The men did not shout, they did not command. They raised their rifles now and the night was torn open again with their exploding fire.
Neville almost felt the bullets in his own flesh. His body jerked with convulsive shudders as he watched Cortman’s body jerk under the impact of the bullets.
Still Cortman kept crawling, and Neville saw his white face, his teeth gritted together. The end of Oliver Hardy, he thought, the death of all comedy and all laughter. He didn’t hear the continuous fusillade of shots. He didn’t even feel the tears running down his cheeks. His eyes were riveted on the ungainly form of his old friend inching up the brightly lit roof.
Now Cortman rose up on his knees and clutched at the chimney edge with spasmodic fingers. His body lurched as more bullets struck. His dark eyes glared into the blinding spotlights, his lips were drawn back in a soundless snarl.
Then he was standing up beside the chimney and Neville’s face was white and taut as he watched Cortman start to raise his right leg.
And then the hammering machine gun splattered Cortman’s flesh with lead. For a moment Cortman stood erect in the hot blast, palsied hands raised high over his head, a look of berserk defiance twisting his white features.
“Ben,” Neville muttered in a croaking whisper.
Ben Cortman’s body folded, slumped forward, fell. It slid and rolled slowly down the shingled incline, then dropped into space. In the sudden silence Neville heard the thump of it from across the street. Sick-eyed, he watched the men rush at the writhing body with their pikes.
Then Neville closed his eyes and his nails dug furrows in the flesh of his palms.
A clumping of boots. Neville jerked back into the darkness. He stood in the middle of the room, waiting for them to call to him and tell him to come out. He held himself rigidly. I’m not going to fight, he told himself strongly. Even though he wanted to fight, even though he already hated the dark men with their guns and their bloodstained pikes.
But he wasn’t going to fight. He had worked out his decision very carefully. They were doing what they had to do, albeit with unnecessary violence and seeming relish. He had killed their people and they had to capture him and save themselves. He would not fight. He’d throw himself upon the justice of their new society. When they called to him he would go out and surrender, it was his decision.
But they didn’t call. Neville lurched back with a gasp as the ax blade bit deeply into the front door. He stood trembling in the dark living room. What were they doing? Why didn’t they call on him to surrender? He wasn’t a vampire, he was a man like them. What were they doing?
He whirled and stared at the kitchen. They were chopping at the boarded-up back door too. He took a nervous step toward the hallway. His frightened eyes rushed from the back to the front door. He felt his heart pumping. He didn’t understand, he didn’t understand!
With a grunt of shocked surprise he jumped into the hall as the enclosed house rang with the gun explosion. The men were shooting away the lock on the front door. Another reverberating shot made his ears ring.
And, suddenly, he knew. They weren’t going to take him to their courts, to their justice. They were going to exterminate him.
With a frightened murmur he ran into the bedroom. His hands fumbled in the bureau drawer.
He straightened up on trembling legs, the guns in his hands. But what if they were going to take him prisoner? He’d only judged by the fact that they hadn’t called on him to come out. There were no lights in the house; maybe they thought he was already gone.
He stood shivering in the darkness of the bedroom, not knowing what to do, mutters of terror filling his throat. Why hadn’t he left! Why hadn’t he listened to her and left? Fool!
One of his guns fell from nerveless fingers as the front door was crushed in. Heavy feet thudded into the living room and Robert Neville shuffled back across the floor, his remaining pistol held out with rigid, blood-drained fingers. They weren’t going to kill him without a fight!
He gasped as he collided with the bench. He stood there tautly. In the front room a man said something he couldn’t understand, then flashlight beams shone into the hall. Neville caught his breath. He felt the room spinning around him. So this is the end. It was the only thing he could think. So this is the end.
Heavy shoes thumped in the hall. Neville’s fingers tightened still more on the pistol and his eyes stared with wild fright at the doorway.
Two men came in.
Their white beams played around the room, struck his face. The two men recoiled abruptly.
“He’s got a gun!” one of them cried, and fired his pistol.
Neville heard the bullet smash into the wall over his head. Then the pistol was jolting in his hand, splashing his face with bursts of light. He didn’t fire at any one of them; he just kept pulling the trigger automatically. One of the men cried out in pain.
Then Neville felt a violent club blow across his chest. He staggered back, and jagged, burning pain exploded in his body. He fired once more, then crashed to his knees, the pistol slipping from his fingers.
“You got him!” he heard someone cry as he fell on his face. He tried to reach out for the pistol but a dark boot stamped on his hand and broke it. Neville drew in his hand with a rattling gasp and stared through pain-glazed eyes at the floor.
Rough hands slid under his armpits and pulled him up. He kept wondering when they would shoot him again. Virge, he thought, Virge, I’m coming with you now. The pain in his chest was like molten lead poured over him from a great height. He felt and heard his boot tips scraping over the floor and waited for death. I want to die in my own house, he thought. He struggled feebly but they didn’t stop. Hot pain raked saw-toothed nails through his chest as they dragged him through the front room.
“No,” he groaned. “No!”
Then pain surged up from his chest and drove a barbed club into his brain. Everything began spinning away into blackness.
