Innocence Lost (3 page)

Ben

              They traveled down empty roads for miles upon miles. Ben watched as empty fields gave way to seemingly abandoned towns. From time to time they would spy another vehicle in the distance or a group of people standing about. They kept their distance from the other vehicles and the people made a point to keep a distance from them.

              It felt like they lived in the vehicle, but things were better. Mason, while he was still irritated at what Ben had done, was at least talking to him. From time to time they would joke about something they saw or something that happened during the previous winter. It seemed like things were almost back to normal between them. If Ben blocked everything else out, it almost seemed like he was on an extended field trip, until he looked at the window and was reminded of what the world had become.

              They approached the outskirts of what appeared to be a small town and Mason pulled the vehicle to the side of the road. The man checked the rear view mirror and the returned his attention to the town.

              “Ben,” he pulled his sidearm from the holster and held it out to Ben. “We’re going in here and we need to watch each other’s backs.”

              Ben just stared at the handgun, unsure if this was some kind of test.

              “Take it.”

              He did. The gun was heavier than he expected and was warm from being pressed up against Mason.

              “This is the safety,” Mason told him, pointing to it. “This means it’s on, this means it’s off. Unless you’re about to use it keep the safety on. Understand?”

              “Y….yes.”

              Mason stared at him and seemed to be grappling with something. “Until we get somewhere safe you’re going to have to take care of yourself. I have your back but things can turn to shit pretty easy out here. Understand?”

              “I can take care of myself.” Ben muttered.

              “From what?”

              Ben didn’t understand what he was asking.

              “Can you take care of 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. “Ben, this is Zima, Zima, Ben.”

              Zima nodded toward him then looked to Mason with a raised eyebrow. “Refugee?”

              “We’ll get into that later.”

              “Heard about the Helo. Anyone else make it out alive?”

              “No,” Mason said. “I’ll tell you about that later but that has to do with him.” He nodded towards Ben. “He saved my life.”

              Zima looked at Ben again but this time he seemed to size him up. “Well then. Sounds like I owe your friend a beer.”

              Ben smiled.

              “Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of the squad.”

              The other two soldiers were dressed similarly to Zima. Plain shirts with cutoff sleeves, a harness that went over top with gun holsters on each side, and a belt that had gun magazines littered throughout.

              “Found some trash round the back.” Zima said, announcing them to the squad. “This is Stevenson.” he added, gesturing to a man sitting at the top of a porch.

              While most of the men Ben had seen since the power went out had varying beard lengths, this man was clean cut. His ears stood out noticeably from the side of his head and he had a sharp nose that shot out from the front of his face. Despite that, he had a warm smile on his face.

              “Nice to finally meet you.” Stevenson said to Mason.

              Mason gave him a firm handshake. “You the medic?”

              “Yes sir.”

              “And this ball of fur,” Zima said, pointing at the last man, “is Rook.”

              Rook had a camouflage colored hat that was on backwards with large black sunglasses covering his face. What Stevenson was missing in facial hair, this man more than made up for it. His beard nearly covered the entirety of his face, but the parts it didn’t cover were smooth. Zima and Stevenson’s faces were rugged and worn. This man was younger than his beard let on.

              “Rook?” Mason asked, shaking the man’s hand.

              “He’s the baby, hasn’t earned the right to use his real name yet.” Zima said.

              “Gabe,” Rook said. “The name’s Gabe.”

              “Nice to meet you, Rook.”

              “Looks like you’re not the youngest of the group anymore Rook.” Stevenson said nodding towards Ben.

              “Yeah this is Ben. He saved my ass when my Helo went down. Wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for him.”

              Once again Ben noticed the men’s faces change to one of respect. He always thought that Jack had saved Mason, but in reality he did help. That realization felt good.

              “Young for a new recruit, isn’t he?” Rook asked.

              “Can’t be much younger than you.” Stevenson chimed in.

              Rook gave him the finger.

              “He’s coming along until we get to base.”

