Chapter 1: Alive

When Jack Cook awoke in the darkened morgue beneath Bryan Health in Lincoln, Nebraska, he was extremely aware of two things: the unbelievable sensation of electricity coursing through his veins and the overwhelming burning feeling in his throat, which was unlike anything he had ever felt before in his entire life. In fact, he had been so intent upon extinguishing the fire, he momentarily lost focus of the one goal he had resolutely declared he must attain as quickly as possible--to find Cadence Findley and make her his for all time.

It had taken him a few moments to get his bearings in the dark. His body felt foreign to him, and the tingling sensation that had roused him from the deepest of sleeps had only slightly subsided by the time he had gathered his strength and slid from the cold metal table he had been placed on. He glanced around the room momentarily, ascertaining that the few other outlines beneath white sheets on similar tables may be corpses, though he was not quite sure why he would be in their company since he was, quite obviously, alive. He let his mind return to his most present need--finding something to quench his thirst.

As his bare feet hit the linoleum, he became aware that he was wearing only a hospital gown, fully open in the back. He had no idea where his clothes, his shoes, his wallet, or his phone might be. He was hopeful that he would be able to recover these items eventually, particularly his phone, so that he could contact Cadence, but for now, he surveyed the room in hopes that he could find some sort of clothing. He found it interesting how quickly his eyes had adjusted to the dark, and he was keenly aware that his night vision seemed very different than it had before. He noticed a lab coat hanging on a rack across the room and decided that would have to do for now. He quickly threw it on, thankful that at least it would cover the open slit in the back of his gown. Just as he was about to exit the room, he began to notice an intoxicating odor wafting from one of those corpses nearby. His nose was acutely tuned to the rusty scent that seemed to tantalize him, and before he even knew what he was doing, he had crossed the room and pulled back the sheet, revealing the bloodied and hopelessly mangled body of a middle-aged man. With the sheet removed, the smell was even more enticing. Jack dipped his fingers into the bloodied, muddled mess of what should have been the man's chest cavity and quickly shoved them into his mouth. Though the blood was a bit old and coagulated, as soon as the first drops touched his throat, the burning subsided, and he knew that he had to have more. Ravenously, he leaned forward, burying his head in the body and lapping up as much of the sticky red liquid as he could with his tongue. Before he could stop himself, he sank his teeth into the soft flesh over the man's heart and began suctioning through his newly formed fangs. Eventually, the organ reversed its course, pulling the remaining blood out of the deceased's veins and into Jack's aching throat. Within seconds, he had successfully drained the remaining fluid from the dead man and momentarily eased the sensation.

He glanced down at the now pale white body, realizing what he had done. He couldn't bear to look at the man's face, not now, knowing what had transpired. He grappled for the sheet and tossed it back into place. With the cessation of the burning came the clarity that something unusual was happening to him, that he was not the same Jack he had been just yesterday, and a feeling of panic began to rise in the back of his mind. Though he was tempted to survey the other forms beneath the sheets on the metal tables nearby, he felt more compelled to flee the scene of the barbarous act he had just committed. Wiping the remaining droplets of blood from his chin on the back of his hand and absently licking them off, he considered his exit options. There was the door, of course, which likely led to a dimly lit hallway, some stairs, and a crowded first floor. There was also a small window across the room near the ceiling. Though it was narrow, and it would be a tight squeeze, he could see that it would take him to what appeared to be the alley between the two wings of the hospital. He didn't hesitate to cross the room, leap atop a desk, and propel himself through the window, sending shards of glass flying into the cool December air, leaving him crouched alone in the dark and narrow space, detected by no one and free to find his next meal.

Glancing up at the sky, he determined it must be mid-morning. The sun was still climbing but hadn't reached the midpoint yet. There were some dumpsters nearby, and he toyed with the idea of climbing inside and waiting for the cover of nightfall. However, he was in a hurry to find some appropriate attire and figure out how to find Cadence. Of course, the idea that there was something extremely different about himself was also a pressing issue, but it was one he was willing to push aside for now. The street outside of the hospital was a busy one, and it would have been possible to catch a cab back to his dorm room where he could find his own clothing. However, the fact that he was not dressed and had no money might make that a bit difficult. Walking the several miles back to campus might also be hard considering he had no shoes or pants. The chilly December air should have been unbearable, but he barely noticed. With little choice, he decided to start making his way down the alleyways, hoping to move through downtown out toward the campus without being detected.

With his first few steps, Jack realized that there was something different about his ability to move as well. He was faster, lighter, able to spring from one spot to the next quickly and agilely. In fact, he was able to make it down the few hundred yards of the alleyway almost instantaneously. As he continued to make his way toward home, sticking to the shadows and back alleys as much as possible, he realized that he would be almost undetectable to the naked human eye.

Unbeknownst to Jack, however, he was not naked to all eyes, and the pair that was following him now was the same steel gray color as his own.