&&†,,,¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨,,,†&&
##¶&&††«,¨                                          ¨,«††&&¶##
&†«¨¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨«†&
&†««¨¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨¨««†&
&&&††««¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨««††&&&
@&&&&††«,¨ 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.       ¨,«††&&¶@@
#@¶&&††«,¨                                          ¨,«††&&¶@#
@¶&†,¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨,†&¶@
#@¶&&††«,¨                                          ¨,«††&&¶@#
@&&††««,,¨                                          ¨,,««††&&@
#@¶&&††«,¨                                          ¨,«††&&¶@#