              Ben tried to keep his face neutral.

              “Well Zima talks you up like you’re some kind of Rambo, so it’ll be nice having you on the squad.” Stevenson said.

              Mason looked to Zima, who waved him off.

              “Don’t get a hard-on I promised your mother I would make you look good. It’s the least I could do after everything she did to me – I mean for me.”

              Mason shook his head and let out a long sigh. “This is going to be a long fucking trip.

Ben

              “So what’s your story?”

              Ben snapped back to reality as Stevenson walked past him into the yard. The man stretched out toward the stars and let out a groan.

              “I…I don’t have a story.”

              “Sure you do,” Stevenson sat down on the bottom stair of the porch. “We all got stories. Some of them more interesting than others.”

              “Quit harassing the kid.” Zima said as he walked out of the house they had taken temporary shelter in. Rook and Mason followed him out and they all spread out on the porch.

              Mason sat down next to Ben and laid his back against the door of the house. “He’s not a kid. He lost a large chunk of his family to the people we are supposed to eradicate, and he saved my ass. No one can be called a kid after that.”

              Ben didn’t know what to say. He appreciated Mason sticking up for him and for remembering how much Ben hated being called a kid, but having the last two years of his life summarized in two quick sentences was unnerving.

              “Sorry to hear that.” Zima said somberly.

              “What do you mean the people you are supposed to eradicate?” Ben asked.

              “People who take advantage of the weak. The people who think just because the lights went out they can steal, kill, and rape.” Zima said.

              Ben looked at the four men. They had plenty of firepower and both Zima and Mason were two of the largest men he had even seen, but they were still just four men. He said as much.

              Zima laughed. “There are squads like us all over. They send us into hotspots and we return it to order. And we are just four, but we know what we are doing.”

              “What about the invasion?”

              All of the men grew quiet. Even Rook who had been in his own little world snapped to attention and turned to Zima and Mason.

              “Z, you seem to know more about this then I do.” Mason said.

              “Not a lot to know right now. We were attacked in three places. The east coast, west coast, and down south.”

              “By who?”

              “China and North Korea.” Zima let that hang in the air for a moment as he ran his hand over his goatee. “It looks like China hit us hard on the East Coast and then sent a small force to hit us in the Gulf through Louisiana, while Korea came at us from the west.”

              “Then why are you all here?” Ben asked.

              “Isn’t that the question of the year?” Stevenson murmured.

              Zima shot him a look but the man wasn’t looking. “If Command needed our help then we would be there, but they don’t. Our mission remains, do what we can to hold this country together until the power is turned back on.”

              “So, did they turn off the power?”

              “Wouldn’t put it past them.” Stevenson murmured again.

              “That doesn’t make sense,” Rook said quietly. “The power has been out, what, two and a half years now? Why wait that long before attacking? I can understand waiting six months, hell even a year, but this long?”

              Stevenson snorted. “Don’t try to understand the logic of those fu-“

              “Enough,” Zima said. “We don’t have any idea who or what turned the lights out. They could have done it or they could just be trying to take advantage, doesn’t really matter right now.”

              They sat there in silence for a few moments.

              “We’ve been ordered to a base in Kentucky,” Mason said to Ben. “Once there they’ll determine where we’re going next.”

              Ben felt a glimmer of hope.

              “They’ll have the resources to get you back home.”

              And just like that the hope was dashed.

              “Wish you would have brought the radio with you.” Zima said as he took a drink of water.

              “Last I heard protocol was to leave the radio in the supply drop.”

              “You’re not wrong,” Zima said, staring out at the stars. “I’d just like to contact Command if needed.”

              “You don’t have a radio?” Ben asked.

              “Piece of shit crapped out on us.” Stevenson answered.

              Zima stood up and scanned the horizon. “Rook you have first watch. The rest of you get some shut eye. We’re heading out before dawn.”

              Rook nodded while Stevenson grumbled but they went about as ordered. Ben took one last look at the starry sky and then headed in.