Mutagen

Day 150 - 12:41 PM - Military Settlement, Codon, Municipality of San Andres, Catanduanes

Lunchtime came in the Military Settlement. But instead of eating lunch, many soldiers were busy preparing things.

The General's convoy had just arrived with more than a hundred refugees. Although the preparations started last night after confirming the number of refugees, the time they had was still not enough to prepare dwellings for those people.

Usually, they would only create a tent area for the new refugees. They would use small camping tents since the refugees only needed places to sleep. The other facilities were already provided by the military.

However, it was different this time. For some unknown reason, General Padilla ordered the living spaces to be properly made this time.

It was the reason why the soldiers were now setting up larger tarpaulin tents. These tents had two-meter by two-meter space. It was enough for a small family to live in. However, it did not end there was each tent was placed with a double-size folding bed and mattress.

This large-scale development sparked the curiosity of everyone in the settlement. Soon, the news about the refugees spread out to everyone.

Their sudden arrival led to different opinions from the populace, both good and bad. And the obvious difference in treatment of these refugees from the military caused most of the negative ones.

Some people were happy the see that there were still survivors on the island. Unfortunately, it was only a minority. More people were concerned instead. After all, before these new refugees could adapt to the life inside the settlement, they would need to rely on the military for food and other necessities. As such, the supplies would take a hit for the sudden influx of people. Furthermore, there would be more work for the people in charge of taking care of people that were yet to be capable of taking care of themselves in the settlement.

However, the previous issues were not the gravest circumstances.

The greater issue was the obvious difference in treatment of the new refugees compared to the previous ones. In fact, there were still a number of refugees still living in small tents as they were incapable of working for a living in the apocalypse. For example, people with disabilities, orphaned children, and the elderly that did not have any remaining relatives.

There were still a lot of people relying on the military's compassion to keep living. For the newcomers to have a more privileged treatment would definitely impact those people.

It was the military that controlled the settlement. Thus, none of the bottom feeders dared voice their complaints about the situation.

Nonetheless, it did not mean that some people would not use this to their advantage.

***

"General Padilla. What is happening? The people are already spreading rumors about this unfair treatment!"

An angry voice could be heard shouting inside the office of General Padilla.

The Army General had just returned to his office after the tiring travel. It was not exaggerated that he was very tired. Yesterday, they rushed a convoy to Santo Domingo Outpost. At night, they had a meeting with Mark. After about only three hours of sleep, they had to wake up early. They had to see Mark off and prepare to bring the refugees back to the settlement. Then, there was another hour of travel on the danger-stricken road.

General Padilla's eyes were already droopy. He was not getting any younger as time passed by.

And yet, here he was, listening to someone's complaints with a shrug.

"General, are you listening?"

The soldier in front of the General asked aggressively.

General Padilla looked at the man. If he was not trying to maintain his image and status, he might have ordered his men to throw this garbage out of the room.

The soldier complaining inside General Padilla's office was Colonel Sergimiano Sabino. Being a General from the Army, none of his subordinates would have the guts to complain like this.

And that was right. Colonel Sabino was not from the Philippine Army but from the Marines. In fact, he was the late Marines General's, right-hand man.

Now that the Marines General was dead, the Marines were now following the instructions of General Padilla. However, it did not mean that they were already under him.

Now, being the second in command of the Marines in this settlement, Colonel Sabino had the guts and position to complain about the circumstances.

The worst thing about this guy, however, was that he was extremely cunning.

Colonel Sabino was against General Padilla for sure. However, he was not doing it like how the Marines General Seguerra faced the Army General directly. Instead, Colonel Sabino would only move with rational things that were hard to refute or would not put him in a tight spot.

Right now, Colonel Sabino was taking advantage of the complaints of the populace. Being on the side of the populace, it would be hard for General Padilla to just push away this guy without any answer. If General Padilla did such a thing, it would not take long for it to reach the people, and he would lose face.

This was how this Colonel work.

With a sigh, General Padilla stared at Colonel Sabino.

"I know what you are getting at." General Padilla replied. "However, this situation could not be helped."

"General, what do you mean?" Colonel Sabino cried out. "The people are complaining about this unfair treatment and you say that it could not be helped?"

General Padilla glared at the colonel. He was getting annoyed with this person since the start. Going back to the past, a lot of the things that the deceased Marines General did had Colonel Sabino lurking in the background.

However, Colonel Sabino always worked clean. It was hard to make him take responsibility, especially since he mostly avoided direct involvement in those activities.

In short, this Colonel Sabino was a cunning bastard.

