Sarah Whitaker

Sarah Whitaker in 2019 while serving as a lieutenant with the Deschutes County Militia.
Biographical information
Full name	Sarah Irene Whitaker
Other names	Wizard Island Witch Little Sister (by Boozer) Beth
Born	c. 1985 (age 33/34) Seattle, Washington, United States
Profession	Botanist Researcher
Relatives	Deacon St. John (husband) Emma Whitaker (sister; unknown)
Affiliations	Cloverdale Research (formerly) Deschutes County Militia (formerly) Matthew Garret (formerly; deceased) James Weaver
Location	Wizard Island, Oregon, United States (formerly) Lost Lake, Oregon, United States
Physical description
Gender	Female
Hair color	Blonde
Eye color	Blue
In-game information
Appears in	Days Gone
Voiced by	Courtnee Draper

Sarah Irene Whitaker, Ph.D is a major character and the tritagonist in Days Gone.

She is a research scientist and botanist, and the wife of protagonist Deacon St. John. She is presumed deceased at the dawn of the Freakers outbreak; Deacon would spend the following two years searching for her, firmly holding onto the belief that she is still alive.

History

Background

Sarah was born to a middle class family in Seattle, Washington. She grew up with her little sister, Emma, whom she was very close to.

Sarah attended college, majoring in botany. After graduating with two PhDs, she got a job as a researcher for the bioengineering company Cloverdale, presumably in 2013. Cloverdale opened a lab in Iron Butte, Oregon, which Sarah transferred to in order to study the rare plants that grew in the area.

One day on her way to work, Sarah's car breaks down. While tending to the matter, she is approached by a biker named Deacon St. John. After some playful banter, he offers her a ride to a location with better cell service, which she accepts. After nearly being hit by a pickup truck, Sarah receives a call from work, and informs them the her situation, requesting a tow truck. She and Deacon return to her car, only to find the same pickup truck parked by it, with a group of thugs parting it out. As Deacon attempts to fight them off, Sarah tries and fails to contact police due to poor cell service. She then begins to shuffle through Deacon’s saddlebag and finds a pistol. She nervously fires off a shot that succeeds in scaring the thugs off, and begins to panic due to having never fired a gun before. Deacon reassures and thanks her, offering to wait with her until the tow truck arrives.

Shortly after this, Sarah and Deacon began dating. Over time, they begin to learn things from one another, with Sarah teaching Deacon about practical application of certain plants, such as lavender being used as a burn medicine. Deacon, on the other hand, teaches Sarah how to ride a motorcycle. She also becomes aware of Deacon’s involvement in the Mongrels Motorcycle Club, and even becomes good friends with William "Boozer" Grey, Deacon’s fellow MC member and best friend.

Sarah tries to talk to lDeacon about moving in together, which he seems reluctant towards. However, one night he takes Sarah out for a walk along a trail near a marijuana farm owned by the MC, jokingly asking her for input. He then takes her to a clearing with a waterfall where he proceeds to propose to her, using his MC ring as an engagement ring. Sarah agrees on several conditions, one of them being that he agrees to never leave her. She takes a moment to admire the ring, with Deacon pointing out an inscription; the Latin phrase, "Morior Invictus" which translates to "Death Before Defeat." The pair were soon interrupted by a call from Cloverdale, requesting Sarah's presence.

Soon after this, Sarah gifted Deacon a custom gas tank.

At some point, Cloverdale changed Sarah's clearance for the area she worked in. David Gorman, a young research engineer, told Sarah that Cloverdale was developing some kind of classified project. Sarah tried to convince him that he was just being paranoid and to drop it. However he didn't listen to her.

One day, Sarah was leaving work with Deacon for a break, defusing a confrontation between him and security guard Jim on the way out. Deacon has Sarah drive, but moments later the couple are nearly hit by an oncoming semi truck, with Sarah narrowly managing to swerve out of harm’s way. Deacon tries to console her and calls attention to his new patch’s, which reads "NOMAD." He claims this means he will be less involved in the MC, hoping for the two of them to spend more time together, as well as for her parents to be more accepting of him. She shrugs this off, proclaiming that she doesn’t wish to change anything for the sake of pleasing her parents. On the way back, a police car speeds up the road, seemingly heading towards Cloverdale. The couple rush back, and the security guard tells Sarah that she is needed.

