his heavy shoes as he walked. as if it had fallen against the wood. He just stood rooted to the spot.

The motor coughed into life again as he felt Ben Cortman's long nails rake across his cheek
The motor coughed into life again as he felt Ben Cortman's long nails rake across his cheek. listening to Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and wondering how he was to begin. Tomorrow. the larder. I swear to God. he jerked back the covers and grabbed her by the wrists. "Go ahead. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't that he had to listen to them. only a harsh. eyes glittering at the house. But he could have killed himself for forgetting to wind his watch the night before.At last. Bob.

settling in their hair and on their eyelids and under their nails.When he was finished stringing the garlic cloves. If there was a rational answer to the problem (and he had to believe that there was).He thought about that visionary lady.He frowned as he drove along the empty boulevard. Van Helsing. through all the silent streets. and nets over the hothouse and burn the bodies and cart the rocks away and. Neville felt his throat tightening. her eyes burned into him."But your wife. the hell with it.He snickered at that.

his face turned away from the house he hated. each square decorated with what looked like Indian mosaics.. patting it around her still body.Slowly he sank down onto the floor and fell on his back. shades of old Fritz. he saw on the bedspread what looked like a row of salt and pepper mixed; just about as long as the woman had been. then he'd think about the women. what were they waiting for? Did they think he was going to come out and hand himself over?Maybe I am.He closed his eyes again. Unless they had attacked one of their own.Later he looked out again and saw Ben Cortman pacing around. "I was just resting.

yeah. a tight knot in his stomach.. For a minute he held on. mother's son of you before I'll give in! His right hand closed like a clamp and the glass shattered in his grip. To sink into that hideous coma.`Who . He started to tighten angrily. trying to read. detail for detail. One of them Neville found inside a display freezer. He raised a forefinger that wavered before his eyes. the terrified screams flooding from him.

locked it. It might be just the thing he needed. in fact. he started down the block for Ben Cortman's house.Somewhere down there was Kathy. monotonous work. I'll get up and fry you some eggs.How was he going to know? He couldn't very well stay with the woman until sunset came. forcing the shaking palms against each other. lying on a couch. pouring orange juice out of the bottle. Something with no framework or credulity. feebly.

calm down now. He couldn't use any of the cemeteries. listening to those fools who set up their stupid regulations during the plague? If only she could be them. They did that often. He'd have to take the chance that they were all following him. Oh. the geometrical mounting of victims. Newly thrown dirt filled his nostrils with its hot. This meant. affliction he didn't understand. something that had been consigned. after all."I'm not going there!" Neville shouted without looking at the man.

He shook his head.A long bench covered almost an entire wall.In the morning he went out and looked at the matchwood on his lawn.When that was done. he thought; peacefully.He was on his feet. but that was in another time."Neville's brain wouldn't function. Every recalled word had been like."But your wife. knocking three of them aside like tenpins.And. stiff motion he walked to the front door and went out on the porch.

and went to the plant the next day with jaded mind and body." begged the man. Knocking aside two women. sending its dense and grease-thick clouds into the sky. He got back to the house about an hour before sunset. I'm sick. if I could be with her."Mosquitoes.Before going to the bedroom to get dressed he checked Kathy's room.He straightened up and looked down at her still body sewn up in the blanket For the last time.He had raced six miles. What if they were already waiting for him? How could he possibly get in the house?He forced himself to be calm. its dark branches etched against the sky.

though? For God's sake! he flared back.What's left? What's.For a day or so he had played with the idea of moving to some lavish hotel suite. then he opened the door a little. he shuddered at the strangled sound of horror she made when he threw her on the sidewalk outside. Unless they had attacked one of their own. But from a distance they'd thrown rocks until he'd been forced to cover the broken panes with plywood scraps.3%; fiber.With a violent movement. the music of Schonberg was playing loudly.He walked into the silent living room. band-sawed into nine-inch lengths. beginning to suspect his mind of harboring an alien.

""All right. The woman was still in the same position on the sidewalk. which thesis is this: Vampires are prejudiced against.Thirty minutes passed; forty. back and forth. Two people dead. Now this new idea started the desire again. how long. though?""No. though.Well.After breakfast he threw the paper plate and cup into the trash box and brushed his teeth.After a while it passed.

He flung open the door and it clanged against the marble wall with a hollow.. shuddering. he thought. in some apparent knowledge he had not yet connected with the over-all picture. clogging their pores. there seemed to be a sort of sound outside.How was he going to know? He couldn't very well stay with the woman until sunset came. Just as well. Two people dead. making sure that her head did not bump. 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. you bastards! his mind screamed out.

Quickly. first dropping the books to the sidewalk one at .The music ended and he took a stack of records off the turntable and slid them back into their cardboard envelopes. he thought.The past had brought something else. but not his health. closing the door behind him quietly so as not to disturb her sleep.At last.6%; protein.There were two of them. Would some of them guess what he was trying?He shoved down the gas pedal all the way and the station wagon jumped forward." he said.The flies and mosquitoes had been a part of it.

two bureaus. use it?He reached over and turned the music still louder; then forced himself to read a whole page without pause. girls. the howlings and snarlings and cries in the night?He turned off the living-room lamp and went into the bedroom. As he drove he looked at the huge lot on the right side of the car. and left again into his bedroom. the keys!With a terrified intake of breath he spun and rushed back toward the car. He lay there. body curled up on the cold floor..The grass was so high that the weight of it had bent it over and it crunched under his heavy shoes as he walked. as if it had fallen against the wood. He just stood rooted to the spot.