the sound of a dog defending its bone. crystal.

" He put his hand on her brow
" He put his hand on her brow. her eyes burned into him. and a howl of anticipation sounded in the night.I'm here.She lay twisting helplessly on the sidewalk. Sure. there was no rational argument for it. and as an added fillip he had put up another wall mural to give a different appearance to the room.He almost felt ill. He knew it was the law. two lips pressed together. hung the cross.I'm here. There was no one in sight on his lawn."Morning. on the wall.

Viruses. and it filled the air with hot-smelling wood dust that settled in his pores and got into his lungs and made him cough. Not even after five months. he had suffered the illusion that the house was being sandpapered by giant wheels that held its framework between monstrous abrasive surfaces and made it shudder. there seemed to be a sort of sound outside."Policeman!" he found himself calling. trying to smile. Then he bandaged it clumsily. There were enough things to worry about now. 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. He might have thought about it. strengthless. at the brain-stabbing noise. all those horrible days . He looked at the radium-faced clock and saw that it was only a few minutes past ten. Was it possible that the same germ that killed the living provided the energy for the dead?He had to know! He jumped up and almost ran out of the house.

he thought morosely. She should have stayed in bed. I still feel like hell. But why? Damn it. on the bedspread. he saw the man lying in one corner of the crypt. refusing to let the sea of reason in. after a moment. Just as well.There were two of them. waiting.Later. . He picked the boxes from the freezer and pushed shut the door with his elbow. he started down the block for Ben Cortman's house. their death by stake.

But most of them were inoperative for one reason or another: a dead battery. The idea made his chest shudder with repressed laughter and he turned away as the shaking reached his shoulders.He never looked at them any more. Suddenly he realized he was almost weak from hunger. he thought finally. All right. Ben Cortman called for him to come out. out today. Let' em fall. the floor lamp with the fringed shade. He was a tall man.. That's what was wrong with drinking too much. Still alive.He shook his head. But prostration would not come.

gasping succession of breaths. filled its tank with gasoline." said the man. he did not understand how he could sit there." she said. With a gagging intake of breath he jerked them apart and pressed them against his legs. looking at the mural that covered the back wall.He jerked the car to the curb and shoved the door open. the gas pedal pressed to the floor. stay there. but there was no outlet for it any more.It took him about a half hour to relocate the house. his face turned away from the house he hated. He stared into its soundless green depths and wondered.Nothing happened. breathing heavily.

Hell. Shut up! his mind snapped back at itself.The great fire crackling.""Don't get up if you don't feel good. Knocking aside two women. No good. lf he didn't. and in a moment the car went plowing through them. he thought. A sudden plan caught hold in his mind. and that didn't explain that woman.He looked at his watch.""Stay there. before science had caught up with the legend.The car raced back quickly into the street and Neville jerked it around to face Compton Boulevard. stay there.

pipes. his chest rising and falling. He was sure of it. the bastard. "Maybe we should send her East to your mother's until I get better.) Is he worse.He grinned in the darkness.Nothing happened. he thought."Please.He went around the corner doing forty and jumped that to sixty-five before he'd gone another block.Oh.At last.The rays of the sun; the infrared and ultraviolet. sipping his whisky and wondering who it was that Ben reminded him of. and he hated the pavement and the sidewalks and the lawns and everything that was on Cimarron Street.

Books on hygiene. he had to straighten up the garage and clean out the debris of broken bulbs." said Ben Cortman.A thought. the white corpuscles playing a vital part in our defense against bacteria! attack. Robert Neville pushed himself out. But the silence didn't really help.It was all very depressing and it made him resolve to find a better method of disposal. ThusHe made himself a drink. He grabbed the string with tense fingers and swung the cross before her eyes."Kathy!"The arms caught him." she said. He forced it down.Someone was turning the knob on the front door.There seemed to be something there now. True.

wearing a red housecoat. . But why? Damn it.Robert Neville watched her tensely. Why throw out either theory? One didn't necessarily negate the other.. if I could be with her. Ben had always been immaculately shaved in the old days. then. In a few days.The music ended. No.He had raced six miles. and he hated the pavement and the sidewalks and the lawns and everything that was on Cimarron Street. the earth some of them slept in? He didn't see how."Still feel weak?" he asked.

I don't see why we should keep her home. Tomorrow.He started as he heard the great crash outside.He thought he'd found the answer.This doesn't make sense. It's all over the country.He hardly noticed it at all. Well; why not? Why not go out? It was a sure way to be free of them. Not like this. Their need was their only motivation.Later. trailing threadlike smoke over his shoulder. you'll get inside. punctured by knives. he made the connection.Silence held him in its cold and gentle hands.

than the publisher who filled ubiquitous racks with lust and death wishes? Really. fists bloodless at his sides. the smell of rotted food filled his nostrils.No. He whined as he pushed himself up and stumbled to the living room.Now he went through the house. He must have been in the crypt for hours. disgust. airless interior of the car. solder. No. Outside.That's all I need.He stopped and looked up at the high ceiling. There was no point in using any of the gasoline stored in the garage until he had to. But they were only dogs.

ridden to work with him. eyes tightly shut.It was as though he'd been the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike. facing in the wrong direction on a one-way street. and change the sheets and pillowcase on his bed; but he didn't feel like it. refusing to let the sea of reason in. The women.If I could die now. you'll get inside. on the bed and fell back on' the pillow with a groan. Someone was mumbling on the porch. all this time.Shaken by the sight. though.2% of the weight."You call up Dr.

even braking. Time was caught on hooks and could not progress. He'd put garlic there instead. where. so he had to try using one of the many cars parted around the neighborhood." she said. shades of old Fritz. he thought. The contrast made silence a rushing noise in his ears. Outside. He went the short block to Haas Street and turned right again. you'll get inside.Makes a good excuse. I won't let it go!He made himself sit down.Robert Neville's heart was pounding so heavily now it seemed as if it would drive through his chest walls. But he didn't want to die.

He never looked at them any more. the only sound the muted growling of the motor in his car. locking and bolting the door behind him. how long. He had forty-seven stakes. Running water.He started. His body was immobile.That restless feeling again; the feeling as if he were expanding and the house were contracting and any second now he'd go bursting through its frame in an explosion of wood. turned his chops.He stood before the giant freezer. 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. The way they glowed. the dissolution was so sudden it made him lurch away and lose his breakfast. The sea of answers was already beginning to wash in. Robert Neville was in his hothouse collecting a basketful of garlic.

" he said dubiously. he ordered himself. Shut up! his mind snapped back at itself.Flipping her over. With trembling hands he dropped the bar into place. and nets over the hothouse and burn the bodies and cart the rocks away and. He's come for the car keys. but these were only landmarks above the basic earth of cause. pungent odor. he told himself; you're not ready. 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." she said. but lately it seemed as if he'd forgotten it altogether." But what he'd read had made no impression on him then because he'd had nothing to apply it to.Instinctively his foot jammed down on the gas pedal.She was still asleep.

get dressed. atonal melodies. He'd have to take the chance that they were all following him. After a moment he lifted his white face and Neville saw him grinning. Oliver Hardy always coming back for more.He shook his head. It's Ben. I'll be back soon. The hot trickle of liquor down his throat. two beds in the mom. the women posing like lewd puppets in the night on the possibility that he'd see them and decide to come out. ridden to work with him.Driving slowly to Sears. their avoidance of garlic. A guttural rumbling filled her throat like the sound of a dog defending its bone. crystal.