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True to her word, Isa held Rat’s hand on their second trip down. This time massive doors slowly slid open, but not to another room but to an unexpectedly breathtaking sight. A large man-made projection ran out from the side of mountain, suspended by enormous cables. Scattered about on it were strange looking vehicles that looked as though they hadn’t been used for centuries.
Rat let go of Isa’s hand as she led him out onto it and he turned and looked up toward the mountaintop. Then he looked back at her in amazement.
“You knew this was here but let me set you down on that dangerous ledge? The four of you risked your lives for nothing.” He wet his finger and held it up to test the wind direction and strength, marveling at how little airflow there was—the perfect place to land a balloon.
“I didn’t think it was for nothing at the time.” Isa wouldn’t meet Rat’s eyes but studied a spot somewhere over his shoulder. “Every single person here has been raised to keep this location and everything about it secret. I didn’t know then if I could trust you enough to let you know how easy it is to access our facility.”
It was easy to see from her pinched expression that this disclosure was making her uncomfortable. Rat walked away, so she couldn’t see how much her distrust hurt him, and stopped at the nearest air machine, staring up at it. He ran his palm over one of its rusted propeller blades.
A few moments later and Isa was by his side.
Rat wasn’t a complicated man. He loved with all of his heart, trusted everyone until they gave him reason not to and forgave easily given how much forgiving he felt he needed himself. It didn’t take him long to decide he would have done the same thing if he had been in her place. He would always protect those he loved.
He finally met her eyes and smiled. “So, do you know what this thing is?” and he tapped on the side of the aircraft.
Isa laughed. “This is an airplane.” She waved toward the other side of the large platform. “Those are helicopters, but there hasn’t been anyone who knows how to fly any of them for a few hundred years; at least not since more than eight-five percent of our population died, taking with it all our scientific and military personnel.”
“What happen?” Rat leaned a shoulder against the body of the plane, trying to picture how any of these contraptions could get off the ground without having a balloon attached. There was clearly a million things about Isa’s home he didn’t understand.
She pointed toward a tower snuggled up against the mountainside. “The half of our compound to the left of that tower has been locked down since the day we lost so many key people.”
The hairs on Rat’s neck stood on end. He wanted to ask again what had happened but forced himself to wait until Isa was ready to tell him.
She pointed to the other half of the mountain. “The greenhouses, educational and living quarters in there were set up to run on a separate ventilation system.” Isa looked back toward the darkened windows they could see on that side through the huge doorway. “All of the children were in class when the accident happened in one of the labs. The plague spread so fast they didn’t have time keep it from reaching the military and security sections.” She met Rat’s eyes again. “Only the people who weren’t on duty that morning didn’t die.”
He reached out and took her hand. “It must be awful living with such a terrible reminder every day.”
Isa smiled. “It was a long time before any of us here were born. But we use it as a reminder that life is uncertain.”
Rat squeezed her fingers before releasing her hand. He looked at all the massive structures that had been put in place to keep them safe. But while they had kept themselves from any dangers without, they hadn’t thought about those within.
“Having seen all this, I just can’t figure out how you were abducted from here, not by those near-savages I rescued you from.”
Isa pressed her palms to her reddening cheeks and shuddered. “One of the subjects I teach here is geology.”
“You’re a teacher?” That only cemented the feeling that he and Isa had nothing in common.
She nodded. “I took the girls out to hunt for rocks.” She covered her eyes, her face somehow turning redder until she finally looked at Rat again and shrugged. “We didn’t think we needed anyone with us. In all the times I’ve gone to the lake I’ve never one seen any trace of visitors.” She shrugged again. “Besides, it was only going to be a quick trip; straight back before we knew it. Well, that was the plan.”
Isa shuddered, so Rat stepped closer. “You don’t have to tell me any more if it’s upsetting you.”
She let out a long sigh and shook her head. “I just get so angry at myself for putting the others in danger. I should have asked some of the male instructors to go with us, so it’s my fault we were abducted.”
“Did they hurt any of you?” but he’d really meant her.
“Not really. We were just so tired and hungry when we came upon you at that lake. When they found food in our bags, they demanded we take them to where we lived for more.” Isa crossed her arms, as if trying to block out what had then happened.
“Ah, I see; so you led them in the opposite direction, instead,” and he saw the confirmation on her face. She too would do whatever it took to protect her friends, her family and her home. “And the other women agreed?”
At last, she smiled. “Of course.”
Isa’s chin lifted higher and Rat couldn’t help but give her even more of his heart . “In which case, why did you trust me enough to let me bring you back here?”
“Because Boy talked you into going back to check on those men. They beat you and would have killed you but you went back and checked on them anyway. I knew then that no one with your heart would ever do anything to hurt us.” She took his hand into hers, and without realizing, he pulled her closer.
“But you still didn’t trust me enough to let me know about this great place to land.”
Now she grinned. “But I do now, and I think it’s time you met everyone else.” She tugged his hand. “Come on. I told everyone all about you and they can’t wait to meet you.”
As they went back in through the wide doorway, he now saw there were masses of people pressed up against the windows of all the huge buildings, others steadily streaming out of the ground floor entrances. He had been so busy listening to Isa that he hadn’t noticed their growing interest.
He sucked in a nervous breath and discovered his feet refused to move another inch, however much he urged them. “I’ve never seen so many people in one place before.”
Isa stood by his side and gazed at the crowd now drawing closer. “They’ve never seen anyone like you before, either, so let me introduce my friends and family to the bravest man I know.”
He met her eyes and realized he’d forgotten how to breathe.