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hundred percent automated, the generators will eventually stop, the fuel rods will heat up and make the plant meltdown. Even the security measures won’t hold it if a reaction starts, the whole containment building will be blown up just like in Fukushima and Chernobyl, and that isn’t the worst part.”
    “Now I’m beginning to get concerned,” Maggie says dryly making everyone, even Keith laugh.
    “I’m sorry for the interruption, George. Please continue telling me how a disease destroying civilization isn’t our biggest threat,” she says in a serious tone but follows with a smile.
    “The worst part is other power plants and cooling ponds,” he explains. “Each nuclear power plant has cooling ponds where spent fuel rods are kept, and they aren’t enclosed in containment buildings but they rely on the same generators to keep the coolant circulating. So even if a reactor doesn’t explode, the ponds will heat up, burn off the coolant, and the rods will catch fire and explode. That has to be multiplied by the sixty nuclear power plant locations in the U.S., many of which have multiple reactors and cooling ponds at each site.”
    “Keith’s son, Eddie, told me he would never move east of the Rocky Mountain states because of the nuclear power plants. I bought my retreat property in Mexico after I looked into what I thought was his overblown paranoia. Fifty-seven of the sixty power plants are east of the Rockies. The other three are located in Washington, California, and Arizona. That is why he moved to Oregon, even if this disease burns itself out in a month, it will be too late. The Eastern half of the country will be a maze of radioactive wastelands, and there is nothing we can do about it but run.”
    A few quiet seconds go by allowing the group to absorb what George just told them, when an alarm starts ringing and makes them all jump with terror.
    “I am so sorry,” Maggie says laughing as she turns off her alarm clock that she surreptitiously grabbed while George had everyone in rapt attention to his speech. She has tears in her eyes and is struggling to breathe and speak through her laughter. “You should see your faces!” she is finally able to say with considerable effort.
    Jack seems more upset than all the others at Maggie’s joke at their expense. He turns and starts walking out the door.
    “Jack, I’m sorry,” Maggie says calling after him. “Don’t be mad.”
    “It was a good joke, Maggie. I’m not mad,” he calls back. “But you made me wet my pants, and I need to change.”
    This brings another round of tension releasing laughter that they all need. The laughter is short lived as the reality of what George told them sinks in, and Maggie especially has a very serious expression take over from the joyous one.
    “Frank, if we move again soon it will kill me,” she says. “Keith and George know this, and you need to tell Jack as well. I have made my peace with God, and I am ready to die. Do not let my illness slow down your preparation to leave, no matter what my wonderful Keith may try to plead you to do otherwise. My time is up, and I am ready to go to a better place but I am not going to be the cause of any of you fine men going with me. It is not your time.”
    She gives Keith’s hand as much of a squeeze as she is able, but the whole episode has taken too much out of her. She takes some pain medication and lies down to sleep.
    Once Maggie is sleeping, Keith finds the others in the dining hall. He sits at the table in resignation of what they are discussing, and Frank puts a plate of food in front of him.
    “It’s not half as good as what the chef used to make us, but it’s decent and you need to eat.”
    “I was just telling them about my place, Keith. Should I continue or do you need a minute?”
    Keith nods his head and says to go on .
    “My place in Mexico is on the western edge of a city called Coatzacoalcos, in the Vera Cruz region, and like our current situation, there