7. Let's Get Technical

As an avid watcher of the Discovery Health channel, I have to say that I am extremely interested in the human body and it's limitations. While reading this novel, I was curious to find out what the physical characteristics were of losing an excessive amount of blood. How much could the body physically handle until it gave up?

If I'm going to get technical, then I first have to understand how it is possible for a vampire to suck the blood out of a human as fast as they do without causing any trauma. In the novel, the vampires take literally seconds before they have drained a human excessively. Having given blood several times before, I know that even losing one pint of blood in a matter of minutes can be somewhat detrimental to the body. Vampires, however, nearly drain their victim completely.

According to an article I found called Blood Loss, Transfusions and Transfusion Alternatives, it all depends on how much blood you lose and how fast you lose it. Taking a look at vampires, I assumed that the loss of blood would be excessive and it would be lost at a fast rate. Some of the effects of that blood loss would be the following:

1. cool, clammy skin

2. dizziness, weakness or confusion

3. paleness

4. trouble breathing because not enough oxygen is being circulated

5. a fast, weak pulse

In the beginning of the, Mike Ryerson seemed to have all of those symptoms when he described them to Matt and Ben at the bar. Even if all of those symptoms were true, as they are in the novel, I can't help but conclude that the amount of blood taken from the victims would leave them dead. Especially if they don't call a doctor right away.

Another site that I found called innvista said that if the body loses more than 40-50 percent of it's plasma volume, it would go into severe shock. This makes it hard for me to believe that vampires can bite their victims once without actually killing them. Yes, the victim can have severe anemia like the Glick boy did and yes, the victim can be treated with B12, but technically, the victim would be dead right away...or UnDead in this case.