Cynthia
Quest Reporting
May
4th, 2013
I may not care
for the hardened woman now sitting down in my hot seat, but I do respect her.
Not just anyone could have escaped from Cesar and his Slavers, and still be so
coolly intelligent. It won’t stop me from asking those hard questions, though.
Some things just have to be said.
“Hello,
Samantha. Thank you for agreeing to this interview.”
Sam
snorted. “Yeah, agreed.”
“Let
me guess. It was on your schedule?”
Sam
didn’t frown like she wanted to. “Something like that.”
Cynthia
gave a sweetly sympathetic smile. “I’ll be quick so you can get back to your training.”
The grin widened. “Why don’t we start there?”
Sam
shrugged, trying not to appear as nervous as she felt. “It’s your five
minutes.”
Realizing
Adrian had allotted the woman the same time as the men, sent hot flames of
jealousy into Cynthia’s gut. Adrian was treating Samantha like an Eagle. He’d
chosen his next warrior.
Swallowing
the bitterness, the shark got the interview started with a hard tone. “You’ve
taken a lot of defensive classes since joining Safe Haven. Why? Are you
thinking of following in Angela’s footsteps?”
Sam
had planned on this question, and many others like it. She’d enjoyed the
thought of more provocative answers, but in the end, her place (her future
place) by Adrian, meant more.
“I
want to be stronger, able to defend myself. As for becoming an Eagle, I hadn’t
really thought about it.”
Cynthia
let that lie slide. “Angela seems to be your only friend here so far. What’s
wrong with the rest of the camp’s women?”
Samantha
stiffened. “I’m not sure.” Her voice hardened. “They seem to have this habit of
saying the wrong thing and pissing me off. Apparently, I do the same for them.”
The
reporter scribbled hurriedly, copying word for word. “As of right now, you are considered the
luckiest woman in camp, but I have to ask - Does it bother you that Neil had
been committed to Becky until you showed up? And that Jeremy had a… girl in the
shadows?”
Sam
allowed herself to flinch, sure it would be mentioned. “A little.”
“Does
he know that?”
Samantha
snorted, but kept the nasty remark to herself. “I assume so.”
Feeling
like she’d just discovered a gold mine, Cynthia leaned forward, voice lowering.
“You haven’t told him it bothers you?”
“Why
would I? We’re not dating.”
“Yet.
You still have to pick one of them, right?”
Sam
cringed, face flushing at the boldness she knew the reporter would use in her
paper. Everyone would read that question and the three of them would never live
it down. “No, I don’t.”
“Wise,
I guess, but honestly, Samantha. Which one do you like more? One of them has to
be more…special to you, than the other. I happen to know that Jeremy is a very
sweet man.”
It
was as close as Cynthia had ever come to publically acknowledging her
relationship with Jeremy.
Now,
the jealousy was licking up Sam’s spine, and she opened her mouth, not sure what
was about to come out. “You know how you can like two flavor ice cream at the
same time, even up to occasionally mixing them? That’s me.”
Cynthia’s
face went red. Sam wasn’t sure if it was anger or embarrassment, but either was
fine.
The
reporter followed up with a shaky voice. “You mean you want to keep them both.”
Sam
didn’t respond, just grinned a bit, and the reporter pushed harder. “I guess it
feels pretty good to have two of Safe Haven’s highest-ranked Eagles drooling
over you.”
Quickly
tiring of the attempt to make her look bad to the camp, Sam had to hold her
temper in check. “A hell of a lot better than being Cesar’s Slave.”
“What
was it like to be held captive by the Slavers? Was it awful?”
Sam’s
anger rose. “What do you think?”
Cynthia
didn’t take the hint to back off. “Did they follow you here, do you think?”
“I
have no idea.”
“Well
what about your ex, Rick? Is he a spy?”
“How
would I know that? It’s not like spies go around announcing it.”
“But
surely you have an opinion…”
Samantha
sighed, hating it that she had to play along. She also loved it that she could,
that she was included. Lying was no stranger to Sam. She knew those streets
well. “I think if he was, he would have been caught already.”
Realizing
she wouldn’t get more on that topic, Cynthia moved on. “What did you do before
the War?”
“I
helped track storms for the EPA in Washington.”
Cynthia’s
eyes narrowed, ready to catch the smallest sign. “You don’t have a regular job
listed. What is it that you do for Adrian?”
“The
same thing I did before, only without all the fancy gadgets. I make assumptions
about the weather,” Sam stated, looking at her watch.
“So
there’s nothing…instinctive? Just cold, hard data?”
Samantha’s
eyes were hot as she stood up. “Everything is instinct, Cyn. Even you know
that.”
Sam
headed for the flap. “Your five minutes are up. Hope you didn’t get whatever it
was that you wanted.”
Cynthia
grinned at the open hostility. The blonde woman was one of the few in camp who
actually spoke her mind and didn’t seem to care about the consequences. It
would be very interesting to watch her try to fit with Adrian’s Eagles and all
their lies.
Sam
thought she could handle it right now - because she was still mostly on the
outside, but Cynthia had spied enough to know that from the inside, Adrian’s Army
was a much darker place. It was where the reporter dreamed of belonging.
"This
is Safe Haven Refugee Camp. Can anyone hear me?
Hello?
Is anyone out there?"
The Survivors
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