‘Yes.’
‘But Cleopatra won’t know he’s there if it’s dark,’ Boo said. ‘He’ll creep up on her. By the time she hears the snake-charming flute it will be too late for her to do anything about it.’
‘No, you’re wrong.’ The second part of the professor’s warning echoed around Amy’s little brain. And watch out for her tongue. That’s how she senses things if she can’t see them. ‘Don’t you remember, it’s not just her eyes Professor Rooster told us to watch out for, it’s her tongue. She’ll sense him with it, especially if he’s wearing the vibrating snake detector.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Boo said at once.
‘No,’ Amy said. ‘You get the chickens to safety. I’ll be all right. My special skill is courage, after all.’
‘Okay.’ Boo gave her a big hug.
Amy sploshed back along the line of chickens.
‘What’s happened?’ Ruth asked in a low voice.
Amy took her to one side and explained.
‘I should have thought of that! I’m supposed to be the intelligent one,’ Ruth said ruefully.
Amy shook her head. ‘It was only when I saw the rats’ faces I remembered what the professor told us.’
Ruth looked thoughtful. ‘One good thing is, if the rats are hypnotised, they’ll do anything we tell them.’
‘Like what?’
‘Well, they can show us the way back to Aunt Mildred’s for a start. The sat nav on the super-spec headsets doesn’t work properly underground. I was worried we might get lost.’
That was something, Amy thought. The sewers probably led in all sorts of directions right under the city. It would be easy to get lost without the sat nav unless the rats showed them the way.
‘Here!’ Ruth took the Emergency Chicken Pack from her backpack and gave it to Amy. ‘I don’t know what’s left in it, or whether it will be any use, but you’d better have it, just in case.’
The two chickens hugged.
‘We’ll come back for you, just as soon as we get everyone to safety,’ Ruth said.
‘Okay,’ Amy said, as bravely as she could. She hoped there’d be something of her to come back for. Then she paddled off through the stinking water back to the grate.
After the dank sewer, it was almost a relief to be back in the warehouse. Amy gave her feathers a quick wash under the tap in the grill kitchen and dried them on one of Virginia Fox Diamond’s best tea towels. She threw it down beside Virginia’s burger grill and went in search of James Pond.
The rats were still sleeping. Amy crept past them. She wasn’t sure how long the Sleepy Cheese would last and she didn’t want to wake them up. At the door to the cellar she stopped. James Pond’s footprints were visible on the dirty floor. Amy knelt down to get a closer look. The footprints only led towards the door, not away from it. That meant James Pond was still down there.
She hesitated. If James Pond hadn’t already captured Cleopatra then she would have to try. Maybe now was a good time to check out the remaining contents of the Emergency Chicken Pack. Professor Rooster always put useful things in it to help the chickens complete their missions. The problem was: a) James Pond had already helped himself to the best stuff; and b) it was usually Ruth who worked out what the gadgets were for. Even so, there might be something in there that would hold Cleopatra while she found out what had happened to James Pond. It was worth a try.
She held up the pack and shook it. Several objects tumbled out. She examined them carefully. The first one was a packet of burp powder. The second one was something called a Venombrella. The third one was a large stack of padded egg boxes addressed to the City Zoo, and the fourth one was a mirror.
Amy scratched her head, trying to work out what each one was for. The egg boxes were easy, anyway. They must be to send the snake eggs back to the zoo if Cleopatra laid them before they captured her. And the mirror must be so that you could see Cleopatra without looking her in the eye and getting hypnotised. That left the Venombrella and the Burp Powder.
She examined the Venombrella. It looked exactly like a chicken-sized folded-up umbrella. It had a metal handle and a button to put it up. Amy peered at the label.
Cobra venom! Of course! The Venombrella would keep her safe from Cleopatra’s poison. Now for the burp powder. Maybe there was a clue about that on the label too?
BURT’S BURP POWDER
NOT SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY OF YOUR BURPS? WANT TO OUT-BELCH YOUR FRIENDS? THEN BURT’S BURP POWDER IS FOR YOU
DIRECTIONS:
For a MEGA-BELCH take one dose of Burt’s Burp Powder
For a SUPER MEGA-BELCH take two doses of Burt’s Burp Powder
To produce a TOXIC VOLCANIC ERUPTION the whole packet may be consumed
Note: Risk of vomiting if taken after food
What good would that do? Amy threw the burp powder back in the Emergency Chicken Pack with the other things. She would have to ask Ruth what it was for. If she got the chance, that was.
