Sunrise Read Online Free Page A

Dakota. Fuck. Give me a second.”
    “We don’t have a second, Steve.”
    Steve grabbed the box of ammo sitting on the couch and passed it over. Shoving it into his backpack, Dakota took a moment to familiarize himself with the gun Steve offered soon after—what appeared to be a standard-issue pistol—then accepted a freshly-loaded clip his friend offered.
    A crash froze them both in place.
    “First floor,” Steve said. “Janitor’s office.”
    “That means they’ve only got three floors left.”
    “Fuck that.” Steve threw his backpack over his shoulder and pulled the curtains aside. The gang’s truck sat idling on the side of the street, though no one stood nearby. “We gotta go out the window.”
    “What about the fire escape?”
    “It’s out in the hall. There’s no way we can risk it.” A spray of gunfire sounded. Dakota felt something fall under their feet. “No time to wait.”
    “Can we scale down the roof?”
    “Yeah. It’s just a slide and a short drop to the balconies below.”
    “What if one of us falls?”
    “We won’t fall.”
    Footsteps echoed into the hall. Steve pulled the window open, then peered out and around the corner. When he gestured him forward, Dakota sighed, took a deep breath, then climbed out and onto the roof.
    Immediately, his foot caught and he began to slide forward.
    Shit.
    “Steve!” he hissed, pushing his weight back to slow his descent.
    “I’m right here,” Steve said, peering down at the balconies. “You go first.”
    “Why me?”
    “Just do it!”
    Dakota jumped and landed on the balcony below with little more than a grunt. Steve, however, wasn’t so lucky. His momentum lost by the sound of the apartment door caving in, he landed on the railing and would’ve went over had Dakota not lunged forward and grabbed his shirt.
    “Thanks,” Steve breathed. “That’s twice you saved my ass.”
    “You can thank me later,” Dakota whispered, pulling Steve deeper onto the balcony.
    “Where’d they go?” one of the men cried.
    “Fuck them!” another responded.
    Steve reached for the glass door that separated them from the inside of the third-floor apartment.
    Dakota swallowed a lump in his throat.
    Come on.
    The door slid aside under the force of Steve’s hand.
    They stepped into the apartment without so much as a gasp.
    “That was close,” Steve sighed.
    A zombie stepped out of a nearby room. Steve raised his gun.
    “No,” Dakota said. He grabbed a statue of Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders from a nearby shelf and slammed it into the creature’s face. Caught off-guard, the zombie stumbled into the wall, leaving its head perfectly open for a second, then third hit. Its skull cracked under the pressure and shards of bone cascaded from its face like rain from freshly-formed clouds when Dakota delivered a second hit into its nose. Not a sound was made throughout the entire ordeal until the zombie fell to the floor, now permanently dead.
    “Shit,” Steve said. “You’re a badass, Dakota.”
    “I try,” Dakota replied. He slammed the statue into the zombie’s skull one last time, then let it fall to the floor. “What now?”
    “We wait,” Steve said. “It’ll be dark soon.”
    “You think they’ll try looking for us?”
    “I doubt it. For all they know, we’re already long gone.”
     
    After the sun set and their fear escalated to a screaming pitch, they fled the apartment building and made their way down a long stretch of road. Guns drawn, a single flashlight aimed in front of their feet, they made their way around long-dead cars and the occasional piece of debris. Though quiet and without a sound, the night offered no solace for Dakota’s troubled mind.
    “Where do we head from here?” Dakota asked, grimacing as he heard something rustle in the tree overhead.
    “No clue,” Steve sighed. He straightened his posture and ran a hand through his hair, grimacing as his fingers crested the curve of his skull.
    “Something