No shiess, so there we were, sitting around in the living room when the announcement hit: World killing asteroid on collision course with Terra. There are emergency shelters set up all over, but there's no way my lot will ever get in. We lived in West Virginia, at least, and had access to an old coal mine that had been closed for the better part of a decade. Live or die, that was the hope. Sure, we weren't the only ones thinking like this, but we were the closest.

As we packed up supplies, my brother tapped me on the shoulder. "These damned boxes are heavy, why the hell are we taking all these books? I mean, seriously, the Foundation series?"

"What can I say, Asimov was a genius. We'll need literature, bro. You didn't think we'd spend the rest of our lives staring into space, did you?"

"We have computers," he said quickly.

"Yeah, well I don't have easy access to the Foreigner series and MHI is already on my cell. Besides, we'll have to conserve fuel until we can dig our way out."

"Okay, but why the Eric Flint stuff? 1632? Really?"

"Don't judge ME, boyo!" I exclaimed, starting to get irritated. "When you lot start stealing my books, I don't want to be halfway into a series waiting on a slow reader to finish up.  Besides, variety is a must."

The box truck and both RV's were loaded. We had food, supplies, every spice we could get our hands on, and as many types of food-seeds we could find. Live or die, we had two months to get ready. I can't speak for the rest of society, but I aim to read a bit before the end. After all, if I do die anyway, I'll die happy.

—Steven Moynier

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