The Interviews
I was a little sad they didn't show more snippets of Deanna's video interviews with the survivors in the Walking Dead S5E12 Alexandrian Safe Zone. So I have written my own for all the characters that didn't get one.
The characters don't belong to me I was only borrowing them.
...
Deanna Munroe looked at the stack of video tapes on the table and wondered at the risk she had taken bringing Rick and his group into the fold. She had spoken to them all now. All she had to do now was find a place for them.
…
"So Eugene, I understand you're smart man, what did you do before?"
The dour-faced man in the ridiculous mullet nodded. He spoke in a thick southern drawl.
"I was a lecturer before." Eugene said with a sniff. "Astrophysics, applied mathematics…"
"So very smart?"
The man nodded again. There was no modesty there. It was a fact.
"I am probably the smartest man left alive… and what I don't know I can learn."
Dianna nodded.
"And do you want to stay here with us? Help us survive?"
"I will if I can. But I've got to lay all my cards on the table and be completely honest with you, there is something else you need to know about me."
"And what it that?"
Eugene looked her deeply in the eye, his expression unchanged.
"I take no pride in the fact that I am an absolute coward…"
…
"Glen seems a very sensible and grounded young man. How did you two meet?" Deanna asked, her voice bright and conversational.
Maggie smiled demurely.
"He showed up at my daddy's farm after Rick brought Carl. He was just some cocky guy back then, but he won me over in increments. It feels like I've known him forever now. I don't know what I'd do without him."
Deanna nodded.
"Love is like that."
"Yes it is." Maggie agreed.
They settled into silence. Deanna watched the young woman look around the room, taking it all in.
"Your house is beautiful." Maggie said at last. "It's been a long time since I've been in a home. It's a nice feeling."
"Well if this goes well you and your friends could soon have a home of you own." Deanna assured her.
Maggie nodded, her wistful expression suddenly became all business.
"So what else do you need to know?"
Deanna sensed a kindred spirit here. This young woman was a leader.
"You were saying; you met Rick and his group on your father's farm?" Deanna probed. "Your family were farmers before…"
"…Before the world went to hell?" finished Maggie.
"Yes that." said Deana smiling. "We have an orchard but we know we need to expand into more serious cultivation to survive. Scavenging will only get you so far."
"Well I know a bit about livestock and crops. If I could help…"
Deanna smiled broadly.
"That would be wonderful."
…
"So are you close to anyone in the group?" Deanna asked.
The young woman named Tara smirked and fidgeted in her chair.
"Glen and Maggie. Eugene, Rosita and Abraham I guess. Carl and me are cool… and Noah…" she said, counting the names off on her fingers.
"But no one special?"
Tara's brow wrinkled at that.
"What are you asking exactly?"
"I was just trying to work out how you would fit here." said Deanna. She was missing something about this young woman and she couldn't place it. "We don't have many single young women here..." she added. "... but quite a few young men. My youngest son is about your age..."
Tara grew tense. Her bravado slipped a little and Deanna could see a flash of fear in her eyes.
"So if I tell you I'm gay, that means I won't fit?"
"Oh." said Deanna. That was what she'd been missing. "No...no not at all."
"'Cause it sounded like you were trying to set me up!" said Tara.
Deanna smiled, embarrassed at her assumptions.
"I'm sorry."
Tara sighed.
"So what else did you need to know?"
"Just what you do for your group? What you did before?" said Deanna, getting back to business.
"I was at the Police Academy before." said Tara. "So I can shoot and I know my way around firearms... I've helped Glen on runs..." Tara shrugged as she continued. "I help. I try and keep things going; keep things positive... I just get stuck in where I'm needed really."
Deanna nodded.
"That makes you sound just the sort of person we need." she reassured her.
…
A red haired behemoth sat opposite Deanna, his muscles rippling.
"Abraham, you were in the army?"
The man grunted and nodded.
"So you are used to driving large vehicles?"
"Yeah." said Abraham crisply.
"Because we have a construction crew that could really use your muscles. If we keep the walls up we keep ourselves safe."
"I can do that." said Abraham, his expression unchanged.
…
"So Noah, tell me about yourself?"
The nervous looking young man sighed.
"There's not much to tell."
"What did you do before?" Deanna asked trying to draw him out.
Noah shrugged.
"Not much."
"And what do you do now for Rick's group?"
Noah blinked.
"Tara and Glen have been showing me how to shoot."
"Anything else?"
Noah stared into the distance for a moment as if he wanted to say more, but then he met her eyes again and shrugged.
"That's all." He said quietly.
…
"Sasha, you don't have to speak to me of course, but I just want to know how you think you could fit in here."
The young woman stayed silent and stared defiantly ahead.
…
"So Rosita what did you do before?"
"I don't think that matters." said the pretty young woman smiling. "What matters is what I know now. I've always liked to learn. Now I can now hunt, fish, light fires, filter water, tend wounds, fix engines, shoot, kill walkers. What I was before has no impact in any of that."
"Of course." said Deanna. "I was just curious."
Rosita looked at her and sighed.
"I was a stripper." She said quietly.
"Oh!" said Deanna raising her eyebrows at the unexpected confession.
"So no relevance." continued Rosetta.
Deanna nodded.
"You were right." she said. "…So what wounds have you had to deal with out there..?"
…
"Father Gabriel, you have no idea how wonderful it is to have a man of faith amongst us. It has been sorely missed in this community. We have already converted a garage as a chapel, where we have read services ourselves…"
The priest pulled at his collar; sweating despite the cool of the room.
"I am happy to welcome a new flock." He said smiling with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"I'm glad."
Father Gabriel, still grinning, looked upwards raising his hands to the heavens.
"And yea when we needed sanctuary the lord provided."
Deanna nodded.
"He did indeed."
…