Innocence Lost Read Online Free Page B

yourself against a group of people that want to kill you and take your stuff?”
                  “I have this gun.” Ben said, holding it up awkwardly.
                  “And if they have guns?”
                  Ben said nothing.
                  “I’ve been a solider a long chunk of my life. I’ve been in warzones and I’ll be the first to tell you that being overconfident can kill you. I understand that you’re tired of feeling like a child and want to prove yourself, there is nothing wrong with that. But out here,” he waved his hand towards the buildings. “That feeling will make you do something stupid and get you killed.”
                  “Ok.” Ben said softly.
                  “Follow my instructions no matter what. You’re old enough to handle this; you just need to get over the fact you think you need to prove yourself.”
                  Ben followed Mason as they began their small trek towards the town. Mason had his assault rifle out and it was resting on his shoulder. From far away he may have seemed relaxed but Ben could see his eyes. Mason’s eyes scanned the horizon constantly and his body was tense, ready to spring into action at any moment. They made their way past the first few buildings, a gas station where half the pumps had been knocked loose and were laying on the ground next to where they should be. A grocery store whose glass pane entrance had been shattered to a thousand pieces.
                  Mason stopped and held his fist up. Ben had watched enough movies to know that meant stop. Mason crouched down and checked something on the ground. Ben came up slowly next to him.
                  “Bullet casings.” He looked up and scanned the horizon again. “Only .9 mils.”
                  Ben pretended he knew what he was talking about.
                  Mason stood back up, only this time he held the assault rifle with both hands.
                  The commercial buildings gave way to residential housing. The grass had grown nearly waist high around the houses and the existing roads. Trash and broken down cars lined the street. There was a good chance that some of these cars still had gas in them. Ben started to say something to Mason when the man stopped. Before he could ask what was wrong, he heard the sound of voices floating toward them from afar.
                  “Stay behind me.” Mason said
                  They cut through the overgrown yards and abandoned houses getting ever closer to the voices and then Mason stopped again. A thin smile appeared on his face and he slung the rifle back over his shoulder.
                  “Put your gun away.” he whispered to Ben.
                  They peeked around one of the houses and saw two men sitting on a porch across the street. From his vantage point, Ben could barely seem them but both seemed to be wearing military fatigues.
                  “Something I can help you with?” came a voice directly behind them.
                  Ben spun around and saw a man standing behind them with an assault rifle at his side. The man seemed to tower over them. He had a pitch black goatee with gray sprinkled throughout, which helped it stand out even over his dark skin. His bald head was partially covered by a raggedy baseball cap. Ben would have been terrified but the man had a pearl white smile plastered across his face.
                  Mason turned around slowly and took the sight of the man in. “Jesus Christ, you’ve gotten old.”
                  “And you’re just as ugly as ever.” the dark man said. Both men laughed and gave each other a quick hug. “Command said you were still alive and on your way. What the hell took you so long?”
                  “Traffic,” Mason turned to Ben.