doorway and the full force of the wind
almost bent him backward, but he moved on, fighting his way forward.

After six feet, the building was lost in the grayness. He was again
alone in a wild howling world of horror and death.

Then he heard the rasping noise of the _things_ directly ahead of him,
and an instant later he was able dimly to make out their weaving shapes
in the swirling mists of the storm.

They were coming toward him.

* * * * *

With a grim exultation pounding in his temples, Ward hurled a pellet of
U-235 directly into their midst. The thunderous reverberations of the
explosion rocked the ground under his feet. A terrific blast of air that
dwarfed the raging turbulence of the monsoon roared about his head.

He staggered back, almost falling.

When he could see again, he made out a great hole in the ranks of the
_things_ moving toward him.

His laugh was a wild cry in the fury of the night.

"Damn you!" he shouted.

His arm whipped back and the second pellet crashed into the serried
ranks of the deadly rasping creatures.

Something grasped his ankle as the second pellet exploded. He fell
backward, striking the ground hard. A hand grabbed his and then,
miraculously, incredibly, Halliday was pulling him to his feet, jerking
him toward the building.

They stumbled through the door together. Ward fell to the floor as
Halliday wheeled and slammed the door, throwing the automatic bolts with
the same motion.

Halliday knelt beside Ward.

"Good work," he said huskily. "They were holding me. I don't know what
they were planning. Those bombs blew them into little pieces. Luckily I
got through the blast all right." He gripped Ward's arm suddenly. "You
came through too, son."

"No," Ward said dully. "I didn't. I ran out on you. I'm a fool, a yellow
fool."

"A coward wouldn't have come back," Halliday said quietly. "We're going
to lick this job together, from now on. We've found a weapon to use
against the Raspers. I never thought of high explosives."

He grinned suddenly and the tightness was leaving his mouth. "It doesn't
seem so terrible when you've got something to fight back with."

Ward looked up at Halliday and a faint smile touched his own lips.
"Some_one_ to fight with, means a lot, too," he said. He suddenly
grinned. "You've lost your glasses."

"I won't miss them," Halliday said. "I didn't need them. I wore them to
give me something to do, that's all