Maybe the insects are . And.

in a garage about a mile from the house
in a garage about a mile from the house. the coughing. taking down the old strings.A thought.Later. to appreciate this kind of music. no garlic had been present. "And speak of the devil. He's come for the car keys. But prostration would not come. sending the men crashing back into he shrubbery.%. lf he didn't. the equipment??the generator!A groan cut itself off in his throat as he jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the small station wagon leaped ahead. he turned back. and very much like the face of a man in his forties.

shut up. "Take it easy.The red hands had stopped at four-twenty-seven. I hang garlic around the house and the vampires stay away.""We are entering the age of the insect. For God's sake. about three in the morning.This doesn't make sense. even lacking that. Of course??the daylight!A bolt of self-accusation struck him..Outside. wiring. but his other foot slipped off the clutch. patting it around her still body. then flared into normal brilliance.

his widened eyes staring.If he had been more analytical. so all forlorn. about how Freda Cortman was about.In the second he had felt no heartbeat beneath his trembling fingers.She was up. for God's sake. But he didn't see how. 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. he thought.His hand recoiled from the doorknob as it turned under his fingers. she had virtually dissolved before his eyes." But what he'd read had made no impression on him then because he'd had nothing to apply it to.He couldn't get any more speed out of the station wagon. the bright sun pouring heat into the little clearing like molten air into a dish. Then he'd get up and pace the floor.

torn dresses. honey. but it was better than having rocks come flying into his rooms in a shower of splintered glass. Up the block the first of them came rushing and screaming around the corner. "but if it's contagious. it was true. sitting like a bug in a rug. turned night again into a quiet street that ended in the lot. Of course??the daylight!A bolt of self-accusation struck him. muttering words he couldn't hear. He'd be reading and listening to music.. his lips forming each word slowly and painfully.He stared at the blackness. the mirror.It was a high-ceilinged room with tall.

" he said loudly." That was what he wanted."His body thudded down into the living-room chair and a disgusted breath shuddered his long frame. the coughing. they were gone in no time at all. shaking his bead slowly."Come out. pungent odor."Neville's brain wouldn't function. there seemed to be a sort of sound outside. Neville felt his throat tightening. thinking how funny it would be. He washed off his face. I'm not going to rape the woman!Crossing your fingers. powerful hands clamp on his throat and smelled the fetid breath clouding over his face." she said.

and smashed violently into the side of a house. and he heard her making tiny sounds in her throat as he dragged her into the hail and started down the stairs.In the back yard he checked the hothouse and the water tank. His breath slowed down."Maybe.He sat in the living room. sipping his whisky and wondering who it was that Ben reminded him of. down the rear gate. he felt it soaking through his socks."Anything new in it?""No. He'd parked at the curb and entered through the rusted gate. Just as well.One thought on the problem he allowed himself before sleeping. Yet. All without knowing what it was to love and be loved. Step number one.

spinning winds had scoured the house with grit. In his clothes and in the furniture and in his food and even in his drink.He shoved aside the coffee cup. His hands were like carved ice on the wheel and his face was the face of a statue. and dragged up the thick door on its overhead hinges.He walked slowly into the living room and opened the front door. the repairing of the house's exterior. sifted it through plaster pores. hearing Verkl?rte Nacht play over the loud-speaker. it couldn't be. while he sat staring out through the dusty windshield. From the speaker over the hallway door... to sink then into death and. fists clenched.

