. However, the choose your own adventure book does not state if Kaito runs away without Zoe getting to talk to him, which she regrets, or him dying. Zoe is then transferred to the Pits, where her dad gets her out and makes the cops drive him to her.

### Fire Starter

The character walks by a gas station that had a police van nearby further away from the actual gas station, with the cops sitting on benches closer to the gas station. Zoe is handcuff to the van outside. She will call you over, and begs for your help by getting the van keys from the cops by distracting them. Inquiring about her situation, she tells you how she was being taken to The Pits before her dad had found out where she was, and is now being taken back to him. There are two ways to help her:

* Syphoning the vans gas, buying some matches, and lighting a pile of trash near the gas station on fire
* Opening a yellow box on the telephone pole behind the gas station and breaking/cutting the wires, destroying their signals on their radios

Once choosing either one, you sneak around the gas station to the bench and grab the keys. Then, running back to the van to open the car doors and getting the keys for the handcuffs. As you are trying to un-cuff her, the cops will shout at you to stop, then arresting you too and placing both you and Zoe inside the van. Zoe will express remorse for getting you in trouble, and as you two talk and you express how worried you are, she advises you to get some sleep and you two will think of a way to get out once you wake up.

You two are woken up by cars speeding into the gas station as they shoot at the cops. Once the cops leave, it is revealed that they are Brigade members, as John is also present. One of them opens the car door, saying how they need Zoe to come with them and that you two need to split up. Saying your goodbyes to Zoe, you are only given the option to run alongside the road.

### Road 96

Before the actual encounter starts, there is a cutscene where Zoe is with the Brigade members John and Robert, taking her to one of their hideouts. There is no dialogue, however they are seen debating around a table. Zoe is seen placing a paper down on the table, and then it cuts to her leaving the hideout, waving goodbye to John and Robert. John seems to be angry, while Robert seems pleased with what was discussed. The cutscene follows Zoe’s journey to get to the border, and is on the road that the character takes to get to the cave near the border.

The character, crossing the road that leads to the pathway to the waterfall, is greeted by Zoe hiding behind a rock. She asks you to follow her to the cave system, where you two talk about the journey that you two have had to safe. Getting to the cave entrance, Zoe will see the graffiti left by other crossers and will spray paint the brigade symbol, signifying that she is now a member. She will hand you the can and you have the option to spray paint “Revolt”, “Vote”, or “Only Trust Yourself”. Once after, you two travel further into the cave, coming across and old journal, giving you the option to read it or not. Zoe then will suggest’s starting a fire near the entrance of the cave, so you look for a box of matches and logs. Once getting the fire started, you two sit down.

She begins to tell you about a plan that she has to help Petria when she crosses the border. She then shows you classified government documents that reveal how Tyrak was the one to cause The Peak Collapse of 1986, and not the Brigades. The Brigades plan to make a distraction at the border in order for her to cross. Once she does, her plan would be to bring the documents to the news outlets to reveal to the world on what Tyrak has done. You can offer to help, or not say anything. She will still tell you to get some sleep before you two continue your journey. Waking up, you see that she is gone but left a note, saying how she would rather do this on her own than drag you into it. Getting up and going to the exit of the cave and pushing aside a boulder, you find Zoe’s Walkman on the ground, and pick it up.

Getting to the outside of the border, you come across Zoe again, as she is trying to find a Walkman in order to listen to a signal that he Brigades would be sending to her. You let her know you found hers, and then you two make your way to a campsite that overlooks the border. There, you put it on a radio station, where John gives the signal secretly through his radio show, letting Zoe know what time the distraction occurs. Then she asks you to come with her, as she thinks it would actually be better. Going to sleep then waking up, you two then crawl through an opening underneath the wall as a truck crashes into the wall. Making your way through doors and hallways, you come across a door that will get the security to be triggered once it’s unlocked. Once it is, you two jump down and run to the exit that is closing. Zoe gets shot, and you have the option to either leave, resulting in her death, or to sacrifice yourself and save her.

## Quotes

*”My name’s Zoe. I don't know about you… but I’ve had a pretty intense journey to get here.”*

*"You're in a hurry to cross. I like that."*

*"My dad thinks I'm lucky to have a big house and go to a prep school. But I'm not. Believe me."*

*"Tomorrow is the beginning of the end of Tyrak... I hope."*

*"All I'll say is, after everything, I'm a different person. And that's good. Believe me."*

## Trivia

* Zoe is the narrator of the game.
* She only has four encounters, making her the character with the shortest amount of encounters.
* Zoe’s encounters take place in the order; Smells Like Teen Spirit, No Concession, Fire Starter, and Road 96. She is the only character to have a set order of encounters.
* If you get Jarod’s Beat It encounter after she has been freed by the brigades, you can find a letter, where she details how Robert recruited her, and that she is unsure about what she has to do, but will still do it anyway.
* Zoe can be heard playing the trombone and humming Bella Ciao at the RV park, which is an Italian folk song known for being a anti-fascist hymn of freedom and resistance, tying into the core themes of the game.
* She remembers the day construction ended for the wall.
* Zoe used to go to a prep school before leaving home.
* If you choose to sacrifice yourself at the border, Zoe will show up at the ending of the game, either dying by a cop if you choose to flee, or witnessing a teen dying if you choose to join the fight.
* Kaito is the one to give her the nickname "Z", and she calls him K.
* She never mentions Kaito or how exactly she got the file during Road 96.
* She used to babysit Tyrak's son, Colton.
* Zoe started playing the trombone after her father forced her to choose an instrument to play, like other kids from well-off families, just to make him angry.
* She took her unicorn plushie named Leslie in her backpack.