“Virge,” he muttered in a hoarse whisper.
And the dark men dragged his lifeless body from the house. Into the night. Into the world that was theirs and no longer his.
Chapter Twenty-One
SOUND; A MURMURED RUSTLE in the air. Robert Neville coughed weakly, then grimaced as the pain filled his chest. A bubbling groan passed his lips and his head rolled slightly on the flat pillow. The sound grew stronger, it became a rumbling mixture of noises. His hands drew in slowly at his sides. Why didn’t they take the fire off his chest? He could feel hot coals dropping through openings in his flesh. Another groan, agonized and breathless, twitched his graying lips. Then his eyes fluttered open.
He stared at the rough plaster ceiling for a full minute without blinking. Pain ebbed and swelled in his chest with an endless, nerve-clutching throb. His face remained a taut, lined mask of resistance to the pain. If he relaxed for a second, it enveloped him completely; he had to fight it. For the first few minutes he could only struggle with the pain, suffering beneath its hot stabbing. Then, after a while, his brain began to function; slowly, like a machine faltering, starting and stopping, turning and jamming gears.
Where am I? It was his first thought. The pain was awful. He looked down at his chest and saw that it was bound with a wide bandage, a great, moist spot of red rising and falling jerkily in the middle of it. He closed his eyes and swallowed. I’m hurt, he thought. I’m hurt badly. His mouth and throat felt powdery dry. Where am I, what am I-
Then he remembered; the dark men and the attack on his house. And he knew where he was even before he turned his head slowly, achingly, and saw the barred windows across the tiny cubicle. He looked at the windows for a long time, face tight, teeth clenched together. The sound was outside; the rushing, confused sound.
He let his head roll back on the pillow and lay staring at the ceiling. It was hard to understand the moment on its own terms. Hard to believe it wasn’t all a nightmare. Over three years alone in his house. Now this.
But he couldn’t doubt the
sharp, shifting pain in his chest and he couldn’t doubt the way the moist, red spot kept getting bigger and bigger. He closed his eyes. I’m going to die, he thought
He tried to understand that. But that didn’t work either. In spite of having lived with death all these years, in spite of having walked a tightrope of bare existence across an endless maw of death-in spite of that he couldn’t understand it. Personal death still was a thing beyond comprehension.
He was still on his back when the door behind him opened.
He couldn’t turn; it hurt too much. He lay there and listened to footsteps approach the bed, then stop. He looked up but the person hadn’t come into view yet. My executioner, he thought, the justice of this new society. He closed his eyes and waited.
The shoes moved again until he knew the person was by the cot. He tried to swallow but his throat was too dry. He ran his tongue over his lips.
“Are you thirsty?”
He looked up with dulled eyes at her and suddenly his heart began throbbing. The increased blood flow made the pain billow up and swallow him for a moment. He couldn’t cut off the groan of agony. He twisted his head on the pillow, biting his lips and clutching at the blanket feverishly. The red spot grew bigger.
She was on her knees now, patting perspiration from his brow, touching his lips with a cool, wet cloth. The pain began to subside slowly and her face came into gradual focus. Neville lay motionless, staring at her with pain-filled eye s.
“So,” he finally said.
She didn’t answer. She got up and sat on the edge of the bed. She patted his brow again. Then she reached over his head and he heard her pouring water into a glass.
The pain dug razors into him as she lifted his head a little so he could drink. This is what they must have felt when the pikes went into them, he thought. This cutting, biting agony, the escape of life’s blood.
His head fell back on the pillow.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
She sat looking down, at him, a strange mixture of sympathy and detachment on her face. Her reddish hair was drawn back into a tight cluster behind her head and clipped there. She looked very clean-cut and self-possessed.
“You wouldn’t believe me, would you?” she said.
A little cough puffed out his cheeks. His mouth opened and he sucked in some of the damp morning air.
“I-believed you,” he said.
“Then why didn’t you go?”
He tried, to speak but the words jumbled together. His throat moved and he drew in another faltering breath.
“I-couldn't,” he muttered. “I almost went several times. Once I even packed and -started out. But I couldn’t, I couldn’t-go. I was too used to the-the house. It was a habit, just-just like the habit of living. I got-used to it.”
Her eyes ran over his sweat-greased face and she pressed her lips, together as she patted his forehead again.
“It’s too late now,” she said then. “You know that, don’t you?”
Something clicked in his throat as he swallowed.
“I know,” he said.
He tried to smile but his lips only twitched.
“Why did you fight them?” she said. “They had orders to bring you in unharmed. If you hadn’t fired at them they wouldn’t have harmed you.”
His throat, contracted.
“What difference-” he gasped.
His eyes closed and he gritted his teeth tightly to force back the pain.
When he opened them again she was still there. The expression on her face had not changed.
His smile was weak and tortured.
“Your-your society is-certainly a fine one,” he gasped. “Who are those-those gangsters who came to get me? The-the council of justice?”
Her look was dispassionate. She’s changed, he thought suddenly.
“New societies are always primitive,” she answered. “You should know that. In a way we’re like a revolutionary group-repossessing society by violence. It’s inevitable. Violence is no stranger to you. You’ve killed. Many times.”
