Isaac Pierce was born in Miles City, Montana, growing up just outside of Miles City on a large ranch with his older brother Charles Pierce and their parents. Isaac lived the life of a ranch hand at a young age, herding the cattle, milking the cows, the whole nine yards on the wide-open plains. He was a decent student, with average grades, eventually meeting his best friend in middle school, a pretty redhead by the name of Emily Belle. The two were inseparable, doing everything together, from vandalizing the local county church, to falling in love and getting married in the very church they once gave hell to for quick jokes. Years passed, and they bought their own ranch an hour away in Crow Rock, Montana. They were blessings to one another, until tragedy struck.

It was a rainy night, and Emily Pierce, now 4 months pregnant, was driving home after hanging out with some old school friends. The roads were slick and patchy, causing her to fishtail and spin off the road, wrapping the car around a thick tree. Emily was found hours later by a concerned Isaac as well as his older brother Charles. Emily was partially laying on the hood of the car after being partially thrown through the windshield, as her legs were mangled between metal and fabric. Emily was dead, his unborn son was dead, and Isaac’s light died with them.

Years would pass as Isaac would hurtle in a downward spiral of depression and anxiety, causing him to become an alcoholic and an avid smoker. He experimented with drugs, only seeming to worsen his problems, causing hallucinations and signs of schizophrenia. He lost his dying ranch to the bank because of payments he couldn't make, forcing him to live with his brother and his family. The spiral he fell in kept descending downward, showing him that rock bottom really does have a basement. Isaac and Charles would frequently fight, drawing a rift between their once close bond. One fight in particular, turned into a full brawl between the two, causing Charles to kick him out, making him homeless. Isaac would slowly make his way deeper into Miles City, living under the highways and dark alleys. Isaac saw people killed and beaten, he was mugged frequently and disregarded as a person for the simple fact of him being a homeless junkie. That was when Isaac saw how far he has changed, from a happy family man to a drunk loser with an opiate addiction.

Isaac began to do what he could to redeem himself, become reborn into the person he once was. He slowly rekindled his relationship with his brother, attended AA meetings and drug abuse help groups, and even started going back to the church he got married in. Even though the hallucinations and early signs of schizophrenia were still there, life started moving forward with Isaac conducting the train again, slowly reaching the light at the end of the deep tunnel he was navigating through.

Life slowly got better, but the world around him started turning sour as disease began running rampant after AVM-FLA-19 started sweeping the land. Isolation began to form around cities and towns, causing businesses to shut down, and people to become wary of one another. Lockdown restrictions shifted back and forth, letting people travel one month and not the next. In the beginning of 2021, when the virus seemed to waver, Isaac and Charles, along with their family, decided to finally go on the big family trip they promised each other once the virus was conquered and beaten. Norway was a dream vacation for them, as it was somewhere historical and foreign, they packed their luggage, planned their trip, and made their way there.

They landed in Nyheim, where they thought would be a good place to start their three-week vacation across Norway, but their excitement quickly dissipated after news of a new variant of the virus began rolling through. AVM-FLA-21NS came in full force, causing the local government to begin mass vaccinating people, forcing Isaac and his family to stay until they were allowed to travel back to the states.

The virus never got better, and never disappeared, as it began to change the world around them, plunging them into an apocalypse. Isaac slowly saw the people around him change into strange monsters who attack others mindlessly, eventually affecting the ones he loved around him. Charle’s wife, Lisa, changed from the virus, as well as Charles's kids, causing them to have to be put down by Isaac, who offered to do it for Charles, so he didn't have to. The two of them started to travel around Nyheim looking for safety, until a horde cornered them into an abandoned warehouse. Isaac fucked up his leg after he took a wrong step, causing him to fall through a rusted catwalk, crashing down onto the hard cement floor as the catwalk metal slammed around him. Charles made his way down frantically, trying to help his brother walk, but the injury kept them from making progress. In a last-ditch effort, Charles said his goodbyes to Isaac, and as Isaac pleaded his brother to stay and not go out into the horde, Charles with a tear in his eye, lit an old flare they found, squeezed his way through a hole in the wall, and as he began to scream and shout, he slowly led the horde away from Isaac, going deeper into the city never to be seen again.

Isaac laid there in agonizing pain, as he cried for his brother to come back, as small drops of rain dropped on his face from the leaking roof above him. Time passed as he slowly half crawled out of the deserted warehouse, bandaged his leg the best he could, and hobbled into the city to find his brother. Isaac never did find his brother, and as his leg healed, he noticed that he had developed a small limp. He slowly made his way out of the city, turning around again one last time. He unfolded a small photograph of a younger him, standing there with his young pregnant wife, and a young version of Charles and his family. The photo showed them all arm and arm in front of Isaac’s ranch that he once bought in Crow Rock, that was the day they first bought that ranch, and as tears streamed down his face, he folded it back into his pocket and looked up again. He thought he saw a silhouette of a man standing on the warehouse he fell in, out into the distance waving to him, but the wave didn't seem to be frantic and looking for help, it was the wave of a goodbye. Isaac whipped out a pair of small binoculars and zoomed in on the man, the man waving to him casually was his brother, Charles. Confused, Isaac frantically dropped the binoculars and started to run forward but stopped when he noticed his brother turn and seemingly vanish into thin air. This startled Isaac as he realized his mind was playing tricks on him, hallucinations he has always had seeming to cynically mock him, making him feel guilty. Isaac once again changed, making him feel like some sort of crazy fool. As Isaac, older in age, walked away from the city, he promised himself that he would carry on his brother’s legacy of bravery and courage. Isaac lightly hobbled onward, making Nyheim his new, fucked up, home.