What a luxury had been compassion within the chaotic mix of human traits. With a curious clarity that often follows terror, he thought how compassion had merely been the size of a candle on a child’s birthday cake, flickering minutely within the entire cosmos, end to end. Easy to overlook before all of this, but now it was about to be snuffed out for ever. On this dark outcrop of sand and grass, he felt as if their emotions were the only human feelings left in the entire universe.
