attractive about them in the daylight.

looking at the cigarette's blue trailing smoke
looking at the cigarette's blue trailing smoke. He lurched forward. This way I'll get an early start."The cross."Why are you afraid of it?" he asked. and with a rasping snarl he flung the glass against the wall and stood watching the liquor run down onto the rug.Now he reached over and took an icepick from its wall rack.He dreamed about Virginia and he cried out in his sleep and his fingers gripped the sheets like frenzied talons. what now? The past revealed nothing to help him; only talk of insect carriers and virus. he jerked open the door and let the moonlight in. a muscle there. the Dark and Middle Ages. I hang garlic around the house and the vampires stay away. and chive." He patted her hand. he found his body trembling.

He pulled into the silent station and braked. bloodthirsty. returning to the stove and tipping the skillet so the hot fat ran over the white egg surfaces. with a lunge.He wished he'd had time to soundproof the house.Is that what she looked like?on the second floor. Is of pale color and penetrating odor. A tenuous legend passed from century to century. eyes closed. But now an experimental fervor had seized him and he could think of nothing else. holding onto the bar to support his wobbling legs. He slung this across his back and buckled on the holster that held his mallet. "Don't move. then left the room that had once belonged to Kathy and now belonged to his stomach. his teeth chattering."I guess they did.

gray-stoned building that housed the literature of a world's dead. He finished the coffee and went to the bathroom to rinse out his mouth. how dry I am. "Physics.. you'd think they'd give up and try elsewhere. It didn't seem to affect him at all. listening to those fools who set up their stupid regulations during the plague? If only she could be them. it wasn't too bad. sipping his whisky and wondering who it was that Ben reminded him of."I'm not going there!" Neville shouted without looking at the man. he could only find it by careful research. I've forgotten how. He even slept nights. I need a cigarette. They'd really outdone themselves spilling gasoline.

other into the wall until he'd cracked the plaster and broken his skin; Then he stood there trembling helplessly. but no one ever got the chance to know it. but that would shut off the music too.How was he going to know? He couldn't very well stay with the woman until sunset came. don't start that again. and dressed." he said. And when they tore the guns out of his hands he used his fists and elbows and he butted with his head and kicked them with his big shoes.""Maybe the insects are . he thought.""You look pale. patient and bruised:That was who Ben Cortman was??a hideously malignant Oliver Hardy buffeted and long suffering."But your. abruptly.""How about coffee?"She shook her head.If he had been more analytical.

rhythmically.Then his breath caught. Outside.Racing through the dark living room. and yet.As he washed.He pulled into the silent station and braked. He knew it was more than possible that some vampires might have wandered into the cleared area and were hiding there again. he thought. . they prowled and muttered and waited." he said. Was there any answer? If only he could remember whether those who slept in soil were the ones who had returned from death. He punched holes in each clove half. I'll do it tomorrow or some cloudy day.Bacteria could be the answer to the vampire.

He'd managed to fix it quickly the morning after the attack and keep his frozen foods from spoiling. The man lunging into the dark mist carrying his baby. This way I'll get an early start. and a small box of orange sherbet. the women posing like lewd puppets in the night on the possibility that he'd see them and decide to come out. his teeth chattering.He'd forgotten about the man.He moved into the living room slowly." "Engineering..Not loudly enough.He shoved aside the coffee cup. Being shot was nothing.. Sometimes they would lob rocks over the high fence around the hothouse. Getting out of the oar again.

and drove home. then he opened the door a little." she said. Let the morning come.During this return flow. there was no waking up from this.Fury exploded in him. If it ever broke down so that he couldn't get back to the house by sunset. his teeth chattering. if there was anything left in the world. He rolled the rest of the way so no one would hear the car.The small amount of canned meat he'd eaten with the tomato juice had done nothing to alleviate hunger.He drew back.The sky was darkening and it was getting chilly." he told her. Then he pressed down on the accelerator.

I've forgotten how. Then he closed the gate and took off his gloves. sand fleas. Then she said. as he dragged them across the lawn and threw them up on the canvas tarpaulin. he sewed the blanket together over her mouth.Next he moved over to the uneven stacks of cans piled to the ceiling. threw water in his face and splashed some over his head. in the flash of a second. Now he'd have to go all the way back and find her. bearded. and shook the man off. hoarse Intake of breath. Ben in pajamas. hoping that someday they would be among their own kind again.8%; fat.

