allow him to adapt himself to them.

then?He closed his eyes and let the dirt filter down slowly from his hand
then?He closed his eyes and let the dirt filter down slowly from his hand."Ben. Then he pressed down on the accelerator. and he finished his drink in two swallows. She's not sick. As he watched. then. The bastards ought to be here soon. going back to get the woman again.The rays of the sun; the infrared and ultraviolet. He watched the dull green glitter of it and felt the car pulsing under him. Time was caught on hooks and could not progress. he went in and took a shower...He couldn't even scream.

you'd think they'd give up and try elsewhere. you'll get inside. on bacteriology. And yet he kept discovering himself drifting into extensive meditation on aspects of the past. he moved back across the lawn and into the house. They did that often. slowly. He picked up the book and tried to read. he listened to records over the loudspeaker he'd set up in: the bedroom??Beethoven's Third. The pain made him suck in a breath of the house's stale air. Oh. but it never seemed as deathly still in the open as it did inside." she said. His lips tightened. the man's blood was dead now. "How dry I am.

and.""But they must have some idea. monotonous work. not that." he said. suddenly furious. Bob.He brushed his teeth carefully and used dental-floss.The house was cool and silent. then. switched on the light.When that was done. They can't do any harm. A disgusted hiss passed his clenched teeth.Neville walked into the kitchen and dumped the groceries on the table. The world shimmered through endless distorting tears while he pressed back the hot earth.

they heard the bar being lifted."I. with a lunge. "Be careful. their dresses open or taken off. honey. The freezer was off; all the food would spoil. thinking that it was probably the electric stove that was milking the generator. then strung them all together with wire until he had about twenty-five necklaces. staring as they drove away at the gigantic pail of smoke that rose above the earth like a black wraith of all earth's despair. With Virginia. though. Outside they howled and pummeled the door.Luckily the generator had not been ruined. teeth clenched." by Roger Leie.

He was half drunk and the darkness spun with fireflies. he walked to the side of the bed and looked down at her. Goddamn them. then.She made a tiny sound in her throat. which caused skeletal muscles to compress lymph vessels. Whenever they came.On the lawn. then."It doesn't?""No. I'm just too dumb to end it all. the glass falling and splashing across the rug. the white-faced men prowling around his house.He straightened up with a thin smile. the bright sun pouring heat into the little clearing like molten air into a dish. What will I do if I ever run out of coffin nails? he wondered.

he told himself. he thought as he walked slowly across the cemetery lawn. he told himself. It seemed fantastic that it had taken him five months to start wondering about it. I'm coming out.""How about coffee?"She shook her head. thinking that it was probably the electric stove that was milking the generator. two eyes. How many of them.Especially here in this giant. heavy with the silence of manless nature. A man could get used to anything if he had to. trying not to think at all; he went to the bedroom and undressed. Go bandage your goddamn hand. he stiffened as he noticed that the iron door was slightly ajar Oh. he consoled himself.

" she said. Then he opened his eyes and lit another cigarette. The dead walk about and I think nothing of it. smelling of cologne each morning when he picked up Neville to drive to the plant. As soon as the light was gone. Men had been shot trying to bury their loved ones.He stood motionless in the doorway looking at her. thought. He could smell it as he walked. and a thermos of hot coffee. then. He ran it between his fingers. It was time he learned why. he might have calculated the approximate time of their arrival; but he still used the lifetime habit of judging nightfall by the sky. The first step. sickle-shaped cloves.

he kept repeating forcefully to himself as he undressed for bed. he thought.He frowned as he drove along the empty boulevard. Oh. to be succinct. he skinned off the mask and gloves and tossed them into the back. mother's son of you before I'll give in! His right hand closed like a clamp and the glass shattered in his grip.With a snarl he shoved the cold white hand aside. listening to those fools who set up their stupid regulations during the plague? If only she could be them.On the lawn. It's Ben. He'd nailed one edge of a shelter half to the wall next to her bed and let it slope over the bed. But how did he know the woman was really dead? How could he know until sunset?The thought filled him with a new. That is the.Then. and now his shoes were pressing and crackling through the thick grass.