Amy creaked the cellar door open and hopped down the stairs. She felt a chill run through her feathers. Cleopatra could be anywhere.
‘Sssssssoooooooo,’ said a soft voice, ‘what have we here?’
Amy froze.
‘It ssssssseeems I have a sssssssecond visitor,’ said the voice. ‘I could sssssssmell you from outside the door!’
Darn it, thought Amy. It was all that poo from the sewers.
‘Turn on the lightsssssss, James, ssssssso that she can sssssssee me better.’
Light flooded the cellar. Amy was taken unawares. She was still wearing her super-spec headset so that she could see in the dark. Now she couldn’t see anything! She tried to pull it off.
‘Jamesssssss, help her with those, would you?’
Amy felt a pair of strong wings tug at the super-spec headset.
Amy’s little chicken brain began to register that something was wrong. Why would Cleopatra ask James Pond to turn the lights on and help her out of her headset? And why would James Pond do what the queen cobra told him? Because he had been hypnotised, that’s why!
‘Yes, your majesty,’ James Pond said. His voice was flat and toneless.
‘Wake up, you idiot!’ Amy yelled at him.
James Pond didn’t seem to hear her. The super-spec headset came off with a final tug.
‘That’ssssssss better …’
Amy caught a glimpse of a long, dark brown coil of thick rope. Only it wasn’t rope, it was Cleopatra. The snake was drawing herself up. ‘Look into my eyesssssss,’ she said, ‘you know you want to.’
‘No I don’t!’ Amy risked a look at James Pond instead. His eyes were like saucers. They were fixed on Cleopatra, like the rats in the sewer when they saw the Stuff-a-Snake.
‘Hold her, James,’ Cleopatra ordered.
Amy struggled as James Pond gripped her round the tummy. She closed her eyes against the queen cobra. She mustn’t look into her eyes. She mustn’t! ‘Get off me, you dopey duck!’ she shouted.
‘Shan’t,’ James Pond replied.
For goodness sake! She’d have to use one of her wrestling moves on him. James Pond was about the same size as some of the geese at Perrin’s Farm: the goose-slammer would do. Amy reached back and grabbed James Pond round the neck. Then she pulled him right over her head. He landed on his back and let out a groan as his head met the floor. Oh no! She’d knocked him out! She wondered what James Pond had done with the rest of the snake-catching equipment. Now she wouldn’t get the chance to ask him.
‘It’sssssss Amy, isssssssn’t it?’ Cleopatra was swaying above her, still trying to make eye contact. Amy whipped round so that her back was to the snake and rummaged in the Emergency Chicken Pack. Her wing closed on the object she wanted. She pulled the mirror out of the pack and held it up. Now she wouldn’t have to look Cleopatra in the eye. She could look at her reflection instead.
She adjusted the angle on the mirror. Cleopatra’s face came into view.
Amy quivered with fright. ‘How do you know m
y name?’
‘Oh, I know all about you,’ Cleopatra hissed. ‘And your friendsssssss, Boo and Ruth. In fact, there’sssssss nothing I don’t know. James was kind enough to fill me in on every detail. I know where you live. I know about Chicken HQ. I know about Professor Roossssssster. I even know about your dispute with Thaddeusssssss.’
Amy was horrified.
‘Use your mirror if you want,’ said Cleopatra with contempt. ‘Nothing will sssssssave you. But we can have a little chat before ssssssssupper if you like. It will whet my appetite.’ There was a pause. ‘It was hungry work laying my eggs.’
Amy gasped. ‘You’ve laid them already?’
‘Yesssssss,’ said Cleopatra proudly. ‘I laid them yessssssterday.’
‘Where are they then?’ Amy changed the angle on the mirror again. More of Cleopatra’s coils came into view. She was sitting on a nest of straw. But there was no sign of any eggs.
‘Try and guessssssssssssssss,’ suggested Cleopatra playfully.
Amy couldn’t think what she meant. Maybe the eggs were elsewhere in the cellar. Maybe she hadn’t laid them at all. The queen cobra could be bluffing.
