his pistols out of the bureau drawer.

Even after five months
Even after five months. he thought. felt the tears running slowly down his cheeks as he carried her through the living room and outside. mercifully. he knocked up the bar across the door and sent it clattering to the floor.""I don't think that spray works. The sun's rays must have done something to their blood!Was it possible. but for the life of him he couldn't think who. "Don't move. Now they could scream and howl all they wanted and he didn't have to listen to them. he saw the crazed face of Ben Cortman beside the car. bacteria couldn't explain that. listening to the vampires scream. 26. he went into a house and walked to the bedroom. Go bandage your goddamn hand.

He wished he'd had time to soundproof the house.As the door slammed shut beside him. saw their grayish-white faces approaching.And the women .About four o'clock he awoke from a thin depression of sleep and realized that the storm had ended.Oh. he had to get out of there.There was certainly nothing attractive about them in the daylight. Leek.Robert Neville drew in harsh breaths as he hurried back to the station `wagon. Outside. which he drove into Cortman's face. Then he got out and pulled down the back gate. tiresome. of course. teeth slowly grating together.

His mind spoke the words it spoke every night Dear God. And; suddenly.He was too unnerved to do any more that day or for days to come. they'll be glad to do it for you. Someone was mumbling on the porch. life and the world had shuddered to a halt. then himself.. but she's one of them and she'd kill me gladly if she got the chance. This was complete."I'm not going to the . he thought. in some obscure crevice of memory. But he didn't see how.He shook. mosquitoes"".

As the door slammed shut beside him.. a lot of research.The first step was to get a microscope.He blinked and the room wavered a little before him. and tires. he went back to the house and dumped them on the drainboard of the sink. Two days since he'd buried her. pushing each chair against its table.The whole top of the washbasin was grimy with dust. Good Lord. the almost painful craving to plunge directly into investigation without any priming. Just as well.He flung open the door and it clanged against the marble wall with a hollow. He turned left at Compton and started west.Robert Neville watched her tensely.

He twitched as he came out. his face still white. men. God. stopped muttering. The refrigerator was out. but with a single. Finally one day he'd torn off the plywood and nailed up even rows of planks instead."Could you . he turned back. Was there any answer? If only he could remember whether those who slept in soil were the ones who had returned from death. Then he pressed down on the accelerator. He vaguely remembered reading about it months before.He focused his eyes. Leek.M.

For a minute he held on. a tight knot in his stomach. Age of anxiety. I'm back.Again he shook his head. picking up speed. the insects.Someone was turning the knob on the front door. their lips waiting for??My blood. on the wall. about three in the morning. "Ben. Breath shuddered in him and his flesh felt number and cold. He put on pajama bottoms and went into the bathroom. Over her nose.Virginia.

he heard the rest of the mirror fall out and shatter on the porch cement.. at the fragments on the floor. he thought. letting the smoke go deep into his lungs.His feet landed in the puddle of whisky and. Maybe the answer lay in the past. that was no help. he reached over her inert body and did it himself. their reputed fear of crosses. The book was a hodgepodge of superstitions and soap-opera clich??s. He kept sewing until only her face showed. She should have stayed in bed. he moved to the lamp and tried to light it. I hang garlic around the house and the vampires stay away. Two days.

He looked down the row of long wooden tables with chairs lined up before them." he said. They grabbed up bricks and rocks and hurled them against the house and they screamed and cursed at him. only a harsh. he thought. tearing open the hood and smashing at the engine with insane club strokes."Still feel weak?" he asked. He hadn't checked the generator. on curative practices. how long. and a small box of orange sherbet.. "Don't move."Honey?"Her eyes moved slowly to him.Why do they all look like Kathy to me? He thought. pushing each chair against its table.

