Extracted by Sherry Ficklin, Tyler Jolley Page A

impromptu descent.
    The heavy wind pushes at us as we dangle helplessly. “I don’t think this was covered in the orientation manual,” I say.
    Stein laughs. “There was a manual?”
    Once we are close enough to the ground, we let go, landing with a puff of dust near the edge of a deep chasm.
    I look up to where the Gear Heads are climbing down the ropes behind us. “I’ll cut these tethers. You get the ones over there.”
    Steins sprints to the cliff edge to untie the lashes holding the front down while I tackle the ones right around the base of it.
    Untying one of the leads in front of a large outcropping of rocks, I pull the other one free from the sand. Just then I hear Stein scream.
    “Lex, help!”
    I look up and Stein is surrounded by more Gear Heads. They are pushing her to the edge of the cliff. “I’m coming!”
    Dropping the last rope, I run to her. I don’t see it happen, but one of the updrafts from the cliff twists the large rope and it somehow wraps around my ankle. I trip, sprawling forward onto my face. As I flail to catch myself, I manage to push one of the Gear Heads right off the cliff. I wrap my hand around a chunk of root, which is poking up from the ground, to catch myself from going over. Dazed from smacking my head against the dirt, I look up, focusing on Stein. She loses her foothold as the Gear Heads drive her back again, and she kicks at them, but they are too quick. She tilts off-balance, falling backward off the cliff.
    Screaming, I lunge forward from my knees to see that she’s got a one-handed grasp on a jagged rock just over the edge. I reach out, barely able to snatch hold of her before she slides over completely. She reaches up, trying to get a grip on my arm, but it’s slick with blood and she slips off, unable to get a firm hold.
    “Stein, look at me,” I order, clutching her tightly by the wrist as her feet scramble to find purchase on the rocky cliffside. I scream again from the burning pain as my shoulder is ripped out of its socket. She’s not that heavy, but the angle is bad and I can’t make my muscles cooperate.
    “Lex, please don’t let go,” Stein begs. She’s gone still now, trying to make it easier to keep my grip on her, but I feel her long glove slipping through my fingers. Her silk top hat has long since blown away, leaving her dark hair to blow free. I redouble my precarious hold on the tree root beside me with my good arm. I slide closer to the edge, scraping my belly along the loose gravel.
    A sharp pain rips into my leg, making me scream.
    Looking over my shoulder, I see one of the Gear Heads is trying to saw off my right leg. I look away, not wanting to watch the blood as it spurts out of my calf. I kick and wriggle, but it’s no use. The thing has clawed its way into my skin and isn’t letting go. Even as the pain shoots up my thigh, I fight to focus on Stein’s face. Her grey-blue eyes are wide, her face is pale and marred with dozens of scratches, and her hair is now matted to her forehead with blood and sweat. One of the silver rings that used to loop through her eyebrow has torn free, and crimson streaks leak down her face. I start to lose my grip on her.
    I will not let you die, I promise inside my head. Somehow the words don’t make it to my mouth, as if saying it aloud is impossible.
    “You little—!” I look back over my shoulder, giving my leg another quick jerk. I can’t move very far anyway, as I’m caught in the net-like tether holding the small zeppelin to the ground. If I had my other hand I could fight the little metal monster off, but I can’t let go of Stein.
    I won’t.
    I kick again, hoping to send the Gear Head over the cliff, but it isn’t enough. It has some sort of pincer attached to my calf and it’s slowly eating through the muscle. I turn and look over my shoulder. The blood flow is slowing to a drizzle. There is nothing I can do.
    “Pull, Lex. Pull!” Stein yells, still scrambling to get a grip on me with her