Four of 5ppm

Malgudi

Present

The black innova raced through malgudi. It was still early in the morning so they faced no traffic jams. Achyut stopped the car in front of a house whose nameplate read.

"Bharat Mehra Commissioner of Police" Shrey read out the nameplate loud. The lack of sleep was now taking a toll on him. "My father" Achyut said "don't worry you won't need to meet him the things we are dealing with are not regular police work." Each sentence Achyut said increased Shrey's fears by a quantum; he preferred to silently follow him up the staircase into a cool yet well lit room, filled with bookshelves.

"Tea or coffee" Achyut asked as they entered the room.

"No thanks" Shrey simply declined "how could he possibly think about such formalities when vampires were at large.

"Looks like I have scared you. Don't worry you will be safe and so will be Salil. I would have let Mr. Chauhan tell you the story but we need to hurry things up and also it wont be fair not to tell you what is going on ,so until the others come let me brief you about what is going on over here.First of all any questions?" Achyut beamed.

Shrey somehow managed to find his voice. "You said you are better equipped to fight those things by birth. What did you exactly mean?"

"I meant that due to some reasons that I might not be able to explain to you fully I was given certain powers at the time of my birth that makes me able to fight vampires."

"and what exactly are vampires?"

"I will come to that and that's the main story. But before that anything else that you might like to ask?"

"you said there are others so how many of you are there ?"

"we have a concentration of 5ppm among the humans. Yes that means 5 for our malgudi of 1 million. You will meet all of us soon.Say in about an hour or so. So shall I start about vampires?" He got up.

Shrey could not think of anything else to say so he mumbled

"yes sure."

Achyut went towards a bookshelf picking what looked like a story book and taking it to Shrey.

"Do you know this."

"Shrey had a brief look at the cover and said "yes it's a book of children's stories."

"And this also is the earliest written account of vampires in the world. Yes vampires existed much before Count Vlad Tepes III of Romania decided to go immortal."

"Who is Vlad Tepes III? "

"He is popularly known by many other names Vlad the impaler, Vald Drukul and most popular of them all, Dracula. But he's not in this book. This book is much darker, this is about a person who was forced to be a vampire. "

"What?" Shrey sounded as if Achyut was questioning his intelligence. You mean the stories of Vikram and Betal are about vampires.

"Not stories THE STORY , the story that binds them all" Achyut calmed him down and felt himself trying not to remember that fateful day in the December of 2001 when he had first heard that story from Chauhan himself.

***

Malgudi

Eight and a half years ago

"What?"

"I said there is a vampire at large my dear." The bearded man said.

"Who are you and what are you saying? And how do you know me." He had been so outraged by the statement that he had even forgotten where he was.

The man smiled , " You will laugh if you hear my name , for when my parents were naming me they didn't know that somewhere near my 30^th birthday a Hindi film shall be released that will make my name a standing joke , and it is my duty to answer this question of yours as well tell you about yourself and about vampires. And I am afraid I cant tell you about yourself until Rhea here wakes up which I believe should take another hour or so I must start with vampires. And yes my name as I said it's a quiet funny one these days , I was named by my parents as Vijay Dianath Chauhan."

There was something in Chauhan's eyes, like prof singh's voice that made Achyut smile even at that time.

"Mr. Chauhan" he began, "you were saying something about vampires"

"ah yes , and as all of the people present in this room are in one way or the other involved in this mess so I better tell all of you. Tell me how many of you have heard about the Vetal pachchisi."

"You mean the stories of vikram and betal" prof singh said.

"No! Raman I mean the story of vetal pachchisi"

"All I know is that a king carries a ghost upon his back who tells him a story and asks a question and then runs away when the king answers as the ghost has the king under the vow of silence."

"Too much reading of Chandamama." Chauhan said and began

"The actual story goes like this .."

Three of 5ppm

Eight and a half years ago

Place: Convocation Hall , Malgudi University

Date : December 15 , 2001

Time 1700

"Finally we are graduates. " Rhea said beaming at him and removing her ceremonial hat. "And you know what dad didn't even flinch when I told him about you."

"What?... " he only got a chance to start the sentence but she didn't let him.

"He said that he will pick us up after the convocation and there he is. DADDY!!!" She cried.

Before Achyut could understand another word or even gather his senses about what was going on Prof. Raman Singh, popularly known as "Ravan singh" among the mathematics students was standing in front of him holding out a hand.

"Sir, Achyut. " He had said meekly grabbing the hand and shaking it. Prof Singh did have a tight grip he observed.

Singh smiled , " I have loads to talk to you dear and no time can be better than this for it but this I fear is not the place. So would you and your parents like coming over for dinner tomorrow. No wait this is not the right way to invite people" he laughed " I will call them in the evening to invite them. And don't worry if they don't know about Rhea. My colleagues say am good on convincing people." He laughed again. He was right about that thing he did actually have a convincing aura about him. Achyut could have never imagined that meeting his girlfriend's father could be such an easy affair. Especially a father who was dreaded as a teacher. This was one of the first lessons that Achyut had learnt about not mixing up the personal and professional profiles of people.

Moreover professor singh was right about his convincing powers as when Achyut reached home that father had simply asked him not to wear "that horrible college sweat shirt. " and gave him an understanding smile which he could swear he had never seen upon his father's face.

Sleeping was an unusually hard affair that day as you need one of the pre-requisites of sleep is that your mind must be free of all exciting thoughts and his Rhea's father actually convincing his parents about her was a thought that under no circumstances could be termed as non-exciting. He could not remember the time when he actually dozed off thinking about the near future.

