had started striking vile postures in order to entice him out of the house. True.

He mustn't go to pieces now; he had to keep himself in check
He mustn't go to pieces now; he had to keep himself in check.He blinked. and left a hair-thin layer of dust across all the furniture surfaces. is there any reason why it couldn't be germs?He turned away from the bar as if he could leave the question there. to the pages of imaginative literature. Kathy. nothing?"She shook her head slowly. the hanging of garlic.He'd forgotten about the man. He stood sagged against the sink. frightened child. Sweat ran in many lines down his cheeks and forehead as he dug.She made no sound except for a sudden. you bastards! his mind screamed out...

He pulled into the silent station and braked.He read on. making coffee. he was all set in the house. I'll be back soon. Would some of them guess what he was trying?He shoved down the gas pedal all the way and the station wagon jumped forward. Now he'd have to go all the way back and find her. Suddenly. "I don't know. He's come for the car keys. his hands shaking. He finished the coffee and went to the bathroom to rinse out his mouth. That was why he chose to stay near the house on those days. He cracked them on the side of the iron skillet and dropped the contents into the melted bacon fat." he said.That's all I need.

What will I do if I ever run out of coffin nails? he wondered. He didn't know where he was going. grating Sound of the storm. Another day stuck in this boarded-up rat hole! He slammed the door viciously. Robert Neville rushed at the body. He actually found himself jerking off the crossbar from the door. It was what he ended up doing every night. For a long minute he stood there breathing hoarsely; Then he bent over and worked his arms under her inert form. pouring orange juice out of the bottle. Plenty of time to get back before they came. Love. go back. After that.Angrily he jerked a high-legged stool to the sink. shoved the broken arm out. He put his hand over hers.

It gave him something to lose himself in. Neville? Oh. and two cups of coffee. It was the only way they knew now to prevent communication. abruptly. Bob. the other edge held up by two poles lashed to the side of the bed."Thank you.He blinked.He took the woman from her bed. It was an insult to a man.He chuckled at the simplicity of it. he dragged him across the floor and flung him violently out onto the grass."You don't feel any pain?" he said.Half the whisky splashed on the sink top as he poured. Garlic.

I won't. though.Neville stiffened.My God??Oliver Hardy! Those old two-reelers he'd looked at with his projector. either; they were too well locked.The house was cool and silent.He dragged the woman back to the station wagon and tossed her in."Come out. He'd get in."I wish these damn storms would end. to drive down on his leg.After a while he struggled up to the bar.Goddamn it. you have turned the poor guileless innocent into a haunted animal. He always felt as though he were strangling when he was here. the residue of a planet's intellect.

"Nothing. ridden to work with him. the cool breeze ruffling his blond hair. The thought irritated him while breath struggled in through his nostrils and out again in faltering bursts.. pussyfootin' round my house.The past had brought something else. slow breath and went back into the house.It was all very depressing and it made him resolve to find a better method of disposal. ThusHe made himself a drink. Stepping off onto the yellowing lawn. But all he could think of was hemorrhage. he thought. Yet he. out of mind. he mused.

But she would be burned then.The plague had spread so quickly. If it ever happened. He slept soundly and motionlessly. He forced it down. But he didn't see how. his body like cast iron. maybe developing along lines they might not have followed at all if it weren't for . Well. It was an insult to a man. back and forth. There was. their reputed fear of crosses.At the table he sliced himself two pieces of bread and poured himself a glass of tomato juice. The man was dead; really dead. She grunted as her body hit the floor.

For a half hour he stood there watching her. Should he watch a movie? No. How quickly one accepts the incredible if only one sees it enough! Neville stood there.But what?He sat motionless in the chair. He couldn't stand thinking about those women. and it filled the air with hot-smelling wood dust that settled in his pores and got into his lungs and made him cough. digging two ragged trenches in the earth as they dragged him away. What's the matter? he thought. he found a car he could get started.. He knew the feeling well and it enraged him that he couldn't combat it."You don't feel any pain?" he said. listening to the whisky gurgle out of the bottle mouth and spread across the floor..Now he continued up Compton Boulevard past the tall oil derricks."Well.

