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coat!”
    Below my line of sight I heard one dog slip from between the lean-to bars and start the drop. It howled until it hit the next stretch of ground, crumpling.
    I grabbed at the Captain’s skidding feet, which carved crooked lines in the dirt as they moved along. He wriggled on the ground, wide-eyed and with arms stretched out, until the heavy coat slipped out from under him.
    I fell backward against the ledge’s rock wall in time to hear the second dog hit the ground below. And then a bursting—the burner blowing open. The treetops before me rattled, shaking off leaves.
    The Captain peered over the ledge with caution. “Ah jeez,” he whispered, panting, then went quiet. Any hope we’d had of flying away was destroyed in the drop beneath that ledge.

CHAPTER FIVE
    T
    he burning smell seemed to follow us in every direction. We stood stalled on the ledge after failing to pick a path out.
    â€œYou know what the worst part of this is?” the Captain said, pink-eyed again. “I’m a dog person.”
    â€œThat’s the worst part?”
    â€œYou know what I mean.” He sighed. “I had a dog in Iowa, you know. For a while. A little Yorkie. His name was Petey.”
    â€œThose dogs were gonna kill us. Or hold us ’til those...guys with guns came.”
    The Captain fanned himself with his cap, then used it to shake away a trail of rising smoke.
    â€œI know that. Come on, kid. I know that. ’S not the point. Remorse is important. Keeps ya human.” He tugged his hat back on and took it back off as the sun got higher and glared. “You practically grew up in the woods, Malik. You never had a pet?”
    I shook my head.
    â€œSee? That’s yer problem. Lotsa valuable lessons there.”
    I rolled my shoulders and tightened the straps on my bag. “You can tell me what kinds later. What are we going to do about the men out there? The manhunters.”
    â€œUnsentimental. Too unsentimental,” the Captain murmured. His face turned serious. “The balloon’s gone. That explosion got the burner, burned the envelope. They might’ve shot us down again anyways. Gah! You don’t know how many nights I spent workin’...” He sighed again. “Anyways, that’s a bust. Maybe unsentimental’s the order of the day. What do you think? What’ll that survival book a’ yours recommend for putting together some mode of transport?”
    â€œI can look through it. But—I mean, for now—do we hide? If they were still chasing, I think we would’ve heard them—”
    The Captain squinted at me. “Do we hide or what, Malik? I’m not sure what yer gettin’ at. We hide until we can get outta here. Or preferably get out of here, hide, and then go even farther, in that order. You heard what they did to that man who was running. We can’t think even a camp deep in the hills is safe for that long.”
    â€œIf there’s no easy way out, though...don’t you want to know what we’re up against?”
    The Captain got red in the face and forgot about keeping quiet. “These are men with
guns
, Malik! If we’re lucky enough to figure out which way they went off to, we go the opposite direction, fast!”
    â€œI can track them,” I said. “If we get back up the hill, I know I can. Don’t you want to know why they’re killing people?”
    â€œNo!”
    I looked up, deep into the mess of rocks and treetops. “We’re lost. We got almost nothing. If we can know them—anything more about them—it could help us.”
    â€œMalik, I respect you. You know I do. I think you are a bright young man. But as the only adult here, I’m sorry, but I’m makin’ an executive decision—”
    But by then I had started up. The Captain scowled, folded his arms, and waited for me to turn around. When I didn’t, he began to follow behind. I think