If there would be no repercussions, General Padilla would not mind eliminating this guy. If there was no evidence, then make one. The armed forces of the Philippines were not spotlessly clean. Such things happen every now and then. 

"Colonel Sabino, you already heard who took down the Antis and rescued the captives, right?" General Padilla replied to the Colonel's question. "The very same person requested the new refugees to receive this treatment. He even offered [Mutagen Stones] in exchange."

"Are you saying that it's because of that criminal that killed General Seguerra?" Colonel Sabino bellowed. "General Padilla, you are still cooperating with that criminal?"

General Padilla could not help but frown.

"Yes, by law, he is a criminal by killing a Military Official. But you should remember, General Seguerra is the same. You KNOW that, right? Besides, that law is in the past. Right now, we won't even hesitate to cooperate with the former rebels. You know that our situation is already dire. Offending a person that can kill and infected that we can't even imagine killing won't do us any good."

Colonel Sabino frown back at the General. Without saying anything else, he stormed out of General Padilla's office and slammed the door.

With the Marines Colonel out of the scene, General Padilla finally relaxed on his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Seriously, how troublesome."

The General complained.

"General, are you really letting that bastard from the Marines prance around like a clown?"

Andrew, who was doing his best to hold himself back, asked the General.

"Calm yourself down, Andrew." The General replied. "Colonel Sabino is more useful alive than dead. With him around, it is easier to monitor the remaining lackeys of General Seguerra since they are all gathering under him."

It was true. After General Seguerra and his brother died at the hands of Mark while the influence of the Marines grew smaller, there were still those that were loyal to him. Most of those people were now gathering under Colonel Sabino.

"That man is good at acting." 

Vanessa commented to the side.

"What do you mean Vanessa?"

Andrew asked.

"Colonel Sabino is just acting. He's not here to complain about the situation but is trying to get information from our mouths. After all, we never disclosed why we are taking better care of the new refugees. Now that he got what he wanted, he left."

It was General Padilla that replied to Andrew's question.

"Then, General... You knew?" Andrew was surprised. "Yet, you told him the reason?"

To Andrew's question, the General nodded.

"You must be thinking why?" General Padilla added. "Actually, I'm also curious as to why Mark would pay too much care about the refugees. There is a possibility that he is lying about the deaths of his family members and just did not want us to know. There is also the chance that among the refugees were his relatives. Of course, we had no evidence. However, we also had no evidence that what Mark said is true."

"But why would he not take them away if they were among the refugees?"

Andrew asked an obvious question.

"I also don't know why." General Padilla shook his head. "But you know one thing, Andrew? You're not there so you did not see it but none of the refugees knew Mark's face. He appeared to be wearing a mask all the while he was with them. Even if his family is among the refugees, it is likely that they did not recognize Mark."

"In the first place, it was very suspicious for Mark to attack the rebels and rescue the refugees. You know that, right?"

The General added.

Andrew could only nod hearing those words.

"That Mark does look like someone, who would not bother saving useless people at all."

Andrew affirmed his image of Mark.

"That is right." General Padilla agreed. "It's likely that he helped us with the horde because we will fall in debt to him. But for the refugees, it was impossible for them to serve him any purpose. And yet, he went all the way to the Santo Domingo outpost to escort them to safety."

That was right. Mark's actions were totally odd. However, the truth and the lies were hard to determine.

"Furthermore... As the Officer-in-Charge of this Settlement, and a person in debt for their help, I'm not in a concrete position to search for the truth." General Padilla explained. "In that case, I won't be able to conduct an investigation without getting in Mark's bad side. I'm sure that none of us would want that."

At this point, Andrew came to a realization.

"Then General, you baited Colonel Sabino to do the investigation instead?"

General Padilla nodded.

"Sooner or later, after we cracked down and took control of the remains of  Seguerra's faction, that Colonel would not be of use anymore. We can focus on finding faults in him and take him down from his position. If possible, get rid of him to avoid future issues. When we do that, we will come across Colonel Sabino's investigations, and it could not be helped if we learned the details."

What a clever plan. Making dirtying another person's hand while reaping the benefits after.

Vanessa secretly commended General Padilla for his plan. However, as an Information Gatherer herself, she knew that it would not be easy. Even for her, if she wanted to get that same information, it would take a long while.

Why?

Vanessa recognized that Mark put several layers of deceit in his moves. Although it was clear in her eyes that Mark was hiding something, it would be hard to determine what it was.

There might also be the possibility that everything that Mark did was to deceive the eyes of those people that had ideas against him.

In any case, General Padilla was not a clean person himself. It was a good reason why Mark would not trust him.

Furthermore, if the General's circumstances in the past came to light, a lot of people would lose trust in him.