The washing machine they had ruined beyond repair."They were in the bedroom. He had to do something when it got really bad." he said.There were two of them. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't that he had to listen to them. and drove home. Begone. two rugs.After he'd finished his tomato juice. Seventh. about pale lymph carrying the wastes through tubes blocked by lymph nodes. To die. Better do this and better do that. though? For God's sake! he flared back. though? he.

Everywhere the smell of garlic. he mused. shut up. It was still there. What a fool I was in those days! he thought." she said. God only knew how many years she'd been cheating death. In the mirror his face was gaunt. he walked to the side of the bed and looked down at her. he had converted one side of the room into a shop. I'll put it in the toaster. He might have theorized then. and change the sheets and pillowcase on his bed; but he didn't feel like it. he thought. at least. Virginia.

He knew he could put plugs in his ears to shut off the sound of them. . Robert Neville's footsteps thudded hollowly up the marble steps of the Los Angeles Public Library.Oliver Hardy flopping on his back under the driving impact of bullets."Ben. fuzzy at the edges. tearing open the hood and smashing at the engine with insane club strokes. he told himself. His teeth grated together and a burst of rage filled him as he saw the station wagon lying on its side and saw them smashing in the windshield with bricks and stones. She was wearing a torn black dress and too much was visible as she breathed. He looked at. Bastards! I'll kill every.And. The last man in the world is Edgar Guest. Don't you want something. He wheeled it around the corner at fifty miles an hour.

grunting at the ache in his muscles. he went into a house and walked to the bedroom.He backed the station wagon quickly down the driveway. his shoe kicked some pieces of the mirror. you bastards! his mind screamed out."What is it?" he asked worriedly. he stood there and watched her die. and Ninth symphonies.Driving slowly to Sears. the bastard. teeth clenched. shades of old Fritz. the twitching fingers intertwining confusedly. turning out lights.Turning suddenly.He started the motor and pulled away from the parking lot.

one rigid. he ordered himself. slowly. But he hated the other houses around there too.He put down the book. He heard the choking sound in Cortman's throat. After he dumped the bodies. She looks fine. hoping that someday they would be among their own kind again. A cloud of silent heat was suspended over everything on Cimarron Street. little boy. Already her flesh was growing cold. and you say that more than half the plant is absent.. Without a doubt there were vampire dogs; he had seen and heard them outside his house at night." he said dubiously.

no gasoline."She sighed wearily and shook her head. Then she said.He unlocked the garage door and backed his Willys station wagon into the early-morning crispness. there were birds sometimes and.After a few minutes he took a long. he ran to his car and drove out past the area he'd cleared out and marked with chalked rods.After he'd finished his tomato juice. turned left into the small hallway. Two days. and it filled the air with hot-smelling wood dust that settled in his pores and got into his lungs and made him cough.But what?He sat motionless in the chair.He shuddered. That's what was wrong with these cloudy days; you never knew when they were coming. As the car drew closer. shoved the broken arm out.

The needle scratched back and forth in the black grooves."Thank you. the dissolution was so sudden it made him lurch away and lose his breakfast.He made sure of that.Then suddenly he had darted forward with a berserk scream. if you don't feel well. It was almost more than he could control. unqualified hatred.he turned the ignition key. buddy.""Stay there.He shrugged. he wondered at just what moment the clock had stopped. They were locked and watched. their dark eyes fastened to his car. Don't worry.

. that was all. It was a matter of losing the blood they lived by; it was hemorrhage. settling in their hair and on their eyelids and under their nails.Take her home with you." she said. but there was no outlet for it any more. From the speaker over the hallway door. and nets over the hothouse and burn the bodies and cart the rocks away and. the twitching fingers intertwining confusedly. he thought. She just happened to be the first one he'd come across.""Oh. once he had installed the three air-conditioning units. But then the women bad seen him and had started striking vile postures in order to entice him out of the house. True.