Nina Clarke: ᴍᴀʏᴏʀ, ᴀᴜsᴛɪɴ ᴛx & sʜʏ ʙʟᴏʙ (commonlaw) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-10-10 22:27:00 |
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Doughnuts were the exception to Nina's self-imposed rule regarding public outings. She was admittedly still a bit scarred from what happened in July, but the Doughnut Hole was closer to her home than the Greenbelt district and with Luc accompanying her at this early hour, she felt comfortable venturing out for this interview. Besides, holding it at Ms. Thomas' home would have felt oddly elitist and private, even if Nina did like her privacy. "Thank you for meeting me," she said once they're seated across from each other. Luc was at another table, though certainly not within earshot. "I hope this won't interrupt your business." “No, not at all,” Shelby assured with a smile as she tried not to be obvious about watching Ms. Clarke’s bodyguard. She assumed bodyguard, at least. He was very good looking. “It was really nice of you to make the interview work this early. Most people come in closer to 7:30 or 8:00, so this hour is usually pretty quiet.” Was she rambling? She couldn’t really tell. "Oh, it wasn't a problem." Despite the early hour, Nina was feeling alert and prepared as she reviewed her notes. "It was more important to me that you feel comfortable." “Do you want a coffee or doughnut or anything?” Shelby asked, still smiling brightly. “I could have Jake grab something and bring it over.” "Sure." Nina glanced over at the display, considering this, and added, "Raised, please, and a coffee. And the passion fruit for Mr. Flores." She gestured towards Luc. "I'll settle the tab afterwards. And feel free to eat as we talk, too, if you'd like." “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s on the house,” Shelby replied, then stood to get Jake’s attention before she rattled off the doughnuts and coffee for Mr. Flores and Mayor Clarke, and a latte for herself. She’d had breakfast before the shop opened. Nina wanted to decline, but it was too late. "Thank you," she added once Shelby had turned back to her. "That's very kind of you." “Do you take anything in your coffee?” she asked before she sent Jake away. “Cream or sugar? I can have him bring that back to the table also.” "No, thank you." She waited until her order had been placed before her, then took a sip of the coffee before she cleared her throat. "Can you tell me where you were when you saw the undead on September 8th?" “I was at Walker’s,” Shelby answered as she took her seat again, “We were running low on a few essentials, so I was making a run for them.” "Around what time did you arrive?" Nina asked, taking a few quick notes down on a pad of paper before adding, "And how long did it take until you noticed any sort of disturbance?" Shelby was quiet while she tried to remember an exact time, or as close to exact as she could get. “It was about 11AM when I got there. I think it might have been less than a half hour later that the noise at the front started.” She chewed her lip, double checking herself. “I was only halfway through the list I’d brought, which would have taken me an hour to finish.” "What was the noise at the front?" Nina asked, fixing Shelby with an intent look as she sought to determine all of the details. "Can you describe it? Do you know what caused it?" “Crashing and banging mostly, but also the sound of a lot of people trying to move through the aisles. There was a lot of screaming and yelling too,” Shelby answered. “I only realized it was zombies when I heard someone saying it was repeatedly. The crashing might have been them trying to get in.” They really needed to fix the issue with the grocery store, Nina thought. "When you mention people moving: was this forward, towards the front doors, or towards the back? And where were you in the grocery store in relation to the front of it?" “Both ways. There were people that were trying to get out the front, trying to fight the walkers away from the doors, I think. But there were people trying to get out the back too. Because it seemed safer.” If Shelby had known she was going to be asked later, she might have written some things down. It was kind of a blur to her. “I was in one of the aisles closer to the back.” "Which way did you choose?" Nina asked. She took a sip of her coffee, studying Shelby over the rim of her cup. “The back. There was a group of people near where I was, and one of them asked about the back exit,” she explained, “and it seemed a lot safer than the front, at the time.” "Can you describe what you saw at the rear of the store?" They'd probably need to make changes to the layout of it, after all of this. "How many people were around, approximately? Was your exit clear?" Shelby nodded. “There were small groups of people, maybe somewhere between 45-50 total, mostly hanging out in the aisles. But it seemed