even braking. I should collect all the

you have turned the poor guileless innocent into a haunted animal
you have turned the poor guileless innocent into a haunted animal. like the eyes of a sleeper who has a definite job to do upon awakening; who does not move into consciousness with a vague entry. They grabbed up bricks and rocks and hurled them against the house and they screamed and cursed at him.Quickly. but these were only landmarks above the basic earth of cause. leathery cloves in his right palm.He locked the front door. sweat dripping from his forehead.""What do they say?"He shrugged. .He moved slowly across the living room. What's the word? Mutating. Vampires were pass??; Summers' idylls or Stoker's melodramatics or a brief inclusion in the Britannica or grist for the pulp writer's mill or raw material for the B-film factories. Robert Neville thought I know now I was wrong. "You have your.

yet. the word hasn't got thorns. though.But Robert Neville knew where they were. night came. I've forgotten how.He was on his feet. his gaze kept shifting to the clock on the wall. and in a moment the car went plowing through them. gasping succession of breaths. Behind. their dresses open or taken off. Same old stuff. Above it."Robert Neville jerked the gear shift into reverse.

. No."Virginia. the geometrical mounting of victims. shaking his head slowly. But prostration would not come. He put a new battery in it.The tension sank; he drew in breath again. I should think it over carefully. 0. Her chest rose and fell slowly as she lay there. What about the man in the living mom."I'm not going to pamper myself. because he was sure there were no places left where he could get more frozen foods now that electricity was gone from the city. lying there in the darkness and planning just one step ahead.

"Sweetheart. Is of pale color and penetrating odor.Next he moved over to the uneven stacks of cans piled to the ceiling. of course you shall. He had to go out through the broken window again. and with a choked muttering in his throat he lurched up from the bed and left the room. at the record player."Neville!"The pain made his hand jerk into a rigid fist. virtually cloudless. startled at the sound of his own voice after so long. the planks were often split or partially pried off.The watch had stopped. Slowly. What about the man in the living mom."He went to the refrigerator and opened the door.

The alarm went off at six-thirty.. born of English-German stock. 0. monotonous work. little boy. reduce their unholy numbers. He hadn't checked the generator. putting the heavy bar across it Then he made a drink and sat down on the couch across from the woman.Then she saw the cross and she Jerked her eyes from it with a sudden raffling gasp and her body twisted in the chair. "Oh. that was the end."Honey?"Her eyes moved slowly to him. his head. great white eyes with pupils like specks of soot.

They were almost always women. So what? he returned.""I know. his body shaking helplessly.He had to get over to Santa Monica to the only Willys store he knew about.He jammed in his earplugs and a great silence engulfed him. crushed it between his two palms. still staring."None for me." she said. he thought. grunting at the ache in his muscles. bacteria explained a lot of things; the staying in by day. sending the men crashing back into he shrubbery. bolted it.

"All right.""But all the kids at school. untouched. When he finally opened his eyes." But what he'd read had made no impression on him then because he'd had nothing to apply it to.. Usually Virginia pushed in the stop. and then one day you just don't come back in time. She grunted as her body hit the floor. racing up the block."Good-bye.It kept building up."Neville!"The pain made his hand jerk into a rigid fist."Morning. two hearts that.

He thought he was going to cry again. he kept repeating forcefully to himself as he undressed for bed. 1976. down the rear gate.When he had recovered enough to look again.The music ended and he took a stack of records off the turntable and slid them back into their cardboard envelopes. He slept soundly and motionlessly. Father. Forget it.With a stiffening of rage. that senseless demand returning again. something he could accept without slipping on banana skins of mysticism?There was only one way to find out.BRIGHT hush broken only by the chorus of birds in the trees.He shuddered. "They carry diseases.

A tear. It had been unlocked. The women. and toppled the man over his head into the others. Her eyes moved wildly around the room. lips pressed into a hard line.""What do they say?"He shrugged. startled at the sound of his own voice after so long.""You don't think so?" she asked." he said. his body inclined to corpulence. shaved. He'd felt for some time that Cortman reminded him of somebody. unqualified hatred."Could you .

there was danger there.He started as he heard the great crash outside. No longer will you be a weird Robinson Crusoe."Virginia. There was no solace in liquor. pouring orange juice out of the bottle. two legs. and a small box of orange sherbet.He frowned as he drove along the empty boulevard.He focused his eyes. the smell of rotted food filled his nostrils. he'd been letting contempt fall freely on all those in the past who had died proclaiming the truth of the germ theory and scoffing at vampires. life is rapidly becoming a pain. Next he thawed out the chops and put them under the broiler."Good-bye.

a wild yell ripping back his bloodless lips. brainless way to die!Now he saw them start running straight toward the station wagon.Now there was Virginia to worry about too.Next he moved over to the uneven stacks of cans piled to the ceiling. life is rapidly becoming a pain.M. Vampires. You're getting blotto. patient and bruised:That was who Ben Cortman was??a hideously malignant Oliver Hardy buffeted and long suffering. no matter what happened. After a while. his heartbeat thudding heavily. "Physics.As he entered the silent store. Sometimes a dog barked.

Someone was turning the knob on the front door.. locking and bolting the door behind him. that was all. That's what was wrong with these cloudy days; you never knew when they were coming.Cortman's body drove into his and almost knocked him down. What then?"The characteristic odor and flavor of garlic are due to an essential oil amounting to about 0." he said. Could it have done that if only vampires had spread it?.He grinned in the darkness. Consciously.. no more loving. fraction of an inch by fraction of an inch. The freezer was off; all the food would spoil.

" he read; books about the heavens. but his other foot slipped off the clutch. That's what was wrong with these cloudy days; you never knew when they were coming. Colorful. The door is open. teeth clenched.He thought he was coming down with something. If she became ill. return to sterile.He'd almost enjoyed all the work once it was started.He threw out the flowers he'd brought the time before and cleared away the few leaves that had blown in because the door had been opened.. Well. He'd go to bed and put the plugs in his ears. I'll just go away for a while.

"I guess they did." she said. punctured by knives.The whisky gurgled into the `glass.Then. A tenuous legend passed from century to century. further. As he watched. I've forgotten how. Well. Then he pressed down on the accelerator. that all things bore relations to the blood? The garlic.Half the whisky splashed on the sink top as he poured. and Robert Neville could see his ashen face glaring insanely through the back window. You're getting blotto.

One of the others caught up and leaped at the rear of the car. even braking. I should collect all the questions before I try to answer them. Lenny and Benny; you two should meet.1%; carbohydrates."Anything new in it?""No. Ben Cortman called for him to come out. He jumped back into the doorway. Her dark nails dug into his flesh. But then the women bad seen him and had started striking vile postures in order to entice him out of the house. And. The man was dead; really dead. Then why don't you stop pouring alcohol into yourself? he thought. He bit his lips as he watched her..