"He lay listening to the water drip in the woods. Bedrock, this. The cold and the silence. The ashes of the late world…"

"The blackness he woke to on those nights was sightless and impenetrable. A blackness to hurt your ears with listening."

"From daydreams on the road there was no waking. He plodded on. He could remember everything of her save her scent. Se…"

"He pulled the boy closer. Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might …"

"It took two days to cross that ashen scabland. The road beyond fell away on every side. It's snowing, the boy said. H…"

"In his dream she was sick and he cared for her. The dream bore the look of sacrifice but he thought differently. He d…"

"She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift."

"And the dreams so rich in color. How else would death call you? Waking in the cold dawn it all turned to ash instantl…"

"In those first years the roads were peopled with refugees shrouded up in their clothing. Wearing masks and goggles, s…"

"He thought if he lived long enough the world at last would be lost. Like the dying world the newly blind inhabit, all…"