#@@††~^¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨^~††@@#
@@††~^¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨^~††@@
@††~^¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨^~††@
††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††
†~^¨¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨^~†
††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨ IN  THE  ENDLESS  WINTER   DAY,  ON  THE ¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††
@††~^¨¨¨¨¨ CRYSTAL WHITE PLAINS... WE  TRUDGE ALONG ¨¨¨¨¨^~††@
@@††~^¨¨¨¨   THE TRAIN TRACKS... THEMSELVES SLOWLY  ¨¨¨¨^~††@@
#@@††~^¨¨¨ SNOWED OVER, IN  THE  STILL  HOURS SINCE ¨¨¨^~††@@#
@#@@††~^¨¨          THE LAST SUPPLY TRAIN.          ¨¨^~††@@#@
#@#@@††~^¨                                          ¨^~††@@#@#
@#@@††~^¨¨     BELL-LIKE SOUNDS OF THE BLINDING     ¨¨^~††@@#@
#@@††~^¨¨¨ GROUND. RIFLES  ATTACHED TO  OUR  WRIST, ¨¨¨^~††@@#
@@††~^¨¨¨¨ SHARING IN  OUR  BLOODSTREAM. MY  HUSKY, ¨¨¨¨^~††@@
@††~^¨¨¨¨¨      MY WARM-COFFEE-IN-COLD-SNOW...      ¨¨¨¨¨^~††@
††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††
†~^¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ THE  FIRST  FIVE  SHOTS  YOU  CAN  SPEND ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨^~†
††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨ INDISCRIMINATELY, THEY HURT BUT DEAL  NO ¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††
@††~^¨¨¨¨¨ LONG  TIME DAMAGE  TO THE  SHOOTER.  THE ¨¨¨¨¨^~††@
@@††~^¨¨¨¨ NEXT  FIVE YOU  MUST SPEND WISELY,  THEY ¨¨¨¨^~††@@
#@@††~^¨¨¨ WILL  TAKE DAYS TO HEAL. THE  FINAL FIVE ¨¨¨^~††@@#
@#@@††~^¨¨ YOU    MUST    NOT    SPEND   AT    ALL. ¨¨^~††@@#@
#@#@@††~^¨                                          ¨^~††@@#@#
@#@@††~^¨¨ WEEKS EARLIER, IN THE  WEAK AUTUMN DAWN, ¨¨^~††@@#@
#@@††~^¨¨¨ IN  THE BLUE-GRAY  FOG...  SOMETHING  IS ¨¨¨^~††@@#
@@††~^¨¨¨¨ BURNING  WITH  A  DEEP   CRIMSON  FLAME, ¨¨¨¨^~††@@
@††~^¨¨¨¨¨       UNTAMEABLE BY WATER OR WIND.       ¨¨¨¨¨^~††@
††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††
†~^¨¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨^~†
††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††
@††~^¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨^~††@
@@††~^¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨^~††@@