like everyone had the same idea around the same time, because the back exit wasn’t clear at all by the time I made it there. It was only one door into the loading area, not the double swinging doors most places have.” If the exit had been wider maybe it wouldn’t have been such a crush. "And you were by yourself, correct? What happened when you tried to leave through that exit?" “I didn’t come to the store with anyone, but one of the other shoppers helped me get outside. I didn’t get his name though.” She gave Nina an apologetic look. “I was actually pushed over before we made it into the loading area, and probably would have gotten run over if I had been by myself.” Shelby paused and wondered if she was over-explaining again. "Did you sustain any injuries?" Shelby looked fine from Nina's perspective, but she wasn't a doctor and she needs all the details she can get. With a shake of her head, Shelby answered, “Not any serious ones. Just a few scrapes, and a couple bumps and bruises.” Nina made a note of this on her paper. "And then what happened?" “Once I actually got outside there were more zombies and people than I expected. It was kind of a mess. I hid for awhile.” Shelby bit her lip after the last admission, almost ashamed that she’d been so freaked out. It was terrifying, the thought of the chaos that had unfolded at Walker's, and even more harrowing whenever Nina let herself remember that Kevin had gotten caught up in the exact same mess. "What was it like outside? Can you describe what you saw? Was it easy to find your hiding place?" “Mayhem. There were so many people trying to get away from the store, and the walkers heading towards all the noise. It was just a mob.” She scrunched her face in disgust at the memory. “But I’m not really sure if you want to know whether other people could find me easily or whether I found it easily,” she added with an apologetic curve of her mouth. "For you to find it," Nina clarified. "Though that makes it sound as though you were found by someone else, eventually." Shelby smiled a little, appreciating the mayor’s clarification. “I was. Mr. Coldiron found me when he came out of the building. I wasn't really super hidden, just kind of behind one of the big dumpsters that had been pulled away from the building. A few other people saw me, but he was the first to offer some help.” "What sort of help did he provide?" With the exception of Savannah, Nina knew that she was Bishop's closest ally on the council. Horrible situation aside, she was glad to know that his decent side had held strong during the catastrophe at the grocery store. "Can you tell me about it?" “I was so freaked out of the crowd, kind of paralyzed a little, but he helped me through the mob. Made sure I wasn't trampled or left behind, or bitten. He took me home also,” Shelby explained. She probably sounded a little starstruck still, since she had very little firsthand experience of the bad press to judge Bishop on. "I'll have to let Councilman Coldiron know that his help was very welcome," Nina replied with a brief twist of her mouth, though there was no mistaking the expression for anything but pleased. She lowered her head, studying her notes, before looking back up at Shelby. "Is there anything else I should know? Do you have any questions for myself or the governing body of Austin?" Shelby thought about it and took another sip of her coffee. “Is an incident like that something that might happen again?” she asked, setting her cup back on the table. Shelby had asked her grandmother the same question, though mostly rhetorically. They’d been so well protected in Des Moines. "I don't have an exact probability," Nina replied, a bit of a regretful look on her face. She'd anticipated this question, had fielded it plenty of times, but it was hard to answer. "The last time we had an incident such as this was a few months ago, at the end of January, and we've learned a lot from that one as well as the events of the last month. As much as I hate the fact that it occurred, we know more now than we did on September 7. We'll be as prepared as we can, taking cues from other cities to the best of our abilities." “Thanks for being honest.” Shelby smiled, even though wasn't an iron clad answer about safety. She appreciated that the mayor hadn't brushed her off or fed her a line. She was optimistic about their chances, but there was some comfort knowing that the people running her new city were being smart about it. “You could've brushed me off and you didn't.” "I like the truth," Nina said simply, setting her now-empty coffee mug down on the table. She offered Shelby a slight smile. "Even if this isn't the business for it, some of the time, telling it's a habit I haven't been able to break just yet." Standing up, Shelby took both her empty glass and Nina’s. “I hope my answers can help a little bit. Have a good day, Mayor Clarke.” |