Zack hated hospitals.
Not because of the smell.
Not because of the white lights.
Because hospitals were where people waited to die politely.
His mother lay in Bed 14, Stage 4 cancer eating her from the inside.
She smiled anyway.
"Did you eat?" she asked.
He lied. "Yeah."
He hadn't.
He hadn't slept either.
He worked after school. Took the late bus. Sat beside her every night.
At 1:17 AM, the lights flickered.
Zack noticed.
Nurses didn't.
The hallway went quiet.
Too quiet.
Then he heard it.
Metal scraping.
Slow.
Deliberate.
From the ceiling vent.
He stood up.
"Stay here," he told his mom.
She laughed softly. "Where am I going?"
He stepped into the hallway.
It was empty.
But the lights were dimmer now.
Like something was draining them.
At the end of the hall stood a tall figure.
Pale.
Thin.
Eyes like glass.
A vampire.
It wasn't like the movies.
It didn't hiss.
It didn't smile.
It walked toward Room 14.
Toward the dying.
Zack stepped in front of it.
"Wrong room."
The vampire tilted its head.
"You smell like grief," it said.
Its voice sounded like rust.
Zack didn't back up.
"I said wrong room."
The vampire moved faster than human eyes should follow.
It grabbed Zack's throat.
Lifted him.
Its fangs extended—
But Zack punched it.
Instinct.
Desperation.
His fist cracked its jaw slightly.
The vampire paused.
Curious.
"Interesting."
It bit him anyway.
Pain exploded through Zack's body.
Cold.
Burning.
Metallic.
He dropped.
The vampire stared.
Then something changed.
Zack's blood didn't taste normal.
It tasted like iron.
The vampire recoiled.
Zack's skin started hardening.
Shiny.
Dark.
His veins turned silver.
The vampire stepped back.
"What are you?"
Zack stood up.
His knuckles were no longer flesh.
They were steel.
A message appeared in his vision.
Clear.
Cold.
METAL VAMPIRE GENESIS
LEVEL 1
UNIQUE EVOLUTION CONFIRMED
The vampire lunged again.
Zack moved without thinking.
Faster.
Stronger.
He grabbed its skull.
And squeezed.
Its head caved in like a crushed can.
Blood splattered the hallway.
Zack stood there shaking.
Breathing hard.
Another message.
ENEMY DEFEATED
EXP +120
LEVEL UP
LEVEL 2
He looked at his hands.
Steel.
Unbreakable.
He heard footsteps.
Nurses returning.
Lights stabilizing.
He ran back into his mother's room.
She was asleep.
Still alive.
He sat beside her.
Hands shaking.
Steel slowly fading back into skin.
He whispered:
"What did I become?"
In the reflection of the dark window—
His eyes glowed silver.