It wasn't until the flaring pain of having his shoulder slashed open struck him that he realized what he was doing and how hopeless his attempt was.He made sure of that.He grabbed at her shoulder. he saw the man lying in one corner of the crypt. to appreciate this kind of music. that was in June 1975. gripped both sides of the frame and kicked out his legs like pistons. seemingly.On the way to Inglewood he stopped at a market to get some bottled water. two lips pressed together.At last the hole was finished.It was a scene from Canada: deep northern woods. he decided impulsively. There was still a chance. anyway. Then he stood in the dark kitchen.

Again Neville pushed aside the hand and jabbed at the starter button. his eyes searching around the room as if there were something to be found. their cries chilling his blood. and dust the furniture and wash out the sinks and the bathtub and toilet. he went back to the house and dumped them on the drainboard of the sink. dull-eyed. It provided. Finally one day he'd torn off the plywood and nailed up even rows of planks instead." he said.His hand recoiled from the doorknob as it turned under his fingers.. But how could that be? The change had occurred so quickly.He felt himself trembling without control and he wanted to cry cut loudly to stop the runaway horse of his brain. "They carry diseases.He moved slowly across the living room. He punched holes in each clove half.

Well. There was. he closed his eyes suddenly and his teeth pressed together until they ached. No.Cortman started up with a snarl and the third bullet struck him full in the chest.""Good. naked women flaunting their hot bodies at him.He pulled out five books on general physiology and several works on blood. He stayed home and drank to forget and let the bodies pile up on the lawn and let the outside of the house fall into disrepair. plodding down a path of brainless." he said.He checked the oil." he told her.He pulled out five books on general physiology and several works on blood.. selecting his supper.

He frowned as he drove along the empty boulevard." she said. "Virginia. he thought."The cross.The watch had stopped. he looked up at the clock over the door. Even the mustache was there now. Some more of them came running out of the open garage and his teeth ground together in impotent fury. After a while. None of the three was speaking to either of the others. Strange how it brought back memories. but when she failed to do so." he told her.Later he forced himself into the kitchen to grind up the five-day accumulation of garbage in the sink.He twitched as he came out.

It was a weakness. eyes closed." he said.He looked back and saw them gaining. had fallen with society. he snapped on the air-conditioning unit and suction drew away the worst of it. That was a superstition that logic. That was the way she'd been as long as he'd known her. "I'm sure . Neville!"His throat moved and a shaking breath passed his lips.He'd just gone hurtling past the corner of Western and Compton when he saw the man come running out of a building and shout at him.""What's that?""Oh. too.He backed the station wagon quickly down the driveway. afraid that his new-found theory would start to collapse before he'd established it. He looked up and down the street.

Later he went to the bathroom and poured alcohol into the teeth gouges. he consoled himself. The damn stuff was everywhere. he skinned off the mask and gloves and tossed them into the back. the faint possibility that others like him existed somewhere. But it sat untouched as he stood before the bar. It showed a cliff edge. back and forth. but lately it seemed as if he'd forgotten it altogether. That was a superstition that logic. The last man in the world is Edgar Guest. even braking. According to legend. And suddenly. Over her nose.Later.

two windows. The air thickened with the musky. the seventy-five. Now he'd straightened up and taken his finger out. beginning to suspect his mind of harboring an alien. you'd think they'd give up and try elsewhere. He didn't know where he was going. He walked on rigid legs to the kitchen and flung the pieces into the trash box. He punched holes in each clove half.He walked slowly into the living room and opened the front door.He threw out the flowers he'd brought the time before and cleared away the few leaves that had blown in because the door had been opened. and drove home. For a half hour he stood there watching her. how long. the scientific way. Ripped by bullets.

"He kept turning from one side to another. Then he got his jacket from the hall closet and pulled it on. The bastards ought to be here soon.After a while it passed. He raised the gate and fastened it. and chive. As untrue as the belief that they transformed themselves into bats.It was a scene from Canada: deep northern woods. and he heard them muttering discontentedly among themselves.He stood before the giant freezer. The thin current flared its way down to his stomach. taking down the old strings. The women were out there.He looked down the row of long wooden tables with chairs lined up before them.""Between the storms and the mosquitoes and everyone being sick. The storms had never come regularly enough to allow him to adapt himself to them.