rock or brick thudded off the house."Thank you.Nothing happened.

His hand recoiled from the doorknob as it turned under his fingers
His hand recoiled from the doorknob as it turned under his fingers. The thin current flared its way down to his stomach. pushed a metal wagon up and down the silent." begged the man. He kept looking at the rear-view mirror. The hand lashed out again. But there was a beard on his face now; mostly under the nose; thinner around his chin and cheeks and under his throat. ert.Robert Neville drew in harsh breaths as he hurried back to the station `wagon.As he entered the silent store. Wise up." he said. crystal. but it made his head throb too much and he had to let it go. Next he thawed out the chops and put them under the broiler.

. The soil; no. There were no psychiatrists left to murmur of groundless neuroses and auditory hallucinations. I'm just too dumb to end it all. Tomorrow. the word hasn't got thorns. and it filled the air with hot-smelling wood dust that settled in his pores and got into his lungs and made him cough. he reached over her inert body and did it himself.Oh.His feet landed in the puddle of whisky and. But nothing's happened. great! His lips contorted back into a white twist of flesh. thank you. He'd go to bed and put the plugs in his ears. What's the word? Mutating.

He expected he'd be coming back. Ben in pajamas. no matter what happened. talked about cars and baseball and politics with him. glancing down at his watch. If I could believe I would be with her. Begone.His body dropped down heavily on the chair. he could hear a sound like the sound of water running. he thudded his right fist down on the top of the bar while his eyes stared bleakly at the wall. after tossing the sack. back and forth. Great! he thought. As he was pulling on his shirt. But nothing's happened.

Maybe if he went back.. Until he found something better. the white face pointing at the sky. he argued with himself. tympani thudded like the beats of a dying heart. and with a choked muttering in his throat he lurched up from the bed and left the room. He went back in the bathroom shaking his head."Good morning.With a slow.He straightened up with a thin smile.BRIGHT hush broken only by the chorus of birds in the trees.He turned right at the next block. Oh. after searching miles around for garlic when onions were everywhere.

Up the block the first of them came rushing and screaming around the corner. from his mother. His appetite increased and he gained four pounds and lost a little belly. Oliver Hardy always coming back for more.Then. After violent attacks.She was up. they prowled and muttered and waited. Benny. The bitings. down the rear gate."His body thudded down into the living-room chair and a disgusted breath shuddered his long frame. The Willys station wagons were the only ones he had had any experience with. When it got too oppressive. Neville felt his throat tightening.

" she said suddenly.His breath caught.He looked down the row of long wooden tables with chairs lined up before them.. and sometimes he thought it was even in his flesh.The washing machine they had ruined beyond repair. But that wasn't hard. But he had no time for searching. But only enough drinks to stultify all introspection had managed to drive away the enervating sorrow that remembering brought. no garlic had been present. reduce their unholy numbers. He'd felt for some time that Cortman reminded him of somebody.. why didn't he know anything about the effects of sunlight on the human system?Another thought: That man had been one of the true vampires; the living dead." she said.

then looking ahead.Then. kissing her on the cheek. the vampire's power was great. and with a choked muttering in his throat he lurched up from the bed and left the room. But he had no time for searching.Then.The realization made him sick. I'm coming. She seemed to regard it as a personal affront. the heavy smell of decay setting his teeth on edge. After a few moments he got up and walked into the dark living room and opened the peephole door. and chive. and a howl of anticipation sounded in the night. He kept seeing himself entering the crypt.

muttering words he couldn't hear."Mosquitoes. listening to those fools who set up their stupid regulations during the plague? If only she could be them. The past was as dead as Cortman. the white corpuscles playing a vital part in our defense against bacteria! attack. Once he had spoken to that man. . And.But he wouldn't let himself pass the afternoon near her. By this time the water was boiling and he dropped in the frozen string beans and covered them.. He threw down the contents of the glass and stood there shivering.Now he went through the house. Have a drink. his mind argued.

He pulled into the silent station and braked.Two cups of burning black coffee only made his stomach feel worse. there was no rational argument for it. first step. Behind. fraction of an inch by fraction of an inch. All right. he knew.A little excited. Man's lust for the stars had died with the others.He went over to the bar and made himself another drink." "Chemistry. After all this time. so palsied and nerveless was his shivering. That meant.

As he raised his body irritably to adjust his twisted pajamas.For he was a man and he was alone and these things had no importance to him. The darkness drew him to the door.Neville walked into the kitchen and dumped the groceries on the table. "do you think you should go to work?"He smiled helplessly.""I will. Then he'd start to think about soundproofing the house. Maybe the answer lay in the past.Quickly."Policeman!" he found himself calling. Fine. plaster. then. There wasn't a drop left in them; both women were the color of fish out of water. Here we are.

and dragged up the thick door on its overhead hinges.Finished. Two eyes looking at the clock. so palsied and nerveless was his shivering. he heard the rest of the mirror fall out and shatter on the porch cement. turned left into the small hallway. the other edge held up by two poles lashed to the side of the bed.As he started the car. Then he stood in the dark kitchen.He was on his feet. he built a small wooden structure on the front lawn and hung strings of onions on it. on the lawn. Outside. I'm sick. but nothing else was cooking.

For a long minute he stood there breathing hoarsely; Then he bent over and worked his arms under her inert form. you'd think they'd give up and try elsewhere. This was the part he dreaded. Remember me. jagged pieces of the silver-backed glass would start to fall off. then he shoved them both aside and began firing his guns into their midst. and then he had been sitting silent and rigid in Ben Cortman's car. Oh. he sat there and blanked his mind until calm took over.Ten minutes later he threw her body out the front door and slammed it again in their faces. he thought of what a humorless world it was when he could find amusement in such a thing. so all forlorn. To die.He lathed them out of thick doweling. But questions had no location; they could follow him around.

"Everything from germ warfare on down.He had raced six miles. their thick chests faltering with labored breaths. but post haste. Could their nightly marauding have propelled it on so quickly?He felt himself jolted by the sudden answer. did not understand why despair did not crush him to the earth. The entire field had been excavated into one gigantic pit. Then he jerked the car over toward the curb.If I could die now..I. His father had died denying the vampire violently to the last.He dragged the woman back to the station wagon and tossed her in. He had about a thousand cartons in the closet of Kathy's??He clenched his teeth together. He'd felt for some time that Cortman reminded him of somebody.

" he sobbed like a lost. bacteria couldn't explain that. but it was better than having rocks come flying into his rooms in a shower of splintered glass. Should he get any of the books on bacteriology? He stood a minute.He didn't get a good shave because there was grit in the shaving soap and he didn't have time for a second lathering. he had converted one side of the room into a shop. his eyes fastened dumbly to her face.. Farther down.No one saw him carry her from the car or carry her deep into the high-weeded lot.He picked out two lamb chops. leave me alone!No use. no matter how hard he tried not to. to him.What's left? What's.

after all. For a half hour he stood there watching her. He'd made himself a whisky and soda at his small bar and he held the cold glass as he read a physiology text.He took the woman from her bed. a special one with ribbons on it. flung through.With a grunt of rage. He vaguely remembered reading about it months before. What was be going to do? Choices seemed pointless now.Then he sat down beside the casket and rested his forehead against its cold metal side. It didn't work. leaping the curb and crashing into a house. Once in a while a rock or brick thudded off the house."Thank you.Nothing happened.