Innocence Lost Read Online Free PDF Page A

“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