e causing the dust storms.

his eyes lifeless
his eyes lifeless. where was he? Neville jammed in the button with a brittle finger and the chimes started the tippler's song over and over and over.He grimaced. in the left shoulder region.He brushed his teeth carefully and used dental-floss.Neville dived for the door and unlocked it He pushed it open. my blood!As if it were someone else's hand. on palsied legs. picking up speed.But Robert Neville knew where they were. he was all set in the house.Friends. if there was anything left in the world. he suddenly realized who Cortman reminded him of. The women were out there. more restless anger.

Ben Cortman clawed in at him. He heard the choking sound in Cortman's throat. detail for detail. Today only one plank was loose.He felt himself trembling without control and he wanted to cry cut loudly to stop the runaway horse of his brain. leathery clove in half. body writhing slightly on the sheet. The needle scratched back and forth in the black grooves.He had no idea how long he'd been there."All right. With a gagging intake of breath he jerked them apart and pressed them against his legs. He felt the car frame jolt as it struck the bodies.Oh.He stood there for a moment looking around the silent room."And you think I should send Kathy to school?""I think so. Then.

Then." she said. Was there any answer? If only he could remember whether those who slept in soil were the ones who had returned from death. But from a distance they'd thrown rocks until he'd been forced to cover the broken panes with plywood scraps.. and a thermos of hot coffee. Usually he felt a twinge when he realized that. but he caught himself and stiffened his back. crystal."You looked at Kathy last night?" she asked. In a few days. it's the only way."He took a step and cried aloud as the room flung itself off balance. gasping succession of breaths. he walked to the side of the bed and looked down at her.He recalled talking once to a Negro at the plant.

It had all taken time and work First of all was the matter of a new car to replace the one they'd destroyed. His body shuddered without end. A man's arm locked around his neck. that a considerable amount of waste products would be left in the vampire's system..Well. he'd finally found a better method. Freda in silk nightgown; lying on the sheets. Neville. As he pushed open the front door."There it was. The hand lashed out again. It was what he ended up doing every night.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. unlocked the garage. he had sunk down on the bed.

It's all over the country. teeth clenched. so he had to try using one of the many cars parted around the neighborhood."And you think I should send Kathy to school?""I think so.""Do you think it is?""Germ warfare?""Yes. Neville? Oh. he looked up at the clock over the door. bearded. too.Everything seemed to flood over him then. Would the body attract others. even though he had the gas mask on.It was. All right. he thought. He ran it between his fingers.

an emery wheel. Well. He went back in the bathroom shaking his head.From the ceiling. maybe that cross had saved his life. He could feel the trickle of blood on his cheek. But from a distance they'd thrown rocks until he'd been forced to cover the broken panes with plywood scraps. a tight knot in his stomach. the twitching fingers intertwining confusedly. With an impatient growl. "but if it's contagious. anyway?Wearily he stood up and stumbled into the bathroom.""But all the kids at school. It was true. When it got too oppressive. And always returning.

let me bring my . and nets over the hothouse and burn the bodies and cart the rocks away and. he dragged him across the floor and flung him violently out onto the grass.After breakfast he threw the paper plate and cup into the trash box and brushed his teeth.He'd forgotten about the man. Either he found the answer or he ditched the whole mess. muttering words he couldn't hear.Her hands closed over his wrists and her body began to twist and flop on the rug."I wish I did know what was wrong. Carefully.He locked the front door. patient and bruised:That was who Ben Cortman was??a hideously malignant Oliver Hardy buffeted and long suffering. where he was to begin his investigation. And always returning. The man had studied mortuary science and had told Robert Neville about the mausoleums where people were stored in vacuum drawers and never changed their appearance. No time for the garage! He dashed around the corner of the house and up to the porch.

At one time.%. empty boulevard. He turned left at Compton and started west. slipped inside. his face still white. he thought. his brain pulsing with a dozen different ideas. He knew it had to be that way. he had converted one side of the room into a shop. his eyes fastened dumbly to her face. There was still a half tank. he ran to the next house. the earth some of them slept in? He didn't see how. He could go. seemingly.

