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Penelope is the youngest child of Antoinette and Darius Jones. Despite being an unplanned addition, she was definitely loved and well taken care of. As the youngest and only girl, some might say she received more attention and guidance than her brothers. "More attention and guidance" meant more clothes, dance lessons, piano lessons, ice skates- she was allowed and encouraged to pursue anything and everything she wanted. The only down side? The Jones family didn't believe in quitting. Everything she started, she was required to finish. This put a lot of pressure on Penelope from a young age. The stress eventually manifested in an eating disorder at fifteen, and while she has not relapsed since getting help, it is a constant struggle. Before the outbreak, she carefully prepared meals every Sunday for the week- and her fridge was full of meticulously labeled tupperware containers.
Penny excelled in high school: she was on Homecoming Court, the dance team, President of the National Honor Society, played violin and piano in orchestra and was a member of the Future Business Leaders of America. While her brother Ezra rebelled in his pursuit of theater, Penelope felt the need to overcompensate for his “mistakes” by spreading herself thin. She went to Yale. She graduated with honors. She moved back to Texas and worth at her Father’s financial planning firm. Penelope did everything right, but it wasn’t enough. In 2013, she met Anthony Jackson, and the two were married within the year. Penny had a very specific family plan, and intended to start having children within the next two years. They struggled, which was a blessing in disguise. Before the outbreak, her husband of two years surprised her with a venereal disease.
About a month before the outbreak, word was spreading throughout the country of a virus. People were getting sick, to the point where it was becoming more difficult to travel. Penny promptly made plans to visit her brother out east to see his broadway show, and brought her husband along to keep up appearances (they hadn’t announced their divorce yet- an uncharacteristic failure in Penny’s eyes). It wasn’t supposed to be a long term visit, but suddenly there was a statewide quarantine. Planes were grounded. And then people started dying and coming back to life...
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