Innocence Lost Read Online Free

remember her mother’s face. It was still there but there were features missing. How big was her mother’s nose? Was her hair past her shoulders? Was it really the color of brown she was remembering? She couldn’t forget. If she forgot her mother, did that mean she was going to forgot her dad, and Ben, and Alec, and-
    She didn’t want to think about him. He was dumb. He thought he was a hero but he wasn’t. She was the tough one, not him. At that moment, Tiger nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck and snapped her out of it. She normally hated it when he did that but he had saved her from her thoughts. She rubbed his head and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. Tiger’s tail began wagging so fast his butt couldn’t help but be jostled about.
    She had brought a ratty backpack with her but replaced it with a new larger one that had been left. Ally threw the few pairs of shorts and shirts she had found into the bag along with a pair of shoes. The shoes looked like they were for a boy and were still a couple sizes too big but they would do. The teacher’s desk was filled with pencils and papers but in one of the large drawers she found three large candles. The three distinct aromas filled her nose, driving out the musky scent of the abandoned school. Lilac: she wasn’t sure what that was but it smelled good; Red Apple: she didn’t remember apples smelling like that; and Spring Morning were the scents. She placed the candles in her backpack and left the room.
                  Her shirt began to stick to her as her body poured out sweat trying to deal with the suffocating heat in the building. She wanted to make her way to the second floor to see what else she could find but was beginning to double think that.
    Then Tiger began to growl. It started as a low grumble before rising in intensity. Before Ally could ask what was wrong, she heard the footsteps echoing down the hallway. Ally grabbed Tiger by the scuff of his neck and pulled him back into the classroom. The dog resisted at first but eventually relented while continuing to growl. She pointed at him and tried to give him the same look her mother used to give her when she wanted Ally to know she was serious.
                  “Tiger, stay” The dog just stared at her. “Tiger, stay.”
    The dog’s ears laid back and his head drooped down. He thought he was in trouble but there was nothing she could do about that now.
    She took a few steps, saw he wasn’t moving, and then moved back to the door. The sound of the footsteps bounced off the empty hallways and walls as they traveled throughout the building. It was hard to tell how many there were and where they were coming from, but then she heard the thing that still haunted her dreams. She heard people talking but not the language that everyone she had ever known spoke.
    The bad soldiers were there.
    Ally tried not to panic but still felt the slight urge to puke. She did her best to avoid everyone but she took special care to avoid the bad soldiers. They were always around driving in their big jeeps or flying over in their helicopters and planes but left everyone else alone for the most part. The people in the town didn’t seem to mind them and didn’t act like they were afraid of them, but they should be. Ally had seen what they had done to the military base and to Jess and Gruff.
    The bad soldiers were evil.
    As the footsteps became near deafening she finally saw them. There were seven of them, all wearing the same strange uniform and each carrying the same large guns. Ally quickly pulled herself back and quietly closed the door. She clicked over the lock and then looked for something to try and block the door. The only things she could find that were big enough to stop the soldiers from getting in were much too big for her to move. She looked around in a panic as the footsteps grew louder and as Tiger’s growl began to grow in intensity. Her eyes settled on the few beams of