Some of my favourite notes about Sarah by Deacon in Days Gone:
Deacon reminiscing about their life before the Freaker outbreak:
Was thinking about the day I met Sarah. Her car had broken down, she needed a ride. We ran into some rednecks. She grabbed a gun from my saddlebag and shot it into the air. It was the first time she'd ever fired a gun. Scared the shit out of her. I think that's why I fell in love with her. She was so fearless. As much as she hated guns, anything to do with them, she wasn't going to just stand there and do nothing.
It's been a long time now, but I still remember when Sarah and I first started dating. She'd drag me all over collecting her plant samples. I'd come along because it's beautiful out here, riding through the Farewell Wilderness. Patjens Lakes is where she showed me how to collect lavender. And she showed me she knew how to wear a tight pair of jeans. Guess which one I remember the most?
When we first started dating, me and Sarah used to ride through Miriam Forks all the time, stop at Hungry Jim's for French toast and flapjacks. I remember her saying, if I ever get married, it's going to be in that little church, right over there. That woman always knew exactly what she wanted, and she always got it.
I remember the night I proposed to her. We'd been together a couple of years. She was giving me shit, again, for not taking "us" seriously. The funny thing is? I hadn't planned on proposing that night. Which is why I didn't have a ring. A real ring, I mean. It's why I gave her my Mongrels ring. The one that Kouri's now wearing. Some nights, you never forget.
We'd been out here before, me and Sarah, back in the day. We'd just come from the church in Marion Forks, going over all the wedding plans. Well, Sarah was going over the wedding plans, I was outside on the back of my bike, enjoying the sun. When she was done we rode out here and ate lunch. It was beautiful back then. In a way, it still is.
I still remember that day me and Sarah rode up here, after doing a bunch of wedding planning, ate some sandwiches, drank some beers, watched the sun set. Now that the Horde here is done? Maybe I'll do that again someday.
I remember the day we got married. Only one person showed up. Her family was pissed she was hooking up with a biker. The MC was pissed that I had put her first. So who showed up? Boozer, of course. Nothing was going to keep him away.
We rode through here, me and Sarah, on our honeymoon. We had come straight from Marion Forks, down the Santiam Highway, and then decided to take some of the back roads before we got to Crater Lake, where we stayed at the lodge for a few nights. I'd like to say that we got out, rode around, looked at the sights, but we never left our room.
You know, I've never been skiing in my life. Sarah used to love it and went every weekend during ski season, bought a season pass to the Mt. Scott Ski Resort. I went with her sometimes, so I could sit in the lodge, by the fire, and drink beer. Strap sticks to my legs and throw myself down a frozen mountain? I'd rather take on a Horde.
O'Brian's alive. The sonofabitch is alive. He remembered that night in Farewell. The night I put Sarah on his chopper. They were diverted south so they weren't at that refugee camp when it was overrun. He doesn't know if she's alive, a lot of camps were overrun back then. And the stab wound. She lost so much blood. But O'Brian, he's going to look into it. See what he can do to find out. No, I'm not holding out hope that she's alive. I just want to know what happened to her.
That kid, Lisa, who I found in Marion Forks. Reminded me a lot of Sarah's kid sister, Emma. The last time I saw Emma was in the hospital, after the accident. She was so messed up, I could hardly tell it was her. She didn't say a word, just stared straight ahead. Sarah was losing it, but Emma was - I don't know. Peaceful. At the end. Anyway, Lisa she reminds me a lot of Emma. Sarah would have liked her, I think.
So she didn't make it. Yeah, she made it through that night. Or at least the stab wound didn't kill her. I owe O'Brian for that, at least. But the camp she was at was overrun. NERO bugged out, left Sarah and everyone else behind. I should have been there with her. She shouldn't have died alone. At least now I know.
If it's not one thing it's another. First I think Sarah died at the refugee camp near Three Fingered Jack. But no, their chopper was diverted south. Then I'm told she died with her camp when the salt flats was overrun. Then I guessed right. Her federal clearance saved her from being left behind, only to be overrun by Militia. I'm not going to say she's alive. O'Brian honestly doesn't know. But there's a chance. And that's all I need.
Kouri has my ring. The last time I saw this ring it was on Sarah's finger, the night I put her on that NERO chopper. It's the ring I used when I proposed to her. It's one of a kind. There's no way Sarah would give it to this asshole willingly.
