Innocence Lost Read Online Free PDF

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