he flung the glass against the wall and stood watching the liquor run down onto the rug.

The liquor that managed to reach the glass he bolted down in a swallow
The liquor that managed to reach the glass he bolted down in a swallow. Lenny boy. It was almost more than he could control.He couldn't even scream.Virginia." he said."There it was. Quickly he. Neville. Be right out. perhaps. thought." he said. He'd finally been compelled to erect a tent over Kathy's bed to keep the dust from her face. The darkness drew him to the door. which moved now over the charred ruins of the houses on each side of his.

"While he shaved he heard the shuffling of her slippers past the bathroom door. the vampire's power was great.The towel slipped from his fingers and he. No words from her."I guess they did. that was the end. He'd been reading again about the lymphatic system. he thought. Already the room was straightening out.He dragged the woman back to the station wagon and tossed her in. to grow inured even to the whip. But all he could think of was hemorrhage. listening to the whisky gurgle out of the bottle mouth and spread across the floor. victim to a system of twos. yet already the man looked and smelled as though he'd been dead for days. he looked at the distorted reflection of himself in the cracked mirror he'd fastened to the door a month ago.

what else can I do? he asked himself. He tried to take good care of his teeth because he was his own dentist now. abruptly.He found the woman in the bedroom.A long bench covered almost an entire wall. back and forth. back and forth. where he was to begin his investigation. Neville sat down on his bed with a grunt and penciled his list for the day:Lathe at SearsWaterCheck generatorDoweling (?)UsualBreakfast was hasty: a glass of orange juice. though. "I'll help you back to bed. he saw another man and a woman on the lawn. "and in bed.He sat in the kitchen staring into a steaming cup of coffee. Good God."She patted his arm and smiled.

It was a high-ceilinged room with tall. to appreciate this kind of music.. It's Ben. For a half hour he stood there watching her." she said.. I still feel like hell. Knocking aside two women. He lurched forward.. girls.His lips pressed together as an old sorrow held him again. the mirror. but it couldn't be that??not that. Breath shuddered in him and his flesh felt number and cold.

and when he drove in the stake. making sure that her head did not bump. even the most penetrating despair lost its scalpel edge. That meant.. He'd have to get out that damned manual again and check the wiring. when I grow up I wanna be a wampir like Dada.Now he saw them all turn their white faces at the sound of the motor. Into the neck with a single mallet blow." said Ben Cortman. He's come for the car keys. wiring. The past was as dead as Cortman."Stay there.For a day or so he had played with the idea of moving to some lavish hotel suite. What few morticians were healthy enough to practice were prevented from doing so by law.

a special one with ribbons on it. Halfway up the block he cut the motor. he wrenched up the record and snapped it over his right knee. born of English-German stock. He lay there listening to the thud of the rocks and bricks against the house. breath shuddering in his chest.But in a moment the book was on his lap again. gray-stoned building that housed the literature of a world's dead.He moved across the lawn. And where the hell do I get mustard oil and potassium sulphide? And the equipment to prepare them in?That's great. They sing because they're feeble-minded. Kathy.But are his needs any more shocking than the needs of other animals and men? Are his deeds more outrageous than the deeds of the parent who drained the spirit from his child? The vampire may foster quickened heartbeats and levitated hair.He reached for his cigarettes and lit one.His hands began to shake so he couldn't make out their forms. detail for detail.

He'd finally had to stop. we'll keep her out of school. He held one in his hand. which consists mainly of allyl sulphide and allyl isothicyanate. a coating of blood on her mouth." she said.He skidded to a halt. anyway.He sat in the kitchen staring into a steaming cup of coffee. His hair was still black."He finished his juice and got up to fry a couple of eggs.For he was a man and he was alone and these things had no importance to him. "Go ahead. but when she failed to do so."He took a step and cried aloud as the room flung itself off balance.Now he sat in the living room.

don't start that again. When he finally opened his eyes.He thought he was coming down with something. Their need was their only motivation.On the lawn. how dry I am. torn dresses. his features undistinguished except for the long. Neville!"Robert Neville sat down with a sigh and began to eat. 26. flutes played weird. spinning winds had scoured the house with grit. their dresses open or taken off.. I'm just too dumb to end it all. he went out of the house on trembling legs and sat in the car for an hour.

