RHODES, Mercy

GENDER: Female
AGE: 26
BIRTHDAY: December 8
NATIONALITY: American
SEXUALITY: Straight
PREVIOUS OCCUPATION: Interior Designer
CURRENT OCCUPATION: Outsider

MOTHER: Evelyn Rhodes
FATHER: Christopher Rhodes
BROTHER(S): None
SISTER(S): Mary Rhodes
SPOUSE: Tyler Van Helsing[fiance]
CHILDREN: None
PET(S): None
OTHER: John Rhodes[cousin]

Mercy is a gorgeous girl, having grown into quite the woman. She looks much like her mother, sporting dark, brown curls that reach far down her back. Her ocean blue eyes, however, are courtesy of her father. Mercy's brows are always well kept and trimmed, framing her eyes nicely.

Mercy stands at about five feet and six inches, her body slender, especially since the outbreak. At times, she may appear tired from a lack of sleep. Her smiles have become rare and there's more of a hardened look to her once bright eyes.

A lot has changed about Mercy since the day that she first moved to New York with her father. At the time, she had been diagnosed with a number of nervous disorders, anxiety and depression among them. With the help of her stepmother, who was actually willing to talk to her about her parents' divorce, Mercy's life certainly changed. She started making more friends and became much more sociable, both at home and in public.

As she grew older, Mercy was energetic and always level-headed. Her outlook on life was considerably better and she maintained a sense of positivity as often as she possibly could. Despite her distance, she always managed to stay close to her mother and sister, spending a month, or longer, with them every summer as well as every other holiday.

Outgoing and energetic, Mercy rarely had any problems making friends and keeping them. She was never really the type to talk trash behind someone's back and remains the same to this day. Stubborn and often too kind for her own good, Mercy tends to trust a little too easily, a trait that has gotten her into trouble in the past and surely will in the future.

Thinking that her fiance is dead, Mercy often finds herself sinking into a painful depression, wanting nothing more than to be by his side. Without him, she welcomes death, but is too cowardly(in her opinion) to kill herself. She has no idea if any of her family has survived the virus and that is perhaps the only thing that keeps her going.

The outbreak has changed Mercy considerably. Without Tyler, she has been forced to take survival into her own hands and relies on no one else to watch her back. She does what she has to, whether she wants to do it or not.

Mercy was the oldest daughter of Evelyn and Christopher Rhodes, her sister, Mary, having been born a few years after. Local to a small town in Pennsylvania, the family lived a happy and comfortable life. Up until she was six years old, Mercy's life was like a fairy tale. Her parents were filing for a divorce. It was just shortly after that her father, a decent business man, was promoted and moved to New York.

Being so far from her father devastated Mercy and she started to act out. After her mother remarried, her parents decided that it might be best for her to move to New York with her father. By then, Mercy was a mess of a little girl, riddled with anxiety and other so called "disorders" that she had been diagnosed with since her parents divorce. This was more than likely due to her mother's own hypochondria, which had been rubbing off on her at the time.

Feeling abandoned by her own mother, Mercy wasn't exactly the most lively child. By the time she moved in with her father, she was nine years old. Life in New York was rocky at first. Life with her father wasn't the same; he had a new girlfriend, a new home, even a dog named Max... Christopher had hated dogs before.

When summer ended, Mercy was sent off to school, not knowing a single person. Tyler Van Helsing was one of the first kids that she met; they were on the same bus. From the first second that she laid eyes on him, she had the biggest crush on him.

Slowly, but surely, the little girl started coming out of her shell, mostly from the help of her soon-to-be-stepmother. Mercy started to open up and even got close to her father's dog. The two were inseparable. As time went by, she became closer to people. She was completely different from the quiet little girl who had first moved there.

As she grew older, she even grew closer to Tyler, despite him being a few years older than her. When Mercy was sixteen years old, Max died. He'd been hit by a car, the owner of the car having driven off. Tyler was there for her and they both sat by Max the entire time, until he finally passed. That night changed the relationship between the two for good and, soon after, they started dating.

When Tyler left school and enlisted in the marines, the two drifted apart. It was inevitable, but there was always a spot for Tyler in Mercy's heart. She sent him letters every so often, letting him know that she hadn't forgotten him. For years, she hadn't seen him. She'd dated plenty of other guys, but none of them were the one.

Just after graduating from college, Mercy headed back home, in search of a job, and temporarily moved back in with her father and stepmother. It was then that she ran into Tyler, who was home on leave. Just like before, the two hit it off. It was like they had never broken up in the first place.

They stayed together through thick and thin after that, as hard as it was to be with someone who spent most of his time over seas. They had plans though and the day that Tyler left for what felt like the hundredth time, he proposed to Mercy. It was supposed to be his last term in the marines. After that, he had promised that they would get married and start their family.

Tyler was still serving during the time of the outbreak. Without any way of knowing whether or not he was safe, Mercy didn't know what to do. With rumors floating all around, Mercy finally had to accept that the worst had happened to her fiance, though it broke her heart in two. With no other choice, she was forced to leave the city to seek shelter elsewhere.