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