‘You know the battery farm’s finished?’ Amy said, stalling for time. ‘The chickens are safe. Boo and Ruth have taken them back to Aunt Mildred’s.’
‘But it’sssssss not finished,’ Cleopatra replied. ‘It’sssssss only just started thanks to Virginia. She’s a bright girl: she’d make a good sssssssnake.’
Virginia? Amy’s mind went back to the whispered conversation between the foxes. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Virginia wants to exssssssspand production outside the city,’ Cleopatra said. ‘She sssssssuggested we begin operations at some of the local farms.’
The farms! So she had guessed right about that. ‘How can you?’ Amy said. ‘The farmers will kill the foxes if they see them anywhere near the chicken coops. Even Thaddeus knows that.’
‘The foxes aren’t going to be anywhere near the coopsssssss,’ Cleopatra said. She gave a triumphant hiss. ‘My children will oversssssssee the operation.’
Amy gawped at the mirror. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Every one of my eggs – thirty-sssssssix in total – has been smuggled out of here today by the rats on chicken-feed lorries and placed in the nesssssssts of broody hens,’ Cleopatra explained. ‘In approximately 60 days they will hatch. When they do, my babies will take control of the farmsssssss. They will force the chickens to lay more eggs, which the rats will collect. The eggs will be taken to abandoned premisesssssss nearby and hatched out so that we can ssssssset up new battery farms. Very sssssssoon we shall have battery farms all over the country to feed the local foxssssss population. And there is nothing you and your friends can do to stop usssssss.’ Cleopatra’s tongue flicked in and out. ‘Now enough talking. It’sssssss dinner time.’
Amy grabbed the Venombrella from the Emergency Chicken Pack. She pressed the button and lifted it over her head. Just in time! A shower of cobra spit splashed onto the Venombrella.
Cleopatra hissed in fury. She spat again. Amy scooped up the Emergency Chicken Pack and threw it on her back. She darted backwards and forwards with the Venombrella in her wing, trying desperately to find the snake-charming flute or the net or the rocket booster, but she couldn’t see them anywhere. Cleopatra must have hidden them under the straw.
‘Amy!’ the cry came from the cellar steps.
Amy glanced round. She saw Ruth. And Boo. They had come back for her!
Both chickens were wearing sunglasses to protect them against Cleopatra’s hypnotic stare. Ruth was carrying her self-packing suitcase; Boo held the mite blaster in her wings.
Cleopatra had seen them too. ‘Choicesssssss, choicesssssss,’ she chuckled, turning her head towards the steps. ‘I’ll start with the plump, juicy-looking one.’
Amy saw Cleopatra’s coils unravel. The snake had changed direction. She wasn’t chasing her any more. She was after Boo!
‘No!’ Amy ran after Cleopatra.
‘Get out of the way, Amy!’ Boo stood her ground with the mite blaster. ‘This is personal.’
‘But Professor Rooster said that mites wouldn’t work on Cleopatra,’ Amy argued.
‘We’re not using mites,’ Ruth said. ‘We’re using tacks. We got them at Aunt Mildred’s when we dropped the chickens off. Now duck!’
Amy crouched under the Venombrella.
Boo raised the weapon and fired.
BANG!
A cloud of tacks flew towards Cleopatra.
TICKER-TACKER-TICKER-TACKER-TICKER-TACKER.
The tacks bounced off the Venombrella like hailstones.
Cleopatra let out a terrible hiss. A few of the tacks had stuck in the queen cobra’s skin. Lots more lay on the floor in a spiky carpet. Every time Cleopatra slithered forward more tacks impaled her.
‘SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.’ Cleopatra writhed and twisted.
‘Ruth, open the suitcase!’ Boo said.
Amy just had time to see the powerful magnet emerge from inside the suitcase, then she felt herself being lifted into the air. She landed with a bump in the suitcase next to the mite blaster, surrounded by sharp pins. ‘Ow,’ she said.
‘Oops,’ said Ruth. ‘That wasn’t meant to happen. It was supposed to pack Cleopatra, not you!’
Amy looked bewildered.
‘Remember you told James Pond that the suitcase might defeat Cleopatra if she swallowed something metal? Well, Boo and I couldn’t see how to get her to do that, but we thought the tacks might work instead. Aunt Mildred had some in her collection. That’s where we got the sunglasses too.’
