Rain hammered New Orleans like it had something to prove.
Not gentle. Not forgiving.
Relentless.
Adam barely noticed anymore.
Fourteen hours at Saint Mary's Hospital had drained everything out of him—his patience, his energy… even his sense of time. The sound of machines still echoed in his head. Flatlines. Breaths that never came back.
He walked faster.
Cold water seeped through his shoes, but he didn't care. He just wanted to get home, collapse, and forget.
That's when he saw it.
A figure.
Collapsed in the alley to his right.
Adam slowed.
…kept walking.
Then stopped.
A quiet war broke inside him.
Not your problem.
He'll die.
Adam cursed under his breath and turned back.
"Hey—can you hear me?"
The man didn't answer at first.
Then—slowly—his head lifted.
And Adam froze.
The man's face was pale. Not sick pale. Not normal.
Dead pale.
But his eyes…
They were sharp. Awake. Watching.
Waiting.
Adam dropped to his knees instantly, instinct taking over.
Pulse—weak.
Breathing—shallow.
Blood—
Too much.
The wound on his side was clean. Precise.
Not an accident.
"I'm calling an ambulance," Adam said, reaching for his phone.
A hand shot out—
Grabbed his wrist.
Hard.
"No."
Adam frowned. "You're bleeding out."
"They're watching."
That made him pause.
Not confusion.
Not delirium.
Fear.
"Who?"
The man leaned closer, his grip tightening.
"They don't harvest blood…"
A breath.
"They harvest what lives inside it."
Adam's stomach turned.
Headlights suddenly flooded the alley.
A car approaching.
The man yanked him down.
"Don't let them see you."
Adam's heart started pounding.
"What the hell is going on—"
The man reached inside his coat.
Pulled something out.
A metallic injector.
Three chambers.
Red.
Black.
And something inside the third one…
…moving.
Adam pulled back. "No—absolutely not—"
Too late.
The man moved fast.
Faster than someone dying should.
The injector slammed into Adam's arm.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Pain exploded.
Not pain—
Fire.
Adam screamed as something tore through his veins, burning, twisting, rewriting everything inside him.
His vision shattered.
The world bent.
Sound stretched into something unbearable.
"What did you do to me?!" he choked.
The man leaned close, whispering into his ear:
"They will hunt you now."
A pause.
"So listen carefully…"
Adam could barely breathe.
"Don't trust hospitals."
"Don't trust blood banks."
"And whatever you do—"
His voice dropped into something hollow.
"Don't feed."
Adam's vision blurred.
"What… hunger…?"
The man smiled.
Not kindly.
Not human.
"You'll know."
Then—
Movement.
Shadows at the edge of the alley.
Too fast.
Too silent.
"They're here."
The man released him.
"Run."
Adam didn't argue.
He turned—
Stumbled—
Ran.
Behind him—
A sound.
Like something tearing through flesh.
He didn't look back.
He couldn't.
His heart was no longer beating normally.
It was pounding like something trying to escape.
Too fast.
Too strong.
Too wrong.