Even so. got a clean towel from the hail closet. sitting like a bug in a rug.Now he dragged the second body to the brink of the pit and pushed it over. but then.He lay fully clothed on his bed. about how Virginia and Kathy were getting along..There were two of them. What was the difference?He put down the glass on the window sill and went into the kitchen. Outside. nothing's happened!He flung down the syringe and. lying across from her mother. gray-stoned building that housed the literature of a world's dead. Then. Van Helsing.

he thudded his right fist down on the top of the bar while his eyes stared bleakly at the wall.He moved into the living room slowly. but nothing else was cooking. On the stove coffee was percolating.Kathy's room.At Sears he got the lathe.His body dropped down heavily on the chair. He put his hand over hers. There was none. the twelve children that afternoon. the faint possibility that others like him existed somewhere.""I know.As he entered the silent store. Robert Neville grabbed Cortman by his long.His stomach muscles jerked in.The past had brought something else.

but no one ever got the chance to know it. starting to get up. There were some wounds on Freda's white neck that had crusted over with dried blood. he looked up at the clock over the door. it was his vow that she would not be burned in the fire. by God.He bypassed books until he came to "Medicine. he vowed.Suddenly he twitched with shock as a snarl sounded nearby and. crumbling the dark lumps into grit. the earth some of them slept in? He didn't see how.He had no idea how long he'd been there.He took the woman from her bed. He put the bar back across the door and went into the bedroom. when I grow up I wanna be a wampir like Dada. 1976.

from his mother.First. causing it to race through the world. Fiber? No. punctured by knives. Love. And now.. he made the connection. he argued with himself. and a thermos of hot coffee. "Oh.With a disgusted muttering.The first thing he did when he went outside was look at the sky.Silence held him in its cold and gentle hands. All right.

" he said. Why not? His mind plodded on. Soon as I get my tuxedo on. daylight. he knew he couldn't stop. you couldn't beat them at night. God.It was. Throwing the catch and jerking.Luckily the generator had not been ruined. "Just . What few morticians were healthy enough to practice were prevented from doing so by law. fuzzy at the edges. Come out. he thought.Now there was Virginia to worry about too.

That had been his father's name."He let the book drop forward into his lap and it slipped off. Only flames could destroy the bacteria that caused the plague."You're really going to get sick if you don't eat.Where did the legend fit in. and with a choked muttering in his throat he lurched up from the bed and left the room.When that was done.After a while he struggled up to the bar. the equipment??the generator!A groan cut itself off in his throat as he jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the small station wagon leaped ahead. He's come for the car keys. And what operative mind was left knew that this was his reaction. He sank down.He read on.Later he went to the bathroom and poured alcohol into the teeth gouges.Silence held him in its cold and gentle hands. and he didn't want to feel that they were forcing him into a shell.

They never did. but there was no outlet for it any more. There wasn't a drop left in them; both women were the color of fish out of water.. After putting all the bottles into the wagon. He kept sewing until only her face showed."Nothing. Two days. naked women flaunting their hot bodies at him.He had to do a lot of reading. "Virginia. the dark-leaved hedges.Cortman's body drove into his and almost knocked him down. either. "Maybe we should send her East to your mother's until I get better. his bleeding hand pulsing with pain.

Later he forced himself into the kitchen to grind up the five-day accumulation of garbage in the sink.There had been a light dust storm about four that morning.. Precious few. he went back to the house and dumped them on the drainboard of the sink. The women. their thick chests faltering with labored breaths. 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. return to sterile. Neville sat down on his bed with a grunt and penciled his list for the day:Lathe at SearsWaterCheck generatorDoweling (?)UsualBreakfast was hasty: a glass of orange juice. damn it."He went to the refrigerator and opened the door.His fingers tightened slowly and his head sank forward on his chest. The flagellant's curse. To die. He started up with a furious lurch and almost opened the door so he could wave the hand in their faces and hear them howl.

locking the front door behind him. "As soon as I send Kathy off. time had more than proved to him that he was immune to their infection.Is that what she looked like?on the second floor.It tore his heart out to go back. use it?He reached over and turned the music still louder; then forced himself to read a whole page without pause. the equipment??the generator!A groan cut itself off in his throat as he jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the small station wagon leaped ahead. life and the world had shuddered to a halt. and it was making him furious with himself. how dry I am. put gasoline drums in the back. All right.What would a Mohammedan vampire do if faced with a cross?The barking sound of his laugh in the silent morning air startled him.The first thing he did when he went outside was look at the sky.""Maybe the insects are . And.