Sarah's alive. She's alive. She pretended she didn't know me in front of the Colonel. His fraternization rule. If he knew we were married, the Colonel wouldn't have assigned me to her unit and I'd never get to see her. Smart girl. She always was. But something's happened to her. No surprise. I guess something's happened to all of us. All I know is, nothing can make me leave her again. Not a damn thing.
James Weaver. I thought I was going to like this guy until I remembered that he called Sarah, Lieutenant Whitaker, "The Wizard Island Witch." What's that about? If he wants to make a Napalm Molotov, burn Freaks to the ground? I'll do all I can to help him. Even if he doesn't know how to treat a woman with respect.
So Sarah's making the Colonel her herbal tea, he says it's good for digestion. It may be helping his, but it's not doing much for mine.
Things are still rough, between me and Sarah. She's on edge, maybe the pressure? She's fighting Weaver for resources. The Colonel's making them compete with each other to get their weapons done first. I don't know. I gave her a raft of shit. Couldn't help myself. I don't feel great about it, but if she's trying to drive me away? It's not going to work.
Weaver asked me to leave all that "army shit" by the door, the yes sirs and no sirs and salutes. Nah, I don't think so. If he disrespects Sarah again, I'm going to break his fingers. I don't give a shit what his rank is or what he's trying to build.
Do I care that "Matt" gave my wife a gun? No. Did I ask why a Colonel of a Militia is giving new recruits gifts? No. Do I care that my wife is living in a tent on an officer's ridge? No. All I care about is that we're going on a run. The sooner she finishes this bioweapon? The sooner we ride out of here.
First yeast, now silicate. I hope she knows what she's doing. What am I talking about? Of course she does. I was right about her and Weaver, about her competing with him for resources, I mean. Nothing I can do about that. He's an officer, I'm just a grunt. And I did it again. Went off on Sarah. What's wrong with me? I didn't come this far to just drive her away. I have to pull my shit together.
I got a good laugh out of that one, Weaver trying to hit on Sarah, almost getting a broken arm for his trouble. I have to admit, when I first came into the camp, a part of me wondered about that, if he'd tried to hook up with my wife, them working so closely together, their rivalry. But that's not how it went down. Weaver's okay.
For a minute there, I thought I'd lost her again. I have to get over this shit. The world's changed. I can't be with her all the time. I can't protect her. If she goes down, and I'm not going to be there to protect her? I don't know. This isn't getting any easier.
For a minute there, I thought the Colonel was not going to let Sarah leave, telling her what I was just saying about Doc Jiminez, that she's more valuable than any piece of equipment, that she can't be replaced. But Sarah - she wasn't having any of that. I'd hate to be the guy who tried to stop her from doing anything that she had a mind to.
Weaver's Napalm Molotov worked. Like I said, Weaver's an okay guy. Knows his stuff. Knows how to get shit done. I wish I could tell him that he didn't "win" the competition with Sarah to be the first to make a super weapon, because she was never in it to win. Not like that. Weaver and the Colonel want to burn the world to the ground. Sarah wants to save it.
I can't wrap my head around it. But like I told her, no way any of this is her fault. She's not to blame. And she has to stop beating herself up over it. We can't change the past. All I know is, I'm here. She's here. We're going to pull through this.
We're going AWOL. Finally, the woman's come to her senses. And of course she's not working on a bioweapon. Of course she's working on a cure for the Newts. Infected kids, she called them. I should've seen that one coming. But I meant what I said. She might have failed this time but she has to keep trying. She's not giving up. And neither am I.
Skizzo shows up out of nowhere. New recruit. Good timing. I end up having to lie my ass off, telling the Colonel it was all me, that Sarah knew nothing, that I'm some kind of spy for NERO. Doesn't matter. She's still alive, that's all I care about. Like I said, I'm not giving up. She's alive and I'm not leaving her there.
He hit Sarah, the Colonel, hit her right in the face, made her bleed. I'm going to kill this sonofabitch, if it's the last thing I do.
I don't know what the future will bring, but I know this: once there was a dumbass biker who screwed things up, losing the only woman he ever loved. But somehow, he got a second chance, and he isn't going to blow it again.
They're just rings, right? Who gives a shit. I'll tell you who: me. Look, it's not about the rings, it's about what they mean. I'll never forget the day Sarah and I exchanged wedding rings, the real ones, not my Mongrels ring. But that ring has a lot of meaning to me as well. All of them do.
