Arlene Sanders

Private First-Class (and later Lance Corporal) Arlene Sanders is from the Doom novels, and is the best friend of Fly.

Arlene first met Fly when she joined the Marines and showed up at a barracks he was at sporting a high-and-tight haircut. Fly's CO, Gunnery Sergeant Goforth, a many-year veteran from the deep South, spouts his disdain at seeing a first-year female Marine with the haircut and begins haranguing Arlene, who takes it all in stride. Goforth gets an idea in his head to test her out; he believed that "any muh-REEN!" is a rifleman first and creates a contest. Emulating William Tell, Goforth placed an apple on Arlene's head and shoots it clean off with his rifle. As his men congratulate him loudly (sans Fly, who found the whole thing ridiculous), Arlene propositions Goforth with the same thing. She places an apple on his head, grabs a rifle, and shoots it off almost dead-center. Goforth, swallowing his pride, eventually admits "it's YOU, Private", and never harassed her like that again. She was then accepted socially into the Marines, and this act of bravery made her an instant friend with Fly.

Also a member of Fox Company, Arlene is the Fox Company's best scout, and one of the few people that Fly truly trusts. Like Fly, Arlene gets caught up in the invasion of Phobos and Deimos. Unlike Fly, she uses her scout training to sneak around, and leaves waypoints of sorts, in the form of Arrows marked A.S. She was in love with a fellow soldier named Willhelm Dodd. When they become attacked by the invading forces, she asks Fly to make a pact: If Dodd has become a zombie, that Fly be the one to take him out.

Despite the pact made, Fly hesitates to destroy her former-lover, leaving her to finish the job. This is a relief for Fly, because they both knew if he had been the one to take him down, it would have created a barrier between the two of them. Despite her smaller lithe frame, Arlene is nearly, if not as strong as Fly himself. While she is a better thinker than Fly, she does not have the same cool head that he does.

Arlene has/had a brother, whom was easily swayed. Because of this, she felt the Mormons (whom she deems a cult) had taken advantage of his "weak-mind." To recover her brother, she had gone undercover, and tried to rescue him. Arlene is one of only two characters who makes appearances in all four Doom novels.

The character by the name of "Crash" from Quake III is presumed to be based upon Arlene Sanders, though this is just as often contested. Id Software has not verified, nor denied speculation on the subject.

Eric Harris of Columbine High School massacre infamy was a very serious Doom fan and was reported to have named his sawed-off shotgun after Arlene Sanders.