“Only to-to survive.”
“That’s exactly why we’re killing,” she said calmly. “To survive. We can’t allow the dead to exist beside the living. Their brains are impaired, they exist for only one purpose. They have to be destroyed. As one who killed the dead and the living, you know that.”
The deep breath he took made the pain wrench at his insides. His eyes were stark with pain as he shuddered. It’s got to end soon, he thought. I can’t stand much more of this. No, death did not frighten him. He didn’t understand it, but he didn’t fear it either.
The swelling pain sank down and the clouds passed from his eyes. He looked up at her calm face.
“I hope so,” he said. “But-but did you see their faces when they-they killed?” His throat moved convulsively. “Joy,” he mumbled. “Pure joy.”
Her smile was thin and withdrawn. She has changed, he thought, entirely.
“Did you ever see your face,” she asked, “when you killed?” She patted his brow with the cloth. “I saw it-remember? It was frightening. And you weren’t even killing then, you were just chasing me.”
He closed his eyes. Why am I listening to her? he thought. She’s become a brainless convert to this new violence.
“Maybe you did see joy on their faces,” she said. “It’s not surprising. They’re young. And they are killers-assigned killers, legal killers. They’re respected for their killing, admired for it. What can you expect from them? They’re only fallible men. And men can learn to enjoy killing. That’s an old story, Neville. You know that.”
He looked up at her. Her smile was the tight, forced smile of a woman who was trying to forgo being a woman in favor of her dedication.
“Robert Neville,” she said, “the last of the old race.”
His face tightened.
“Last?’ he muttered, feeling the heavy sinking of utter loneliness in him.
“As far as we know,” she said casually. “You’re quite unique, you know. When you’re gone, there won’t be anyone else like you within our particular society.”
He looked toward the window.
“Those are-people-outside,” he said.
She nodded. “They’re waiting.”
“For my death?’
“For your execution,” she said.
He felt himself tighten as he looked up at her.
“You’d better hurry,” he said, without fear, with a sudden defiance in his hoarse voice.
They looked at each other for a long moment. Then something seemed to give in her. Her face grew blank.
“I knew it,” she said softly. “I knew you wouldn’t be afraid.”
Impulsively she put her hand over his.
“When I first heard that they were ordered to your house, I was going to go there and warn you. But then I knew that if you were still there, nothing would make you go. Then I was going to try to help you escape after they brought you in. But they told me you’d been shot and I knew that escape was impossible too.”
A smile flitted over her lips.
“I’m glad you’re not afraid,” she said. “You’re very brave.” Her voice grew soft. “Robert.”
They were silent and he felt her hand tighten on his.
“How is it you can-come in here?” he asked then.
“I’m a ranking officer in the new society,” she said.
His hand stirred under hers.
“Don’t-let it get-” He coughed up blood. “Don’t let it get-too brutal. Too heartless.”
“What can I-” she started, then stopped. She smiled at him. “I’ll try,” she said.
He couldn’t go on. The pain was getting worse. It twisted and turned like a clutching animal in his body.
Ruth leaned over him.
“Robert,” she said, “listen to me. They mean to execute you. Even though you’re wounded. They have to. The people have been out there all night, waiting. They’re terrified of you, Robert, they hate
you. And they want your life.”
She reached up quickly and unbuttoned her blouse. Reaching under her brassiere, she took out a tiny packet and pressed it into his right palm.
“It’s all I can do, Robert,” she whispered, “to make it easier. I warned you, I told you to go.” Her voice broke a little. “You just can’t fight so many, Robert.”
“I know.” The words were gagging sounds in his throat.
For a moment she stood over his bed, a look of natural compassion on her face. It was all a pose, he thought, her coming in and being so official. She was afraid to be herself. I can understand that.
Ruth bent over him and her cool lips pressed on his.
“You’ll be with her soon,” she murmured hastily.
Then she straightened up, her lips pressed together tightly. She buttoned the two top buttons of her blouse. A moment longer she looked down at him. Then her eyes glanced at his right hand.
“Take them soon,” she murmured, and turned away quickly.
He heard her footsteps moving across the floor. Then the door was shutting and he heard the sound of it being locked. He closed his eyes and felt warm tears pushing out from beneath the lids. Good-by, Ruth.
Good-by, everything.
Then, suddenly, he drew in a quick breath. Bracing himself, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He refused to let himself collapse at the burning pain that exploded in his chest. Teeth grating together, he stood up on his feet. For a moment he almost fell, but, catching his balance, he stumbled across the floor on vibrating legs he could hardly feel.
He fell against the window and looked out.
The street was filled with people. They milled and stirred in the gray light of morning, the sound of their talking like the buzzing of a million insects.
He looked out over the people, his left hand gripping the bars with bloodless fingers, his eyes fever-lit.
Then someone saw him.
For a moment there was an increased babbling of voices, a few startled cries.
Then sudden silence, as though a heavy blanket had fallen over their heads. They all stood looking up at him with their white faces. He stared back. And suddenly he thought, I’m the abnormal one now. Normalcy was a majority concept, the standard of many and not the standard of just one man.