The day of Deacon and Sarah's wedding arrives, taking place at the church in Marion Forks. Boozer is the only guest in attendance. Sarah tells Deacon that, the fact no one else has turned up is a symbol of how much she means to him, and that she doesn't care that no one else came, as she would willingly give up anything for him. Deacon promises Sarah that he will always love her and never leave her. She also offers him back his Mongrels ring, on the condition that that he "promise to ride [her] as much as he rides [his] bike", much to Deacon’s amusement and the priest’s discomfort. The pair share a kiss as Boozer applauds.

Events of Days Gone

Freaker outbreak

Some time later, Sarah comes looking for Gorman after discovering someone had burglarized the secure wing of Cloverdale. She travels to the Cloverdale office in Farewell to look for him, only to find he had been gone for two weeks. Around this time, people became infected with a viral mutagenic that over time turned humans into heavily mutated, animalistic monsters later known as freakers, causing widespread chaos. Martial law is declared. Sarah meets up with Deacon and Boozer with the intent of escaping Farewell. The couple stumble upon a young girl in the chaos. Sarah tries to help her, but the girl reflexively stabs her in the side. Deacon fired a warning shot to scare the girl off.

Sarah’s condition rapidly worsens. Deacon and Boozer manage to get her to a nearby rooftop where a N.E.R.O. helicopter is preparing to depart. Deacon threatens one of the agents, James O'Brian, to take her in. He reluctantly agrees, but points out there is only space for two more. Deacon decides to stay with Boozer, who had also been wounded, and gives Sarah his Mongrel ring, saying he wants it back. O'Brian tells Deacon they are headed to a refugee camp west of Three Finger Jack before finally departing.

During the flight, the helicopter is made aware that the camp has been overrun, and that they are to be diverted to Silver Lake. Upon arrival, Sarah is brought into surgery. After a six hour operation, she is stabilized, eventually making a full recovery. Sarah is told that the refugee camp was overrun and everyone was dead, leading her to believe Deacon was among those killed.killed.

Working with the Militia

Sarah was moved to a camp outside of Chemult, where she stayed until a horde moved into the area, N.E.R.O. took Sarah due to her federal clearance, and she was placed in a new refugee camp. After almost a year, the camp would go on to be seized by the Deschutes County Militia.

Sarah joined the Militia, hoping to do some good, specifically hoping she could research the virus and potentially even find a cure. Enlistment, however, meant she had to give up Deacon's ring, which she reluctantly agreed to. The Militia's leader, Colonel Matthew Garret, believed she was making a biological weapon capable of killing off all of the Freakers, and assigned people to requisition the supplies she would need to develop her "weapon."

Still mourning Deacon, Sarah shrugs off the advances of the men around camp such as fellow officer and competing weapon developer James Weaver, this earned her a reputation of being cold and distant among the Militia members who dubbed her "The Wizard Island Witch."

For around a year, Sarah conducted tests on the Freakers, collecting blood samples in an attempt to reverse engineer the virus. Sarah's work is constantly delayed due to the inefficiency of those who are retrieving the equipment she needs.

Reunion with Deacon

While berating a soldier who had not acquired what was on her requisition form, Garret arrives introducing her to a new recruit who he believes will be a valuable asset due to his experience. Sarah is shocked when she is face to face with Deacon, after a brief interaction, she asks Garret to leave the room, which he does. Sarah, in disbelief, rambles about how Deacon is supposed to be dead, but he reassures her, and they share a brief kiss. He tries to convince her to leave, but Sarah refuses, claiming that her work is important and that she can help. Unwilling to lose Sarah again, Deacon stays with the Militia in order to help her.

Sarah gives Deacon requisition tasks to aid her research. Although thankful for Deacon's assistance, Sarah is frustrated by the fact Deacon is running errands for her and the two barely talk, so she decides to accompany Deacon on a supply run to find a centrifuge, at Chemult Community college.

