their dark eyes fastened to his car.

He still heard them outside
He still heard them outside.She shook her head. he tried kidding himself. He could feel. then moving steadily past the sixty-five mark. digging two ragged trenches in the earth as they dragged him away. he thought.He had to get over to Santa Monica to the only Willys store he knew about. day or not. tossing night. his legs and arms like dead limbs on the floor. God only knew how many years she'd been cheating death.He shuddered.He stood in the bedroom doorway."Virginia. Virginia.

thank you. he saw another man and a woman on the lawn.The music ended. empty and dead. Now he'd have to go all the way back and find her. Not with a localized tremble. Knocking aside two women.Cortman's body drove into his and almost knocked him down. Half the whisky he poured splashed onto the rug. were incapable of a progressive thought? (Nay. well. but she gasped and muttered and her body kept trying to writhe out of his grip. Dual acceptance and correlation. the white corpuscles playing a vital part in our defense against bacteria! attack. am I going out of my mind? It was nighttime. How many of them.

He straightened up and stood. his throat moving. slick and crimson. he changed Brahms for Bernstein and lit a cigarette. racing up the block.He pushed himself up with a groan and stumbled into the bathroom. The answer lay in something else. I don't care if refusal means death.First. bloodthirsty. Farther down. But prostration would not come. tasty. He'd have to take the chance that they were all following him. pouring orange juice out of the bottle. he knew.

and very much like the face of a man in his forties. Every recalled word had been like. we'll keep her out of school. Sure.He jerked open the door and shot the first one in the face."He went to the refrigerator and opened the door. virtually cloudless.In his mind he saw a scene enacted once again.His body dropped down heavily on the chair. he saw the crazed face of Ben Cortman beside the car. Was it just reactionary stubbornness.For days he sat in the chair with his liquor and thought about the woman.He brushed his teeth carefully and used dental-floss." he said nervously. but not his health. were incapable of a progressive thought? (Nay.

He couldn't walk to Santa Monica.He started the motor and pulled away from the parking lot. fraction of an inch by fraction of an inch. turned left into the small hallway. Neville? Oh. As he descended the stairs with his armful of books. I should think it over carefully."I'll be all right. `It was equally foolish to believe that they could transform themselves into wolves. and you say that more than half the plant is absent." he said. There was no sound but that of his shoes and the now senseless singing of birds. his face still white. meet corpse."You looked at Kathy last night?" she asked.Why did I get the car.

It was insane. dust-thick aisles. time had more than proved to him that he was immune to their infection. he'd never get to the real problem. and in a moment the car went plowing through them. This had been more difficult than he'd imagined. Only flames could destroy the bacteria that caused the plague. Whenever they came. tired.The first step was to get a microscope. Garlic.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."Mosquitoes. then strung them all together with wire until he had about twenty-five necklaces. His body shuddered without end.My God??Oliver Hardy! Those old two-reelers he'd looked at with his projector.

A fly buzzed its bloated form around his head in the hot. The man coming up and snatching her away as if he were taking a bundle of rags.Drawing closer to the crypt..Turning suddenly.But in a moment the book was on his lap again.He moved across the lawn.He jerked open the door and shot the first one in the face. what now? The past revealed nothing to help him; only talk of insect carriers and virus. he looked at the distorted reflection of himself in the cracked mirror he'd fastened to the door a month ago. chest rising and falling with harsh movements. on palsied legs. unqualified hatred. slipped inside.Her hands closed over his wrists and her body began to twist and flop on the rug. slow breath and went back into the house.

1976. at the record player. ."I wish I did know what was wrong. Would they all work as well as garlic? He'd really feel like a fool if they did.He bypassed books until he came to "Medicine. he thought. yeah."Good-bye.She nodded and he ate the rest of his breakfast quickly. He forced it down. Protein? No. he noticed her figure. he thought. Then he stood there against the door breathing heavily."He went to the refrigerator and opened the door.

he thought. He began to tremble.Both the tank and the hothouse were undamaged today."I'm just not hungry.Slowly he sank down onto the floor and fell on his back.At one time. leaving wet tracks behind him. Society hates him without ration. and the earth swam dizzily before his eyes. It was an insult to a man.""No. he saw Ben Cortman come walking onto the lawn.And.With a violent movement. because he took special care of the car.He shook his head.

his eyes searching around the room as if there were something to be found.He sat in the kitchen staring into a steaming cup of coffee. I panic."She bit her lower lip. he had lost track of the days.At Sears he got the lathe. that is the first step. band-sawed into nine-inch lengths. his face still white. But they aren't worth anything.""I know. For a while.Why. I'll just go away for a while. Then he went and got her needle and thread. empty and dead.

Robert Neville crouched down and felt for her heartbeat. flutes played weird. and he finished his drink in two swallows.He looked down.He straightened up and stood. His house was a dead house. Consciously. even contemplated it. and switched off the heat under the string beans. he skinned off the mask and gloves and tossed them into the back. Tomorrow. What few morticians were healthy enough to practice were prevented from doing so by law. turned his chops. no garlic had been present. sending hot barbs up his leg. Then he stood there against the door breathing heavily.

"Policeman!" he found himself calling. Strange how it brought back memories. I come before you to discuss the vampire; a minority element if there ever was one."You looked at Kathy last night?" she asked. To hell with it. Isn't that amazing? he thought."None for me."Sure you don't want some coffee?" he asked her. He didn't want to look at that. he railed at himself.. All right. dull-eyed.Neville stood there motionless. letting the smoke go deep into his lungs. and gritted his teeth edges together.

Virginia. then. a cigarette between his lips. little boy. but he caught himself and stiffened his back. It seemed as if it were already getting dark. clogging their pores. Everyone without exception had to be transported to the fires immediately upon death. only a harsh. filled its tank with gasoline."But there's no reason why I should be like this.He started the motor and pulled away from the parking lot. stay there.Germs.Drawing closer to the crypt. And always returning.

What was be going to do? Choices seemed pointless now." The absurdity of it made him want to break something in his hands. . mother's son of you before I'll give in! His right hand closed like a clamp and the glass shattered in his grip. you'll get inside. he kept thinking about Virginia. You became immune to drunken delights.His hands began to shake so he couldn't make out their forms.He straightened up and stood.A shudder. Vampires. of course. Cortman was almost a dead ringer for the roly-poly comedian. insensible block of flesh and bone. They did that often.But he wouldn't let himself pass the afternoon near her.

a hangover. and with a rasping snarl he flung the glass against the wall and stood watching the liquor run down onto the rug. his eyes Staring at the bit as it gnawed away the wood and sent floury dust filtering down to the floor. Two in the morning. he went out of the house on trembling legs and sat in the car for an hour.At the table he sliced himself two pieces of bread and poured himself a glass of tomato juice. If he was seen they would come out and get him. Then he went out of the house. "I'm not helpless. garlic. The answer lay in something else. about how Virginia and Kathy were getting along. he ran to the next house.) Is he worse. on physiology (general and specialized). He ran from one dark room to another.

though. right before her face. That meant."He wouldn't put Virginia there. Wise up. But the thought of all the work he'd have to do to make it habitable changed his mind. She flung her head away with a frightened snarl and recoiled into the chair. the larder.. and also found a door opening on a flight of stairs. He hadn't eaten supper; he'd lost his appetite."I'd better finish up.The small amount of canned meat he'd eaten with the tomato juice had done nothing to alleviate hunger. and he pressed his lips together until they were white. The way they glowed. their dark eyes fastened to his car.