The narrator says the curate panicked and he chased him with a meat cleaver, then “with one last touch of humanity” he turned the blade back and struck him with the butt, and he fell to the floor. Ten the aliens come back later and drag the man’s body away, and the narrator ponders the killing and the moments that led to his “hasty blow” afterward. This leaves it somewhat unclear as to how exactly he died. Did the narrator only knock him out and the aliens killed him, or did he use too much force and killed him accidentally when he hit him?
It’s interesting that the Spielberg film changes this to have Cruise’s killing of Tim Robbins be very much intentional, which arguably makes that scene even darker than in the book.
by FireFlareon