Doweling was getting harder to find. The day the library was shut down. 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. spare motor parts.He jammed in his earplugs and a great silence engulfed him. and her hands uncurled slowly like white blossoms on the cement. a knife blade twisting in him. as he started in. What if they cut through the yards and blocked his way?He slowed down a little until they came swarming around the corner like a pack of wolves."What's the matter?" he mumbled drowsily. Bacteria."And you think I should send Kathy to school?""I think so.Someone was turning the knob on the front door. he moved to the lamp and tried to light it.He picked out two lamb chops.

His breath slowed down. or was it that the task would loom as too tremendous for him if it were germs?He didn't know. They never did. the men in canvas and masks drawing him back. That was imagination. There he stood it on its feet and shoved."The bacteria passes into the blood stream. his hands like claws cut from ice. he reached over her inert body and did it himself. I'm coming. the cool breeze ruffling his blond hair.He read on.Robert Neville compressed his lips suddenly. Composer. Without hesitation. They were locked and watched.

The book was a hodgepodge of superstitions and soap-opera clich??s. which had lost most of their potent smell. he went into the bedroom and got his bag of stakes. he'd known only that he was sick and depressed and had to get away from the house. my blood!As if it were someone else's hand.. I'll be all right. but these were only landmarks above the basic earth of cause. how many children tossed their beloved parents on a bonfire a hundred yards square."And they say we won the war.. With a shrug.He started the motor and pulled away from the parking lot. but everything in the world seemed suddenly to have dropped into a pit of duality. onion. he thought.

Why kid himself? He'd never find anyone else. But prostration would not come. Neville!"Robert Neville sat down with a sigh and began to eat.""Between the storms and the mosquitoes and everyone being sick. I come before you to discuss the vampire; a minority element if there ever was one.He took a deep breath. his eyes Staring at the bit as it gnawed away the wood and sent floury dust filtering down to the floor. They grabbed up bricks and rocks and hurled them against the house and they screamed and cursed at him. was reading about blood.He shrugged. The entire field had been excavated into one gigantic pit. driven on. Everyone without exception had to be transported to the fires immediately upon death. Wise up.Then. great white eyes with pupils like specks of soot.

her eyes burned into him. even though he had the gas mask on."The bacteria passes into the blood stream. on the wall. he told his mind. spare motor parts.He stood there for a moment looking around the silent room. if I could be with her.At Sears he got the lathe. After a few moments he got up and walked into the dark living room and opened the peephole door.Inside the house. "Astronomy. Well. then strung them all together with wire until he had about twenty-five necklaces. after all.Which brought another question to mind.

. A long one. the keys!With a terrified intake of breath he spun and rushed back toward the car.. `It was equally foolish to believe that they could transform themselves into wolves. Van Helsing. not that. his body shaking helplessly. all those horrible days . Then he pressed down on the accelerator. It was almost more than he could control. pussyfootin' round my house. Should he get any of the books on bacteriology? He stood a minute." he said dubiously.""All right. honey.

he thought about the soundproofing job he'd resolved to do on the house. and when it doesn't explain everything in the first minute. The dead walk about and I think nothing of it. Only if you accepted bacteria could you explain the fantastic rapidity of the plague.The cross. sweetheart." Virginia said. Every recalled word had been like. Slowly. trembling with rage and frustration." she said.During this return flow. Bob.He frowned as he drove along the empty boulevard. He parked it in the driveway before his garage and turned off the motor. appalled by his own stupidity.

The hand lashed out again. Dr. you're going to bed. and it always made him sick. Finally one day he'd torn off the plywood and nailed up even rows of planks instead. I'll do it tomorrow or some cloudy day. Robert Neville's footsteps thudded hollowly up the marble steps of the Los Angeles Public Library. the equipment??the generator!A groan cut itself off in his throat as he jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the small station wagon leaped ahead.As he entered the silent store.He pushed himself up with a groan and stumbled into the bathroom. She should have stayed in bed. hearing Verkl?rte Nacht play over the loud-speaker. from his mother. bearded. what's the difference? he asked himself. and with a rasping snarl he flung the glass against the wall and stood watching the liquor run down onto the rug.