At the college, Sarah reminisces about the time she had been there previously giving a lecture on careers in biochemistry. The couple move through the now heavily infested campus. They are briefly separated when Deacon helps Sarah into a building, unable to follow her in. Moments later, he is horrified by the sounds of several freakers accompanied by desperate swearing from Sarah as well as gunfire. He manages to rush his way inside the building and finds her sat against a wall, holding an empty machine gun with a pile of dead freakers in front of her, and visibly shaken.

They arrive at the Science Building getting in through the roof, after fighting off a small swarm of newts. Inside, they find a group of people who had given up hope and committed suicide by ingesting hemlock.

On their way out they are confronted by marauders. After dispatching them, Deacon recalls how scared Sarah was after firing a gun during their first encounter. Sarah remarks that a lot has changed. The pair return to Wizard Island, and Deacon refuses Sarah's thanks, though nonetheless she assures him that the centrifuge is important.

Sarah continues her research into the virus, though she hits a dead end, needing a DNA synthesizer to continue. Upon learning this, Deacon suggests visiting her old lab at Cloverdale. Realizing Deacon knows a way over the mountains, she becomes hopeful. She stops Deacon before he leaves, and the couple share a kiss.

As they're preparing to depart, the pair are approached by Colonel Garret and Captain Derrick Kouri. Sarah explains that they are going on a supply run, praising Deacon for his efficiency in helping her. Kouri informs her about Weaver making progress with his project, but Sarah assures them that she's also making progress and will be ready to test her weapon soon.

Upon arriving at Cloverdale, Sarah reminisces about her last memories of the facility before the outbreak. Deacon soon after noticed that the facility’s electric fence was active, indicating that the whole facility has power. Sarah used her previous credentials to gain access to the facility, where the couple discovered healthy corn crops still being maintained. While taking a moment to enjoy the sprinklers, they are attacked by criers, and took shelter in a nearby car. After the criers disperse, they exit the car, at which point they discover the bodies of some of Sarah’s former coworkers. Deacon is able to deduce that they were shot, rather than killed by the freaks.

Soon after, Sarah’s clearance is voided, and Deacon notices that the two are being watched through the facility’s security cameras. After finding a door that still took her credentials, the two discover that the facility is being occupied by squatters led by Jim, the same security guard who confronted Deacon years prior. The couple fights the squatters and eventually subdue Jim, who confesses to killing the other employees Deacon found outside, claiming that he couldn’t afford the risk. They gained access to Sarah’s old lab using Jim's credentials, after which Sarah fatally shoots him point blank, using the same excuse he had for killing the others against him. After some digging in the lab, Sarah deduces that the outbreak was caused by David Gorman stealing a sample of the alleged “bio-weapon” being developed by Cloverdale during his and Sarah’s time there, with the intention of taking it to a conference in Portland where he would expose the company on a massive scale. In doing so, however, he not only contracted the virus himself, but spread it to multiple people, who then went and spread it further. Sarah has a breakdown and even blames herself for the outbreak, which Deacon responds to by consoling her.

The couple nonetheless succeed in procuring the equipment Sarah needs, and prepare to return to Wizard Island, with Deacon radioing the Lost Lake camp to inform them of the couple’s discovery, while also finally informing Boozer that Sarah is alive. The couple don’t get far before a snowstorm forced them to take shelter in a cabin. As the two warm themselves by a fire, they share an intimate moment together for the first time since before the outbreak.

They return to Wizard Island the next day, and believing no one to be watching, share a kiss once again, unaware that they were being observed by a curious Kouri.

With all the right equipment, Sarah develops what she believes is a working dose of an antidote. She entrusts Deacon with finding and subduing a specific newt at a house not far from the lake, who she’d been running tests on for some time. Upon returning with the incapacitated newt, Sarah has Deacon keep it restrained while she administers the dose, which quickly kills the newt. While Deacon is initially impressed at its effectiveness, Sarah becomes livid, at which point Deacon realizes she was trying to cure the child rather than kill the newt. Sarah begins to doubt herself and her work, at which point an inspired Deacon encourages her to keep trying.

