Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 44 — page 129: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION one blow George Three al- lowed himself to fall back against the wall. Then, bracing his back against it, he lifted his foot and kicked the ap- proaching man. A savage yell followed, thrilling him to the soul. He moved forward savouring the other’s heavy breathing. But he ran headlong into the giant’s blow. A tooth gave way. He tasted salt. He was falling. He scarcely felt the kick’). 3". He became conscious slowly. Lilian Four was wip- ing his face. He was in pain. “What... where is he?” ““Dead,”” she said, calmly. “Outside the door. I have his clothes.” “How...?” “There are ways of killing aman,” she replied. “‘“Ways that involve only the edge of your hand. But I could not have done it alone. “You're not very pretty now, though, my man!” My man! Despite his fatigue, George Three slept fitfully. He was hungry. The small loaf of 128 cheese and synbread had not abated his hunger. His stom- ach protested the loss of the one really adequate meal of his accustomed day, the one he would have received in the factory cafeteria yesterday. He was in pain. His jaw ached dully. One of his front teeth was broken off. Period- ically his nose bled; he could scarcely breathe through it. His body crawled with vermin. He was dirty. He was mentally disturbed. His tired eyes constantly cast glances at a make-shift device on the door Lilian Four had designed to warn them of intruders. string, a pile of old tin cans, and an arrangement of boards. He could not see how anyone could enter without upsetting the device, but the possibility worried him nonetheless. Lilian Four had said that Bugtown was _ intentionally preserved for its inhabitants, a vast quarantine that hope- - less men secretly found—were allowed, perhaps even forced, to enter but never to leave. Alive, anyway. Where was he going? Lilian It was contrived — of strands of pieced-together : comlclooolkks.connk er ee ee