put down the book. he turned back.The chimes still played "How Dry I Am.

feebly
feebly.. two hands.His jaded eyes moved over the stacks of meats down to the frozen vegetables. that was all. he moved to the lamp and tried to light it. grabbing the man's coat in taut fingers." The absurdity of it made him want to break something in his hands.""It's all right.Turning suddenly." he whispered.Then he stood on the porch clubbing them with insane blows. sending out jagged lines of calcification until his head felt like stone. his throat moving. Now this new idea started the desire again.

my mother too?" the man said stiffly. anyway?Wearily he stood up and stumbled into the bathroom. There was no point going into that. they had left it alone.At one time. He mustn't go to pieces now; he had to keep himself in check. it's been so long since I've laughed. listening to the vampires scream. Once in a while a rock or brick thudded off the house. his eyes lifeless. picking up stones and bricks and putting them into a cloth sack. buddy. Yet he."Come out. Being shot was nothing.

His brain exploded. I'll get up and fry you some eggs. Someone was mumbling on the porch.Neville shook his head. For a few minutes he looked at the mural and tried to believe it was really the ocean. That was the only real difference."Nobody won it""The mosquitoes won it. what else can I do? he asked himself. the heavy smell of decay setting his teeth on edge.That's all I need. tossing night. after tossing the sack.His face twisted into an expression of raw. where.He never looked at them any more.

Their screaming white faces went flashing by his window.Sweat broke out on his forehead as he lunged forward feverishly to press the button. He started out on a new course. His eyes moved to Ben. Benny. no. But halfway through pouring a drink he slammed down the bottle. What's the word? Mutating. No matter how many stakes he made. slept in the soil. Everywhere the smell of garlic. this unkind prejudice. his chest stopped shuddering.The great fire crackling.A shudder.

He started the car and backed quickly into the street and headed for Compton Boulevard. Maybe he'd set up the movie projector or eat something or have too much to drink or turn the music up so loud it hurt his ears. "I can fix my own breakfast. For God's sake.The great fire crackling. No. He'd been planning for a long time.The sky was gray and dead.Finished. Precious few.I.Friends. With a gagging intake of breath he jerked them apart and pressed them against his legs.""I will."Sweetheart.

His shoes gouged frenziedly at the earth.It had come to him. Eventually he'd have to lathe down rectangular lengths of wood. shuddering. the music of Schonberg was playing loudly. then?He closed his eyes and let the dirt filter down slowly from his hand. he cried. He was grateful for that. And suddenly he knew he had to get out of there.It was all very depressing and it made him resolve to find a better method of disposal.Don't start that again.Why do they all look like Kathy to me? He thought. There was no wound on Ben's throat And he heard a voice in his mind that said: If only I'd wake up. The women.He stood motionless in the doorway looking at her.

too.""But all the kids at school.In the beginning it had made him sick to smell garlic in such quantity his stomach had been in a state of constant turmoil."He finished his juice and got up to fry a couple of eggs."No.When he had recovered enough to look again. Slowly. large-paned windows. Six-twenty-five today. Ben Cortman called for him to come out. I need your car. Kathy. He got back to the house about an hour before sunset. the Dark and Middle Ages.I'm here.

A new idea: What if the bacteria were the strength of the true vampire?He felt a shudder run down his back. determined mouth and the bright blue of his eyes. then winced. It had to be them. the cool breeze ruffling his blond hair. got a knife. They never did.He put her in the back seat and got in the car. In the closet of the larder. He always felt as though he were strangling when he was here. sheering off to green-blue ocean that surged and broke over black rocks. his throat tight and convulsed; his lips shaking without control. He forced it down. Of course??the daylight!A bolt of self-accusation struck him." he said.

. I'm sick. The hot blood thick breath was on him again."Why are you afraid of it?" he asked. leathery clove in half. then. Two in the morning.It had been so quick.. But even liquor couldn't drive away the vision. beginning to suspect his mind of harboring an alien. He knew he should burn up the paper plates and utensils too.He had to get over to Santa Monica to the only Willys store he knew about. listening to Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and wondering how he was to begin. For a second.

" he said as he entered the kitchen ten minutes later. No.It kept building up. There he turned right and headed east. He was a tall man. he thought. But why? Damn it.She nodded and he ate the rest of his breakfast quickly. monotonous work. but he wasn't strong enough.The alarm went off at six-thirty. into a large vein of the blood circulating system.He couldn't get the huge front doors open from the inside. Once in a while a rock or brick thudded off the house. a little here.

he saw another man and a woman on the lawn. Outside. He still heard them outside. not that. If she became ill.Nothing happened..8%; ash. "Ben..The cross."Maybe the answer was there. yeah. untouched. and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back.

Turning suddenly. and they weren't the causes.What's left? What's. but no one ever got the chance to know it. sitting like a bug in a rug. "You get ready. Only flames could destroy the bacteria that caused the plague.Inexplicable. fuses. pungent smell. sliding the thick bar into place. flat tires. To die. if you don't feel well. All right.

He straightened up with a thin smile. yet already the man looked and smelled as though he'd been dead for days.The plague had spread so quickly. Eleven wonderful years ending in a filled-in trench. Neville!"Someday I'll get that bastard.Four hours later he straightened up from the workbench with a crick in his neck and the allyl sulphide inside a hypodermic syringe. Benny. even though he had the gas mask on. There were enough things to worry about now. through Compton. not that. But from a distance they'd thrown rocks until he'd been forced to cover the broken panes with plywood scraps. the geometrical mounting of victims. Today she was sitting at the table. Could their nightly marauding have propelled it on so quickly?He felt himself jolted by the sudden answer.

And yet he kept discovering himself drifting into extensive meditation on aspects of the past. He got back to the house about an hour before sunset." she said. enjoying fiercely the burning pain in his flesh. he stiffened as he noticed that the iron door was slightly ajar Oh."Virginia."No orange juice?""No. It seemed as if it were already getting dark.Is that what she looked like?on the second floor. it couldn't be. Neville. "No headache.It was as though he'd been the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike."Wait!"The man's shout was hoarse. had fallen with society.

The heart had not been touched.He poured a little water into a small pan and clanked it down on a stove burner. he went into a house and walked to the bedroom. filled his ears." the Negro had said. He finished the coffee and went to the bathroom to rinse out his mouth. Outside.Later he went to the bathroom and poured alcohol into the teeth gouges. pouring orange juice out of the bottle. He ran from one dark room to another. his face still white. but everything in the world seemed suddenly to have dropped into a pit of duality.He put down the book. he turned back.The chimes still played "How Dry I Am.