How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
The town was dead. All at once he knew it for sure and true, just as he had known for sure that Miranda was dead when he had seen her shoe lying in the road.
He began to cry. (15.33-34)
That empty shoe, with the form of life but nothing inside, is a nice metaphor for the Lot—though it could be a metaphor not just for the Lot with vampires, but also for Ben's memory of it. That is, the Lot of his childhood is gone even before he returns. Seeing it fill up with vampire ghosts could just be a way of saying that you can't go home again, because home is dead. And filled with vampires.