After Deacon and Kouri return from testing Weaver’s weapon, a napalm molotov which proves highly effective at eliminating hordes, the former finds that Sarah’s tent has been vacated by the Colonel. who following the murder of Wizard Island’s resident doctor, Captain Arturo Jimenez, decided to move both Sarah and Weaver into the camp’s Ark and keep them under constant surveillance by soldiers. In response, Deacon begins to devise a plan to break Sarah out of the camp and take her back to Cloverdale, with the intention of continuing her research for a cure. Sarah sends Deacon on one final supply run, and upon his return hands him a requisition form which reads "I never stopped loving you."

Deacon colludes with O’Brian, who agrees to help fly the couple off the island after all the research on N.E.R.O. the former did for the latter. After listening to one final speech from Garret in which he effectively declares war on all other survivor camps, Deacon puts his plan into motion, radioing O’Brian and neutralizing several soldiers with Sarah’s help. As the two make their way up to the top of the “cone”, she remarks on wanting to see Boozer again. However, at the top of the cone, they are confronted by Garret, Kouri, and a group of new recruits, which included Raymond "Skizzo" Sarkozi, who recognizes and assaults Deacon right as the N.E.R.O. helicopter passes over.

Garret has both Deacon, Sarah, and Skizzo restrained and taken to his personal chambers, where he questions them on the incident. Skizzo accuses Deacon of being a spy, and claims that he witnessed him assault a girl at Lost Lake, calling attention to Deacon’s back tattoo in particular. After cutting his shirt and seeing the tattoo firsthand, Garret brands Deacon a traitor, and begins questioning Sarah’s involvement, even going as far as holding her at gunpoint and slapping her in the face, much to Kouri’s shock. Deacon proceeds to take full responsibility for calling N.E.R.O. and claims that he was using Sarah as a hostage. Garret sentences Deacon to be hanged, and apologizes to a bloodied and horrified Sarah before ordering Kouri to take him to lockup.

Kouri, however, frees Deacon and abandons the militia with several others, piecing together that Sarah is in fact his wife, and proclaiming that a man who would go through so much for his wife doesn’t deserve to die at the end of a rope. Kouri offers Deacon to ride with his group, but realizing that the militia are launching an attack on Lost Lake, he refuses and rides off to help his friends.

Sarah, on the other hand, is returned to the Ark and is once again placed under constant surveillance. Some time after the militia’s attack on Lost Lake, Skizzo radios Deacon and boasts about his promotion to captain, and reveals that as such, Sarah reports to him now, angering Deacon.

Deacon, with help from Boozer and Rikki Patil, devises a plan to attack Wizard Island using a truck bomb. After successfully building the bomb, the three along with Deacon’s allies from the other camps ride out to launch the attack. After Boozer seemingly sacrifices himself to destroy one of the camp’s gates, Deacon fights his way into the Ark while the rest of the militia fight the survivors led by Rikki. Skizzo attempts to stop him by sealing the Ark with explosives at the Colonel’s orders, to no avail. After a skirmish that ends in Skizzo’s death, Deacon enter’s Garret’s chamber, where he holds Sarah and other militia members hostage. Garret calmly orders Sarah to pour Deacon a glass of tea, which she does. Things become tense between the two, leading Garret to point his gun at Deacon instead. Sarah tries to intervene only to be pistol whipped by Garret. During the ensuing scuffle between Garret and Deacon, the former suddenly dies, with Sarah having poisoned his tea with hemlock.

Deacon and Sarah effectively disavow Garret’s militia as it was, and the latter briefly reunites with Boozer, revealed to have survived the blast. After Descon gives a moving speech to its surviving members as well as his allies, the couple share a kiss and ride away to live at Lost Lake.

Appearance

Sarah is a short Caucasian woman with shoulder-length dark blonde hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes. With a petite frame and classical good looks, she is highly beauty and physically desirable, even during the apocalypse; however, she offsets assumptions about her personality with intelligence and ferocity, making it impossible to assume that she is a "dumb blonde." Instead, her principled nature lets her oscillate between affable (friendly, chipper, and polite) and stern (commanding, disciplined, and firm).

