#††:¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨:††#
#####††~:¨ ¨:~††#####
##$†~~¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨~~†$##
####$††~:¨ ¨:~††$####
#$††~¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨~††$#
####$††~:¨ IN THE ENDLESS WINTER DAY, ON THE ¨:~††$####
####$††~:¨ CRYSTAL WHITE PLAINS... WE TRUDGE ALONG ¨:~††$####
##††:::¨¨¨ 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 ¨¨¨¨¨:†††#
####$††~:¨ BURNING WITH A DEEP CRIMSON FLAME, ¨:~††$####
#$††~¨¨¨¨¨ UNTAMEABLE BY WATER OR WIND. ¨¨¨¨¨~††$#
####$††~:¨ ¨:~††$####
####$††~:¨ ¨:~††$####
####$††~:¨ ¨:~††$####
####$††~:¨ ¨:~††$####
#####††~:¨ ¨:~††#####