She is at home for end of life care, and while she has made peace with the fact she is dying, she can’t bare the idea of Keith’s love for her getting him killed as well.

George knows Eddie from a few previous fishing trips with Keith. Eddie was always relaxed and mellow like his father, but had strong ideas that he wasn’t afraid to express about politics, guns, or survival if you got him going. He knows Eddie is a Prepper and owns a gun shop in Oregon somewhere. On one particular visit, Eddie said some things about survival that particularly bothered George and caused him to make some extra preparations of his own.

Prepping isn’t such a big deal in Louisiana where people have to deal with hurricanes and potential floods, so that aspect didn’t bother him. What bugged George was the reason Eddie gave for not moving to Louisiana when he had the chance. There’s no way I will move to an area with so many nuclear power plants. The entire Eastern U.S.is a dead zone if any national disaster hits. That statement by Eddie bothered George enough to buy a retreat property in Mexico after he did some of his own research.

“Do you know what Eddie said, exactly?” George asks with concern.

“He said the CDC is warning about a plague starting at military bases that’s making people attack each other. The Navy base is only twenty miles from here, across the river. That’s probably why I can hear the shooting.”

“Maggie, if you can hear the gunfire, it is a lot closer than New Orleans. Is Keith there? Can I speak to him?”

“If I let him speak to you, do you promise to come and get us no matter what he says?”

“I promise, Maggie. It will take a while though. I’m out on my boat now, so I have to—”

“Don’t go home, George. If you go home you’ll never make it here by car. I told you it is a warzone out there right now. I called you because I knew you would be on your boat. There is no place on land Keith and I will be safe. I need you to get us out of here.”

“I’ll do it Maggie. I’m on my way.”

George spoke with Keith, and as much as Keith insisted that he not come to get them, George respectfully declined the refusal of help.

“I’m doing this for Maggie, not for you, Keith. She made me promise.”

George owed Keith his life and wasn’t about to let him die when there was something he could do about it. There was also a chance, if whatever is happening ends quickly, they could ride out this mayhem in some level of comfort on one of the oil platforms the family manages. They aren’t luxurious, but the one he is thinking of does have a medical bay that can keep Maggie stable.

Turning his boat around to face the shore, George’s heart sinks as he finally notices two important things: the number of boats heading in his direction toward open water and the amount of smoke rising from New Orleans. For the last two years fires and shootings had increased as the economy sank, so seeing smoke every day from a fire was common. Now it seems like the whole coast is on fire. The truth is there are fires spread throughout the city at various spots giving the whole coast a dark billowing look from this distance. He doesn’t remember ever seeing this many vessels on the water—especially with them all heading out to the Gulf at the same time.

The ride to Shell Beach will take nearly half an hour, so George starts using that time to try reaching his family and friends to give them a warning. He also decides to call the oil rig to get it ready for Maggie’s arrival.