Read "Before Tomorrowland" by Jeff Jensen online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
EARHART'S GERMAN jet shook so hard from the shockwave that she bit her tongue and tasted blood. She looked behind her to see a giant mushroom cloud blossom, then vanish completely. She looked to the ocean and saw the Grid go dark, then sink into the deep. Understanding instantly, she allowed a pang of grief to have its way with her for one full second. Then she cursed, and focused.
Earhart saw the white billowing silk of Lee's parachute two miles ahead of her. She locked the yoke, grabbed a parachute of her own, tied the tether of a rough landing kit around her ankle, hit the bomb bay door release, and dived out of the plane. She was spinning upside down, whipped by wind. The damned chute release strap slipped from her hand. Earhart dropped the kit and beat her palms over the harness, searching for the pull. It slapped and flapped across her face, and she grabbed at it, two, three times, got a hold, and yanked. The force pulled her upright, and she glided no more than five hundred feet above the ocean.