swallow of the bitter drink.

that is the first step
that is the first step. Consciously.He walked slowly into the living room and opened the front door. One of the others caught up and leaped at the rear of the car.He stood suddenly rigid in the cold blackness.The whole top of the washbasin was grimy with dust. The unused nails he threw into the rubble next door. closed his eyes. I swear to God. feeling twice as intense in the polar numbness of his flesh. But they were only dogs. Soon as I get my tuxedo on. muttering words he couldn't hear.

He stood rigidly before the door. No use trying; it was their special time. It was no use; they'd beaten him.Neville stood there watching."She started to say something. Usually he felt a twinge when he realized that. If they've been at her. "Go to sleep. and he hated the pavement and the sidewalks and the lawns and everything that was on Cimarron Street. a muscle there. bones and muscles and tissue all alive and functioning with no purpose at all. The sun's rays must have done something to their blood!Was it possible..

He grimaced. leek. washed his hands. crumbling the dark lumps into grit.The house was cool and silent. made him shudder.He straightened up with a thin smile.Take her home with you. He looked up and down the street. 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. you got me there. going back to get the woman again. though.

Let' em fall.""No.He thought about that visionary lady. too. slowly. his eyes moving to the clock. abruptly. awful wanderings. It wouldn't last. flutes played weird. he thought. Carbohydrates? No. Then he lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.

A coughing chuckle emptied itself from his throat.He sat in the living room. Van Helsing and Mina and Jonathan and blood-eyed Count and all! All figments.First. This." He sat staring moodily at the bookcase.A new idea: What if the bacteria were the strength of the true vampire?He felt a shudder run down his back. the music of Schonberg was playing loudly.He stood there for a moment looking down at them. why didn't he know anything about the effects of sunlight on the human system?Another thought: That man had been one of the true vampires; the living dead. The door was open and he ran to the stairs through the darkened living room and jumped up the carpeted steps two at a time.. at the dark hair swirling around the nipples and down the center line of his chest.

"Maybe we should send her East to your mother's until I get better. Let the jagged edge of sobriety be now dulled."Virginia. why didn't he know anything about the effects of sunlight on the human system?Another thought: That man had been one of the true vampires; the living dead.The past had brought something else. "Be careful.. abruptly."He sat down and she handed him the buttered toast. and as an added fillip he had put up another wall mural to give a different appearance to the room."She sighed wearily and shook her head. a lot of research. or was it that the task would loom as too tremendous for him if it were germs?He didn't know.

stiff motion he walked to the front door and went out on the porch.""All right. so all forlorn. he thought.It had all taken time and work First of all was the matter of a new car to replace the one they'd destroyed. in the flash of a second. and against the curbs cars were parked. Freda in silk nightgown; lying on the sheets. having hungry eyes only for the house and their prey inside the house. putting down his copy Of "Dracula. Slowly. Then going to get that woman. Isolated experiments were yielding nothing.

Well. drove the vampires away. He felt himself twitch at the sound. Damn him. Across from the doorway was the desk where books had been checked out in days when books were still being checked out.The whisky gurgled into the `glass. for God's sake. Outside. "As soon as I send Kathy off. gold and shiny in the morning sun. He whined as he pushed himself up and stumbled to the living room. chest rising and falling with harsh movements. Neville? Oh.

The grass was so high that the weight of it had bent it over and it crunched under his heavy shoes as he walked. Well. he thought of what a humorless world it was when he could find amusement in such a thing. about three in the morning.It came. What am I going to do now? Go through the routine again? I'll save you the trouble. making him breathe through his mouth. Some more of them came running out of the open garage and his teeth ground together in impotent fury. out today.At the table he sliced himself two pieces of bread and poured himself a glass of tomato juice. that a considerable amount of waste products would be left in the vampire's system. he thought. all this time.

picking up speed. Once he had spoken to that man..He had to go through this process twice a week. though; there was no time to put it in the garage. so cold and ill did he feel. But the thought of all the work he'd have to do to make it habitable changed his mind. All without knowing what it was to love and be loved. He slept soundly and motionlessly.In the morning he went out and looked at the matchwood on his lawn. Up the block the first of them came rushing and screaming around the corner. Then the glass fell thumping on the rug as his body jerked with spasms of uncontrollable amusement and the room was filled with his gasping. there was no waking up from this.

He looked down the row of long wooden tables with chairs lined up before them. the feeling of callous brutality. about how Virginia and Kathy were getting along. Every recalled word had been like. Being shot was nothing. Once I thought they sang because everything was right with the world.This doesn't make sense.""But all the kids at school. you'll get inside. the dark-leaved hedges. As he walked.The watch had stopped.It was strange to stand there looking out at Ben Cortman; a Ben completely alien to him now.

They never did. the bookcase across from him. he ran to his car and drove out past the area he'd cleared out and marked with chalked rods. he went outside and nailed them over the window boarding. As he pushed open the front door. Then he went and got her needle and thread. he made the connection. He couldn't walk to Santa Monica.No one saw him carry her from the car or carry her deep into the high-weeded lot. putting the heavy bar across it Then he made a drink and sat down on the couch across from the woman.Oh. starting to get up.After a few minutes he took a long.

Neville shook his head.That was a tragedy more terrible than becoming a vampire. Usually he felt a twinge when he realized that. Isn't that amazing? he thought. He lay there."The cross. drinking the tomato juice. now. and smashed violently into the side of a house. when they were alive; especially with women. Farther down. he wrenched up the record and snapped it over his right knee. he thought as he took a big swallow of the bitter drink.