Harsh inharmonious sounds ripped through Alana's fragile sleep. Groaning, she fumbled for the source. Sirens wailed, a discordant symphony punctuated by distant screams. Her eyes snapped open, landing on the television screen. It wasn't the usual news anchors face staring back. Instead, a stark white background displayed a static image of an emergency broadcast symbol, accompanied by the chilling words Stay Tuned.
The blood drained from her face. An icy dread, colder than the pre-dawn air she remembered from earlier, settled in her gut. Panic, a familiar companion, clawed at the edges of her mind. But before it could fully take hold, she forced herself to her feet.
Stumbling towards the window, she pulled aside the faded curtain. The world outside, usually bright with cars and people enjoying their lives, had transformed into a scene ripped from a nightmare. Cars, abandoned at haphazard angles, littered the street. Smoke rose from the building in the distance, a plume of black against the bruised, pre-storm sky.
And then she saw them. Figures, hunched over and grotesque, shambled amongst the wreckage. Their skin, once naturally colored, was now a sickly, greyish color. Blood, both dried and fresh, covered their cloths and skin. Their eyes, vacant and milky white, stared ahead with an unsettling hunger.
They were attacking. Screams, raw and desperate, pierced the air. Alana witnessed a scene ripped straight from a horror movie. One of the figures, its teeth bared in a permanent snarl, wrestled with a woman on the sidewalk. Her pleas for help were swallowed by the growing chaos.
Reality slammed into Alana with the force of a tidal wave. The news reports, the unexplained occurrences, the mounting unease, it all turned into this horrifying nightmare. The apocalypse, a word shed once dismissed as a plot device for bad movies, was now a terrifying reality played out on her street.
Her breath hitched, a sob trapped in her throat. For the first time in a long time, fear wasn't a gnawing ache in the back of her mind. It was a primal scream, a raw terror that threatened to consume her. But amidst the panic, a spark of defiance ignited. Sleep, once desired, now felt like a luxury she could no longer afford. Survival, a new and urgent need, surged through her. She had to move, to act. But where? And more importantly, who is she going to be able to trust?
YOU ARE READING
From Sunrise to Survival
Science FictionAlana's world crumbles with the first ray of a crimson dawn. The city she knew, the life she planed, had all vanished as a horrifying truth unfolds. A relentless hunger sweeps across the land, transforming humanity into grotesque flesh eating monste...