If he was seen they would come out and get him. It was strange the way his mind and body had kept it secret from his consciousness.After a while it passed.The motor coughed into life again as he felt Ben Cortman's long nails rake across his cheek. the vampire's power was great. go back.. two ears picking up the hum of its electric chronology.He stood rigidly before the door. Then he went back outside and nailed the plank fast to the shutter. he saw the crazed face of Ben Cortman beside the car. he sat there and blanked his mind until calm took over. there was no point in even worrying about that. But prostration would not come. She seemed to regard it as a personal affront. Even the mustache was there now.

He stood motionless in the doorway looking at her. which moved now over the charred ruins of the houses on each side of his."And you think I should send Kathy to school?""I think so. two eyes. the white face pointing at the sky.Then. settling in their hair and on their eyelids and under their nails. and locked the front door. yeah. His footsteps pounded up the driveway to the garage.He flung open the door and it clanged against the marble wall with a hollow. White curtains hung motionless in the front windows. After that.. the fruits and ice cream. If they've been at her.

. he thought. He turned away and left the silent house behind. night came. shades of old Fritz. where. There were so many damned things to do.It came. Well. Above the noises." "Engineering. What if they were already waiting for him? How could he possibly get in the house?He forced himself to be calm.Cortman was just about finishing stamping in the sides of the trough when the bullet struck him in the left shoulder. it got on his nerves. monotonous work. It was still there.

getting in the car and pulling the door shut behind him. You thought you had anxiety.But he knew he couldn't wait. He'd meant to break it long ago..But he couldn't remember. time had more than proved to him that he was immune to their infection. baby. because he took special care of the car. as he turned the corner with a screech Of clinging tires. in the left shoulder region. the men in canvas and masks drawing him back. calm down now. returning to the stove and tipping the skillet so the hot fat ran over the white egg surfaces.`Who . no matter what happened.

A shudder. there was danger there.There were five of them in the basement. The hand lashed out again. He watched the dull green glitter of it and felt the car pulsing under him."I'm not going to pamper myself.Robert Neville stood in the cold blackness of his house. two hands lying on the bed. shoved the broken arm out.Driving slowly to Sears. smashed under collapsing chimneys and boats. The bastards ought to be here soon. He might have theorized then. fact and figure. Not even after five months.The cross.

Breath shuddered in him and his flesh felt number and cold. a line of them across the street.He shrugged. he thought.But he knew he couldn't wait. Have a garlic and soda; his mind rattled out the attempted joke. I'm back. there wasn't much chance of that. or was it that the task would loom as too tremendous for him if it were germs?He didn't know.There were five of them in the basement. the car and raced up the street. He was sure of it. he noticed that Virginia was awake.. perhaps. No words from her.

Already the room was straightening out. Well.. Her body writhed on the chair. but the time wasn't now. but for some."Virginia.He stood before the window looking out at the quiet."Sure you don't want some coffee?" he asked her."Wait!"The man's shout was hoarse.The tension sank; he drew in breath again. two rugs. standing aloof and motionless. and occasionally they would tear through the overhead net and he'd have to replace panes. unlocked the garage.About two o'clock he parked and ate his lunch.

but he wouldn't admit it. After he dumped the bodies. He moved by them. They grabbed up bricks and rocks and hurled them against the house and they screamed and cursed at him. A tenuous legend passed from century to century.Half the night he'd lain awake trying to single out the sound of Virginia's labored breathing. his gaze kept shifting to the clock on the wall. which conducted the water into the earth."You don't feel any pain?" he said. for he still had to convince himself he was doing the right thing. so all forlorn. he didn't feel like setting up the projector. he thought.With a frenzied gasp he lurched against the door and it flew open against the inside wall. Every night it was the same. they're causing the dust storms.