Sarah Whitaker

Sarah St. John - Wedding.png
Physical description
Gender	Female
In-game information
Voiced by	Courtnee Draper

Sarah Irene Whitaker, Ph.D is the deuteragonist and a survivor of the outbreak in Days Gone. She was a research scientist/botanist and is the wife of Deacon St. John. She's indirectly responsible for the creation of the Freaker Virus due to her research being used to manufacture the virus.

Biography

Early Life

Sarah was born to a middle class family in Seattle, Washington. She grew up with a younger sister who she was very close to.

Sarah attended college, majoring in botany. After graduating, she got a job as a researcher for the bio engineering company Cloverdale. 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 whilst heading to the lab, Sarah's car broke down. Whilst attempting to fix it, she was happened upon by biker, Deacon St. John. He offered her a lift, after some playful banter, which she accepted. After nearly being hit by a pickup truck, Sarah was called by her lab, and informed them of her car breaking down. Askng for a tow truck. She and Deacon head back to her car, only to find the pickup truck that nearly hit them, the crew of which are stripping the car. While Deacon fights the crew, Sarah tries to call the police, but cannot get a signal. Looking through Deacon's saddle bag, she finds his gun, deciding to fire off a warning shot, which scares off the pickup truck's crew. Sarah begins to panic having never fired a gun before. Deacon thanks Sarah and tells her he will stay with her until the tow truck arrives.

Shortly after this, Sarah and Deacon began dating. Sarah aught Deacon about the practical applications of Botany, such as Lavender's use as a burn medicine, and Deacon taught Sarah how to ride his motorcycle. Sarah also became friends with Deacon's fellow club member, Boozer, who she formed a very close friendship with.

Sarah tried to talk to Deacon about moving in together so they could spend more time, however Deacon seemed reluctant to talk about it. One night, Deacon took Sarah out for a midnight stroll, through land owned by the MC, taking her to a clearing which had a waterfall. She was shocked to find Deacon was proposing to her, using his Mongrel MC ring, as an engagement ring, she agrees on several conditions, one of them being that he agrees to never leave her. She takes a moment to admire the ring, Deacon telling her that latin saying on the ring, "Morior Invictus" which translates to "Death Before Defeat." The pair were soon interupted by a call from Cloverdale, requesting Sarah's return.

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

At some point, Cloverdale changed Sarah's clearance for the area she worked in. Dave 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 heading out to meet Deacon for a break, to take a ride around the area, finding him at odds with Jim, Cloverdale's security guard. Sarah managed to defuse the situation and she and Deacon leave, with her taking control of the bike, she berates deacon for his behaviour. While head riding out, the pair are nearly hit by an 18 wheeler. Deacon congratulates her on how well she handled the situation, but she claims she wasn't paying attention, Deacon asks if it was because of his new patch, and she finally notices he's wearing a new patch that bares the word "NOMAD", which he explains means he will be less involvedin the MC. The pair head back, and Deacon explains that he hoped this would make her parents more willing to accept him, but she is unwilling to change anything to please her parents. On the way back, a police car speeds up the road, seemingly heading to Cloverdale the pair rush back, and the security guard tells Sarah that she is needed.

The days of Deacon and Sarah's wedding arrives, taking place in Marion Forks, the only guest in attendance being, Boozer. Sarah tells Deacon that, the fact no one else has turned up is a symbol of how much she means to him, and that 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 Mongrel ring, on the condition that that he "promise to ride [her] as much as he rides [his] bike." Amusing Deacon and shocking the priest. The pair share a kiss.

Virus Outbreak

Some time later, Sarah went looking for Dave after someone had broken into the secure area of Cloverdale. She went to the Cloverdale office in Farewell to look for him, finding out he had been gone for two weeks. Around this time, people became infected with a viral mutanagenic which caused widespread chaos, and martial law was declared. Sarah met up with Deacon, and the pair tried to escape Farewell. The pair stumbled upon a young girl in the chaos. Sarah attempted to help her, but the girl reflexively stabbed Sarah. Deacon fired a warning shot to get rid of her.

Deacon and Boozer manage to get Sarah to a N.E.R.O. helicopter, Deacon threatening one of the agents, O'Brien to get him to take them, howeer he only has room for two. Deacon decides to stay with Boozer, who had also been wounded, and gives Sarah his Mongrel ring, saying he wants it back. O'Brien tells Deacon they are headed to a refugee camp west of Three Finger Jack. The Helicopter leaves.

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 to 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, leadng her to believe Deacon was killed.

Sarah eventually pieced together what had happened. Dave having broken into the lab, stole a sample of what they were working on, had travelled to a conference in Portland with the intent of meeting a reporter to expose Cloverdale. Dave unknowingly being infected, passed the infection on to everyone at the conference, which caused it to spread worldwide when the conference goers went home.

Post Apocalypse

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. Sarah ended up in a new refugee camp. After almost a year, the camp was seized by the Deschutes County Militia.

Sarah joined the Militia, hoping to do some good, specifially, hoping she could research the virus and find a cure. Enlisting however, meant she had to give up Deacon's ring, which she reluctantly agreed to. The Militia's leader, Colonel 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 her, earning a reputation of being cold and distant, as well as the nickname "Wizard Island Witch." Sarah also convinced Colonel Garret to not chop down the final tree on the Militia's base, believing that at least one should be left.

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 inefficiency of those who are retrieving the equipment she needs. Garret arrives, introducing her to a new recruit who he believes will be a valuable asset due to his experience, Sarah is astonished to see her husband. The Colonel leaves. seemingly not believing her eyes, Sarah examines him, before she begins babbling hysterically about how she thought he was dead, Deacon reassures her that he is standing right in front of her and they share a kiss. Deacon says they can leave, but Sarah refuses, saying 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.

Gallery

Trivia

• Sarah's voice actress, Courtnee Draper is possibly best known for her portrayal of Elizabeth in the game BioShock: Infinite, alongside Lisa's voice actress Laura Bailey.
  • Interestingly, BioShock: Infinite also featured Troy Baker who is well known for playing Joel in The Last of Us, a game which Days Gone is often compared to.
• Sarah's appearance and character role in the story is quite similar to Elena Fisher from Naughty Dog's Uncharted series, another Playstation exclusive game series.
• 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.