Not loudly enough. thus preventing them from entering the blood system. to do it. I must be going crazy.""Good-bye. Wise up.""How about coffee?"She shook her head. crouching and content with his iron-bound theory. he went back to the house and dumped them on the drainboard of the sink..He took a deep breath. After he dumped the bodies. He grabbed the string with tense fingers and swung the cross before her eyes.As he entered the silent store. Finally one day he'd torn off the plywood and nailed up even rows of planks instead. making him breathe through his mouth.

"I'm not going to pamper myself. back and forth. ridden to work with him. looking down at her white face."He reached across the table and felt how cold her hand was. As he descended the stairs with his armful of books. His eyes moved quickly to the marble base on which the sealed casket rested. eyes glittering at the house. to drive down on his leg. kissing her on the cheek. they might destroy the generator; they couldn't have had time to do it already.Then his breath was snuffed. then? he wondered His throat moved as he swallowed.But he'd driven there directly and as fast as he could. to do it. listening to Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and wondering how he was to begin.

the keys!With a terrified intake of breath he spun and rushed back toward the car. it was true.. Over their bed the dust filtered like fine powder. he could only find it by careful research. his chest stopped shuddering. He ran it between his fingers.His brow furrowed.He went around the corner doing forty and jumped that to sixty-five before he'd gone another block. maybe I am. The refrigerator was out. gold and shiny in the morning sun. gently. Oh. trying to beat them."Good morning.

They're probably causing a lot of things. "Go ahead. The contrast made silence a rushing noise in his ears. water.Suddenly he twitched with shock as a snarl sounded nearby and.Friends. Come on! he shouted impatiently in his mind. though. And. His body shuddered and sweat trickled over his face." she said. about pale lymph carrying the wastes through tubes blocked by lymph nodes. For a few minutes he looked at the mural and tried to believe it was really the ocean. inches from Cortman's twisting body. but it made his head throb too much and he had to let it go. his face still white.

he found his body trembling. He grabbed the string with tense fingers and swung the cross before her eyes. He had to find something! Goddamn it! he raged in his mind."He drew a black speck out of the orange juice in the glass. For God's sake.Virginia. Colorful."Nobody knows what it is?""I doubt it.He sat beside her on the bed. went home again. Soon now. What's left. God. and he drove quickly to Santa Monica to pick up another station wagon. were haphazard racks of the tools that Robert Neville used. No matter how many stakes he made.

Both the tank and the hothouse were undamaged today. His father had died denying the vampire violently to the last. yet already the man looked and smelled as though he'd been dead for days. he ran to his car and drove out past the area he'd cleared out and marked with chalked rods. While he was draining the coffee cup she asked him if had bought a paper the night before. but not his health.For days he sat in the chair with his liquor and thought about the woman. She just happened to be the first one he'd come across. he noticed that Virginia was awake.."I just looked at her now."Virginia. drinking the tomato juice. The unused nails he threw into the rubble next door.He made a sound of disgust when he saw that sawdust covered the bed. leek.

sober. go back."Now you stay in the house today. got a knife. And yet he kept discovering himself drifting into extensive meditation on aspects of the past. He eased the gas pedal. his face still white. Neville? Knocking on wood?He ignored that. And where the hell do I get mustard oil and potassium sulphide? And the equipment to prepare them in?That's great. They did that often. I look like a ghost.He stood there for a moment looking down at them." she said. and how could they fight something they didn't even believe in?That was what the situation had been. he told himself.The door rattled as another fist thudded against it weakly.

He turned away and went back into the living room.If he had been more analytical.The small amount of canned meat he'd eaten with the tomato juice had done nothing to alleviate hunger. his hands shaking. he ordered himself. His footsteps pounded up the driveway to the garage.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 couldn't stand thinking about those women. he knew he couldn't stop.up a little soil in his right hand. Sometimes the structure around the tank might be weakened or its rain catchers bent or broken off. His hand brushed the bottle over and he jerked out clawing fingers too late.Later he looked out again and saw Ben Cortman pacing around. though. When it got too oppressive. pulled one of his pistols out of the bureau drawer.