She has tattoos covering both of her arms (sleeves) depicting stylized flora, presumably her favorites or otherwise significant due to her background as a botanist. After surviving six hours of surgery, she has several healed scars on her abdomen, as well as two scars on her face, presumably acquired in her two years separated from Deacon.

Sarah wears a variety of outfits depending on the occasion, featuring casual clothing for field research, lab garbs, and even a wedding dress during flashbacks. In her time with the DCM, she wears some military surplus gear, including a tank top, battle dress uniform (BDU) and boots, and a DCM cover. While riding with Deacon, she also grabs a fatigue jacket and knit gloves. After rejoining Lost Lake, she returns to a more casual appearance with jeans and a button-up shirt, discarding the DCM military gear for civilian clothing.

Personality

By all accounts, Sarah is a well-adjusted and intelligent Doctoral researcher, with a mild rebellious streak and an empathetic nature. As a top mind in her field, she had her choice of several high-profile assignments and eventually chose a role that allowed her to both enjoy field work while contributing to the "greater good" -- leveraging her botanical research into biotechnologies for medicine and defense.

Sarah strongly values her personal integrity and tends to form strong opinions. In particular, once she has decided on a given course of action, she tends to pursue it even when family, peers, or supervisors disapprove. As such, she is a reliable companion, well-liked among her colleagues, and trusting to a fault. In particular, her attachment to Deacon initially seems highly unlikely, given her advanced education and white-collar work in contrast to his limited college experience and blue-collar profession as a Bike mechanic. However, they align on several core personality traits, including a desire to buck convention, valuing personal commitments rather than societal obligations, and a willingness to share each other's interests -- notably Sarah learning how to ride a motorcycle and Deacon learning wild flora scavenging.

Additionally, Sarah thrives on being a non-conformist and enjoys pushing back on artificial pressures of law and convention -- even if she rarely breaks them. Full tattoos on her arms, for example, are unconventional for white collar lab workers and many workplaces require wearing long sleeves to cover them up. Sarah's long term love interest, Deacon, alienates her family due to his association with an outlaw Motorcycle Club but she also refuses to frequent their hangouts. She scoffs at the idea of having a big biker wedding in Marion Forks, but is nonetheless touched by Boozer's attendance as their sole guest and revises her vows on the spot to surprise Deacon with a goofy and stereotypical line: "You need to promise to ride me as much as your bike."

Sarah deeply values nature and derives personal meaning in studying the effects of man-made interventions (culture) as it reshapes what took place organically; as such, she finds natural and incidental occurrences charming (such as the growth of naturally occurring Stone Crop or the introduction of Lavendar into Oregon) but unnatural and artificial occurrences deeply disturbing (such as the Freaker virus). This sets her apart from many of her peers in the DCM, particularly Weaver, who sees the infection as something to be eradicated while Sarah would prefer to see Freaks returned to their pre-infected, 'natural' state (by way of a cure). Similarly, she convinces Col. Garrett to leave one of the trees on the island untouched as a symbol of their future victory.

Even so, her personality does harden after the Freaker outbreak and from associating with the DCM. Believing herself to be responsible either for the creation of the Freaker virus or taking on the responsibilty for curing it weighs heavily on her, and her friendly, affable nature nearly disappear completely. Rather than being a friendly and valued colleague, her peers refer to her as the "Wizard Island Witch" because of her skillset in botany and in the deeply technical approach she takes to her mission (that her methods and techniques are so far removed from the norm that they fall under the realm of mysticism rather than science). It is only through her collaboration with Deacon that her research gets close to bearing significant fruit, even if her attempts at a cure end in failure.

While with the DCM, Sarah does fall into a more conformist pattern due to her belief that fighting back against the Freaks is humanity's best hope, rather than simply scavenging and surviving. To this effect, she observes strict military protocols within the DCM and it takes her several weeks once reunited with Deacon to shake some of her "Witch" persona.

