Surviving The Shining Star

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I opened up the patio door, listening for any unusual sounds. It's a crisp May 1st, maybe 30 degrees a little after sunrise. I grabbed my old wind up wrist watch to check the time...everything electric had gone out on April 10 .. I was keeping track of the days on my calendar , it's been 21 days since ... who knows what had happened.
I put my boots on; grabbed a hat, coat , gloves and a rifle. I had made a yoke to haul my water up from the ravine on my property. I shaved down a 2" x 2"x 6' oak timber with a draw knife and tied some 1 gallon jugs on each end. I could only carry 6 gallons at one time up from the bottom of the steep ravine, where I had dug a shallow pit to capture ground water. Two trips a day was plenty for my needs....cooking, drinking, washing and any extra went in a large container in my sauna.
On my way down the ravine I stopped and sat on an old stump. I checked my .22 Ruger and hoped to hear some squirrels chattering....it only takes a couple to make a meal. Haven't heard anyone on the road in at least two or three days. One of the neighbors had an old ' 79 Chevy pick-up that still ran. They had made a few runs into town and found that it wasn't such a good idea. Hungry people with no heat or clean water hadn't been exactly friendly . The neighbors had returned with a few bullet holes and no food or supplies .
A grey squirrel ran up a gnarly old oak and stopped facing down ,leaving me an easy shot. Now just one more and I'll have dinner. I sat back and waited, thinking back to a couple of days prior to the Event. I think it was the 8th...I was on my Mac looking into a story about N. Korea's satellite launch on 12/12/12 . They had launched a weather forecasting satellite named, Kwang My Ong Song 3 or KmS 3-2. I was tracking it live ....it's orbit placed it over the eastern portions of the U.S. from 4-8-13 til 4-17-13 at an altitude of 500 miles ?? The N. Koreans had recently warned foreign diplomats about their safety in their capital after 4-10-13.
Apparently lil' Kim wasn't all bluff as many talking heads had stated. I heard another squirrel barking on the roof of my shop, took aim ...now get the water and clean some squirrels.