#†~¨¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨~†#
##@#§††~,¨                                          ¨,~††§#@##
##@#§††~,¨                                          ¨,~††§#@##
####§††~,¨                                          ¨,~††§####
###@#§†~,¨                                          ¨,~†§#@###
##@#§††~,¨ 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.       ¨,~††††††#
@#§†~¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨~†§#@
#§††,¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨,††§#
##@#§††~,¨                                          ¨,~††§#@##
##§§†~,¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨,~†§§##
#@§††~~,¨¨                                          ¨¨,~~††§@#