In spite of this, perhaps the biggest change to Sarah after her separation from Deacon is her willingness to use lethal force. Deacon, in particular, is surprised at her willingness to go out into danger for her research and her resilience after killing freakers, as she pushes through shock very quickly to resume her mission. She also makes Deacon uncomfortable with her acceptance of the camp's brutality for transgressors and the harsh treatment of their labor force; however, once she discovers that her work is bearing no fruit, she recants, acknowledging that what Garrett is doing is wrong.

Whatever personality changes Sarah adopted as a matter of survival and conformity with the DCM are slowly discarded after her reunion with Deacon, and she regains much of her extroversion and affability once she leaves the DCM. Deacon later appears satisfied with her transformation back to her core self that he hopes to introduce Lisa Jackson to her, since Lisa reminds him of Sarah's little sister.

Equipment and Weapons

While traveling with Deacon, Sarah will carry a sidearm and a fully automatic rifle, similar to most of the infantry within the DCM. As a place-bound researcher with the DCM and at Deacon's urging to travel light, she carries virtually nothing in her kit except extra ammunition for her weapons.

In flashbacks, her most prominent signifier of her status as a researcher is her ID badge. Lt. O'Brien would later recover this ID badge and return it to Deacon while investigating her current whereabouts.

Deacon's Mongrel MC ring has been in (and out) of her possession several times.

• During their engagement, Deacon placed one of his Biker rings on her finger in place of a traditional diamond ring, which she kept even after he acquired an 'official' ring at her request.
• She later gave this ring back to Deacon at their wedding, making him 'promise' to "ride [her] as often as his bike."
• Deacon gives her the ring once again when she boards the helicopter with O'Brien to receive treatment for her knife wound.
• Upon joining the DCM, Col. Garrett forces her to relinquish it.
• Lacking an award for a commendation, Col. Garrett instead gives the same ring to Cpt. Khouri.
• After uncovering Deacon's identity and his connection with Sarah, Cpt. Khouri gives it back to Deacon.
• Deacon, in turn, gives the ring back to Sarah once he rescues her from DCM captivity.

Gallery

Sarah and Deacon riding prior to the apocalypse

Deacon and Sarah meeting for the first time

Sarah and Deacon picking Lavender flowers

Deacon proposes to Sarah

Sarah looks at Deacon's Mongrels ring on her hand after accepting

Sarah at Lost Lake following completion of the main story, post 1.60 patch

Trivia

• Deacon has Sarah's first name tattooed on the right side of his neck.
• A trailer for the game shows that the church that Deacon and Sarah's wedding ceremony was performed at was destroyed by a fire by the time of the Freaker apocalypse. In the game, it is shown that Deacon is the one who burned it down as a way of moving on after mistakenly believing she was dead.
  • Similarly, there was a scene in one of the trailers showing Deacon finding his Mongrel's ring in the wreckage of a helicopter and putting it back on, seemingly implying Sarah's death. This animation remained in the game, however in a new context, now happening after Deacon scrapes Sarah's name off her gravestone, and now putting his wedding ring back on.
• According to the Horde Killer entries, Sarah was an avid skier and held a season pass at the Mt. Scott Ski Resort, going every weekend. Deacon would go with her, but he stayed at the lodge drinking.
• Although mentioned several times, she is actually never seen after the story mode is complete.
  • The 1.60 patch addressed this and now Sarah can be found at Iron Mike's Camp, seated with Boozer and Jack in front of the cabin where Deacon and Boozer sleep.
• Because it is left behind on a tree stump afterward, some information can be gleaned from Sarah's NERO MMU admission form that O'Brien shows to Deacon. Her phone number is listed as 541-28-3487, with a missing sixth numeral in order to avoid corresponding to any real phone numbers, and her zip code is listed as 97701. The overlapping 541 and 458 area codes cover the vast majority of the state of Oregon, excluding only the densely populated northwestern corner which includes Portland and Salem (which corresponds to area code 503), while the 97701 zip code covers northern Bend (where Bend Studio is located) and some surrounding areas including Tumalo. Additionally, it states she was taken to the Silver Lake Emergency Facility for surgery, then transferred to Refugee Camp A103 Chemult.
• Sarah's Cloverdale ID code is 2007659.