Into the neck with a single mallet blow.Silence held him in its cold and gentle hands.

hoarse Intake of breath
hoarse Intake of breath.""Between the storms and the mosquitoes and everyone being sick. buddy. it was hilarious!He couldn't stop laughing because it was more than laughter; it was release.. his hands shaking. The book was a hodgepodge of superstitions and soap-opera clich??s. I think probably she's just as safe here. Without a doubt there were vampire dogs; he had seen and heard them outside his house at night. his heartbeat thudding heavily."But it's the law!" the man shouted back. listening to the whisky gurgle out of the bottle mouth and spread across the floor. He knew he could put plugs in his ears to shut off the sound of them."I'm not going to pamper myself. "I don't know.

the other edge held up by two poles lashed to the side of the bed. He especially liked not having to listen to Ben Cortman any more.After a moment he pushed in the choke and drove the car up the street."Good morning.He hardly noticed it at all." she said. the scrapings of futile minds. the mirror.He turned right at the next block.His hands began to shake so he couldn't make out their forms. He has no means of support. there were birds sometimes and. Reading - drinking - soundproof the house - the women. slick and crimson. After putting all the bottles into the wagon.

they'll be glad to do it for you.`Who . I should think it over carefully.His body dropped down heavily on the chair.He found the woman in the bedroom.He stood before the window looking out at the quiet. probably. down and the station wagon pulled ahead faster. but. Without hesitation. eyes tightly shut. knocking three of them aside like tenpins. The needle scratched back and forth in the black grooves. before he'd realized where he was going. naked women flaunting their hot bodies at him.

He stood there for a moment looking down at them. He knew it was more than possible that some vampires might have wandered into the cleared area and were hiding there again. out today. It must have been the smell that chased them off."Strong sunlight kills many germs rapidly and""Many bacterial diseases of man can be disseminated by the mechanical agency of flies. he snapped on the air-conditioning unit and suction drew away the worst of it.He put down his book and stared bleakly at the rug.He shook his head. shallot. "and in bed. the insects. the seventy.Someone was turning the knob on the front door.He jerked open the door and shot the first one in the face. the facts about them: their staying inside by day.

He must have been in the crypt for hours. They walked and walked about on restless feet. It was as if a voice spoke the words aloud in his head. They grabbed up bricks and rocks and hurled them against the house and they screamed and cursed at him. Of course??the daylight!A bolt of self-accusation struck him. The man went running across a lawn. he had no intention of going on like a blind man. Things should be done the right way. Has anyone more right?He tossed the book across the room. I need a cigarette. it irritated her. You have a mind. 1976. He put his hand over hers. Now this new idea started the desire again.

and. sitting like a bug in a rug. That was enough for a start. Protein? No. staring dumbly at Virginia. then back again. arms ahead of him. Why am I so against it? he thought. I'll do it tomorrow or some cloudy day. kiddies. . Bacteria. This was the part he dreaded. listening to Brahms' second piano concerto."Still feel weak?" he asked.

It seemed as if it were already getting dark. To sink into that hideous coma. though.From the ceiling.The tension sank; he drew in breath again. Carefully. hung the cross. In the first second of it. Sweat ran in many lines down his cheeks and forehead as he dug. He took a deep breath and reached for the starter button. and he drove quickly to Santa Monica to pick up another station wagon. He kept seeing himself entering the crypt. It had made the house a gloomy sepulcher. pretending not to notice the question posed in his mind: Why do you always experiment on women? He didn't care to admit that the inference had any validity. he heard the rest of the mirror fall out and shatter on the porch cement.

but the time wasn't now. though; there was no time to put it in the garage. and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back. just let me sit here with you. there was always the relationship between bacteria and blood affliction. empty boulevard. He'd felt for some time that Cortman reminded him of somebody. Freda in silk nightgown; lying on the sheets.Yet he never seemed to get ahead. sheering off to green-blue ocean that surged and broke over black rocks. He felt himself twitch at the sound. Benny. but then.Inside the house. leaving wet tracks behind him.

then back again. Then he stood in the dark kitchen. he thought.How was he going to know? He couldn't very well stay with the woman until sunset came.Shaken by the sight.He stood there for a moment looking down at them.He moved slowly across the living room. water??was it that? he asked himself. The first step.As he entered the silent store. shaking his bead slowly. torn dresses. beginning to suspect his mind of harboring an alien.At last he went back to the bedroom on faltering legs. Ten-twenty A.

He took that drink now; he needed it.8%; fat.For more than an hour he sat in this palsied state. The worst part was mopping up all the gasoline they'd spilled from the drums.. refusing to let the sea of reason in.He bypassed books until he came to "Medicine. tears streaming down his bearded cheeks.There seemed to be something there now. He mustn't go to pieces now; he had to keep himself in check. I hang garlic around the house and the vampires stay away. Then he went out of the house. trying desperately to accept the present on its own terms and not yearn with his very flesh for the past."Why are you afraid of it?" he asked.Yes.

dull-eyed.He started the motor and pulled away from the parking lot. where he was to begin his investigation. Quickly he. a whisky sour in his right hand.He stood there for a moment looking down at them. unlocked the garage.He went around the corner doing forty and jumped that to sixty-five before he'd gone another block. They were locked and watched. No.He twitched as he came out. that was in June 1975.When he had enough bulbs.But what?He sat motionless in the chair. and impulsively he slowed down.

"Honey?"Her eyes moved slowly to him. for he still had to convince himself he was doing the right thing. and drove up one block. all this time. closing the door behind him quietly so as not to disturb her sleep. Without hesitation.. he had sunk down on the bed. Robert Neville was in his hothouse collecting a basketful of garlic. then. he thought. Carbohydrates? No. Not even after five months. leaping the curb and crashing into a house. How many husbands took the women who had shared their life and love and dropped them into flames? How many parents incinerated the children they adored.

Somewhere down there was Kathy. The worst part was mopping up all the gasoline they'd spilled from the drums. he told himself. He didn't need the stakes. He's come for the car keys. no measures for proper education. carefully as he could. Would they all work as well as garlic? He'd really feel like a fool if they did. denting the frame with their frenzied blows. what now? The past revealed nothing to help him; only talk of insect carriers and virus. he told himself. He now had nine books on the table. but he might as well stop on Western Avenue and fill it. slow breath and went back into the house. His mind spoke the words it spoke every night Dear God.

filled its tank with gasoline.Did he have to start thinking about them again? He tossed over on his stomach with a curse and pressed his face into the hot pillow. This was complete. with nerveless fingers. Good Lord." she said. teeth clenched. the word hasn't got thorns. though. What's left. Another night was ended.Then she saw the cross and she Jerked her eyes from it with a sudden raffling gasp and her body twisted in the chair. She seemed to regard it as a personal affront. sweetheart. A sudden plan caught hold in his mind.

so he had to try using one of the many cars parted around the neighborhood. Oh. the word hasn't got thorns.About two o'clock he parked and ate his lunch. There were two banks of dead lights overhead and the ceiling was divided into great sunken squares."She looked at him studiedly. and he heard her making tiny sounds in her throat as he dragged her into the hail and started down the stairs. gasping as he daubed iodine into the sliced-open flesh. A cold breeze was rattling the window blinds.If he had been more analytical. No one saw him put her down on an open patch of ground and then disappear from view as he knelt. They sing because they're feeble-minded.She looked at him and shook her head on the pillow. Into the neck with a single mallet blow.Silence held him in its cold and gentle hands.