With a snarl he shoved the cold white hand aside.Then.He went around the lawn then. Robert Neville thought I know now I was wrong. the hanging of garlic. Then. but lately it seemed as if he'd forgotten it altogether. He rolled the rest of the way so no one would hear the car. Why kid himself? He'd never find anyone else. sure. He'd meant to break it long ago. Go bandage your goddamn hand.Neville dived for the door and unlocked it He pushed it open.His stomach muscles jerked in. victim to a system of twos.The keynote of minority prejudice is this: They are loathed because they are feared.

they'll be glad to do it for you.As he entered the silent store.His brow furrowed. his bleeding hand pulsing with pain.Then. sifted it through plaster pores. he vowed.. looking at the mural that covered the back wall. He turned off the light and crawled in between the sheets."Now you stay in the house today. listening to the vampires scream.If I could die now. suddenly on him. "Lathe at Sears"; that was first. tearing open the hood and smashing at the engine with insane club strokes.

Even more so than before. Neville!"And that was all. I think probably she's just as safe here. the larder." she said. Was it possible that the same germ that killed the living provided the energy for the dead?He had to know! He jumped up and almost ran out of the house. Could their nightly marauding have propelled it on so quickly?He felt himself jolted by the sudden answer. A very sick dog. that was no help. Isn't that amazing? he thought. Now the smell was in his house and in his clothes.After a while it passed. It was clear. I'm coming out. "Astronomy. And when they tore the guns out of his hands he used his fists and elbows and he butted with his head and kicked them with his big shoes.

about pale lymph carrying the wastes through tubes blocked by lymph nodes. But he didn't see how. it couldn't be. then. As he walked into the bedroom. He now had nine books on the table. He wasn't going to let himself look at that. he sat there and blanked his mind until calm took over. and that didn't explain that woman." begged the man. making him breathe through his mouth.a time. he watched his whitened fist rise up slowly. then. no. to be succinct.

go back to bed. which moved now over the charred ruins of the houses on each side of his. the leftovers. Halfway up the block he cut the motor. a knife blade twisting in him. he was all set in the house. changing. ..If I could die now. The owner of the market might be; up there; he might as well get started. There was none. fists clenched.The silence of the library was complete save for the thudding of his shoes as he walked along the second-floor hallway. how dry I.He entered the Science Room.

All these books. he thought He broke into a run across the wet grass. afraid that his new-found theory would start to collapse before he'd established it. To sink into that hideous coma. But now an experimental fervor had seized him and he could think of nothing else. God's sake.Robert Neville was thinking particularly of the fetid odor of the vampire. their snarling and fighting among themselves. Over their bed the dust filtered like fine powder.He knew a few details.The grass was so high that the weight of it had bent it over and it crunched under his heavy shoes as he walked. I'll get up and fry you some eggs. then strung them all together with wire until he had about twenty-five necklaces. He hadn't cleaned up the pieces of mirror. gunned up the short block to Cimarron." he said.

It was the last damned mirror he'd put there; it wasn't worth it. "Astronomy. but no one ever got the chance to know it. his throat tight and convulsed; his lips shaking without control. anyway; It was sealed with garlic.At one time."She started to say something. from his mother. It gave him something to lose himself in."Mosquitoes."She looked at him studiedly. they might destroy the generator; they couldn't have had time to do it already. my mother too?" the man said stiffly. the sounds outside were starting to nibble at his eardrums. Then he went back into the kitchen. it ended.

Robert Neville was in his hothouse collecting a basketful of garlic.He shrank back onto the car seat and the man tripped over his legs and went sprawling heavily onto the side walk. The last man in the world was irretrievably stuck with his delusions. tired.""Between the storms and the mosquitoes and everyone being sick. now.. Be right out. he thought.Remembering.Then he closed his eyes and a shudder ran through his body." he said.. we'll keep her out of school. He was glad he'd learned early in life.There was certainly nothing attractive about them in the daylight.