Zoey

"Zoey unfolded into an everyday young woman who everyone can relate to."

- Andrea Wicklund, Valve.

"No one left behind, right?"

- Zoey

Zoey is one of the four playable Survivors in Left 4 Dead. Her original design was based on Alesia Glidewell, who also worked with Valve on Portal as a model for the character Chell. However, when the character designs were updated later in development, Zoey was made to resemble actress/model Sonja Kinski instead. Her name means "life" in Greek. In official media, she is usually seen wielding dual Pistols.

Zoey, along with Louis and Francis, appears in Left 4 Dead 2 in the campaign The Passing as they meet with the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors. Unlike her attitude in Left 4 Dead, she comes off as somewhat more serious and, at times, angry. This is probably due to the fact that she is hit very hard by Bill's death.

Zoey's facial features are portrayed by Sonja Kinski and she is voiced by Jen Taylor.

Background
Zoey was once a student at Aldrich in Philadelphia under a scholarship to become a filmmaker but instead of attending classes, she spent her time watching horror films and justified this to her upset mother as doing "research". She got her love for this film genre from her father who introduced her to movies featuring zombies, slasher murderers and extra terrestrials at a young age. Her father, Wade, wished for her to become a police officer like himself, often taking her to shooting ranges to get her into some practice. These actions caused tension between her divorced parents one night and started a heated argument between the two regarding their daughter's future. The argument was short lived however when an Infected suddenly found his way into their living room and attacked Zoey's mother, Carolyn. Her father was able to kill the Infected but not before it savaged Zoey's mother. Holding Carolyn in his arms, Wade commanded Zoey to call for an ambulance. Zoey came back to witness her father being mauled by her mother, who then noticed her daughter's presence and quickly lunged at her. Fortunately before she could reach Zoey, Wade shot her in the back of the head. His last request was for Zoey to kill him before he became an Infected. She then reached for her father's gun and after a heart breaking "I love you", pulled the trigger. Weeks later, Zoey was shocked to discover that her father may have been a Carrier and the mercy-killing could have been in vain.

Relationships with other Survivors
Overall, Zoey is perhaps treated the kindest by the other Survivors. In The Passing, unlike Francis and Louis, she rarely talks about Bill's death and seems to have been hit hard by the loss. She becomes uncharacteristicly serious when she talks about his death. Her aggressive and abrupt way of dealing with the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors hints at her struggle in coping with Bill's death and the post-combat stress she has just recently experienced. Her tone is also notably more commanding and assertive than at any other time previously and this, together with the deference displayed by Louis and Francis, suggests that she has at least partially occupied a team leadership role in the immediate aftermath of Bill's death.
 * Bill: In many ways, Zoey and Bill have a father-daughter relationship. When it is revealed how her parents died, she hugs him for comfort and she is seen resting on his shoulder in the evacuation vehicle. Bill generally seems to be slightly more emotional when Zoey dies compared to compared the others. She also seems reciprocate by caring about his well-being. During The Sacrifice comic, the underlying strength of Zoey and Bill's relationship is further divulged, when he willingly sacrificed himself to keep the Zoey and the other Survivors safe. However for a while Zoey is estranged from Bill when she is shocked by how easily he left the Doctor, Jeff and Annie to die back at Millhaven. She questions his motives and harbours doubts about the trust she has placed in him. She accuses Bill of being capable of cold-heartedly leaving his companions in the lurch if it suited his selfish interests, a charge that taciturn Bill is unable refute in words.  However Francis has the insight to explain to Zoey that Bill does these things for the right reasons: the welfare and survival of the four of them. While not altogether swayed, she finally seems to realize how much Bill cared for her and the others when he sacrificed himself to raise the Bridge in order to give them a chance of life and security. Thereafter Zoey takes up Bill's principle of "They come back for their own" by realizing that they cannot save everyone so they have to save themselves to which end she adopts Bill's plan, and together with the others, she sails to The Keys.
 * Francis: Originally, Valve intended Zoey and Francis to have a relationship, but this was deemed to be "distracting" by the play-testers and taken out of the final version. In her cut quotes, Zoey picks on him often. . Although their former relationship is no longer very evident, she still seems to be friendly towards him ("Groovy," which was something he'd said before). In The Passing, she's baffled by Rochelle showing an attraction to Francis, and claims she is going to throw up. On the other hand, she finds it cute that Francis still has "that side of him" deep down despite his tough guy attitude when he flirts with Rochelle.
 * Louis: Zoey tends to tease him from time to time They usually talk and have more conversations with one another relative to the other survivors. She becomes a little more emotional when he dies . In The Passing, she shows concern for his injury, mentioning to the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors they have a wounded man up there and if she sacrifices herself in The Sacrifice she would tell him that he always was a friend.
 * Coach: Zoey and Coach do not have much interaction. Although Coach will sometimes playfully pick on Ellis for his crush on her.
 * Ellis: Zoey seems to be attracted to Ellis, who is after all an open and friendly young man closest to her in age, outlook and life experience. She mentions his name the most out of all the Survivors and calls out his name twice as he is leaving, wondering wistfully whether she should have asked him to join her group or gone with him. In a downcast tone she says "I'm going to miss Ellis," and "I hope I'll see him again.". Zoey will also playfully mimic Ellis' Keith stories as he is leaving.
 * Nick: Zoey and Nick do not get along. This is due to Nick's innately patronising and rude attitude that she experiences right at the start of their acquaintance when he insults her at the beginning of The Riverbank, calling her "Cupcake" and asking if there's a "man" up there he can talk to. She responds in kind with sarcastic helplessness and snaps "I could shoot you where you stand." or "Go to hell, Colonel Sanders!". (The founder of KFC, who wore a white suit similar to Nick's.)
 * Rochelle: Zoey and Rochelle will often exclaim to each other how they are relieved to find another woman still alive. They compliment or thank the other's Special Infected kills during the finale, and Zoey seems happy to throw her an item. However, she is baffled by the idea that Rochelle has feelings for Francis.

Quotes and Captions
"See: Zoey/Quotes and Captions"

Behind the Scenes
Zoey sounded older in early footage of the game. See this video for an example.