***

Avtar Singh had always felt a certain amount of pride on the fact that he had not missed a single prabhat pheri in the past 40 years. Yet at 55 he was no way among the eldest members of the group. Twice every year for 15 days apiece they roamed the streets of malgudi singing the praise of lord and the guru. "what a great way to start a day!" he had always thought.

Every year for fifteen days that followed Diwali and preceed the birth anniversary of guru Nanak Dev and for fifteen days that preceeded the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind singh had he and his fellows had started at 4 in the morning, sang around in joy and returned with dawn-break.

That day as so many others they were going around singing their path illuminated by street lights and the candles that few of them carried. Avtar noticed something strange in the park right opposite to the faculty hosing of MU.

"someone is lying there" He said and immediately a few of his fellows rushed to the spot. It was a girl around twenty. She was unconscious.

"Who is she?" someone asked

"I know her." said a voice from among the group.

***

He did not remember being woken up by his father or by anyone. All he could remember that when he had come his senses he was sitting beside his father in the on the way to Rhea's house and as he could remeber from what he had heard something was terribly wrong with Rhea. He turned his wrist only to find out that he was not wearing a watch. He did not ask anything trying to recollect what had happened and he remembered that some 10 minutes ago Rhea's father had called and said that she had been attacked. His father had then woken him up and given him the details. But what could have happened. He practically ran out of the car into the open door of her house. There was a man sitting on the sofa with her father. A rather peculiar man with a rather long pitch black beard matching beetle like eyes. As soon as Achyut entered the room he looked up and said, "Achyut, what a surprise! We would have needed you in any case there is a vampire at large."

 

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.

 

 

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.

Finally Rahul looked relieved .

-Continud.

 

5 ppm : Prologue

"Damn!" said Rahul as the revolving shape of the fan came to a halt in the dark room.

"Power cuts in in the middle of the night during final exams and in this scorching heat, what these people think we are, and how exactly are we expected to study or even sleep in these conditions." Shrey retorted.

"Calm down, khachchar always repeats the paper and we have done last year's paper" came Salil's voice.

"yeah right. " Shrey agreed.

"So guys," Rahul started "our final night of study at MU is over , tomorrow by this time we will be headed towards our respective cities being graduates."

"If we pass khachchar's paper." Came Raghu's voice who had stayed silent till now.

"Come on yaar we can , now please open the window if you don't want to die smelling Rahul's sweat." Shrey spoke.

"Yeah wait" Salil said as his shape got up to open the window.

"Better, it's a nice breeze outside." Salil said as he opened the windowand turned back to face the othrs. "and hey even the street lights are gone. It's a moonlit night. Raghu it your kind of night silent romantic , imagine you and priya."

"Shut up." Rahgu said.

"Hey what' s that" Rahul said looking over salil's shoulder.

"Where?" Salil turned back and stood dumb struck, a human looking shape was flying through the moonlit sky towards him. He was too shocked to close the window or even move and before he could estimate the potential danger of that thing, it had his throat in his hands and was pulling him out of the window. No Raghu lurched at him grabbing his torso as Shrey and Rahul also jumped shouting out loud for help to catch hold of him before he was pulled outside the window. The hold on Salil's throat was too strong but maybe the foot falls in the corridor made the shape recede. So when the dwellers of other rooms came in all they saw was three people grabbing an unconscious salil who was half hanging out of the window.

5-ppm-the preview

".. and actually how many of you are there?" Shrey asked.

"We have a concentration of five ppm among humans." Achyut replied carelessly.

"5ppm that means…"

"… A total of 5 among the total 1 million population of malgudi."

"So how do you manage to stay hidden?"

"Why would we need to stay hidden, we are not a secret society, nor do we meet on a regular basis. It is just that we were informed at some points in our lives that we have the capabilities to fight vampires, apart from that we are perfectly normal people." Achyut said, smiling.

"So how do you guys co-ordinate?" Shrey's curiosity was multiplying with each passing moment.

"Well we don't need to co-ordinate as such. Frankly speaking I have not just one actual vampire in the past 15 years of my knowing the other members of the group. Vampires do not come in hoards like they show in horror movies and they actually have been wiped out from the globe many times. "

"Then how do.." Shrey inturrepted.

"There are more than one ways to create a vampire, Shrey like there are to destroy one. I will explain but first I need to tell the others about this sighting."

****

"He does not own a cel phone, says it disturbs him in the thought process."

"I cant believe this", Said shrey looking at the door , one of the profs in our college has superhuman powers. I used to think he is a bit of a crack." Said shrey stopping in fornt of the door proclaiming "V D Chauhan. "

"I also think that some times." Said Achyut sticking his head inside ,"May we come in sir."

Prof. Chauhan was standing near the wash basin provided in the room, his back towards the door. The sudden voice of Achyut must have startled him because he suddenly spat in the washbasin and turned around.

"What? I thought the door was closed." He said his lips covered in white foam.

Shrey had a momentary Adrenalin rush from the thought that the prof was displaying some of his extra-ordinary powers but the tooth brush in latters hand and the open toothpaste tube on the washbasin mantle-piece changed that adrenalin rush into an uncontrollable urge to laugh.

****

"So we die now , there is no way we can fight all of them. Poor ipsita she will never know her mom." Chetna said almost close to tears.

"We will Chetana don't worry." There is still time until dusk. Until then they are just in animate bodies."

"Which can not be destroyed" Achyut added in a blank emotionless voice.

"Until they somehow in-jest this venom." Col. Chakradhar completed his sentence, his eyes were gleaming with a hope.

"But how" Achyut started but was silenced in mid-sentence by the colonel.

 

This was a preview of the vampire story I was thinking up and plan to publish this around the the middle of October. Should I continue? Please reply if you have been tagged. J