Various authors

“ Passing from the darkness of the corridor into the brightly lighted room and seeing what looked like a corpse such a first impression was unavoidable.
For a merciful instant their minds envisaged simply expulsion, disgrace and the difficulty of explaining it to the home folks. Then real horror gripped them, shook them and left them as limp as rags.
Hideously the truth dawned. It wasn’t old Hodges lying there. It was Freddy Simpson and he looked—ghastly. ”

“ Cummings’ hands had gone to his face as though to shut out the sight. Now they dropped to reveal a countenance of haggard concern.
"What in hell do you mean?”
"It’s as plain as the nose on your face. He clawed up all that earth and climbed back inside before he let the lid fall. He knew that the jar would scatter dirt on the coffin.”
It was an ingenious explanation, but Limerick didn’t like it. "Why should he do that,” he sneered.
"For protection after sunrise,” said O’Rourke. "An unburied vampire endures the most horrible torments. He’s buried now—symbolically. ”

“ Marvin Cummings shifted his spade and spat down into the empty grave. "Pull yourself together, Terry," he gibed. "He's been shot full of arsenic. You ought to know that a well-preserved corpse can take it."
Harsh laughter came from both sides of him. O'Rourke's three companions were trying hard to be hard. Tall, blue-eyed M. T. (Empty) Cummings, his straw-colored hair blowing in the night wind. Little John Slater, his shoulders hunched and his hands thrust deep into his pockets—to hide their trembling. Lanky, freckled-faced Clarence Limerick, looking even younger than his nineteen years. ”

“ Cummings took a cigarette out of his pocket and stuck it in his pale, twitching mouth. "We've got to work fast," he muttered. "Nancy has to be in by ten. Freddy will waste maybe fifteen minutes billing and cooing with her in the vestibule of the femme dorm, but we can't count on it."
He lit the cigarette with trembling fingers. "Terry, you and Limerick take hold of his shoulders. Slats and I will lift his legs."
It was a gruesome undertaking. O'Rourke was shaking like a leaf when they rolled the corpse into a tarpaulin, and loaded it on a carry-cot from the college supply room. ”

“ The Grave Robbers
TERENCE O’ROURKE was frightened. There was a strained horror in hos gaze as he stood staring down at old Simeon Hodges lying still and pale in his coffin.
It takes some sense of humor to laugh off a dead man who's come all the way from the cemetery just to see you. ”

“ Blood all over poor Freddy, and we’re to blame. We dug up a limp, blood-hungry vampire.”
Limerick’s lips were twisting in a sneer. "Okay, if you want it that way. We’ll put our brains in hock and throw away the loan ticket.”
"Limerick,” said O’Rourke, his voice strained. "You’ve got to listen. I’m appealing to you not as a student of medicine, remember. I’m just a run-of-the-mill guy who has done a lot of reading on his own.
"I’ve read books you’ve never heard about, by writers with a lot of sound scholarship behind them. Plenty of educated people believe in vampires today. ”

“ They were digging like mad. Sweat was streaming from them and they were wearing necklaces of garlic which O'Rourke had bought at the village Italian fruit store. They were getting down to the coffin as fast as they could.
"I can't understand it," muttered Cummings. "How did he get back in without disturbing the earth?"
"A vampire can turn into a thin mist and filter through a screen, a keyhole, under a door or down through the earth," panted O'Rourke. "The last time we left the coffin above ground and he had to bury himself. Now the coffin's under four feet of earth. He simply seeped back." ”

“ Empty, isn't there a huge, South American vampire bat which attacks men? Perhaps one of those bats was shipped north in a crate of oranges or bananas, and has escaped and crawled into a hollow tree somewhere on the campus."
Cummings' face was grim. "No, Nancy. The blood-sucking bat of South America has a wing span of scarcely three inches. It couldn't tear a man's throat or suck more than a thimbleful of blood. The big South American bats are fruit-eaters—perfectly harmless." ”

“ With nail-hard material to choose from why did she have to go soft on a weak-kneed Freshman squirt?"
"Oh, Freddy's all right," grunted Cummings, charitably. "All he needs is a jolt. We're doing everything possible for the lad. Digging up Hodges is no crime because the old fellow was a nonentity plus."
"We couldn't have picked a lonelier corpse," chimed in Slater. "He lived like an animal, alone in the woods. There'll be no mourners coming to his grave."
"Yeah, that's the beauty of it," agreed Limerick. "When we put him back no one will be the wiser—except Freddy." ”

“ O’Rourke and Cummings lost no time in complying. Sexton William Sharp was reputed to be a good shot and a very hot-tempered man when crossed. Limerick hesitated an instant but clambered up fast enough when the gun barrel started sloping down into the grave.
"I've heard tell of such outrages, but I never thought I’d live to—medical students, eh?”
Cummings caught O’Rourke’s eye and inclined his head the fraction of an inch. "He was just a nobody, Mr. Sharp,” he said. "He had no relatives or friends. We needed a subject and we thought—”
“You thought you’d rob a poor dead man of his repose. ”

“ He's so damned nervous and excitable that a dead fly on his undershirt would scare the pants off him."
"Yeah, something has got to be done about Freddy," agreed Cummings. "If he wants to be a sawbones he'll have to stop yelling for his mama every time he sees a calvaria chisseled off, and a nice, juicy brain exposed. It's a wonder Nancy has any respect for him."
"That's what gets me down," grunted Limerick. "He faints in the dissecting room and what happens? She goes out with him on a date. ”

“ Suddenly he shuddered and stared across the grave at Cummings. "We’re standing on the grave of a sated vampire,” he said. "I can feel it tugging at my heart. There is a coldness under my heart and—”
"Oh, nuts,” sneered Limerick. "I’m going to hit the hay. I’m not afraid of little boy things that go boop in the night.”
"We should have driven a stake through the coffin,” said O’Rourke grimly. "We’ll be sorry we didn’t. We’ll be sorry, Limerick.”
Attack on the Campus ”

“ Through the thin panel came the rasping voice of Dr. Amos Harlow, the professor in charge of the men’s dormitory. "Your door is bolted on the inside, Mr. O’Rourke. Open it immediately.”
Cummings jumped up, swung his chair into the middle of the room and grabbed a book.
Limerick threw himself down on O’Rourke’s bed and whipped out a pipe.
"O’Rourke crossed swiftly to the door and threw it open. "Sorry, sir,” he apologized.
DR. HARLOW was a wiry little man with snow-white hair and a skin as smooth as a baby’s. He fairly stormed into the room, his eyes blazing. ”

“ The gray, mottled flesh of Simeon Hodges was all compact again after its brief percolation through the screen, a shambling horror that advanced soullessly upon the terrified girl and cackled in hellish mirth.
An Arrow for the Restless Dead
IN ANOTHER second the distance between the girl and the hideous thing had been bridged, and Sally Sherwin was screaming in its embrace. ”

“ He’s stained more leukocytes than any bloodhound in America.”
"Stow the shop talk,” interjected Limerick. "We’re facing a grim situation. I don’t believe Simeon Hodges came to life and broke through that screen. I don’t believe it was him we saw streaking it across the campus. O’Rourke thinks it was. Okay, O’Rourke believes in vampires. If we want to grovel we couldn’t ask for a better explanation.
"Old Simeon was a vampire. We dug up a vampire. He attacked Freddy, bit into his neck and sucked him dry. You saw the teeth marks on Freddy’s throat. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1994, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 29 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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