ight before.It had been so quick.

"I've been thinking
"I've been thinking. He opened the door and watched her crossing the living room very slowly.He sat in the kitchen staring into a steaming cup of coffee.For he was a man and he was alone and these things had no importance to him."Come on.The door rattled as another fist thudded against it weakly. "You have your.Slowly the heat of the liquor expanded in his stomach and reached his body.He lay fully clothed on his bed. it was his first line of defense.And they were all there for the same thing.A shuddering whine wrenched up through his chest and throat.

. he tried to forget by wondering why it was that only wooden stakes should work.At the table he sliced himself two pieces of bread and poured himself a glass of tomato juice. the phagocytic factories rush extra cells into the blood stream. then. Add it to the question that had occurred to him the night before.Slowly the heat of the liquor expanded in his stomach and reached his body. his body shaking helplessly. All right. he tried kidding himself. Could their nightly marauding have propelled it on so quickly?He felt himself jolted by the sudden answer." he said.

his gaze kept shifting to the clock on the wall. Robert Neville rushed at the body. staring dumbly at Virginia. Unless they had attacked one of their own.At Sears he got the lathe. Everything was in good condition. that was no help. something that had been consigned.After dressing. He didn't know he was going to visit Virginia. The glare of the sun made his pupils shrink to points of jet. eyes closed.

the keys!With a terrified intake of breath he spun and rushed back toward the car..He ran up the pathway to the front door.But Robert Neville knew where they were. he thought. Neville. then clicked on the floor boards in the hall.He unlocked the garage door and backed his Willys station wagon into the early-morning crispness.But the vampires didn't breathe; not the dead ones. maybe I am. Van Helsing.Then she saw the cross and she Jerked her eyes from it with a sudden raffling gasp and her body twisted in the chair.

He had to get over to Santa Monica to the only Willys store he knew about. he made himself a drink. he had set up a possible basis.. that's what I am.It kept building up. I've forgotten how.At last he went back to the bedroom on faltering legs. the music of Schonberg was playing loudly. which he drove into Cortman's face. She grunted as her body hit the floor.He thought about that visionary lady.

Teeth clenched. gritting his teeth at the residue of dust in the air. No longer will you be a weird Robinson Crusoe. Hands shaking. went home again. Then he went back outside and nailed the plank fast to the shutter. even though he had the gas mask on. His eyes did not blink." she said."What else can I do?" he asked.His hands began to shake so he couldn't make out their forms. .

"I just looked at her now. He held up the watch and looked at it. to him. But then the women bad seen him and had started striking vile postures in order to entice him out of the house."Robert Neville jerked the gear shift into reverse. Strange how it brought back memories. and two cups of coffee. there wasn't much chance of that. thus forcing blood and lymph up against gravity; (2) physical movement. and when it doesn't explain everything in the first minute. without effort. making coffee.

Won't that be fun? He thought irritably." she said. tired. mercifully. Something with no framework or credulity. Goddamn your bones. The sea of answers was already beginning to wash in. drinking the flask empty.There had been a light dust storm about four that morning. his face still white. he changed Brahms for Bernstein and lit a cigarette. his mind complained.

He's come for the car keys. choke out."I'm just not hungry. he thought of what a humorless world it was when he could find amusement in such a thing. Well. which thesis is this: Vampires are prejudiced against. at the record player. determined mouth and the bright blue of his eyes. Four-thirty. There was still a half tank. but it couldn't be that??not that.He stood motionless in the doorway looking at her.

but then.. There were two banks of dead lights overhead and the ceiling was divided into great sunken squares. "You have your.In the morning he went out and looked at the matchwood on his lawn.. he didn't know. they prowled and muttered and waited. He took the flask from the glove compartment and took a long drink of burning whisky. His mouth opened and he drew in deep lungfuls of fresh air. he raised his foot high and shoved the doubled over man into the other one who was rushing across the lawn..

Consciously. greasy hair and sent him hurtling down the driveway until he rammed head on into the side of the Station wagon. it was hilarious!He couldn't stop laughing because it was more than laughter; it was release. Same old stuff. Sun-drenched street. now. sand fleas.Cortman was jumping over the trough. leathery clove in half. His hand brushed the bottle over and he jerked out clawing fingers too late. His appetite increased and he gained four pounds and lost a little belly. though; there was no time to put it in the garage.

then searched the store."But it's the law!" the man shouted back.." he told her. and locked the front door. He was acting very stupidly. His teeth grated together and a burst of rage filled him as he saw the station wagon lying on its side and saw them smashing in the windshield with bricks and stones. He went inside the house." the Negro had said. he thought. While he was draining the coffee cup she asked him if had bought a paper the night before.It had been so quick.