Two of 5ppm

Prof. Raman Singh removed his glasses and studied Shrey from top to bottom , as if by doing this he could read his thoughts. Shrey stood there silent. He had rehearsed the situation with Rahul. He knew that no one would believe their story, A flying entity attacking Salil who somehow had strangely started to lose blood after the incident with no visible wound on his body and was now lying in the intensive care unit of the city hospital with two units of blood being transfused into him. He has expected the warden to shout at him and maybe call him drunk but he didn't instead he sat there as if it was something that he had feared.

"Are you sure that that "thing" whatever it was actually flying?" Prof Singh said finally.

"Yes sir but we managed to drag him back." Shrey replied almost instantly, how could the warden believe him? He could hardly believe what he himself was saying.

Prof Singh thought for another moment and the gestured him to sit down. After some more thinking he picked up his cel phone and dialed a number.

A few seconds later that Shrey assumed to be the time taken by the other person to answer the phone , Singh spoke into the phone.

"Hello Achyut , beta there is a news in our hostel that might interest you. Come as fast as you can this might be urgent." Saying this he cut the phone without waiting for a reply from the other side.

Sitting there Shrey revisited the events from the previous day in his mind. How after finding salil on the rooftop they had again rushed him to emergency and how the hemoglobin level had come to near dangerous. He remembered his phone-call to Rahul explaining the details and urging him to come. How Salil was transferred to the ICU and how the doctor had told them that immediate transfusion was necessary. Things seemed to go beyond the limits of normal. Why would have Salil gone to the roof and how could he lose so much blood without any visible wound on his body were the questions that were bothering him more than anything else.

Some half an hour later a man, nearly 30 knocked on the door.

"Uncle" he said "Am I allowed?"

The warden who was sitting there reading the newspaper looked up towards the door while wearing the glasses that he had removed some half an hour ago.

"Achyut" his face lit up " come come"

The man was wearing a formal blue shirt with a black pant and looked as if he had come for a job interview.

"I was coming to visit you anyway uncle, I also have news for you." He said beaming. It was then that Shrey recognized him , it was Achyut Mehra the person who used to cover the news on campus politics for the local edition of a national daily and could sometimes be seen in departmental canteens doing photo-shoots. Why had the warden called him? Did he want to get the news of a student being attacked by a strange entity published in the paper? Swalloing this question Shrey looked back at Singh and Achyut.

"What happened uncle?" Achyut inquired.

The warden stood up and turned his back towards the visitors, as though not wanting to face them. "Well actually one of the students of our hostel is unwell." He started "Highly Anemic it seems from what the doctor's say. He was found on the hospital roof the previous night. And from what I can comprehend from what his friend, Shrey here says" he gestured towards Shrey who smiled back as Achyut gave him a smile. " is that he was attacked by a "figure" the day before yesterday and after that he suddenly became anemic. Do you think you can figure out anything?"

Achyut's smile faded into a frown and his eyes were focused on Shrey almost staring at him he said , "Shrey, Now tell me everything that has happened since he was attacked. The situation seems to be grave."

"Means are we actually dealing with something paranormal?"

"I will explain everything but first you need to tell me all that has happened then only can I comment."

"Should I call the…"

"No" Achyut cut him off in mid-sentence "we don't want anything publicized."

"Ok day before yesterday while we were preparing for our last exam…"

"So you say there is no wound of any kind on him."Achuy said after shrey had finished his narrative.

"None. Not even a puncture mark. " At this Achyut looked at him and gave a weak smile.

"Uncle," Achyut turned towards Prof Singh. I think its best that I have a look at him and inform the others. Shrey, can you come with me. I think I owe you an explanation."

"The black Innova" Achyut said as he led Shrey out of the hostel. Shrey remained silent until they had seated and then asked, "Is something like vampires involved?"

"I am afraid, yes. And not something like vampires we actually are dealing with vampires." Achyut turned on the ignition.

"Then how can we fight them?"

"Us not we."

"Means?"

"Its not your battle Shrey its upon me and my fellow anti-vampires or as you would like to call it slayers to fight them"

"How can you say that its not my job?"

"Because we are better equipped than you. " He paused for a moment and then added "By birth not by choice."

"Means?"

"I will explain later but first we must go inform the others and then I will explain to you what are we facing and how can we overcome it. For now you must understand that Salil is in grave danger and must be moved out of Malgudi today before sunset. Otherwise it can be a problem not only for him but for others as well."

Chapter 1: Punctures

Dr. Joshi looked at the blood test report once again, "nine point five" he said silently and looked at Shrey. "So Shrey are you sure that he showed no sign of weakness before this?"

"No sir" Shrey answered looking uncomfortable.

"I can't understand" Dr. Joshi rested his head on his hands, it had been a particularly busy day for him. Emergency duty had started to tire him now. Age has its effects he thought as he shifted his focus back to the strange case that had presented itself in front of him some one hour ago. Two boys from MU had rushed in carrying another unconscious one. As a standard procedure he had asked for a blood test and put the boy on a drip. Those were exam days so some of the stressed students did come to emergency, unconscious , sometimes due to not eating and sometime just because of undue tension. This one looked in perfect shape but a shade paler like he was anemic. But he had an athlete's body "he can't be anemic" Dr. Joshi had told himself. His fears were confirmed an hour later when he had read the report. That boy , Salil actually was anemic and that too by a huge margin. How could a thing like that go un-noticed.

