Zombie Soap 2: Conspiracy

Thirty

Diego: Part II

"Woah, back up! What's going on with Benson?" Diego demanded, his whirling mind trying to catch up and process what he'd just heard. He knew his friends didn't like the man, but he didn't realize Benson was actually up to anything. Diego had been too busy trying to get his soldiers in line enough just to show up for duty.

Another glance passed between John and Reyes, and Diego refrained from curling his fists. Those stupid, all-knowing looks without explanations grated on his already frayed nerves.

John cleared his throat, rubbing his palms flat on his thighs. "We can't prove anything yet, but we know Benson is behind something. People have been turning up missing."

Oh? Diego's ears perked at the revelation. He'd been somewhat out of the loop, always with his squad or looking for places to hide from Ackerman when the other man was off duty and looking for someone to hang out with.

He lifted an eyebrow and waited for John to continue.

But instead, it was Reyes to pick up the conversation. "I'm sure you remember bringing a certain insubordinate soldier to the hospital wing recently. He was gone the next day, and the report I received said he'd left voluntarily. I don't believe it for a minute."

Oh, shit. Diego had wondered about that. And in the state he was in after Ackerman was through with him, there was no way that kid had walked out the gates on his own. "I was told he'd been reassigned," he blurted out.

"Of course you were," Reyes said in a heavy tone, appearing every bit as tired as John. Except with his wrinkles, he looked about eighty years old instead of a man in his fifties or sixties. The man looked like he belonged in a crypt.

Curiosity piqued now, Diego asked, "Who else? You said people. I'm assuming that's plural."

The men nodded as the general continued. "There was a man in security, Freddy, who'd given Monica a tour of the facility the first day you all left quarantine. He disappeared two days later, also supposedly on his own. And a man in quarantine who came in with his teenaged step-daughter. The report in the system doesn't show anything beyond the name he gave upon arrival and that he turned while in his cell. The security footage in that block, however, was conveniently down that day, and the girl insisted neither of them were infected. She said he was led out by a member of staff, and she never saw him again after that."

"Wait, that's not right," Diego interjected. Reyes frowned at the interruption but said nothing while the younger man tried to put the pieces together. "When we were in quarantine, we saw one of the survivors turn while in the cell. Then these crazy ass flamethrowers came out of the ceiling and incinerated the entire room."

Something he remembered vividly. Diego had thrown up right afterwards and didn't eat for an entire day.

And also, wasn't there a teenaged girl Monica had stood up for when they mistreated her going into quarantine? Diego raised his hand. "This wouldn't happen to be a girl who went into quarantine as we were coming out, would it? The nurses were giving her a hard time."

"You miss nothing," John said with a humorless smile. "The nurses claimed she was beligerant and made a note about Monica as well. As you can see, there is a pattern of those who go missing, and they all have various links to your group."