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eyes had begun to adjust to the dark and she saw a flicker of movement ahead of her where the tunnel curved to the left. She took out her mobile phone and held it in front of her, but its feeble light did little to illuminate whoever was coming her way.
    ‘Hello, who’s there?’
    Protima regretted the words the moment they left her mouth for her question was answered by a series of grunts and screeches. Down here, in the dark and in the endless tunnels, there was no escape. The growls and grunts ahead intensified as the Biters came towards her with increasing speed. She saw several figures moving towards her in the light her mobile threw out and she turned to run. Biters were not exactly known for their speed, but down here, trapped and with her mind numb with fear, the Biters would not need much speed to catch up with her.
    She kept running, her heart pounding, trying to ignore the howling coming from the pursuing Biters. She held her mobile up to see what lay ahead and her heart sank. She was approaching a dead end. The Biters were now no more than a dozen feet away. There seemed to be at least three or four of them. For a moment Protima was paralyzed with fear, with the injustice of having her life snuffed out in a sewer. Then a thought came to her. As the Biters shuffled closer, she reached into the package she had been carrying and took out one of the vials Stan had sent. She had no idea if it would work, but if there was even a slim chance she could survive to unmask a conspiracy that had led to the deaths of untold thousands, she would take it.
    The nearest Biter was now almost within touching distance and Protima gagged at the stench of decay. She opened the vial and drank its contents in one long swallow. A burning sensation worked its way down her throat, but she did not have much time to contemplate what the liquid was doing to her. A callused and bloody hand grabbed her shoulder and pushed her down. The next thing she felt was the sharp pain of teeth biting down on her arms. The other Biters gathered around her prone body, and as more of them bit into her, Protima screamed again and again. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she felt her eyes closing. Then she saw no more.
    *
    Protima opened her eyes and sat up in a panic, expecting the Biters to be still around her. There was no sign of them. Her phone was lying by her side, and when she picked it up, the screen was cracked, but there was still a faint light coming from the display. The battery was likely almost dead and she passed the phone over her body, seeing bloody bite marks all over her upper arms and chest. The blood had largely dried, telling her that she must have been out for several hours at least. The weird thing was that while she was bloody and mangled like a freshly butchered animal, she felt no pain. Had the vaccine worked? She gathered up the courage and spoke out aloud.
    ‘Hello, my name is Protima and I am definitely not a bloody Biter.’
    As her own voice echoed back to her in the tunnel, she burst out into uncontrollable laughter. She had not been transformed into a Biter after all! As she began walking down the tunnel, she found her earlier fatigue and hunger had disappeared. She was feeling reinvigorated with a spring in her step. What had the vaccine done to her?
    The Biters must have come down into the tunnels somehow, so there must be an exit. She broke into a near-run, eager to escape her underground prison.
    After fifteen minutes, she saw light ahead. Part of her was wary that this would turn out to be another hole in the ceiling but she kept going, and soon she saw that it was an opening to the outside world. A small ladder led up to a circular manhole. Protima tucked the package under one arm and climbed up.
    After so much time in the darkness, the daylight blinded her. When she forced her eyes open, she saw she was near the Yamuna river, with the Commonwealth Games village to her right and the large Akshardham temple complex