"Did he suffer any kind of injury before this?"

"No sir."     

"So what you are trying to tell me is that your friend ." He read the name from the report again "Salil suddenly fainted while coming back from your exam some one hour ago."

"Yes sir."

"strange, that's because he is anemic and that too I must say very anemic. How could such a thing go un noticed. I think we will have to keep him under observation overnight. Please complete the formalities we should be able to discharge him tomorrow. Don't worry he will be fine in a couple of days. I hope you don't have an exam tomorrow. "

"No sir , exams got over today." Shrey said managing a smile and got up to leave.

"Well what did he say?" Rahul asked as Shrey came out of the doctor's cabin.

"He said , he is anemic and that too by a huge margin. Rahul , listen should I tell him what happened last night?"

"Would he or anyone else believe us if we did? They will refer us to psychiatry straight away. "

"Yeah. Now come , we have to get him admitted he says."

"He's right. How much was his hemoglobin by the way"

Shrey opened the report on the way to the reception , " 9.5 it says" he said.

"Listen Shrey, Rahul said silently didn't you feel that when he came to the mess in the morning he looked oddly pale?"

"Yeah even I felt so but I thought it was just because he was too shaken due to the night's incident."

"Yes that flying thing what on earth could it be?" And he looked at Shrey as realization dawned upon him. "Shrey are you thinking what I am thinking, could that thing be a Vam.."

Shrey silenced him in mid-sentence he did not need the word to be completed to understand the gravity of the situation. His eyes met Rahul's which were filled with an unknown terror. The coulour on his face had somehow faded away. They moved towards Salil at an abnormally fast pace. With trambling hands Shrey held Salil's head and turned it slightly towards right to have a better look at his neck.

"There , thank god it's nothing."

Rahul still looked anxious, "Check the other side."

Shrey turned the neck in the other direction fearing the worst but there were no puncture marks on the other side as well.

-Continued.

"Thank god" Rahul closed his eyes and released a sigh of relief. "For a moment I thought the worst thoughts of humans were for true. Lets let him sleep. " Rahul said as Shrey moved Salil's head in a more comfortable position.

Some five minutes later, Salil stirred and sat up as he gained full control over his senses. "What ?" he said , "Where am I ? What happened? Why is this saline drip attached to me?"

"Relax Salil you just fainted because of overworking yourself. Lie down and take some rest before we discharge you tomorrow. " Dr. Joshi replied as he walked towards Salil, seeing him awake.

Salil a bit perplexed on first finding himself in a hospital and then being told by a doctor that he will have to stay overnight in a hospital looked questioningly at Shrey.

"You passed out while returning to the hostel and we brought you here?" Shrey said.

"But why do they want to keep me overnight?" He looked troubled at the thought of it.

"Because" , Dr. Joshi spoke "Your hemoglobin level is a bit too low for a person of your health, so I just wanted some tests done and also you need rest. Shrey here informs me that your exams are over so you don't need to worry about anything else just relax." He ended off with a smile.

"But I want to go back" There was a hint of aggression in Salil's voice.

"Salil, calm down they will discharge you tomorrow otherwise also we have nothing to do so its better if you stay in proper care." Rahul said assuring him.

Salil looked reluctant and disinterested while he was being moved to the ward for overnight stay but due to the insistence of Dr. Joshi and his parents( whom shrey had called) he gave in.

***

"Look" Salil said angrily "I am not a terminal patient and none of you needs to stay with me."

"Don't be such a snob Sal otherwise we will have you tied up in a strait jacket." Rahul said. His and Shrey's moods had gotten much better since Salil had woken up. Salil however had worn a constant scowl on his face since being transferred to the ward and had given Rahul a dirty look on his comment.

"Shrey will stay overnight and don't worry you will be out tomorrow morning." Rahul said while leaving.

"Cheer up now Sal. Stop sulking we are finally graduates and tomorrow you will be out of here back to your home finally joining your family business." Shrey turned towards salil beaming.

"Just shut up and let me sleep" Salil said covering his face with the blanket.

***

Chulbul Pandey tilted his neck a bit towards right as he folded the sunglasses to place them on the backside of his shirt collar.

"Kya soche the aap" he said to Shrey menacingly "Bank mein daaka daalenge aur humko khabar tak nahi hogi hum to" Shrey moved backwards to avoid the light seber he was wielding. Doing this he lost his balance and fell off the cliff.

"What?" He said to himself as he woke up and realized that he was lying on the floor of the general ward of the hospital. He was covered in sweat as the fan did not cover his part of the floor. He saw the water bottle lying on the bedside table and got up to reach it. Only when he stood up did he notice that
Salil was not on his bed.

His first impulse was to shout for help but then he remembered that he was in a hospital and salil might have gone to the toilet. He went out and checked the toilets all the stalls were empty. "Maybe he has escaped." He thought but when. He went back to the ward and saw that Salils phone was still in the cabinet of the bedside table. "I must check outside." He thought as he ran out wards and down the ramp. There was no sign of Salil in the entrance chamber as well. He rushed outwards only to be stopped by the security staff. Whom he took no time in explaining the situation. The guards walkie talkie came to life as Shrey finished describing Salil.

" Someone found on the rooftop backup security staff should come immediately."

A gut feeling dragged him upstairs towards the hospital roof where some 5 odd security personnel and medical resident on emergency night duty had gathered.

Salil was lying on the rooftop , unconcoius breathing heavily and looking paler than ever in the torchlights.