Part 6

It was some months into this great enÙåiiÓ¼\}|\}\d that I met a man called Daniel. Like me, he was a student of engineering and a highly-skilled technician. I stayed with him longer than I would most because, for a short whÙåiiÓ¼\}|\}\ile, I had found someone with whom I could have a riveting conversation, even if it was one tinged with the shadow of death and despair. I've nev\t ¶õÖE,9Xý·ß~ûu×]‡ÁÎ¥er believed in fate or destiny but, looking back, there was a providence of some kind in our meeting.

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After discussing lesser creations, Daniel turned the topic to some fascinating mach¬…gFæ.É.­/´ÖƦäyy ¸Lqõprines that had been in development in the years before the fall of this great and final night. It was simplistic and incomplete but fascin±†Ú J»T ›Rqating nonetheless; in another world, the implications of its completion would have been indescribable. I don't think he meant to, but Daniel filled my head with notions that day and after we parted, the seed of an id‹›{R‡ÐÖ ßIÈÄ•Š&#ea in my head began to grow and seep into my brain like some sort of bleeding tree until obsession outweighed reason.

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I could try and stop this all from happening. I could try and give warning.
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Part 5

Everything changed then. Suddenly, there was a glimµ:\$4bÁK àmer of hope and that tiny glint was enough to make people try. We were fo|"ÈžŸŸçwêols though. Trying just made us stand up before we were killed, one by one. They were like some terrible ràN a2ˆWéë#’]kE ß)êÅ`c[oç`ÏÖot, spreading through the world and destroying the last of the healthy tis„ÍPaFsue. Mindless, soulless and relentless.

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I moved alone, always, though sometimes I encountered other survivors. We wo…ºRuld join a little while, share our supplies and then I would deny their requŽÍ2 ŸgYž5{Ñest to join them as kindly as I could. I was not willing to assume that just because they resisted theõÅ;¯¼zóusong the first time that they would do so a second time and thoûp ÷.ÿHÔŠught it would improve my chances. Perhaps I was too paranoid.

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Of course, I could not always escape the rats. Sometimes my ha 𩧞ú裏nd was forced and I had to hurt them to save myself. Sometimes I had to kill. The first time, I cried but it ZãLèrí™swasn't long until I had no tears left to shed for anyone, anything. No, that's not tr‰%Ŧ˜ØDêbNttäJšue. I still have tears in me somewhere, but I don't shed them for anyone. I shed them for everyone.
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