‘Why didn’t it work then? How come the suitcase packed me instead?’ asked Amy.
‘Because the magnet was more attracted to the mite blaster and your umbrella than it was to the tacks,’ Ruth explained. ‘We didn’t get enough of them to stick to Cleopatra.’ She helped Amy out of the suitcase.
Cleopatra was still inching her way towards them painfully. ‘I can shed my ssssssskin,’ she threatened, ‘it doesn’t make any difference to me. But once you lose yoursssssss, you’re finished.’
‘So, er, what do we do now?’ Amy asked.
Ruth yanked the mite blaster and the Venombrella off the magnet and closed the suitcase lid. ‘We’ll have to try again. Boo, take the mite blaster.’
There was no response.
‘Boo?’ Ruth repeated. ‘Wait, what’s wrong with her?’
Boo was swaying from side to side, her eyes on Cleopatra. She was being hypnotised.
‘Don’t look at her, Boo!’ Amy cried.
‘I can’t help it.’ Boo said dreamily.
‘The sunglasses aren’t strong enough to stop the hypnosis,’ said Ruth in a panic.
Cleopatra had reached the bottom of the cellar steps. She raised her head until it was parallel with the three chickens. Amy watched in horror as she unhinged her jaws and lunged at Boo.
‘No!’ Amy wasn’t going to let her friend die. On impulse she grabbed the Venombrella, pushed Boo out of the way and thrust herself inside Cleopatra’s wide-open mouth.
Cleopatra’s jaws closed around her. Amy felt herself being pulled forward into the snake’s body by a series of powerful contractions. It was like being dragged under water by a strong wave. She tried to resist by spreading her wings and digging her heels in, but the insides of the snake were smooth and slippery. Amy knew it wouldn’t be long before she reached the queen cobra’s stomach. And when that happened Cleopatra’s digestive juices would gradually turn her into mush.
She tried to think. There had to be a way of getting out of there.
It was then that Amy’s little chicken brain had one of its rare flashes of chicken inspiration. Burt’s Burp Powder!
She fumbled with the backpack. It was hard taking it off her shoulders – she was being squeezed on every side – but eventually she managed it. She’d have to hurry. She could hear gurgling. It couldn’t be far now to Cleopatra’s stomach. H
er wings trembling, Amy extracted the packet of Burt’s Burp Powder. What had the label said about the dose? She wished she could remember. It was inky black inside the snake and she couldn’t see to read it. She tried visualising the writing in her head.
For a MEGA-BELCH take one dose of Burt’s Burp Powder
For a SUPER MEGA-BELCH take two doses of Burt’s
Burp Powder
To produce a TOXIC VOLCANIC ERUPTION the whole packet may be consumed
Note: Risk of vomiting if taken after food
That was it! Amy blinked. What she needed was a TOXIC VOLCANIC ERUPTION. She had to give Cleopatra enough burp powder to make her sick.
She opened the packet and shook all the burp powder out in the direction she was travelling – towards Cleopatra’s stomach. The contractions stopped. Nothing happened for a moment. Then the contractions started again. Only they weren’t taking Amy further inside the snake any more: they were squeezing her in the opposite direction, back towards Cleopatra’s mouth.
The contractions became faster and stronger. Amy tumbled forwards, clutching the Venombrella. She heard a noise like gushing pipes. The sick was coming! She held on tight to the Emergency Chicken Pack with one wing and pushed frantically at the button on the Venombrella with the other.
‘BBLEAARCCCCCHHHHURRRRRRPPP!’
Amy lost her grip on the Venombrella. She was being regurgitated! She catapulted out of the snake’s mouth back on to the cellar steps on a tidal wave of gooey cobra sick.
‘Yuk!’ she said, smearing gunk away from her beak. She sat up, dazed. Boo and Ruth were beside her.
Boo dabbed at her sticky feathers with some straw. ‘Amy! Thank goodness! Are you all right?’
‘I think so.’ Amy shook goo off her feathers. Cleopatra was still retching as if she were trying to get rid of something else. Amy wondered what it could be. Then it dawned on her. The Venombrella! It must have got stuck inside Cleopatra when Amy tried to open it.
Chicken Mission: Chaos in Cluckbridge Page 7
