Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 121: what you’re looking at

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

THE CREEP | by ROBERT PRESSLIE UMAN BEINGS H and cats have this in common: both have a great tenacity for life. They can face death in any of its myriad forms and they will always try to fight it. They don’t always win, but they always try. Some animals seem to answer death’s call willingly and blindly, like cattle in a thundering stam- pede over the precipice or like lemmings in their watery sui- cide: Humans and cats never give up the fight. Even when death has triumphed, their reflexes still struggle. As Sam Garnet had divined, Lena Raynes had much of the feline in her make-up. This quality of the cat, together with her innate greed for life, was sufficient to bring her out of the psychosomatic shock which had reduced her to a witless, speechless child. It was Lena who first heard the scrabbling at the door of Harry’s Bar. 120 She was in a relaxed mood, as if she had just awakened from sleep. It was dark, but with the comforting weight of Sam’s arm around her she wasn’t afraid. And although the bar was quiet, the silence was not funereal. It was a warm and intimate silence, patterned with the slow, steady rhythm of Sam’s deep breathing. One side of her face was cramped and aching from its contact with the hard table surface. Without wishing to disturb the peaceful magic of the moment, she pressed her neck against Sam’s arm and ‘laid the other cheek on the plastic. Almost immediately she saw a pale green glow punctuating the darkness. It came from the dial of Sam’s watch. A stream of thoughts show- ered through her mind like April rain. The Creep. Second- ary radiation in metals. Hours of proximity to that metal. comicloooks.com